Eathen's story had taken up the rest of the day and carried on into the evening, but Katelin was too entranced by it to even notice. When the sun finally set and she had to turn on a deck lamp just so that she and Eathen could see each other she made a mental note that she was going to go ahead and skip dinner. She's eaten a late lunch and was planning on getting up early to make a big breakfast anyways. She didn't really care that Eathen was an immortal and didn't need to eat often. She knew that any body needed food to speed up the healing process regardless of its spiritual purity.
"It sounds like things tended to get pretty intense around there." Katelin said. She was still amazed, and a little horrified, that the rulers of the known universe had entrusted a child with the combined knowledge and power of the Masters. She was really amazed at how humble Eathen was despite the fact that he had been trained to be the most powerful human weapon in the galaxy.
"When you spend nearly all of your time training how to fight and kill it doesn't take much to push an argument into a physical confrontation and those can get pretty messy pretty fast. Eathen said with a smile. "But they weren't that common actually. The Masters were all adults and we all knew what could happen if we let an argument get out of hand."
"I can imagine." Katelin said. "I was wondering why you still call Master Chen Master? Is it out of respect or is it something else?" she asked.
"Well it's a title. A Master is someone who mastered immortality through their own art instead of through spiritual purity. For instance Master Jason's art is shockhaven control so in some way he found a way around spiritual purity to become an immortal. I don't know all of the details behind how each Master did it but they were all considered to be immortals with mortal spirits so they were given the title of Master." Eathen said. He knew it wasn't much of an answer but it was the one he was given and the only one he had to give her. He had asked Master Jason the same question once and been told that the world wasn't so simple that there was only one path to immortality and that immortality came in many forms.
At least he wasn't calling them all Master out of some from of one sided respect, Katelin thought to herself and then yawned. "It's late." she said eying the clock on her parents desk. "I'm going to go to bed and I'll see you in the morning okay?" she said and Eathen nodded. She got out of the bed and pulled the covers back around Eathen. "Get some rest."
It amazed Eathen how much better he felt around Katelin, and it wasn't that he just felt better than he did earlier today either. He felt happier around her than he'd ever felt before, and he wanted to tell her. "Katelin," he said before she reached to door.
"Yeah?" she said thinking that he might want a glass of water.
Eathen tried to think of the words to tell her how he felt about their time together but felt so flustered all of a sudden and couldn't think of anything that could accurately describe how he felt. So he swallowed and decided that something simple was better than nothing. "I just wanted to say thank you for everything." he paused and she walked back over to the side of the bed. "I mean it, you've been wonderful to me and it means a lot to me."
Katelin bent down to give him a hug but at the last moment something clicked and she didn't turn her head to the side. Their lips met and for a moment nothing else mattered as the heat of the moment took over. Then almost as soon as it began Katelin pulled back and the moment was over.
"Goodnight Eathen." Katelin said in a voice barely above a whisper. And with that she went off to her own room.
"Goodnight." Eathen said, still half stunned from his first kiss. He didn't really know what had just happened, he only knew that he liked it. His face felt hot, but not painfully so. He'd already put together that it was some form of human affection. Maybe Katelin knew how he felt after all he thought to him self. The thought was a comforting one as he drifted off to sleep.
Katelin walked on her tiptoes all the way back to her room, still blushing. "I can't believe I just did that." she thought to herself, as she changed into her night clothes, along with several other thoughts like. "I just met him." and "I don't even know how old he is." None of these thoughts did anything to dampen the smile that she had been wearing since she ran out of the room though. She'd kissed boys before but she wasn't thinking about those other kisses now. She knew in her heart that this kiss was different. It felt magical somehow and she too fell asleep wondering if Eathen knew how she felt and hoping that he felt the same way that she did.
---
The sun rose early the next morning and Katelin took it as her cue to give up trying to fall back asleep and to get started making breakfast. She'd been awake since three that morning and had been fighting the urge to go check on Eathen nearly the entire time. She knew he was fine and figured that it might come off a tad bit creepy stalker like if he woke up and saw her watching him sleep. So she tried to fall back a sleep but couldn't, which she blamed on the fact that she'd slept half the afternoon away the day before. She had been looking forward to this morning, and with it the chance to spend more time with Eathen, since she'd gone to sleep. So she got up to go start cooking with a smile. Possibly the same smile she'd worn to sleep. On her way to the kitchen she poked her head in to get a quick look at Eathen. His eyes were still closed and she could tell by his breathing that he was still asleep, perfect, she thought. He'd wake up to a surprise breakfast in bed she thought as she hurried off to go get it started.
Eathen never truly slept anymore. His haven awareness had become so ingrained into his daily life that it penetrated his subconscious. The result was that he was able to rest while being able to see in every direction for about fifty feet or so. He felt it when Katelin woke up, and when she stopped in to check on him which brought a warmth to his thoughts as he stirred, waking with a smile as well. He reached to the side of the bed and caught his sword that he'd pulled to his hand with his shockhaven, pulled the covers off with his free hand and got out of bed. As he limped his way into the kitchen he had a thought that made him laugh.
Katelin turned and was about to tell him that he shouldn't be out of bed and walking around on his own, but when she saw him actually laughing she decided against it and rushed to pull out a chair for him. "What's so funny?" she asked.
"One of the Masters use to tell me that I depended too much on my sword." Eathen said as he sat down. "He would call it my crutch."
Katelin chuckled. "I'm sorry," she said lightly touching his knee. "But you're right, it is pretty funny in a sad, ironic kind of way. Speaking of crutches how is your leg doing?" she asked.
"Better." Eathen said patting his leg. "In a few more days I should be able to get around without my crutch."
"You know what else might help?" Katelin said standing back up, going back to the stove, putting the finishing touching on breakfast and serving up two plates. "A good home cooked breakfast." she said, setting both plates on the table.
Eathen went to protest but, in a very motherly way, Katelin held up her hand to cut him off before he could. "I don't want to hear how immortals don't need to eat. You're hurt, your leg is broken in two places and you insist on walking around. Eating will hep your body speed up the healing process." she paused, and her tone wound down from that of an overbearing nurse to soft and concerned as she got out the silverware and sat down next to him. "If anything it'll help me feel useful."
The food smelled delicious and more importantly it was obvious to Eathen that Katelin had put a great deal of effort into making it for him. "Thank you and you really have done a lot for me already." Eathen told her. She was far from useless in Eathen's mind and he knew if it hadn't been for her selfless kindness he might have frozen to death in that field. He gladly took a bite.
His eyes went wide in a look that Katelin thought was surprise. "If it's bad you don't have to eat it." she said, her voice sounding as if she might break down into tears. How could she have thought she could cook well enough for an immortal. He was probably use to the finest foods that the G
alaxy Police Force could find so how could she think her plan old breakfast would be good enough.
Eathen reached out and grabbed her hand with both of his and swallowed. "Are you kidding, it's wonderful!" he said.
The smile on his face and the excitement in his voice almost made Katelin think that he was just being nice and trying to make her feel better. Then he practically threw her into the air as he let her hand go and dove in for another bite. "You mean it?" she began, "You really think it's good?"
Still chewing he nodded and forced himself to swallow to soon. "Yeah it's got to be the best food I've ever had. What is it?" he asked and went right back to eating.
The last bit confused her. "It's just eggs, hash browns and bacon." she said and took a bite of her own food to see what all the fuss was about. It tasted normal to her, not to say that it wasn't good, but it was as good as it always was. Had he never had eggs before, she asked herself. It surely wouldn't be the strangest thing about him if he hadn't. "You have had it before haven't you?" she asked.
"No. The only real food I've ever had were the rations they give to soldiers and that was only if I was on mission or recovering from an injury. Normally all I ever ate were those food pellets." Eathen said in between bites. Normally he had better manners, but knew that Katelin wouldn't be offended if he was too busy enjoying himself to show them.
Katelin knew about both the food pills and the rations and she didn't consider either of them to be real food. The rations had a shelf life longer than most of the animals that they were suppose to be made of and had an ingredient list that took a doctorate to read. The food pills weren't much better. They had the nutritional value needed to live but not much else. "That must have been horrible." she said. She should have known that they wouldn't have given him good food. to them he was nothing more than a tool, and it didn't matter what wonders of life he missed out on as long as he did what he was told.
"I didn't think it was too bad to be honest." Eathen said. "Is all food this good?"
It almost made Katelin sad to know that such a simple joy had been kept from him for so long, but at the same time she was glad that she could do something so simple to give him so much joy. "I tend to think I'm a pretty good cook but yeah I guess you could say that most food is just as good. It really just depends on your taste."
"Well I might just have to start eating as often as normal mortals do." he said, pausing for a moment while lost in thought. "By the way how often do you eat?" he asked.
Katelin chuckled. "Normally three times a day but it's not unusual for a person to miss a meal or to just have two." she said still smiling. Not only had she gotten him to eat but it looked as though he might do it regularly. "Can you do that?" she asked. "Just change your food intake like that I mean."
"I don't really know." Eathen said and thought for a moment. "I've never tried it before but I don't think it should be an issue." he said and then added. "If I'm not imposing that is." It was rude to presume that an offer was still open after one had turned it down.
Katelin was still smiling and waved away his concern. "Like I said before it's no big deal. I cook for myself everyday anyways so it'll be nice to hear what you think about it. I just don't want you to go all out and stuff yourself so full that you get sick."
Eathen stopped dead as he was raising another spoonful and gently set it back down on his plate eying it with caution. "You can do that?" he asked.
Katelin burst out laughing harder than she had in quite some time. When she regained her composure, at least some of it, she went about telling him more about the process of knowing if and when you've eaten enough. It was a little odd she had to admit to herself. He was so well spoken and knew of things, so many things, that she could barely have imagined before he fell into her life. Yet in spite of all that he knew, or maybe because of it, so many of the things that she considered normal and too for granted were foreign to him. Katelin decided that it just added to his boyish charm as they finished breakfast, both still smiling.
"So," said Katelin as she nearly finished herself. "Whenever you talk about the masters, you talk about them like a group. Were there other ones besides Master Chen and Master Jason?" she asked. The thought had been with her since the day before.
"I'm not sure how many other Masters there are in the rest of the galaxy, but I did learn from a few others." he said. He was already done and even though there was a little food left on his plate he wasn't sure if he was full as Katelin had said but he decided to play it safe.
"So what were the other Masters like?" Katelin asked.
With that Eathen began to tell her about Master Sam and Master Miller.