She smiled when he blushed, not feeling as guilty this time. She hoped she was making him feel good rather than just embarrassing him. She didn't want to push it, though, so she left the subject alone, choosing not to compliment him too much. She supposed it was just a habit of hers. Her mother always urged her to compliment others, to be kind and get on their good sides. Of course, Rose was already on Aldor's good side (at least, she hoped so!), but a little extra kindness couldn't do much harm, could it?

Rose didn't know this, but she actually would not really be going to the ball. She would get all dressed up, all ready, and go into the ball, only to leave a minute after, overwhelmed. Rose didn't, couldn't know this yet, but even now, the thought of going to the ball was becoming less and less dreamy as it approached, and a sense of dread settled in her stomach. What if it ended up just like last time?

She blinked a couple times to dispel the thoughts, hearing Aldor comment about her fashion. It was a little bit of a blurt, but he complimented her on her fashion. Rose never thought that she had that much of a fashion sense. In fact, she felt like her fashion sense was severely lacking sometimes. If you paid enough attention to the Moon family, you could tell that pretty much everything was second hand. Even Faith and Franklin's clothes were bought from a used clothes store, and Rose got their clothes, unless there were rips or stains. At Hogwarts, she ended up wearing the same things over and over again because she only packed a few outfits.

"Thank you," she said, letting herself blush just a little. "I just try my best, I guess." None of her clothes were particularly amazing, but she appreciated his words, even if she didn't agree with them.

She scanned the tower. It was getting harder and harder to take one of these wooden blocks out of the tower and let it still stand. Rose pulled one out halfway, then paused as the tower wobbled. With every little tug after that, the tower threatened to fall. But its threats were empty, as she was, in the end, able to pull the block out, slowly placing it on top with its fellow wood blocks.

Rose looked up expectantly to Aldor, signaling his turn had come.

"Oh no..." Rose said as the tower fell. She smiled at him. "I thought you might win," she said. He had actually been quite good at the game, especially for his first time doing it. Aldor said something about needing to pay, like when playing a betting game with cards. It was a joke, and Rose laughed. "Not as far as I know. We might have to check the instructions, since this seemed like a very high-stakes game," she said back, in a happy and sarcastic tone. It felt good to joke with Aldor. A little ray of light. Aldor's tone while he said it made her happy. Aldor's smile made her happy. It all felt really genuine, really authentic, really... Aldor. Not just him trying to avoid a subject. Him actually joking, actually having fun.

Then Iphaine walked in. She looked like she was going on a date, and it sounded like it too. Rose glanced to her friend, who seemed like he was less happy than he had been just now. Iphaine told Rose to take care of Aldor for her. Rose taking care of Aldor? Just because she was three or four months older than him? Or because she was a girl? Rose didn't say it in the moment, but she was fairly sure Aldor was probably going to be taking care of her, since it was his house, after all. All Rose knew was that Iphaine was definitely not going to be taking care of any of them.

Iphaine was just... leaving? Rose nodded, smiling at Iphaine as she walked out, pretending like everything was fine. But when Iphaine left, Rose let the wall come down, and looked confused. "Who's Tommy?" she asked Aldor. She had a sinking feeling that Aldor was going through something very similar to what Rose and were going through with their own parents. That's why, in the pit of her stomach, she was so angry at Iphaine in that moment, even if it was irrational. Why would Iphaine do this to Aldor? Rose had actually liked Iphaine, until she had just up and left. Now she didn't know what to think about the woman.

Aldor's words snapped her out of her thoughts. "Oh- yeah, sure," she said. "Let's clean up the Jenga first," she suggested, stacking the blocks back in their box and sliding the box under Aldor's bed. She stood up, asking, "What do you have to eat?"

(Parents always seemed to ruin everything.)

Iphaine's coworker. Somehow, that didn't really seem to sum up who this Tommy person really was. But they had been dating. Ah. So Iphaine had a special someone. But her special someone should have been Aldor. Aldor was special. Rose felt like shaking Iphaine and screaming about how Aldor should be her first priority. Aldor should be who she wants to take care of. Aldor should be her everything. If Iphaine just up and left like the rest of Aldor's family, Rose would... Rose would... Rose didn't really know what she would do, but she would do something and it wouldn't be nice. Rose listened to what he said and nodded.

Rose understood, to some degree. No, her family did not disown her for being a witch. But her mother was just engaged to someone Rose had only met once. Rose had felt a sinking sensation just thinking about it. She didn't want her mother to forget about her and her siblings, off with her new partner. Rose didn't want a new dad. But it was going to happen anyway, and Rose had no way to stop it. She felt like screaming at her mother. So Rose understood his feeling of not wanting somebody to take over his aunt. His aunt was practically his mother.

But more than anything, she didn't want Aldor to go through what she was going through.

She didn't want to get letters from her mother gushing about how excited she was for the wedding and the dates she went on with Luke, instead of actually responding to Rose's letters about the information of her kid's lives. This was their lives! This was Gabe surprisingly getting straight O's now that he was actually trying in his classes. This was Frankie taking one of his friends as a date to the Blossom Ball. This was things that were happening in their lives, and their mom didn't even seem to read Rose's letters anymore. Rose wondered if she should stop sending letters. She didn't want to worry about a stepfather and stepsiblings that she had never met. She didn't want to worry about having a new house, being unable to breathe while thinking about all the things that were about to change. She didn't want to have to make sure that her and her very close friend, Henry Knight, were alright and they didn't have to be awkward. Rose didn't want... all of this.

And she didn't want Aldor to have this pain, either. She didn't want him to go through what her and Henry were going through.

But was there any way she could stop it? The march of time combined with the stupidity of adults would always rule supreme and mess up their lives.

"Yeah, I get that," she said quietly, in response to him admitting he just didn't want his aunt to be stolen.

Aldor listed some of the things that they had, and she smiled at him. His joke wasn't like the joke he had made earlier. It was in place of saying something sad, something to acknowledge the stress. Something to convince Rose everything was okay again.

"Should we go downstairs?" she suggested.

Rose gave a little smile and went before Aldor, pausing for a moment to remember which way was the right way, and then went down to the kitchen. Rose was a quick learner, but not that quick. They arrived down at the kitchen, and even though Rose's mind was in "let's do what we came down here for" mode, Aldor seemed to have something else to say. She looked back as he called her name, furrowing her brow at the blush in his face.

Rose felt chills crawl down her back as he thanked her for coming, adding that he didn't want to spend another night alone.

Merlin, she felt selfish. Rose had been the one feeling bad for herself, that her mom didn't pay attention to her, and that she didn't want a stepfather and all that crap. But she always had her siblings. She didn't confide in them much, and she was largely independent from them, but at least she didn't have to be alone in the house. If it ever tickled her fancy, she could pop into one of their rooms and bother them to her heart's content. At least one of them might want to spend time with her. And Chaska was always by her side, reminding Rose that she was her ally in all this.

When Iphaine left, Aldor had nobody. No siblings, no pets, no friends. Just him and his own mind, alone. Rose guessed the same was for Henry when Arthur wasn't around. Arthur was a very busy man, so she guessed that was often.

Even though Rose preferred to be alone and independent, if she ever needed anybody, she had four siblings that she could turn to. Not that they were entirely trustworthy or that she wanted to turn to them, but she still had somebody that she could talk to if she wanted to. But most of the time, Aldor and Henry had nobody.

Nobody at all.

Her heart sank on the inside, and she felt so selfish. Why was she even thinking that her life was horrible when she had so much more than they did? Why did she even feel bad for herself? She had no excuse to have bad days and bad moods when their lives were so much harder. She was so selfish and obnoxious, trying to make her life into some kind of sob story when other people had it worse. She was so insensitive. Why did she feel anxious and depressed if other people's lives were worse than hers? What was wrong with her?

Rose paused, squishing those thoughts down and focusing on Aldor again. If he had nobody, she would just make sure that she was the somebody that he could turn to, as much as she could make herself available. Him and Henry both. She didn't want them to ever feel alone ever again.

"Don't worry about it," she said, with a smile. "Thanks for having me." She was about to say something sappy back, but she reminded herself that he didn't really need to be bothered with her problems, he had problems of his own.

Rose, of course, was wrong. Her problems were valid, even if somebody else had problems as well. Her problems might even have been worse than Aldor's, not that it was any use comparing whose problems were worse. But it's not as if Rose can hear any of us at this moment, so she continued to tell herself not to bother Aldor with all of this. Henry understood, so she could probably tell him. But all Aldor would do was worry, so she kept to herself.

Rose smiled back and watched as he seemed to set a place for her. Rose did not like it when other people did stuff for her, especially stuff like this. Where they were around the kitchen, trying to please her and make her feel welcome by doing stuff for her. Trying to make her feel comfortable and at home. But it wasn't because she thought it was obnoxious what they were doing- no, not at all. She thought it was insensitive of herself to just sit there and let herself be served. She should be doing something, she felt like. It always made her feel restless to just sit there and wait while somebody else worked.

But she knew that sometimes it wasn't just politeness. It was because they actually wanted to do this for her. So Rose inwardly gritted her teeth and took a seat in the chair that was pulled out for her. When Aldor wasn't looking, she inhaled a deep, slow breath, telling herself to relax. She wasn't being insensitive or obnoxious. Aldor wanted to do this for her, and so she would let him. She would let him make her feel more welcome, a little pampered.

Rose furrowed her brow, unsure of what to choose among the choices given for drinks. "Uhh, I wouldn't say no to a juice box if you know where they are," she said, grinning a little. "But if not, I'll just have water." Rose was not one to say no to a juice box. She sat with her hands under her thighs, listening to Aldor.

Then, she decided she might as well make some conversation. "So, I know it's a couple years in the future, but when you're a third year, which electives do you think you'll take?" she asked him. Yes, it was far in the future for him. But it was only a couple months for her, and she had gotten to thinking about it.