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I was thinking, I don't give very much credit to Melanie do I? Hmm..Must fix this!

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Melanie sat around the strange home of her oldest and dearest friend whom she'd trusted as much as her Lady Emily and Master Anton. The home had been dimly lit with fine instruments that aged on the walls, books lining shelves and a subtle aroma of cinnamon and freshly cut flowers. It was a nice place to relax and discuss her problems to the old widow who was older than even she. In some ways, it was like speaking with her own mother again.

"Melanie, I'm sorry, I hadn't even asked if you'd like some tea," the old woman said, getting up from her chair. She felt around, her bright blue eyes wandering downward despite her inability to see. Melanie quickly got up and helped her.

"No, no it's fine. I'll get it myself. You sit down, Ma'am," she told her.

The woman laughed and waved her hand passively. "Melanie, you worry too much for your own good. I may be blind but that doesn't mean---"


"That you're handicapped," Melanie finished, smiling and moving for the kitchen. She'd already shifted into her human form, a form she was fond of moreso than the real her no one took seriously.

"If you know so much, then why must you act like you know so little?" the woman asked.

Melanie began boiling some water in the tea kettle, placing it over the stove and reaching through some cabinets to find the tea bags. She thought about this for a moment, wondering why she had always pretended to know so little about things when in reality, she knew more than anyone would bargain for.

Maybe it was just part of a barrier she withheld. She wanted people to feel comfortable and unexpectant of her. It was like her abilities. No one would ever guess that she was incredibly brilliant with magic. Of course she lacked so much in any other self defense that she knew she'd be done for had someone managed to take away all that power.

Which has happened once before to Melanie, costing her her mistress' life. Indirectly effecting her Lady and Master's lives as well. The long stretch of silence sat unwell with the old woman. She frowned and shuffled through her aging stack of tarot cards while waiting for some sort of response.

"Tell me, Melanie, what's new Emily and Anton now-a-days?" she asked.

Melanie momentarily came back into the world, pulling the tea bags out, some sugar and cream as well as the set of cups. She smiled faintly at the mention of her children's names. It was then she mentally forced herself to remember they weren't children anymore and they never were her children either...

"They fair well. Anton's wife, Reese is expecting their second child. Isaac is taking the news rather well, but that's to be expected since he's been nagging them for someone to play with since ''Aunt Emi won't spit one out''," she said, quoting the eleven year old prodogy.

The old woman laughed and shook her head. "That sounds like Isaac. What of Emily?"

Melanie nodded a little, placing the bags in the cups and bringing the tray over to a small table between the two seats. She set a tea cup and saucer down infront of her, then one infront of herself. She placed the sugar and cream jars aside with two spoons. Waiting for the kettle to whistle, she sighed and sat down in her own chair.

"She's doing very well actually. Although she's recently been informed that she has only one egg left in her body. She has two weeks to fertilize it and she isn't sure what to do about it. I suggested an artificial insemination but she was worried about how that would look to Cross," she explained.

"Is that so? What has she decided?"

"I'm not sure, I just hoped she wouldn't give up her only chance to have a child....like I did."

The sweet old lady had placed her hands in her lap, taking in Melanie's last statement. She'd been sad for the woman as well. "You can still have children, Melanie. You're not human."

"I know that, but I'm sworn to celibacy. I've maintained it for over 150 years, I can't just stop now," she told her friend.

The old lady smiled a little, setting her cards aside and glancing in the direction she felt Melanie sitting. She could feel her kind aura ahead of her. "Not even for that nice devil imp you talk so much about?"

Melanie felt her cheeks burn up. "What? You mean Jack? Hahaha, heaven's no. He harbors no interest in me as I harbor none for him. I speak of him because he's funny. He makes me laugh," she argued. It was sort of odd to think about really, had people really thought she felt that way about someone she barely knew? That would be dangerous territory, falling inlove with someone because of one kind gesture. It'd be ludacris.

"Besides I have to make sure Lady Emily is the one to be happy. I am most assured my Master Anton is doing well and is more than happy. He isn't alone in the world."

"It would seem to me that Emily is quite happy now. I've spoken with her a day or so ago. She seemed perfectly happy to me. I'm sure it's because of that Vampire Hunter fellow," the old woman chimed, knowing exactly what Melanie was trying to throw at her. Another excuse to worry about the children.

Melanie frowned. "Is it so clear to see I don't want to let go of them?"

"It's blindingly obvious. What I don't understand is...why?"

The imp thought about this for a moment upon hearing the whistling of the kettle in the kitchen. She got up, walked over and grasped onto an oven mit, grabbing the handle of the kettle and bringing it back to the table, caredully pouring some of it's hot water into her cup and then her own.

"I don't have any real meaning without them..." she said, voice cracking.

Her blue eyes had softened with such sadness, she had to supress her own tears. "All of my life I've had someone to watch over. I've had someone to think about other than myself. Now that things had changed upon losing my mistress, Lucille, having to endure the work as a mother to her children, it was unlike anything I've ever managed to feel. Raising two little children and holding them, cooking for them, being told that I was loved and being called "mother" occasionally...it was everything I could have dreamed of and more..." she began.

Dousing the tea bag in the hot water, Melanie stirred it around a little before adding a bit of sugar and cream. She carefully gave it to the old lady and began work on her own cup.

"Thank you," the woman mumbled and then urged Melanie to continue.

"I'm happy that they're happy with people that can love and take care of them the way they need. But where does it leave me? I'm alone in the world for once and I don't know what to do anymore. Master Anton is a middle-aged man with a wife, wonderful son and another child along the way. Lady Emily is happy and loved by someone who can undoubtedly protect her provided she ever falls or fails. I don't have that. I don't have anyone to go home to at the end of the day. Lady Emily is hardly home, she's always off with Cross now. Master Anton is busy with home life. All I can do now is tend to the garden and wait until I am needed for Lady Emily's offspring. Even then, there's a chance she won't have any," Melanie told the woman.

As the old lady sipped out of her cup, she shook her head a bit and tilted it at her. Her snowy hair had shifted over her face a little before being pushed back. "Melanie, I think it's very healthy for you to finally start caring about yourself. You shouldn't feel bad about letting go of the children. I remember when I had to let Akari go off on her own...it hurt terribly and left me lone since my husband had died years before...but I got back on my feet..." she told her, trying to motivate her atleast a bit.

"I suppose...it still doesn't solve my lonliness. There is no real resolution for it, is there?"

Her friend suddenly smirked. "You know, there is no harm in trying for the Jake fellow."

Melanie glanced over at her and chuckled. " 'Jake' fellow? I'm pretty sure his name was 'Jack'....and yes, there's plenty of harm in it. I could be hurt. I would rather not be."

"And you complained to Emily about her stubborn paranoia with Cross. You see, things worked out for her, so why not you?"

"Because Lady Emily and Cross have more in common than anyone thinks. They are the most compatible people on Gaia. Jack is different than I am. Very different. Not that that's bad but it may be for him...oooh why am I even talking about this with you?! I don't even feel that way about him!" she said, shaking her head and trying to incite some frustration into her old friend.

"If you didn't then why are you all red? It's always so funny to see an old bird like you getting mixed up and confused about that imp." Of course she was blind, she couldn't see Melanie's embarassment, but she knew Melanie would blurt something out to let her know her guess was correct.

" 'Old bird like me'? Excuse me, Angela Gainsborough but you're six centuries years old! You're 500 years older than myself!" Melanie said, smiling and taking a drink out of her cup.

"You're still older than most gaians. Oh wait, no you're not. youth seems to be largely popular here. I miss the good old days when it wasn't easy to achieve immortality or any sort of youth.Like my mother's friend Ion, you know what he had to achieve to become immortal? Someone's SOUL! Now look at all these whippersnappers...They're born with it!"