With a well-earned day of rest behind them, and with no pressing matter on the horizon, the pair resumed work on Niala's home in earnest.

  Over the following days, floors were scrubbed, broken furniture was thrown out, the water system was re-piped and flushed, floor boards were replaced, and the mana-wiring was ripped out and replaced.

  Within the week, the carpenter reported that the bat's new home was completed. Niala, more than ready to start working on her home's roof and attic, had David help her gather the ingredients for bat repellent and bat bait, brewing a batch of each right away.

  They went and placed the bait in the bat's new home during the day. Then, at dusk when the bats began to fly out and forage for food, David stepped up into the attic, evicting the remaining interlopers and thoroughly dousing the room in repellent before patching whatever holes he could find.

  They didn't find any bats the next morning. With a victory high-five, they began the arduous task of scraping the guano and storing it in sealed crates in the basement. David complained about the filtering mask Niala had him wear until she described a few of the lung infections and ensuing symptoms breathing in concentrated guano dust could lead to.

  He wisely revised his appreciation of the filtering mask.

  The attic's floor board having absorbed guano fluids for saints knew how many years, they were all ripped out and replaced. Every surface was then sanitized using one of Niala's industrial-strength home-brewed cleaning agents that made David's insides itch.

  “What is this stuff anyway?” He asked while handling a bucket of diluted cleanser, mask and waxed heavy leather gloves on.

  “Short-lived acid.”

  “... how strong an acid are we talking about?” He asked.

  “I had to coat the bucket with a neutralizing wax-strong acid. Don't take off the waxed gloves or the mask.” She instructed, smirking.

  He eyed the bucket.

  “And you brewed this with weeds?”

  “Not weeds! Well, mostly not weeds. You know, now that you mention weeds, that acid and your old woman brew share quite a few ingredients.” She gave him a toothy smile. “You should hope I don't accidentally mix up the two recipes.”

  “Friends don't casually threaten friends with acidic murder.”

  “It's not a threat! It's a... friendly warning.”

  “My tombstone will read Woke up with a warm cup of acid.”

  She stuck out her tongue. “You've been warned. Be nice!”

  “I am nice!”

  “Be nicer!”

  “I'll be nicer, you stop casually trying to poison me.”

  “I've done nothing like that! That's not being nicer!”

  By the time they were done arguing, the attic was entirely decontaminated.

  David soon found himself on the roof, replacing damaged tiles and re-wiring and re-aligning the condensing array that would capture ambient mana and feed it to the mana-heart, which would then refine it and power the rest of the house.

  Niala was equal part excited and anxious, looking towards finally having lights, heating, and cooling throughout the entire house, but at the same time watching with a knot in her stomach as David navigated around the roof two stories high.

  The task was time-consuming however, and while Niala helped by ferrying tools and materials up and down the ladder, it still took most of the day.

  As David made the last trip down, sweaty and slightly red from exposure, they smiled at each other and made for the mana-heart.

  Squeezing past each other into the small utility room, David beckoned Niala. “Your house, your honour. Throw the switch.”

  She stepped giddily and grabbed the large handle with both hands, took one breath, and pulled down. With a loud clack, the circuit closed.

  Then they waited.

  And waited a little more.

  Brows furrowed.

  And just as David was about to go inspect the wiring, small white motes began pulsing within the heart's centre crystal, casting soft glows on Niala's mile-wide smile. David's mouth opened, but no words answered the call. There in the small, dim room, with the dancing lights, so close to each other, he lost himself in those bright amethyst eyes that shone like gems, full of joy, compassion, and intelligence.

  A woman he'd only known for a little over four weeks now, and yet felt like she'd been in his life forever.

  His mind was an empty plain, his feelings roiling clouds, time had lost meaning.

  A thought crashed upon his world, parting the sky and splitting the earth. On one side Niala, looking at him in much the same way he did. On the other, David the Free Courier, bound to eventually leave, to ply his trade away from her.

  He cleared his throat. “Right, well, it's working. Once it charges up properly, we'll have power everywhere.” He said, looking... elsewhere.

  She jolted. “...Ah! Yes! It's going to feel like a real home! That we can live in!” Niala rejoiced, darting out of the small room and turning her face away from him to hide her blush.

  We can live in...

  It sounded nice.

  But it probably was just a slip of the tongue on Niala's part. Surely she meant nothing by it.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  He stepped out after her, the little catkin woman he wanted to protect, even from himself.

  Even with the necessities, plumbing, manawiring, and interior refreshed and refurbished, there was still a lot of work to do. The exterior walls needed cleaning, the garden was overdue for a weeding, the well and shed required some attention, the windows needed to be replaced, and a dozen other things.

  So they kept working, dashing lines after lines on the extensive work list, time seeming to pass like water in a languid river.

  And one day, late in the afternoon, there was a knock at the door.

  Old two-story brick house with walled garden and wooden arch frontage. This must be it.

  Karline stepped up to door, using its bronze knocker to announce her arrival.

  A high-pitched voice called out from inside. “I'm coming!”

  The door opened on a small-ish catkin woman, her ears twitching. “Oh! Hello! Can I help you?” She greeted.

  “Hi, I'm Karline, free courier, I'm looking for a Niala of Riverwall?”

  The catkin's eyebrows rose. “That's me. Is this about my posting?”

  “Indeed it is ma'am. You asked to investigate and find the closest living relative of one Jasmund of Riverwall. I found them.” Karline retrieved an envelope and offered it to her.

  Niala eyed the envelope as if it were going to burn her. With apprehension, she snatched it from Karline's hand. She stared at it, unopened, before blinking and forcing a smile back on her face.

  “Sorry! I didn't mean to be rude. It's just...” She glanced at the envelope before stuffing it into a pocket. “Karline, right? Did you arrive with the autocar?”

  “Yes ma'am. I came to deliver the letter. If you wouldn't mind signing the posting so that I can go get paid?” The free courier woman said as she retrieved a folded letter.

  “Oh, of course! Come on in, I'll just go grab a pen.” Niala said, opening the door fully and motioning for Karline to step in before darting through a doorway.

  Karline observed the room. It looked a bit like a storefront, with some new-looking empty shelves arrayed behind a long counter. Some dried herbs hung on the walls, adding colour and fragrance. Old yellowed light orbs bathed everything in a calming hue.

  Someone stepped up behind her.

  She turned and... was that...

  “David Wayman !?” Karline exclaimed.

  The tall, broad-shouldered, roguish-eyed, stern-faced, top-ranked elite free courier David Wayman looked at her without recognition.

  Of course he doesn't recognize me! I'm a nobody!

  “You guessed right. Hello, miss?”

  “K-K-Karline, sir! Mister!” She stammered.

  “Free Courier?” He hazarded, taking in her outfit.

  “Yes sir!” She almost saluted. “Can I say, it's an honour to meet you again!”

  “Again?”

  “Yes! We, huh, briefly met during the Ballatino heir hunt.”

  “The... oh, that was years ago, with at least 20 free couriers involved.” He held his forehead, then looked at her. “I remember a lot of them being angry at me.”

  “Just some skill-less hacks sir! Any free courier worth their cloths realized you were just better! And should be a role model!” She said, starry-eyed.

  “David should be a role model?” A small voice asked behind her. She craned her neck and saw the catkin woman, pen in hand, head tilted, ears lopsided.

  “Of course! He's a small celebrity among the free courier! He has a perfect completion rate and an average time that's measured in days instead of weeks. His nickname's the Stallion, because nobody's as fast or hardworking!... Why are you laughing?”

  Niala was holding her sides, desperately reining in her guffaws.

  David quirked an eyebrow. “Yes Niala, why are you laughing?”

  “S- Stall- pffftt – Stallion!” She managed to squeak out.

  “You keep riding me, why is it that funny?”

  Niala fell on the floor, her nervous system overloaded from trying to hide her blush and holding in her laughter.

  “I – pffft – hate you – Ha! – stallion – pffft!”

  David sighed, went over to the breaking-down catkin, and picked her up over his shoulder as she alternated between laughing and punching.

  He turned towards Karline.

  “Do you want to join us for dinner? Despite her current demeanour, Niala is a really great cook.” He offered her.

  “I... huh... Dinner. Yes! Yes I would love to join you for dinner sir!” She managed to say after tearing her gaze away from the maniacal catkin.

  She hadn't expected to meet her courier idol in this dead-end town, but then the free courier life was full of surprises. Sometimes they were bad and sometimes, like tonight, they were good.

  “So David is the top-ranked courier?” Niala asked Karline while serving plates of creamy spaghetti.

  “Not the top top, those spots are held by literal legends that have long ago retired, but yes. Mr.David is right up there. He's an aspiration for the younger couriers and a fire under the older ones' seat. There's an on-going pool on when he will fail his first posting, it was worth 12 princes last I checked.” She replied, before testing the spaghetti, her eyes going wide.

  “Do people really call him the Stallion?” Niala asked between two forkfuls.

  “Sure!... well, most people do. Some people just call him the Horse, and the jealous ones call him the Donkey.” Karline admitted.

  “Pffft!” Niala managed not to spit out her mouthful.

  “Don't laugh at donkeys. They're very useful draft animals for millions of farmers, even with the advent of mana-engines.” David said.

  She forced herself to swallow. “Don't worry, I'm laughing at a specific donkey.” She said, grinning.

  David sighed and took another bite.

  “That said, you'd told me you have a pretty good completion rate. But she's saying it's perfect.” Niala said, pointing her fork at David.

  “Perfect is pretty good.” He shrugged.

  Her fork dipped as she tried to find a reply. She chose instead to give him the stink eye and take another mouthful, ears folded back.

  Karline looked back and forth between them. “Have you two... known each other long? Oh, do you live here, Mr. David? Are you...” She trailed.

  David blinked and glanced at Niala, who was staring a hole into her spaghetti plate and turning pink, before answering. “Only about four weeks. I'm staying here to repay a debt to Niala but once her shop is properly set up I'll have to get back to my boots. Couriers can't stay too long in one place if they don't want to rust.”

  As he said his piece, he darted a glance at Niala. She was still staring at her plate. Her pinkish hue was entirely gone, her face now listless.

  He forced himself to remain aloof. It stung. He wished he didn't have to, but there really was only one path in front of him.

  “... Yes, that's right. David is just helping me out.” Niala murmured. “I... hum... I'm not really hungry. I'll let you two catch up on... courier stuff.”

  She put aside her plate and, avoiding both their gazes, nodded them goodnight, leaving the room and upstairs.

  In the ensuing silence, David heard her door close with a little more speed than necessary.

  Karline cleared her throat. “I'm not sure it's my place to ask, but... will she be alright?”

  He slowly nodded. “We get along well. I think she's just going to miss having a good friend around.”

  He looked at his plate and found that he wasn't all that hungry anymore.

  “I think I'll go for a walk, help me digest.” He offered, getting up.

  “Just put your plate on the countertop once you're done, and come find me. I'll show you to the inns in town.” And then left without looking at her.

  Karline remained alone at the table, blinking.

  “Did I just barge into a soppy romance story?”