Our Second World book three: Personal Truth

Chapter 7: Nephinae

After unpacking all my things and putting them away in the room I picked out, I decided to take some time to practice my magic.

I sat down on the large bed and took a few deep breaths to calm my mind. Closing my eyes, I collected mana in my hands. Pushing it out through my fingers while keeping the image of what I wanted in my mind.

After a while I could feel the weight in my hands that told me I had succeeded partially at least. I couldn't help a small smile. At that moment, however, my concentration slipped. The mana I had collected scattered.

With a sigh, I started the process over again. This time, I got back to where I was faster than before, but I didn't get too far past that point before my mana slipped from my control again. The gathered mana burst apart with enough force to create a small wind just barely able to lift my hair slightly.

I started over again and tried a few more times. By my seventh or eighth try, I was sweating and slightly out of breath. It was at this point that I decided to take a break.

"Once I rest for a while and my mana recovers I'll try again," I thought to myself as I rummaged through the dresser for a change of clothes.

I chose a sea green dress with short sleeves and a skirt that went a little past my knees. Sitting down in the chair at the desk, I pulled off my shoes and socks. Setting my dirty clothes in a pile on top of the dresser, I placed my shoes on the floor at the foot of the bed.

After thinking about it for a few minutes, I decided to go downstairs and see if anyone else was done unpacking yet.

I didn't really get that far, though.

When I opened my door I found Riniya standing in the hall.

"Hi there, miss Riniya." I closed my door softly behind me since my familiars were sleeping.

"You aren't busy right now, are you?" She asked.

"No. Why? Is there something I can help you with?" I answered.

"Yes. I have to go out and collect some ingredients for tonight's dinner. Will you accompany me?"

I nodded," Sure, I don't mind going with."

"Great. Let's go."

"What, right now?" I looked at her with a confused expression," isn't it a little early?"

Riniya suddenly looked away. Almost like she was trying to hide her face. Was she... embarrassed?

"Um... well... the thing is..." she seemed to be having a hard time forming words," I— uh... have a garden and... um..."

For some reason, I got the feeling Riniya wasn't very good at talking to other people, or expressing her thoughts. However, despite her lack of words I was still able to get a basic understanding of what she was trying to say.

"I see. If you're gathering from a garden then there's a lot of work to do before you can actually start cooking, right?"

Riniya turned back to me and grinned," exactly."

"Well then, we'd better get to work."

She nodded and I followed her down the hall.

While we walked, I tried to make mental notes of everything we passed since I'd be living here for a while.

Directly opposite the hall that led to my and the others bedrooms was another hallway that passed about four other rooms. They were all closed, so I wasn't sure what was in them. At the end of the hall was a staircase leading down to the first floor on one side of the wall, and another leading up. To what? I had no idea. Riniya took us down.

The stairs turned 90 degrees to the left about halfway down and ended in another hallway. This one lined with tall windows.

A short distance from the end of the hall was a set of double doors on the right side. Further down, it turned and continued in the direction of what I assumed to be the living room. Riniya took us through the doors so I didn't get a chance to find out.

On the other side of the heavy looking doors was a room crammed full of shelves. Each shelf was stacked high with a multitude of glass jars and containers. Looking closer, I found that the jars were full of a mix of different things, and every one of them had a label written in extremely neat handwriting that said what was in it.

One of the shelves close to the other end of the room, there were about eight in total, had a variety of gardening tools, neatly organized, on it. There were even a few small, woven baskets on the bottom.

Riniya picked up two of the baskets and continued through a door between the shelves. I suppose I hadn't noticed it since there wasn't much light in the room, but I quickly followed the white haired woman.

I was instantly blinded by the drastic change in brightness. After blinking a few times, my eyes adjusted to the considerable amount of light, and my mouth fell open.

The two of us were now standing in a room with glass walls! Well... I guess it would be more accurate to say we were outside.

On the wall opposite us was an opening that led to a sizable grassy area completely surrounded by a tall hedge of blue and white rose bushes.

Moving back to the room— space we were standing in.

Both the left and right sides of a wide walkway leading to the other area were full of rows on rows of plants. From the labels at the end of each row, I learned that they were organized by vegetables on the left and fruit on the right. I recognized most of the plants, but there were some that I'd never seen, or even heard of before! There were so many plants, and I could see a few more rows of plants that grew on trellis on the other side of the glass.

Riniya gave me a list of all the things I needed to gather, and the two of us set to work. It was silent.

When we had gathered all of what we needed, Riniya took me to the outer area where she showed me a Well. We used the water to wash the fruits and veggies we had gathered before bringing it inside.

"Thanks for all the held, Nephinae," Riniya said.

"No problem, Miss Riniya," I grinned," it was fun."

"Well, I can handle the cooking myself."

"Are you sure, miss Riniya? I don't mind helping out with it."

"N-no it's fine. I'll do it."

"Well... ok," I handed her my basket," let me know if you change your mind."

"I will," Riniya replied with a smile," and... call me Rin."

I grinned," sure, Rin."

Her cheeks went pink and she hurried into the kitchen.