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One afternoon, Clea struggled with a crystalline spell. Stephen frequently used it to capture vaporous entities to bring back to the Sanctum and dispose or vanquish them properly. She thought perhaps capturing some mist from the portable humidifying unit should be easy enough to do, but somehow she kept getting the density all wrong and instead of crystallizing them, formed them into pebbles. Certainly that couldn't be right!
As she continued to practice - and fail at her task - Clea's impatience grew. Where had Stephen gone off to that he couldn't assist her?!
"I'm here," came the telepathic response.
Although she had not meant to send him her frustration, she realized she must have done so, and suddenly felt very sheepish.
"Come to the Reading Room," Stephen directed. Clea gathered up her failed attempts from the floor and made her way through the Sanctum to meet him.
As she entered the Reading Room, Clea saw he was dressed in a long dark woolen coat. Clearly he must have been off in the streets of New York on a human errand instead of some mystical reason, and somehow this made Clea feel even more foolish for being frustrated at his disappearance.
"Now, no more of that," said he as he pulled off the coat from his shoulders. The coat shook itself, and the glamour that had made it appear as an ordinary winter coat shimmered away, turning itself back into the Cloak of Levitation. The Cloak then moved away and stood at attention just near the door frame behind Clea.
In the same moment Stephen's coat had turned itself back into the Cloak, his entire Earthly outfit of a tight knitted sweater and casual pants shimmered as well, leaving him back in his usual blue robes. Clea noted that he had, in fact, also taken off his gloves. They laid beside a bag on a tray which he placed on top of the large ottoman before the fireplace.
Casting a flick of his finger at the fireplace, it suddenly came alive with a roaring fire.
"Now, what have you been working on while I was away?"
She offered up her little pebbles and explained, "I used the crystalline spell to capture water vapor, but they all turned into little rocks!"
Stephen examined one carefully and smiled. "Well, I see your problem!" Holding the tiny sphere up, he released it into the air - where it expanded into a crystalline globe, as Clea had intended to create.
He handed them back to her. "You made them too dense. Try loosening up the binding on the spell."
She repeated his action with one of the little pebbles, and as it glided up into the air, it expanded just as his did. She gasped in delight. "Oh, but of course!" Suddenly she threw all the little pebbles into the air, and each of them popped into perfect transparent spheres one by one.
The light of the fire through the spheres cast little rainbows across the cozy room, which delighted Clea even more. Stephen softly smiled as he watched her float off the ground to touch one of them on the wood work of the tall ceiling.
"I'm, uh, sorry I took so long today," he said as explanation and apology. "I had something special I wanted to get for you - something I thought you'd enjoy."
Clea looked down from the ceiling in surprise. It seemed lately Stephen was doing a lot of surprising things for her. True, of course, was the fact that they had only known each other for a few months, but it was obvious to her that something inside Stephen was blossoming.
He turned to reach for the bag as she floated down to the ground. Stephen pulled out a couple of smaller bags and a carton of some kind. As he discarded the bag, she saw two mugs were also on the tray. Motioning his hands, the large ottoman and its tray moved before the fire, and Stephen sat down cross-legged on the floor on one side of it. He motioned her to do the same at the other side.
Clea sat on her haunches before the ottoman and watched as he opened the packets and poured the dark brown substance into the mugs. They appeared to be flakes of some kind, and Clea could smell something sweet and familiar about them.
"Chocolate!" she exclaimed.
Stephen smiled as he continued to pour items into the mugs - this time a thick white substance from a carton. "Yes, chocolate. As I recall, you very much liked that melted chocolate from inside the cake at that Italian restaurant I took you to a few weeks ago."
"Oh, yes! We have nothing like it in the Dark Dimension! So thick, sweet and...and it tastes like nothing else I have ever eaten!"
Stephen smiled broader as he pulled his back straight and raised his hands, forming a somewhat complex mudra with the hands apart, then drew them together to form another symbol. Slowly, the liquid in the mugs churned as if stirred by invisible sticks, then they began to let off steam, and the liquid began to darken as the chocolate in the mugs began to melt. Finally, the substance became slightly frothy as Stephen raised his hands up and down over the mugs. When he finally released the spell and dropped his hands, plooms of steam wafted from them.
"If you'll do the honors," said he as a small bag of white...something...floated toward her.
Clea plucked the packet from the air and pulled out a small white cylindrical object. She gave it a little squeeze. The little white...nugget?...pushed itself out in opposite directions from the pressure of her fingers. "They're poofy!" she exclaimed.
Stephen chuckled. "They're marshmallows."
"Marsh--poofs!" She squeezed it again to feel the strange almost gelatinous resistance to her fingertips.
"Uh...okay. Marsh-poofs."
When Clea seemed more insistent on simply playing with the food, Stephen took back the bag and put a small handful in each of the drinks. "See? They add more creaminess."
Clea watched in fascination as the little white gelatinous pellets began to dissolve in the rich brown liquid. She dropped the pellet she was holding into a mug, and picked it up with both hands, letting the steam fill her face as she watched it, too, melt in the hot liquid.
"Now, be careful," Stephen warned. "The liquid is quite hot."
Clea dipped her head to the liquid, slightly tipping the mug toward herself. She pulled it away with a gasp.
"I warned you!" Stephen cried.
Then he suddenly burst out laughing. It wasn't his usual chuckle or polite smirk. No, Clea distinctly thought, Stephen was actually guffawing!
She smiled broadly at him.
As he gasped for breath, Stephen reached over and touched her nose. Pulling his finger away, Clea saw a puff of white on his fingertip. His hand wavered there, slightly shaking as they always did, and suddenly Clea pulled herself up and put her mouth on his finger to suck off the foam from it.
She backed off his finger slowly, watching his expression with wicked intent. Stephen sighed sheepishly and blushed, but Clea’s knowing smile made him realize she was very aware of his growing feelings for her.
She smiled and laughed, rocking against her haunches. "I made you laugh!"
He managed to smile again, but continued to look rather embarrased.
Clea put her mug back down and dipped her finger in the foam. She leaned forward again and patted his nose. Upon the mock look of dismay he gave along with the crinkle on the bridge of his brow, she laughed heartily and clasped her hands together. Leaning forward once more, she placed her lips upon his nose to take away the foam.
With his questioning gaze upon her, she answered softly, "I thought I saw mistletoe."