*twenty-three years later (bloom is now 35 AKA 16 since she's an elf. The photo above is her base transformation outfit, the wings are the same)*
(NOTE: Elves in this book aren't considered adults until they're 80 AKA 30 because of the fact they live for so long and age slower as they get older)
Bloom had just finished her final exam and sat down next to her dad before grinning and saying "Hey Dad, now we don't have to deal with the awkwardness of your daughter being your student" Palladium chuckles at this, his daughter had been the last one to do her exam and Palladium wasn't one of the judges for the exam, he just ran the machine for the illusion room. Bloom hadn't gone back to her normal form yet since her adrenaline was still so high finally she transforms back, wearing a simple elven blouse with a corset and brown pants as well as boots just like her fathers. Her hair is down and straight just like her fathers due to her elven genetics, while in her fairy form her hair curls a bit.
She sits down on her dad and says "Goodnight, I'm a tired elf". Palladium chuckles as she falls asleep with her head on his shoulder. He simply picks her up, having shut down the simulator by now and stands up. They head out and Palladium brings Bloom to her room, setting her down, taking off her shoes and tucking her into bed after taking the corset off of her. He kissed her temple and says to her quietly "Goodnight my dearling, sleep well". He then hears footsteps and straightens up immediately, his head snapping to where he saw his daughter's roommate. His sudden need to protect diminishes as he realizes this, his daughter was fine, this was his daughter's roommate, nobody was going to hurt his dearling. The tenseness leaves his body and he relaxes before simply putting his daughter's corset in her corset drawer and her shoes where she always put them.
Bloom's roommate looks surprised and a disgusted look is on her face, somehow it wasn't common knowledge that Palladium was Bloom's father, and nobody knew besides the staff. Palladium didn't know this and was confused when the girl looked angry and crossed her arms "Were you sleeping with a student!?" Palladium looks confused, then the words sink in and he gets mental pictures that make him gag. "euch, gross, can I go throw up real quick". The fairy girl is confused as the man rushes to the bathroom, the sound of throwing up is heard and the girl is even more confused, why the hell would their teacher know where exactly Bloom put her things if they weren't sleeping together!? Sure they were both elves but elves didn't just know that about people!
Palladium comes back looking sick and the fairy girl asks "Well if you aren't sleeping with her why the hell do you know where she puts her stuff every time". Palladium blinks and says "You don't know do you....huh I thought you knew. Bloom's my dearling- sorry elf term, she's my daughter". The fairy blinks in surprise before looking between the two and asking herself "How did I not notice sooner!?" Palladium chuckles and says "most people don't notice, but yes, she's my daughter, she's 35 by physical terms she's 16 though, elves slow their aging every year, it starts off as aging one year every two, then it becomes slower and slower with age. Elves only reach adulthood at 80 years old because we live so long, she'll appear somewhere between 25 and thirty, most likely 25 if she takes after me, which she actually has her entire life, though that makes sense seeing as I'm her only biological parent".
The fairy was extremely confused and Palladium says simply "Elves are capable of asexual reproduction no matter what sex they appear. We don't need partners to have children, and if you're confused about the red hair, my hair is only such a light orange because I dye it, naturally my hair is the same color as hers" The fairy asks with wonder "How did she end up looking female though? If she was created via asexual reproduction, that doesn't make sense". Palladium, says simply "I don't have a mate, therefore there's a section in her DNA that hasn't been accounted for, when I find my mate a few changes will happen to her, most likely just her eyes will change though, we checked, her eyes will change and if my mate is taller than me she might grow to my height, those are the only changes possible for her because my DNA took over so much". The fairy looks genuinely interested "That's cool" Palladium nods and says "She also won't age past 18 until I find my mate, just as I'm stuck at appearing this age until I find my mate". The fairy looks surprised and says "Elf biology is interestingly complex".
Palladium chuckles in agreement and looks over at bloom once more before saying "you've been the best to her of all her roommates, for that I thank you, the others all made fun of her for aging so slowly. She's the happiest with you as a roommate out of them all, I'm glad she had at least one who didn't make her so uncomfortable she decided to just sleep in her room in my quarters. Some even played cruel pranks on her such as burning her with iron, we're lucky she got to me so soon after that and I gave her no choice to go back to them like she would have".
Every fairy knew that elves couldn't touch iron without being burned, similar to how fairies couldn't touch hell steel, which was extremely difficult to make so it wasn't much of a threat. The girl, Palladium now remembered her name, she hadn't taken his class in a long while. Her name was Aria. Aria looked angered then she blinked as she realized something "What's that piercing on your nose on both sides?"
Palladium touches one of the two piercings on his nose and says "That's where my bridal bar will go once I bond with my mate, we get these when we reach the physical age of 31, that's when we can start looking for our mate, it's another way of showing elves and others in our culture that someone is unmated. In elven culture it's considered taboo to flirt with a mated elf, it's believed that it will make it even more difficult to find your mate. Mine isn't an elf, I know that much, which is why it's more difficult for me to find mine. In the case of an elf without a mate, one who doesn't experience romantic or sexual attraction they get a chain bridal bar instead as soon as their piercings are put in. It prevents awkwardness and uncomfortableness for truly aro/ace elves, and has been part of our culture for centuries".
Aria looks shocked and says "that is so smart, elves know that if they see a bridal bar not to flirt, what happens if an elf sees someone trying to flirt with someone with a chain bridal bar?" Palladium says simply "They protect the elf who's being harassed. Most of us wish our culture with our bridal bars was better known so people wouldn't constantly be nuisances by flirting with elves with bridal bars. We are completely incapable of loving anyone romantically other than our mates so it gets extremely annoying sometimes. I wish men would stop flirting with Bloom, she's not even old enough TO find her mate, let alone feel romantic attraction".
Aria agrees and says "I've seen it happen and she looked terrified". Palladium winces and says "Her first time having someone flirt with her didn't turn out well, she was twelve, and looked six, King Sky of Eraklyon scared her into transforming and kissed her when he was a specialist. She's been terrified of teenage men as well as men who aren't Saladin, myself, Professor WizGiz, who is her honorary Uncle, and she'll naturally trust my mate immediately when I find them, no matter if they're male or not".
He leaves and when he gets back to the teacher's dorms he looks pale. Griselda immediately asks why he's paler than usual and Palladium says simply " Bloom's roommate didn't know I'm Bloom's father". Griselda looks confused and says "So, Palla?" Palladium says "I know where Bloom always puts her stuff, exactly which drawer she puts her corsets in, and where she puts her shoes." Griselda was still confused "And? Why would that be odd?" Palladium gags which makes Griselda look at him weirdly.
Then Palladium says "She asked me angrily if I was sleeping with Bloom...I gagged and proceeded to throw up in the bathroom for five minutes. When I was done throwing up I explained that I'm her father...and that Bloom isn't even old enough to have romantic attraction yet. We had an interesting talk about elven biology, then about bridal bars, which I was glad to explain about, I wish some of the things we talked about were common knowledge, but seriously I'm scared, I think it's time that we fully announce that Bloom is my dea-daughter, gah, that's such a weird word, I've called her my dearling since I gave birth to her, so it's weird to say daughter when in elf culture we don't really pay attention to gender until the child decides for themself what they are, we just say "This is my child or blank is my child. Bloom's decided she's a girl, and decided to keep the name I first gave her, so she's my daughter, but it's weird to say daughter because I've just said 'my child' or my 'dearling'."
Griselda grins after recovering from the gagging from the original topic and says "You elves are so accepting about everything, while the rest of us species are still fighting over whether these things are ok or not, which is stupid since people should just accept it like you elves have". Palladium simply agrees and Faragonda walks in and sees Palladium "Palladium why are you so pale?" Palladium says "Griselda, please explain, I can't say it again, I might puke once more". Griselda says with a grimace, "Bloom's roommate thought she and Palla were....sleeping together...euch you're right Palla, saying that does make you want to puke". Faragonda looks green and says "Euch the mental pictures". All of them shudder in disgust, tonight they would tell all of the students, that way there are no more misunderstandings that they didn't know about.
They'd never purposefully hidden the fact Bloom was Palladium's dad, or mom, whichever, Palladium never cared which Bloom used. Bloom had also told him when she was physically four that when Palladium met his mate, and both knew they would be male, as Palladium was most definitely gay, she would call the man Papa as soon as the man was comfortable with it. Palladium had smiled at this and said simply "I'm sure whoever he is, he'll love you just as much as I do". Bloom had giggled and they cuddled until they fell asleep on the teacher common room couch, unaware that they had been recorded.