Our Second World book three: Personal Truth

Chapter 8: Nephinae

After Rin went to make dinner, I went back to my room. I followed the same path we'd taken to get to the garden, and returned to find Luna and Emiko just beginning to wake from their nap.

"Hello, you two. Did you have a nice nap?" I asked, stroking both of them.

Stretching with a yawn, Luna nodded as she crawled up onto my shoulder to nuzzle my cheek.

"How was the garden?" Emiko replied, nudging my hands.

"It was incredible," I giggled and picked up the black animal. Was she... heavier?

"Something wrong?" The two of them looked at me with worried eyes and I realized I had been staring at Emiko with a frown.

"Not really. It's just... have you two gotten bigger?"

Luna tilted her head," I don't know. Do we seem bigger to you?"

I set Emiko down on the floor and Luna jumped off my shoulder to sit next to her.

In a comparison between the two, I couldn't see anything different. Still, I was sure they had gained weight, so I decided to try something else.

"Let's compare you to Rala," I said.

The foxes nodded and followed me to Harens room. I knocked twice.

"Come in." Ralas voice answered.

I opened the door to find the wolf sprawled out on a bed of pillows on the floor.

"Hey Rala. Haren isn't in here?"

"He left a while ago," she replied," did you need him for something?"

"Actually I needed you," I said.

Rala sat up and scratched behind her ear," I'll do my best. What do you want me to do?"

"I just need you to sit by Luna and Emiko for a minute."

She nodded and the two foxes placed themselves on her left and right.

Immediately I could see a difference. Before, the small familiars could stand under the black wolf. Now, they were both almost as tall as her shoulder.

"Well?" The three of them waited patiently for me to say something.

I frowned," yep. You're bigger. A lot bigger. I—"

"Excuse me, everyone? Dinner is ready now. Please come down to the dining room." I jumped at the sudden sound of Rins' voice in my ear.

"Well, we shouldn't keep everyone waiting." Ralas voice pulled me from my thoughts.

I was the last of the six of us to return to the living room. After a few minutes of waiting, Riniya appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

"Hello again, everyone. I will show you to the dining room now."

She led us down the hall to the left of the stairs. Around the corner and a short way down a hallway, she stopped in front of a set of double doors.

"Here we are." She pushed open the doors.

Inside was a small, rectangular room. The middle of the room was occupied by a long, cherry colored table already set with plates. 10 chairs sat around it.

Sylviana, Elviya, and Silver sat down in the chairs on the far side of the table. I sat across from Sylviana and Haren and August sat next to me.

Riniya slipped through a small door at the end of the room. She returned moments later with a silver colored cart. On it were several different food items. Stopping at the end of the table, she started setting everything out on the table.

A pot of red and orange soup, a plate of neatly chopped vegetables, and another of fruit, a bowl of bread, two different kinds of salad.

When she was done, Riniya took a stack of large bowls and set them in a neat row not far from the table. There were eight in total.

Riniya filled one of the bowls with water from a pitcher that she then placed on the table. The other seven bowls she filled with what looked like the soup on the table.

When she finished, she took a seat at the end of the table in the chair to my left.

Pressing her palms together, she bowed her head," Thank you for this meal."

As she raised her head, Folas flew out from under the table and over to the bowls on the floor. I watched the bird bow his head for a few moments before he started eating.

"Please help yourselves to whatever you'd like," Riniya gestured to the food on the table, then pointed to the bowls," I also prepared a meal for the familiars. I hope you find everything to your liking."

"Thank you." We said together.

As the seven of us began filling our plates, our familiars ventured over to where Folas was and began eating as well.

Once we had all eaten our fill, Riniya cleared the table and took us on a tour of the house.

Needless to say, it was bigger than I thought it was.

Our short tour ended around seven. Riniya disappeared again, but she gave us free range of the house to explore on our own.

I decided to head to the bath. I was still a little sweaty after my practice earlier.

Since I was near the library, it was a short walk to the baths.

I thought the location for both the boys and the girls bath was pretty cool since they were underneath the balcony in the living room. It was kind of like a secret area.

The girls bathroom was split into two areas. The front portion had three small rooms to use, and the back area was the actual bath. A door separated both areas.

I was honestly a little surprised when I saw it.

The majority of the space was lent to a pool of steamy water. On the left was a shelf of fluffy white towels and containers of colorful liquid.

To my right was another shelf with a basket for clothes.

I stored the clothes I was wearing and the ones I planned to wear in the basket before climbing into the bath.

I was surprised to feel that the water was warm.

"It must use magic or something," I thought as I soaked my hair in the water.

I only spent a few minutes in the bath before climbing out.

Using a towel to put my hair up, I dried off and put on my night clothes: a white shirt sleeved shirt and black shorts.

I noticed a short stool shoved against the wall by the towel shelf. Pulling it out, I sat down and started drying my hair. Once it wasn't dripping wet, I set the towel aside and started combing through my hair with my fingers.

"You should use a brush for that." I jumped at the sudden sound.

"Rin! Don't sneak up on me like that." I sighed when I saw the older woman standing behind me.

She chuckled," Sorry. I thought you heard me come in." My hands stopped moving through my hair and Riniya tilted her head," something wrong?"

"No. It's nothing," I stood up," I'll let you have a turn now."

Before the woman had a chance to say anything, I stepped past her and hurried out to the hall. I didn't stop walking until I got to my room.

Closing the door, I flopped down on my bed.

Emiko was sleeping at the end of the bed, but Luna was awake.

Once I'd gotten comfortable under the blankets, the white fox crawled under the covers as well and curled into a ball pressed against my chest. I wrapped my arms around her and closed my eyes. Eventually falling asleep.

I woke up to a bright light in my face from the window, and something really warm pressed against me.

Deciding there was no point in trying to guess what it is, I opened my eyes to find out.

"What the he—"