The package was wrapped inside his cloak, as Matthew was smuggled through the guards patrolling the outer edges of Town 1. Stella waited until they were all looking away, which was far too often in her opinion, and they dashed between two buildings. As they approached the center of town, she hurried him onto a wagon, that was parked here, just for this occasion, and then she drove it right up to Joseph"s office, while he hid under a thick blanket. When the coast was clear, she rushed him inside, with only his guards at the door in the know.x.x.xxX
"Master Joseph, I have brought you the item you have requested from the seamstresses," panted Matthew, pulling the paper wrapped package out from his cloak.
"I wasn"t aware that you would be arriving with it, I was expecting just a written report," said Joseph, surprised.
"With the importance you placed upon it, the decision to bring it personally was not a hard one."
Taking the package, he grinned as he turned to Stella and held it out.
"Here, Stella, it"s a present."
"What? Why?" Taking it gingerly, as if it might explode, she glanced at his grinning face.
"I think you"ll like it. It took the seamstresses a whole month to make it."
She set it down on his desk as Matthew inched closer to see as well. As she slowly opened it, Joseph"s face grew more excited, until he had to sit on his hands to prevent himself ripping the paper open himself.
It was a black, super soft, jersey kind of cotton. Holding it up, her gaze was guarded as it unrolled to show a long black hoodie with bunny ears and a cute fluffy tail.
"I got some odd looks when I requested it, and the seamstresses had to redo the fabric a bunch of times, but it looks like they finally got it right! Try it on! Is the front pocket the right size? You can use it as pajamas, or whenever it"s cold."
Joseph was so excited for her; he couldn"t stop talking.
"Oh, Master Joseph! It"s perfect!" Her voice was high pitched and just as excited as he was.
"Try it on!" he repeated. "It goes on like a coat, over your clothes."
Pulling it on, the ears popped up, with one ear having just a tiny bit of a kink. She gave a laugh and started hopping around the room, pausing to look at him and twitch her nose.
Joseph broke down in giggles, holding his belly and kicking his feet.
Matthew stood by the door looking puzzled. These two were who everyone feared? His eye developed a bit of a twitch as he watched Stella wiggle her b.u.t.t just enough to get the tail to wiggle, and then they both broke out laughing again. Then she saw him.
Joseph wiped the tears from his eyes as he watched Matthew lose all of the color from his face.
"Thank you, system, for perfect memory!"
(THIS IS NOT WHAT I WAS EXPECTING YOU TO WASTE IT ON.)
"Shut up, System. This is awesome!"
"Master Joseph, I think you should get one of these, too!"
"Ok, but not a rabbit. I"m not that fast." He gave a shrug and put his chin in his hand to think.
"How about a turtle?" she said with a smirk.
"Okay," he said with a laugh. "Turtles are supposed to live a long time and sea turtles are really cute.
"Thank you, Matthew. You can give me your report now."
x.x.xxX
Stella watched Joseph lay down on his cot, preparing to travel to his other realms. She couldn"t help but run her hand over her new coat. It was sooooo fluffy and soft!!!
Turning back to him, she had to hold back her sigh. The number of people who could travel to other realms, like he did almost daily, was incredibly low. Had she known what he was planning, she would have tried to prevent it. There was no way for her to protect him in the other realms. But now, it seemed silly.
While he was in the other realms, learning his new spells, he was actually casting them here, in a fashion. Normal mages would run out of mana way too fast to be able to do half of what he does, but she knew that the system had him powered up.
Snuggling into her hoodie, she watched him sleep. He was planning on learning the healing rune today, so she had all of the people who were injured, brought nearby. Stephan and Becky were supposed to have them close enough to get most of their ailments taken care of.
"Mistress Stella? What is Joseph?" asked Sam.
She must have made a face in his direction, because he flinched.
"No, I mean, he can do magic that no one else can do. And, he"s younger than anyone I"ve ever known to do what he does, and well, some people are saying he must have elf in him. Master William doesn"t seem to age either. Some of the elders say he"s way older than any of them, so are they elves?" His voice, which had been flowing out nonstop, petered to a stop, and he took a big breath.
"Joseph is my master, and yours. William is his father. They are both human." Her monotoned voice caused him to flinch back, even as confusion bloomed in his eyes.
A glow from Joseph"s direction grabbed her attention, and she turned to see that his entire form was glowing. The tiny figure that appeared on his chest was made of a soft green energy. Never one to miss out on the smallest detail, she noted he had even gone to the trouble to include embroidery on the edges of his tiny figure"s shirt.
Sounds began to emerge as the little Joseph began to talk. The air vibrated with magic on every word. She was shocked at first, but now she was growing to expect it. The dragon tongue. The ancient language of the dragons. She didn"t know how he was learning it, and she didn"t know how he was speaking it.
It was said by her elders, from her previous life, that only dragons were capable of this, but he was doing it. He still hadn"t realized, that what he was doing, while he laid there, often caused a commotion, but it"s been so much more interesting not to tell him about it.
Suddenly he said something, and his entire form began to glow again. As she watched, he grew a tiny bit smaller. With a smirk, she realized he must have just made himself younger. That would tick him off. He hated being so small, all of the time.
She wondered if he would notice he was using magic this time. Stephan knocked on the door and entered. As he approached her, from across the room to tell her, no doubt that the patients were arranged outside, he spied Joseph. At the same time, the small figure on his chest said something.
Stephan went down so fast, Stella almost didn"t catch him. A small green wisp appeared on Stephan"s chest and the little figure on Joseph"s chest paused. It appeared as if they were having a conversation.
"Sam, help me lay him down."
Sam"s surprised expression was going to cost him in training later, she decided as he snapped himself out of his stunned moment, and rushed to help her. Shaking her head as he rushed out of the room to fetch another cot and some blankets, she couldn"t help but let a giggle loose. This was something else her elders from long ago had said was impossible.
Making sure to never tell him what was considered impossible, seemed like it was a perfect opportunity for him to prove things were always possible, with enough magic. He just dragged, another mage, forcefully into the magical realm.
Moving to find some of his older clothes, because the ones he was wearing were too big, she whispered, "I don"t understand you, Master Joseph. What you do, most of the time, bores me to death, and you manage to do it for hours and hours! But I love to watch you grow. You do things I was told were impossible, without even noticing how amazing it is."