Lin says "I am glad that you listened to me. In fact, I am impressed that you are able to try to change so quickly. Most people do not have that kind of willpower."

"Well, I have a really good motivation lying right beside me and I want to avoid the pain of disappointing her."

Lin gives me a brilliant smile and then hugs me hard enough to make me grunt. We stay that way for a while until Athena's voice comes from outside the door. She tells us that the kids are starting to get hungry and we should provide lunch soon.

Lin says "No, you stay put. You fed them breakfast, it's my turn."

"Alright, I won't argue."

Lin gets out of bed and I greatly enjoy watching her as she gets dressed. She then grabs the food pouch, gives me a kiss, and heads out to feed the kids. While I am waiting, I try to make my muscles relax, but I don't have much success.

Even now, with as relaxed as I feel, my body is still tense and ready to jump into action. Despite my best efforts, I keep listening for any odd sounds that might indicate an enemy. Until I started trying to relax, I had never noticed how paranoid I have become.

You would think that as I become more powerful, I would have less to worry about. It is true that less things are a threat to me, but that doesn't seem to matter. Lin was absolutely right, this level of paranoia is not healthy and I need to do something to fix it.

The problem is that I don't know what to do, it's not like I can go see a therapist. Even if they existed in this world, finding one that could understand my situation would be nearly impossible. At times, even I don't fully understand what is going on with me, all I have is guesses.

Obviously, I am a lot less in control of things than I thought, which worries me. If I could miss something like this, I am worried about what else I might have missed. My only comfort is that I can trust Lin to help me figure things out and notice what I miss.

It feels weird to trust her so much considering the short time we have known each other. Yet, for whatever reason, I do trust her, and I do love her, even if I don't understand it. Then again, love is not something you are supposed to understand, let alone control.

So, I am just going to accept it and not worry about it or try to pick it apart. If I had the choice I probably would have chosen not to fall in love at all, but I didn't get a choice. Now, this is just the way things are for me, I wouldn't change it even if I could.

Lin is going to be a part of my life from now until the end and I am getting used to the idea. Or at least I am trying to get used to it, my doubts will not shut up and leave me alone. They keep telling me that Beauty and the Beast does not work outside of the story books.

Luckily, they mostly only bother me when I am alone, which isn't very often. It also is definitely not helping me relax, if anything my muscles are tenser than before. The doubts should quiet down once Lin returns, speaking of, she should have been back by now.

"Athena, is something going on?"

Athena says "Brightfire and Strongrock arrived to pick up Nala and Albion. They want to take them to do some training. Since the kids were eating, Lin invited them to have lunch as well."

"Oh, alright."

Since that means Lin is going to be gone for a while, I decide to run myself a bath. Once the tub is full I use a little fire mana to heat the water further until it is boiling. Yet, when I climb into the tub, the water barely feels warm to me, but maybe it will work.

I am hoping that the heat will seep into my muscles and help them to relax. However, thanks to my immunity to fire, hot water just doesn't seem to be enough. Maybe I should make a lava bath for myself, swimming in lava felt really good.

The problem of course is how to heat it without setting the rest of the ship on fire. Just the heat coming off of the lava would be enough to ignite normal wood. I would need to make a special room for it and enchant it to contain the heat.

Of course, it wouldn't be just for me, I am fairly sure that Mulan and Mushu would also enjoy it. The only downside is that Lin probably wouldn't be willing to try it, even with the choker to protect her. I can't really blame her, from a human point of view it is a fairly insane idea.

However, I think it will be worth the effort to be able to take nice relaxing baths. If I line the room with stone, then a few enchantments will be enough to contain the heat. Now that I am thinking about how to do it, maybe I should add one to the castle as well.

Adding one to the castle will be much easier since it is already made of stone. Of course, I lack the materials to do anything right now, but it won't be hard to get what I need. I go ahead and plan out what I want to do in my mind and then Lin enters.

"Care to join me?"

Lin says "Are you trying to turn yourself into soup?"

"No. It isn't even warm enough to help me relax my muscles."

Lin says "Are you kidding? The water is boiling!"

"Just try it! Trust me!"

Lin gives me a dubious look, but after a little more encouragement she puts her hand in. She looks surprised and then moves her hand around as if suspicious I am playing a trick on her. Just then I have the thought of grabbing her and pulling her in, but she steps away.

Lin says "Don't even think about ruining my dress!"

As I am laughing, Lin reaches up and undoes her dress, letting it fall to the floor. As I try to swallow my laughter and end up choking, she removes the rest of her clothes. She then enters the bath and for some reason the water suddenly feels hotter to me.

A while later I am reminded of how useful magic can be for simple things, like cleaning up spilled water. The bath didn't really help me to relax, but Lin sure did, I feel much better now. After cleaning up the bathroom and drying off, we return to bed and cuddle.

Lin says "You didn't ask what took me so long."

"That's because I asked Athena. She told me that Brightfire and Strongrock stopped by. I am glad that she took my advice and recruited him, I think he will make a strong knight."

Lin says "Do you think they make a good pairing?"

"I hadn't thought of it, nor do I plan to. I don't mess around with matchmaking."

Lin says "Neither do I, but it can be fun to speculate and gossip. Speaking of gossip, Brightfire told me an interesting rumor."