"!!! It's so big! There's so MUCH!!!"

She holds him up high over her head, pointing upward to the sky, and holds him there for a moment before swinging him down and around in a grand sweeping pirouette that has more resemblance to stage-fighting than to real combat.

(His enthusiasm is catching, and it's hardly any effort at all to share her exhilaration with him.)

The wind dances with her, and he is distinctly cackling delightedly.

And so, once again, together they dance.

(There's something quiet and animal inside her that wishes she could hug him properly, but she doesn't really wish he wasn't a sword. (Her mother drilled it into her, years ago, that trying to change a man never works out well.))

He laughs, and dances, and the wind swirls - 

And he really wants to hug her - 

And then he can!

He has arms!!! They are great for hugging!!!

...Walking is not super intuitive! He might fall on her!

She grins delightedly at him ­– he's cute and he's smiling at her and she can process the wish fulfillment thing later –

—and he's stumbling but that's she already has her arms around him and she can catch him – (oh, of course, he wouldn't have any practice at standing up) – that's okay, she's strong enough for both of them, she can lift him from the waist and twirl him around – (heh, she was just twirling him around before, wasn't she) –

– she really wants to kiss him and she doesn't know how to bring it up, what even are the rules for this? – but it sure is nice to think about – she presses a little closer to him –

This is great!

He's a lot heavier when person-shaped, but not too bad, and he'll laugh and do his best to twirl with her.

She feels, vaguely, that this scene ought to have a soundtrack.

As it is, she just hugs him and boops the tip of her nose to his.

Nose boops! 

He very uncoordinatedly tries to nose boop her back!

She's more than happy to assist in this operation.

(Her arms are getting tired; she sets him down, but keeps hugging-supporting him.)

He laughs. "You're great! The sky's great! Having a body's great, though being a sword's neat too!"

"I'm glad you like it! Glad you like them both. And I'm glad I get to share this with you."

She idly wonders what it would be like to be a sword herself.

He keeps smiling. "I wanna try walking more - I think it shouldn't be that hard, I was just excited."

"Of course. And I can catch you if you start to fall."

It takes him a bit - he's not actually naturally coordinated, and keeps getting distracted - but soon enough he's running and jumping around, laughing loud enough to echo.

Cute guy is cute, news at eleven. She runs around with him for a bit, but eventually they get tired as humans do and have to stop.

"Do you wanna start heading back?" she says after they've had a minute to catch their breath. "My car's over thataway."

"Sure!" He spins a bit, considers whether he wants to be sword-shaped or human-shaped for the ride. Seeing what landscape looks like through human eyes wins out.

Hike hike.

And here's the car. She shows him how the seatbelt works, and they're off.

She puts on the radio.

Music's great! He doesn't know any of the lyrics but he'll hum along (off key).

He's not the worst singer she's ever heard.

There's not much of a transition, as they get back to town. The occasional buildings get less occasional, and then the buildings are mostly on the right, and then they turn off the highway and they're driving past homes and a playground and a church, and then she turns in to a driveway and parks.

"Welcome home."

He squirms until he gets his seat belt off then bounces out of the car. "Have I been here? I think I've been here, but - senses are really different like this."

"Yeah, for – about two years, I think. Something like that."

She gets out of the car just as the front door is opened from the inside, revealing a woman of around forty in a powder-blue dress with a white sash.

        The woman raises an eyebrow. "Hello, Lennah. I assume you have a good explanation for bringing home a boy I've never met?"

"Hi Mom, I love you too. This is Grandma's sword. He woke up just outside the dunj. He's been a big help to me."

         "And you didn't think to mention this to me before? You didn't call the entire time you were out—"

"—I was gone for six hours, Mom, this is not the first time I've been out of the house—"

        "So you should know by now they invented this thing called a cell phone—"

Lennah hugs her, rather than answer.

        "Oh, I'm only teasing. Your father and I will always love you, you know that, right?"

"Of course, Mom. I love you."

        "I love you too. Now come inside, both of you, tell me all about it." She turns to him as she steps back out of the doorway. "I'm Livia. It's so good to meet you; thank you for taking care of my little girl. Do you have a name?"

"Hi! It's good to meet you too, and she was really awesome! And uh, I don't think so?"

        "Well, there's no hurry about it." She pulls him into a quick hug. "Lennah, could you check on the quiche in the kitchen? There's a few things I think that he and I should talk about."

"I'll have you know he's been a perfect gentleman, and if you want to threaten him you can do it in front of me."

        "Spoil all my fun, why don't you." She turns back to him. "So, do you know what a condom is?"

"...I'll be in the kitchen."