Ortenmia had long light grey hair that extended down to her waist when she wasn't doing anything practical, such as now.
She was wearing a brown dress and a white shirt that had a craftsman feeling to them, the right side of her face was covered by her hair, leaving only a single dark blue eye visible.
Theli pushed that away to uncover her face, revealing her burned side and a pale blue eye that seemed blind and that was left perpetually wide open due to a lack of eyelid.
Only after a few minutes did she finally parted her lips from his with a awkward smile which was just her usual one.
"Orti, don't be surprised but there is kid living here now" he then said right after.
"You made a kid? Without me?!" she spoke as she tensed up.
"No, I just found one" he then added.
"What do you mean you 'found' one? Did you abduct someone again?" she asked worriedly while shaking Theli, who stayed as still as a sculpture.
"I just, sort of adopted her, I didn't do anything condemnable by law this time, not me at least" he uttered that last part at lightning speed while grabbing her shoulder and guiding her toward the inside of the house.
"But why Theli? I thought you didn't want any kid at the moment, is it a practice? Have you changed your mind? You're making me panic immediately after I came back!" she expressed herself, trying to make sense out of Theli's action, an activity that rarely worked out for anyone.
"Don't worry about all of this and go say hi to her, Malina is doing wonderfully with her" he told her as he opened the door, he was still holding onto the bag she had thrown at him by reflex, weighing it a bit, he noticed that she had somehow managed to fill it nearly in full.
"I... What's her name?" she asked, giving up on trying to find a motive.
"Mila, I already told her about you so no need to worry" he told her.
A few moments later and Ortenmia learned that she didn't feel very at ease with children.
She demonstrated her skills and as kid should, she was blown away, maybe a bit too much.
Ortenmia was holding a masterfully craft doll, it was moving in a life-like manner and talking in a voice totally different than hers.
She was a ventriloquist and she made her dolls herself, which was why she had been away for a while, to go practice her skills.
It was almost supernatural, there were no visual clues that she was doing the voice herself at all and it didn't even sound as if it was coming from her.
Ortenmia was using the doll as a medium to communicate with Mila and it was working wonders but then, she asked her a question.
Turning to Malina who was standing a bit further and then her.
"So, you are both Theli's wives?" she asked innocently.
"I don't know, are we your wives?" she dropped the ventriloquism and flung back the question at him.
"The terminology isn't correct but it isn't exactly wrong" he said, denying and confirming at the same time.
That was a brilliant way of dodging the question, he wasn't married to either of them but they did live in the same house and that for a long while.
The best way was to not give a clear answer but validate nonetheless.
"Are there more?" she then asked and now that was tricky.
"That's a question I have been asking myself" spoke up Malina.
"Are there?" added Ortenmia.
Theli maintained his poker face, as he stayed silent for a few seconds.
He then pulled out a pocketwatch with godly speed.
"Eh bien, it seems that I am running late for very important business, I must go" he casually said as he started walking away, slowly taking up speed.
"Bye, I love you all!" he exclaimed before bolting off.
"Was it a bad question?" asked Mila.
"No, it was a great question, make sure to ask it again" spoke Ortenmia as Malina was energitically nodding in the background.
____________
"Hey, I don't see you often Theli, what are you doing here?" asked Timothy as he noticed that Ithelisemou had suddenly appeared in the chair next to his.
Not questionning anything, he started talking with him.
"Hiding away from my home until things calm down, see what I mean?" he responded.
"Totally, I have the same at home, keeps nagging me about everything!"
"Timothy, light the fireplace! Timothy could you stop making irresponsible investments? Timothy, our children are alcoholics! Timothy, why did you order thirty sculptures of yourself? I swear, as if I had any influence on all of this, I am regretting marrying this old hag" complained Timothy, Theli didn't pick up on anything as it would be useless.
"What's the matter exactly?" he then asked before downing a cup of rum.
"Nothing much, they want to know how many women I shared a bed with, how am I supposed to make them believe, that me with my perfect memory don't remember the exact number? They also want to know if I'll bring others anymore but that would just be breaking the surprise element, wouldn't it?" he said, making the tricorn wearing man raise an eyebrow.
"They?" he said in a questionning tone, as if asking for clarification.
"There are two at the moment" he clarified.
"Oh my, I didn't know you were a player like that! Even I wouldn't do that..." he said.
"Also, I have the feeling that they wouldn't appreciate some of the people I did it with, just because I did it with trolls doesn't mean that I see them in the same light, you understand what I am getting at?" he then added, making Timothy put down his cup to focus on what was being told to him.
"I don't understand even a bit of what you are getting at but go on" he said, genuinely not understanding.
"Aren't some trolls very much human-like though?" he then questionned.
"I am not talking about those" flatly responded Theli.
By the end of it all, Timothy was laying face first on the table, completely wasted, at some point Malloy had collapsed here too for some reason, none of the two would remember anything of what they heard due to sheer alcohol abuse.
"Death and rum probably sounds the same to you two" he said out loud, before standing up and leaving, with some luck they would have forgotten by now.