The Ogre Strength Fairy and the Eldest 'Son'
Chapter 149 - My Restlessness Is Rising Faster Than Your Rolls, Dear

Chapter 149: Chapter 149 - My Restlessness Is Rising Faster Than Your Rolls, Dear

Dull mint eyes opened in the darkness of yet another too early morning without a decent rest. Elua studied the ceiling of the guest room in growing frustration. She acknowledged that she had at least managed a few hours of actual sleep more than yesterday.

The Whispering Skydancer’s soft trills eventually drew her attention to where it perched on the windowsill. The bird cocked its head at its caretaker and its white eye gleamed at her in the pre-dawn moonlight. She spoke to it in her monotone, while really speaking to herself.

"I know. Being stubborn about this isn’t solving it."

She had tried her own bed first, but gave up when her mind wouldn’t quiet itself. The thought of Qat’s past presence in the bed made the static-filled emptiness of her night a little easier to bear before she’d finally drifted off.

The reincarnator spread out her spiritual sense looking for the person who has promised to be there. Her beloved was already awake and working in the kitchen. A twitchy smile blossomed despite her mild fatigue.

"My ’fortress’ is always so dedicated. I really love her too much."

The heiress took note that her Qat was a little unhappy this morning. She skated out of bed and dressed quickly. There were lots of ways to make a hard working spouse happier, but the one thing they usually had in common was being close at hand.

---

Flour dusted the counter she’d cleaned a couple hours earlier as Qatrand grew flummoxed at her latest attempt. The small rolls she had shaped and baked lay in an uneven row. She broke one apart and took a test bite.

’Not inedible, but certainly not the type of delicate morning bread he makes.’

She had hoped to master it so that Elua wouldn’t notice the difference if it was served at the breakfast table. While the cook was unaware of this goal, he still gently gave advice with no judgment to the misshapen and rather dense examples.

"You’re being too forceful with the dough again. These need an even lighter touch than yesterday’s flatbread."

The Yecine’s pigeon-blue eyes narrowed at the lumps in some of her latest treats. She had thought moving to the ’simple’ rolls the staff was making today would be a natural progression - but every attempt to form them properly had at first resulted in dense, heavy spheres that refused to ’rise’.

The lecture on leavened and unleavened dough had not taken very long, but waiting for the clump of ingredients to finish its process each time certainly did.

"I don’t understand. The movements seemed straightforward enough when you demonstrated. I didn’t think I was squeezing so hard."

She’d even been sure to imagine her wife’s hand! Though she was starting to realize that, perhaps, she should never squeeze a mortal’s hand. Her El was just too much of a cultivator anomaly to judge things like what *should* and shouldn’t hurt.

"Bread is alive, young master. As I explained, the yeast needs room to breathe... as it were. To create those little pockets that make it light and fluffy. If you press things together too hard..."

He gestured at the tightly compacted balls of dough from her very first try. They still had not risen in hours and served a very good example of what not to do. At least, the cook as well as the swordswoman had thought so at the time.

The kitchen helpers moved carefully around them as they prepared for the actual breakfast service, having learned to give the determined cultivator plenty of space. The low voice the teenager spoke with held the same kind of resolve she brought to sword training. It was much too intense for their tastes.

"Once more."

As she reached for more flour first, a familiar presence of emotions filtering through the spiritual fragment inside made her pause. She glanced back at the doorway to see her wife in that silver dress. Qat was almost worried that the reason for her attire truly would never be explained

’But it’s been so many times I now feel awkward asking... it makes it seem like I only just noticed or started to care.’

"Good morning, darling."

Her ’sweet’ smile didn’t quite reach her tired looking mint eyes in the early hour. The brunette held a tray of items in her arms as she took steps toward the servant’s dining table.

"Perhaps we should take a small break? I brought some things that might help us both relax a little."

The blonde couldn’t help but notice how reverently her wife handled the tea set from the Talcres. She remembered the promise voiced to the pair of cultivators during the gifting ceremony... as well as the explanation quickly given by the reincarnator later on in private.

"Okay. Thank you, El."

Qatrand placed aside the frustrations with learning to bake and turned her focus on the person she had decided to do it for in the first place. The swordswoman wiped her hands clean before joining her wife at the servant’s table. She watched as Elua began arranging the set of painted cards from her disciples in a pair of fans across the wooden surface.

"Where is your new friend this morning?"

The tall teen eventually asked. She really wanted to do something to help but just calmly took a seat as the heiress carefully measured tea leaves. The Yecine was not the only one in the room that looked anxiously at the young miss doing ’housework’, though she *was* the only one who didn’t doubt her competence.

"Exploring the grounds. I let him out before I came down. He needs to learn the layout if he’s going to be useful."

She ’giggled’ while clutching the pitcher of unheated water to take to the stove.

"I suspect he’s currently looking for where the gardeners have trimmed branches. He did not enjoy the hand towel as a nest as much as I hoped."

Her voice carried amusement, but Qat had noticed the slight fatigue in her mint eyes.

"You’re not sleeping well."

There was no question in her tone and it caused the brunette’s hands to stilled over the heating water. She chose not to say anything for the rest of the five minutes or so... and her husband-wife also didn’t press further. The Yecine instead began examining the cards more closely.

’I’ve never played this before.’

Eventually the smaller teen walked back over and began pouring the hot water to steep the tea in. The tiredness was harder to see without her facade in place, but the blonde sensed it hadn’t vanished.

"I keep simultaneously thinking about too many things and nothing at all. I’m not sure what is wrong, but I did sleep better last night than the last."

Qat swiftly reached across the table and the small hand with her own. Her calloused thumb began to massage in circles around the soft skinned knuckles. The reincarnator’s fingertips trembled at the contact that had been applied so much more gently than ever before.

’Is this the result of her sudden ’domestic’ training already? Maybe I should get her to try lots of new things...’

"I’m here, El. Together we’ll handle every challenge as it comes. It’s alright not to worry and just rest."

"I slept in the guest room because you slept there once before and I did it another time already when you first came back because I really want to sleep in the same bed together some night soon and-"

The illusionist found herself blurting out in her monotone until a hand covered her mouth. The ears of her ’fortress’, or at least the tips, appeared to be glowing red as Qatrand’s lips pursed at her. With a jittery neck movement, the ’older’ girl glanced back at the staff who hadn’t heard anything they were saying.

Elua had the presence of mind to set up a Vacuum Layer before ever answering about her recent sleeping habits. Even if further mindfulness fled the very moment her precious gem showed her that bit of physical affection.

’Willpower. Please. Don’t lick her hand. Just because the way she blushes is adorable is not a good enough reason. For her. She won’t think it is. Don’t do it!’

The ’hunger’ flickered in her wife’s spirit and the swordswoman exhaled a sigh.

"I-I’ll think about it."

Her low voice responded somewhat positively while flustered over their marital discussions being on display. She was calming down some due to realizing she could not hear the sounds out of the kitchen like before... which meant the little cultivator was using her Element to keep things private.

However, the idea of being too private was also troubling.

’I might not be able to sleep if I worry she’ll lose control of her... urges.’

"These cards are very well made."

Pigeon-blue eyes darted to the side while shifting the topic in another direction - at least out loud. Inwardly, she was still weighing the matter... even as she expected she would do what the cute girl wanted, eventually. Her hand pulled slowly away from covering Elua’s mouth.

’A single night of lost rest should be worth it if my wife gets more sleep... and as far as things that might be worth doing-’

"I’m sure they’ve both improved greatly under your guidance. Their gifts also showed real care and dedication. I rather like the crystal from them that you made me keep."

Qat looked over to the weapon resting near the exit doorway and the softly glowing stone attached. The blade would be too in the way to wear while learning to cook, but she would be unable to calm down if she chose not to bring it at all. Part of it was that the Yecine legacy of the heavy sword had been instilled in her to the point it felt like an extension of herself most times.

The other part was that the gifted weapon from her El meant too much to leave home without. The swordswoman accepted a hot cup of weak tea while ruminating on the importance of returning the kindness of gifts.

"Perhaps we could help them improve further. That crystallized amber from the Order... what do you think of sharing a bit with Fusand?"

On the mention of giving up valuable cultivation resources that her beloved could be using herself, the lemon it *felt* like Qat just made El bite into... was very sour - and very, unconscionably sweet to the ancient cultivator.