A day with mom

Talia was clearly upset the next day, just lying in bed and looking at the ceiling as Morgana tried her best to lift her spirits, she hasn't even gone outside to visit her tree once and it was already four in the afternoon. Georgia, tired of seeing her little girl so upset, went up to her room and sat by her daughter's side.

"Hey sweetie, how are you doing today?" She asked Talia.

"Ughhh" Talia answered.

"That's the only thing she said all day" Morgana whispers to Georgia.

"My poor baby, how about we spend a day together to cheer you up, huh? Just us girls, what do you say?" Georgia asks her.

Talia lifts her head, looks at her mom and lets her head drop back to bed once more.

"Oh, come on, none of that" Georgia picks her up, gestures for Morgana to follow and takes Talia outside "It's going to be fun, I promise."

Talia just lets her mom carry her around like a sack of potatoes.

"Today I don't have any work to do, so, I thought it might be fun to show you what me and your dad do for a living it's going to be fun don't worry" Georgia tells her as they get to a shed in the middle of the woods.

Georgia opens the doors and puts Talia down on a little couch on the corner of the room. "So, this is where me and your dad work, we make all kinds of objects, trinkets and furniture, all from wood, handmade and over all, the best around, I generally make some of the pieces here, your father installs them in the houses in town, from wood paneling to dinner tables, to decorative little trinkets."

Talia finally looks around curiously seeing a great variety of finished and unfished pieces all around "So, you're both carpenters?"

"Exactly, what do you think?" She gestures to the pieces around her.

Morgana starts flying around exploring everything.

Talia gets up and starts exploring too, "What's that?" She points to a little sculpture Morgana stopped to look closely at.

"Oh," Georgia takes the little carving and shows her. It's a little figurine of Talia with Morgana on her shoulder, expertly carved. "Do you like it? We have some more of this around here so you're always with us, even when we're working."

Talia and Morgana both examine the little figurine closely, smiling at the likeness to them.

"It's really pretty mommy" Morgana tells Talia.

"It really is" Talia agrees.

"I'm glad you both like it" Georgia smiles at the girls "Do you want me to teach you how to make them? You can even make one of Maddie, so she is always with you, what do you say?"

Talia nods resolute, knowing she can't simply stop everything whenever Maddie is away from her.

"Okay, sweetie, come here" Georgia goes to a table with multiple blocks of wood in different sizes, "here pick one to start with."

Talia picks a 10cm rectangular block and shows it to her mom as Morgana watches them with interest, not really wanting to participate, but happy to watch them bond.

"Okay, here we have some carving knifes, and some chisels for you to start with, I'll show you some of the basic techniques you'll need for what you want to do, and if you like it, we can start bringing you with us when we need to work, that way me and your dad can come to work together as well, instead of one at a time to keep an eye on you" Georgia smiles booping Talia's nose.

"Why don't you two just work in the house or build a shed closer or something?" Talia asks curious.

"Well, to be honest, the shed and the cabin were already here when we came, and we made a deal to live here, it says that we can only cut certain trees, and change little things around, but nothing to the size of a whole new shed, it's just some rules to guarantee the preservation of the forest as a whole" Georgia explains.

They spend the day working together, Talia acquires a bunch of little cuts on her fingers for being a straight up menace to herself with a knife, which Clover finds hilarious and keeps laughing at her at every new little cut, while Morgana just watches her with worry and Georgia rethinks her whole plan over and over in her head, cursing herself for forgetting how much of a clutz her little girl really is.

"This was so fun mommy" Talia tells her mom as Georgia bandages her little fingers.

[I never thought it was possible for someone to accidentally hurt themselves in the exact same way so many times in a roll, I mean, there were some variations on how you did it, but I don't even know how you managed to cut the same line on your own thumb five times in a roll and I was watching the whole time, I'm honestly impressed, I'm convinced that people couldn't have done half of what you did today on accident, on purpose if they tried]

Georgia just looks into her little girl's eyes with shock "Did you really like it?" She asks, not stopping bandaging Talia's fingers.

"Yes, it's so cool, making something out of nothing is awesome, it's hard, though, but most things worth doing tend to be" Talia says inspecting her newly bandaged fingers.

"You're right, baby, come on now, it's getting late, and your dad is probably finishing making dinner already" she kisses Talia's forehead, and they all go back home.

"So, how was it?" Tim asks looking at Talia's bandaged hands as they sit down to eat.

"It was so fun, today I did mostly shapes and stuff to learn the techniques, but mom said we can go everyday if I want to, and then I'll be able to make a little sculpture of Maddie so she's always with me, and maybe one of me and Morgana too, so she can always have us with her too" Talia explained excitedly.

Tim raises a brow to Georgia and looks at Talia's fingers.

"It's fine, just little cuts, she's learning, it's normal, I was by her side the whole time, and most of the little cuts were made in the beginning, the more practice she got the less she hurt herself" Georgia says half trying to convince herself as well "plus, she really liked carving and it got her in a better mood as well."

"She does look happier now" Tim says watching Talia talk silently with Morgana as they eat their dinner.

"Oh, I almost forgot" He gets up, goes to the living room and comes back holding a medium blue box "This box was left outside the door with Talia's name on it."

"Who is it from?" Georgia asks as Talia perks up trying to see the box better.

"I don't know, I just heard a loud noise outside the door, I thought you three might had gotten tired and come back earlier, but when I got there, there was just this box on the floor and no one around" He explains.

"Did you open it?" Georgia asks a bit worried now about the weird circumstances around the sudden appearance of the box.

Tim nods and opens the box, showing them the twin swords nestled inside.

"So pretty" Morgana says at the same time that Talia says "They're beautiful" reaching out to touch it.

Georgia nods in agreement studying the intricate workmanship in the sword.

"What else did it said in the box?" Georgia asks as Talia runs her bandaged fingers on the swords with an expression of pure awe.

"Just Talia, nothing else" Tim scratches the back of his head.

"And you checked it? Thoroughly, to make sure there's no enchantment or curse or anything on it?" Georgia asks worried.

"Yeah, its clean, not a drop of magic in it" Tim answers, by this point Talia is already holding a sword in each hand and moving them around in glee.

"Okay, that's enough young lady, you hurt yourself enough for one day" Tim says putting the sword away.

"But they're mine. I need to learn how to use them" Talia tries.

"No" Georgia says, "Maybe when you're a little older and learn how to be more careful."

"But I am careful" Talia protests.

Her parents just pointedly stare at her bandaged hands.

"Fine, good night" Talia goes to give each a hug and a kiss on the cheek "come on Morgana" the girls go get ready for bed.

[I'm surprised you didn't fight more for it]

'I was going to, but they're right, I should at least be able to carve something without hurting myself before even starting to think about handling a sword.'

[Agreed]

'You've been weirdly quiet today.'

[No, I haven't]

'Not about the sword or the carving, before that, when I spent most of the day in bed, you were quiet the whole time.'

[Oh, I was just reflecting on how misguided I was before]

'About what?'

[Maddie]

'Oh, so you'll stop pretending to dislike her now.'

[I might as well, I won't pretend to know what's going on there, but she is clearly more important to you than I gave her credit for]

'She really is, also, you gave her NO credit, like at all, like if the amount of credit you gave to her since we've met was put in a graph it would just be a straight line on top of the number zero.'

[It's cute you think you're funny, delusionally so at times, but the sheer amount of persistence on something so clearly out of your capabilities is adorable]

'…Misguided you said?'

[Yes, and I'm sorry. Telling you to stop seeing her was a mistake, I should had paid more attention, I should had known better, if today was a preview of how you feel knowing you'll only get to see her in another six days, I don't even want to think of how you would be feeling if you had to purposefully avoid her]

'Yeah, me neither, it felt horrible, it still does.'

[Exactly, I really am sorry Talia, I'm supposed to be the one being that knows you better than anyone else on this planet, and yet I've failed to see that coming, I'll do better, I'll find a way to do better]

'It's okay, Clover, really, even I didn't see that one coming, maybe it's a mix of all we've been through, maybe it's fate or just pure fear of losing her again, hell, as far as we know it could simply be a trauma response for her nearly dying the last time that I saw her. I'm not going to hold the fact that you wanted me to stop seeing her to keep my memory dreams away against you, because I know you're only trying to protect me, but you need to be more open with me about things like that for now on, no more pouting and acting all bothered without telling me why, we're in this together and if we actually want to succeed on this mission, we're gonna have to be able to rely on each other, no acting petty, no second guessing, complete trust. I know there are things you can't share with me and I understand that, I get it, but if there is anything, I don't care how important it is to keep it from me, if there's ANYTHING that can potentially damage our partnership, our FRIENDSHIP, you need to tell me about it, do you understand?'

[Yes, Talia]

'Do we have a deal?'

[We do]

'Good, now, Good night, Clover'

[Good night, Talia, sweet dreams]

'You too'

"Good night, Morgana"

"Good night, mommy"