"Oh, you don't need to be here the whole time. I have a previous appointment at one, at any rate, though nothing after that. Could you return at about three PM?"

"Oh, sure, that works!"

"Good, bring this to the front and tell me anything else you think is relevant and we'll get started."

"Sure thing, I'll be here then."

The front desk presents her with a bill of 1020,  estimated, and would like her to pay 290 up front now.

Sure sure here they go.

Now: to call Terel.

"Oh, hello, hi! How's the bureaucracy going?"

"Hi, love! I took the test this morning..." And she tells him about her day.

Terel didn't do anything particularly exciting today, but he tells her about how stupefied his golem class team was when he showed them the completed modular memory.

She is very smug about him and thinks he is great and amazing and the best thing to ever grace this or any other universe.

Which, he reiterates, is kind of messed up, but again, there's not really much helping it is there? Any 'solution' would be worse in some way.

It is kind of messed up, she agrees. Objectively speaking. Subjectively speaking, though, he is the sun itself, and she's perfectly fine with this.

"I kind of want to- Hm. Nevermind."

"To...?"

"...I don't want to have you do things for me too often, it feels wrong, like taking advantage, like I tricked you into looking at me on Wednesday or something."

"Oh, no, love, no. I do have preferences that don't involve you, you won't be forcing me into anything I'd find horrid, and I genuinely, truly want to make you the happiest man alive—doing things for you makes me happy, I'm not coerced or anything."

"And even when I think about that logically, it still feels wrong. Conditioning, bleh. I'm no good at ignoring it even if I can recognize it sometimes."

"I am in love with you. Irrevocably and completely and eternally and, yes, magically—but I'm not excusing you. I'm not inventing rationalisations for why I love you or what I love about you, I'm not a different person than I was before I met you—I would know, eidetic memory and all—and that person would have liked you anyway, would have loved you anyway, and even without the magic just the sheer amount of brain space I have would already mean I would love you more than I would have been able to even comprehend as a human."

Too bad Terel's call crystal doesn't have a video feature, she'd be able to see him blushing.

"...Okay. I hear you, I get it. Thanks. Well the thing I was going to ask was if you could talk to the trade company that guy sent you to about silicon and anything else we'll need to start in on electronics."

"Sure, can do, that's a great idea."

"Mm, well, it's about time for class, so I'll talk to you later. Or tomorrow, that'd be fine, probably takes hours to get back even with your speed right?"

"A few, yeah, might arrive in the middle of the night."

"I would prefer to not be woken up by anything but my alarm clock. Wait you can't get in the building without setting off an alarm anyway."

"I meant arrive at Suvak, I'm not planning on waking you up."

"Well, good luck negoatiating."