After lying in her bed for a few more hours, deep inside her thoughts, she finally heard the bedroom door from Basil's new room open. Johanna quickly got out of bed and waited for Basil to pass her room so that she could make it look more like a coincidence. As Johanna opened the door, she was greeted with a slightly unhappy Basil, but it seemed like he had calmed down a little bit for now, so she greeted him by saying good morning, and he responded with a simple "hello" and walked into the kitchen. Not wanting to give up, Johanna followed him into the kitchen, where she wanted to apologise to him wholeheartedly, but just as she was about to begin her apology, he told her that she should just shut up so that he could think more about this situation.
Johanna didn't like his tone very much, but she ignored it for now and kept quiet for a while. After another ten minutes, she tried again, this time with no real resistance.
"Basil Im sorry that I lied to you, but at the moment I didn't want to get abonded a second time like before, but I still know how you feel. I hope you can forgive me."
After a long silence with not a single other word being spoken, Basil finally responded and opened up about his feelings.
"Johanna, you have lied to me, not only about the reason you live here but about nearly everything. I'm not even sure if your current form is your real one, so I don't think I can forgive you for now."
Johanna looked down at the table, disappointed.
"Molly also has the same ability, but she just discovered it recently, so she isn't at fault for lying to you. Since you don't have any other place to call home, you can live here with Molly. I have things to do, so I will return in a month or something like that. I hope you can forgive me by then."
"Wait, that's not what I meant; I should be the one to leave since I have this problem..."
"I don't care; take care of our children and grandchildren while I'm gone."
"Johanna wait..."
Johanna had made up her mind. First things first, she had to take a look at the goblins; secondly, she knew that completing her main task in this world wasn't doable if she tried to be a housewife for a minotaur, so she decided that she would visit them from time to time in animal form, keeping the visits a secret, while she returned to her task; and finally, she still had to find her child that Frank had stolen from her. Creating this family was like a nice holiday, but she didn't have any other options than to return to her true work, and the easiest way to do this is by spending time away from them.
Johanna felt sorry for them, but she knew that they could take care of themselves very well. Basil could produce enough food while Molly took care of the children and continued practicing her shapeshifting ability.
Johanna walked over to the door and gave Basil one final nod as she walked out of the door. Basil's face now wasn't the only one filled with regret, but Johanna still thought that she apologised and that once she officially returned, she would be welcomed by a welcoming Basil. It definitely wasn't the best method, but if she thought about her overall situation, it was pretty smart.
Once she walked a few steps away from the door, still noticing Basil's gaze through the window, she transformed into a bird, flying off into the rising sun.
"Dad, where did mom go?"
"She will be gone for a while."
"Don't tell me you two fought again."
"No, we didn't, and I thought it was going well, but anyway, do you want something to eat?"
Johanna was now flying in the direct opposite direction of the goblin village in hopes of finding some interesting things to tick off her list, hoping that her next adventure wouldn't cause any more problems. She was just going to push on her future self like she has been doing.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------So the first big part of the story has come to an end now, and since I still have no concrete plans for what will happen in the future, I am open to any recommendations you give in the comments. I'm open to any and all ideas, so don't hold back. If there are no recommendations, I will just continue as I see fit.