I left Quatal to watch the egg whilst I went to help Eve prepare dinner.
When I reached upstairs, even was swaying her hips as she worked chopping vegetables, I stepped up behind her. "So what are we making?"
"Your choice... Better friends or better decisions overall."
"Ouch... I'm sorry love, you know Dusk was only joking, if you said your words hurt he would have groveled without blades."
"I know he would have, idiot. I could feel his sincere remorse. Sometimes though, people should avoid the need of the word rather than using it."
"You're right, of course you are, but people are dumb and even when they are smart, they do dumb things. No secret I do, but you love me anyway, am I truly such a drain on your tolerance of fools." I sulked guiltily, sliding my arms around her waist and resting the side of my face on the back of her head.
"Yes... Sometimes, but most of the time you're actually quite a sweetheart. At least you are when you aren't making unsupervised decisions. What is Quatal doing?" I opened a small window to peek in on her.
"She is reading the material I scribbled on the contracting glyph... Whilst singing to the egg."
"Singing? What is she singing?"
"Sounds like "When you hatch I'll be very happy... But you kinda look pretty tasty...." And she's making me wonder if I should make sure she is supervised..."
Eve just chuckled, turned and kissed me, then answered my original question and I got to work.
With dinner came the farewell to Vedna, then Eve disappeared with for a chat with Astrael, whilst I wrote a slightly more consumable version of the contracting glyph.
"Ohhhhh! So the line isn't a line but a separate spell... If you're so smart, why do you get into trouble so often?"
"Because... Ask your mother, I just explained this."
As if summoned by her name, Eve entered and looked at me in disbelief after a quick glance around the incubator room. She looked like she wanted to iterate that that was the exact brand of ludicrousness that made her doubt my thought processes but stayed silent.
Then she told me to follow, leaving Quatal to ask Astrael if I was in trouble.
"For once, no. Mama just needs to remind him about something he did when he was sick."
The line made me confused, me sick? If she meant unconscious then it could only be the Fala thing, so what? Then we made it into the bedroom and she began undoing my buttons and removed my shirt before leading me to bed and telling me to lay down.
She then rested on top of me and pulled out something sharp and pointy which she held above her head and then she moaned a bit, looking down at my waist before asking "Seriously? Did that just... Yep, ohhh, it definitely did... We'll talk about that later, but I'm getting out the implant, I had Astrael make the removal spike for me."
"Ohhhh... Hahaha... I thought..."
"No. Now hold still..." She raised the spike. "Adam!...I can't focus!" Then she shimmied forward, sitting on my stomach instead and stabbed.
I stand by my opinion she chose that seat on purpose.
A moment later the implant was out, it felt weird, almost sad as though an intimacy between Eve and I had been broken...
"Eve, I know I should have said this earlier, but can I keep it?"
"What? You only put it in so I could chase my theory."
"True, but I like the fact you know exactly how I'm doing, I like that you can see the signs that I'm alive and well even when we aren't close by and even though you would probably know without it." If lowered to kiss me.
"Are you sure that's what you want? I admit I enjoy looking at all the information, seeing what gets your mind moving and heart racing... I also like that I can see other counts, which I had to ask Astrael about. Unfortunately, one thing it measures is fertility and last night you were incredibly fertile... When I noticed that earlier, I wanted to speak to Astrael to ask if there was a way to test mine as well, but the only thing we could think of was the implant."
"You want me to give you an implant so you can monitor your own fertility, but why? When Eve answered me, she left me genuinely a little upset with her for once.
"I want to know, because if i'm not what does it mean? Do i not want children, was I ever able to have the?... What does it mean for us?" She realised she upset me the moment she spoke the words.
"Eve, it means nothing as far as i know. You know I already have more than i ever hoped for and I don't have your gifts. Are you saying that you don't want to be with me if you can't have children because of you?" I sat up and hugged her as realisation of what she implied settled and tears fell.
"I love you Adam, but should I? You say I gave you so much, but you didn't have this ability or these desires before. You have always been limitless, every time you hit your limit you move the bar. Should I really let myself be the first limit you can't simply move past?"
"Eve, let me make this clear. You are my desire and the foundation of my wishes. If you ever choose to leave me... I won't stop you. Like it or not you are already the first limit I cannot simply move. When I swore to The Black that nothing would make me leave you, that included you. Leave and I will wait. There will always be and only ever be, a place for you at my side."
"That's not fair. It's emotional blackmail..."
"Maybe, but what you call blackmail I call education. We are both creatures of eternity and absolute will. I refuse to take anyone but you, you refuse to be a limit on me, a sword that can cut anything and a shield that can't be cut. You should know though, I don't think it's a problem we need to worry about."
She blinked dumbly for a second. "What do y-"
"I'll do the surgery, gladly, I can't promise I won't use the graphs for evil.... But I can primise it will put your mind at ease."
"Shut up! How co-"
"Because I only act dumb... Your energy flow is erratic as it tends to be when hormones are out of balance, mana storage indicates fertility and a few other things neither of us wish to get into."
"What does mana storage have to do with anything?"
"Really, are you a student again? Where does a man's mana spiral flow?" My words stung, she didn't like being spoken to condescendingly, but if I was right she had hurt me unnecessarily and she needed to know.
"Into their hearts, from their it is pumped around their bodies as needed, it's why men are more adept at enhancement magic and why it is far more dangerous for men to lose control of their mana, eve a weak man can suffer an arrest of the heart from their mana slipping."
"What about women?"
"It flows into the naval, reinforces their body and makes it more supple and malleable, it also flows into nerves making us more perceptive and able to gain abilities like empathic senses that men simply can't unless they train tirelessly."
"Have you ever seen an infertile woman?"
"No... Why is it different?" She turned gradually hopeful as I chuckled at her naivety, unsure if it simply wasn't general knowledge or she just missed the wrong day of class.
"Yes, it is. Women who can't have children..." I tapped my heart. "Women who can't have children do not instinctively move the mana vortex to reinforce their womb and body for the strain of pregnancy, nor do they need their bodies to be more malleable to make the experience less painful and uncomfortable." Eve's eyes widened.
"Why didn't you just say that from the start?" she sobbed hugging me, knowing that her vortex was reinforcing her womb and always had been.
"I thought it was common knowledge... I was confused that you were so worried about it when you said you didn't want to know if it was me or you, but you are the first empath I got on with, I figured maybe your abilities overwhelmed that sense. I never look at people's spirals, they can be manipulated with focus and I like to prepare for the worst so I only just saw yours a moment ago."
Eve pushed me down and kissed me. "I was so sca-"
"Actually, I'm still mad. You thinking about leaving me hurt."
"Bu-"
"No but, regardless of reason, imagine me implying I wanted to leave you."
She couldn't answer, she knew I was right, the moment I said it she teared up. "I'm sorry Adam, I know I hurt you, I did the moment I said it."
"I know. You're already forgiven, I don't want you to be sad and I'm sorry to, but do you mind if I carry this a bit? I don't want to repress it. After so long not feeling anything, I feel like I need to let every new feeling settle a bit, it's selfish, I know."
"No, you're right, you should. If you only ever act on your full anger, you'll eventually respond to even minor annoyances the same way. So, yes, never thought I would say this but, please be mad at me until you are ready."
I thanked her, kissed her, told her I loved her, then stormed out as I slammed the door to the soft laughing and words. "Ohhhh! He is bad at that!"