A Gods Favor

Settling

Stephen opened a portal from the room he'd said she could use into her apartment that was half the size and she quickly moved what little possessions she had. Centuries of living from a single chest and rucksack made minimalism an unconscious choice. After everything had been moved she made to step back into the sanctum but paused, eyes unfocusing as she held up a finger and began to reach her power out.

"Problem," Stephen asked with an irritated look, crossing his arms.

After a moment her vision focused again and she stepped through with a smile. "Not at all, just removing the alteration on the landlord's memory."

He'd glared at her for a minute, looking as if he might say something but he eventually shook his head and closed the portal before storming out without a word.

Over the next few months, the tone of their interactions, rare outside of their nightly healing session, were much the same. Irritated glares and few words. Even the healing sessions themselves were tense. The only words spoken were Elora's simple instructions to remove his shirt and flex his fingers or wrist in different directions to assess the extent of the damage. She did find some companionship in the fiercely protective and surly librarian of Kamar Taj.

When Wong had come to the sanctum a few weeks after she moved in he'd initially been enraged that Stephen had not only allowed her into the sanctum but access to its library as well. It took all of one afternoon for her to charm him and erase his anger by heaping praise and expressing how impressed she was with the knowledge gathered and the visible care that was put into keeping it. She of course freely added to the knowledge over the next few months when Wong visited and inquired about the differences in her magic and the sorcerers and the history of the nine realms from a being who'd travelled across most of them.

One day around Midgardian Yule, as Elora wandered among the stacks of the library, Stephen came stomping in, hands shaking more than normal.

"Are you fucking with me, princess?" Anger rolled off him in waves as poked a finger in her face in accusation.

Elora was calm as she replied. "As previously stated, I'm not a princess and could you be more specific? I'm not intentionally doing anything to 'fuck' with you but I can't deny any responsibility without more explanation."

"You grew up in a palace with a king and queen as adoptive parents, you're basically a princess," he scoffed as he took a step back and held up his hands to show her the trembling. "The shaking has been getting worse and they hurt. The light show you make me suffer through every night and the snake oil you've got me rubbing on everyday aren't helping."

She took a deep breath as she slipped her hands into the pockets of her skirts, fingers wrapping around a silky black strand in one before she spoke. "I was a ward, not adopted, there is quite a difference. I stand to inherit no land or crown. My title of Lady is a formality for show. No one needs to bow at my presence or follow my command. I am no more than any other subject of Asgard and in fact I must follow any order given to me by," she paused for a moment. 'By whoever sits the throne' was not technically correct at present as the man who currently occupied it was a false king. "By whoever rules. So please, do not call me princess as it is inaccurate and disrespectful to my actual princess, whom I care for deeply."

He continued to glare at her as she waited for him to argue and when it seemed he would not she spoke again. "And as for your hands, as a healer yourself have you never had patients complain of increased pain when temperatures drop?"

"Of course I have but I treat my patients with science, not magic!"

She stepped forward, hands coming out of her pockets to wrap gently around his, a soft light emanating from them to ease his pain. "I am not treating you with magic. I am stimulating and amplifying your body's natural ability to heal with magic and unfortunately humans, while much more capable of adaptation after trauma than many other creatures on earth, are still very underdeveloped and heal incredibly slowly compared to the other races of the realms. Without magic your body would never recover from what happened to you, it doesn't inherently know how to repair itself. So, every day I use magic to create the pathways that teach it how to in this instance and much the same way water carves through stone to make a canyon this will take time."

The light faded and he flexed his fingers, the shaking having eased.

"I am not here to trick you, Stephen Strange, I am trying to help you. Since that means you are stuck with me for a while maybe you can work on trying to trust me?"

He sucked in a large breath before meeting her gaze. "I'll do my best, Lady."