Ai Love Therapy Ch. 04

"Irene. Irene Weihen." It was barely a whisper.

Jeston stopped, tilting his head as if to say something, then kept trotting until gone and Irene remained alone.

Eventually, hollow inside, Irene made her way into the garden, forgetting the tray of food. Dully, she clopped past flowers and vines and bushes and colors, the midday heat dulled by the magic of this place. Irene stepped past her chair and came to the edge, the balustrade waist height. The view remained stunning, but she ignored it to look down, a hundred feet (30 m) to fancy brick paths, a small topiary garden, then a wall and the streets around weaving among other palaces in the cramped buildings of Yrlmuh.

Far enough, Irene thought with detachment, hands gripping the wood worked into fancy railing. And maybe she stood there for minutes or an hour, she could not remember, always looking down. Maybe she would go home, or the week would reset? What isekai nonsense ruled this world? Eventually, with a sob, she fell back onto the chair and curled in on herself, crying and crying and...

It wasn't something she consciously did, nor even realize it was something she could do. So when Irene heard someone pouring from the pitcher left here earlier, Irene thought Dryn returned.

When she saw it a vine snaking down from the plants overhanging above her, feeling a soft tether connecting to the vine of ethereal energy, it was enough to shock tears away.

"I can do magic?" Irene asked and realized everything was getting complicated. More complicated.