Their Beginning

The evening was calm, everyone was handling things as best they could. Things were settled and comfortable after dinner and they weren't going to break that peace with uneasy discussions.

Hence they just relaxed after a crazy day. The brunette observed that there weren't any rooms connected to the main treehouse. But as it turns out– other than the kitchen and small bathroom, both siblings didn't really need much else.

So no actual bedrooms, Ray sleeps on a makeshift bed consisting of very soft pillows, it was situated on top of the only closed space in the room; the bathroom. He said he always sleeps as a wolf, being more alert to danger but it's also just more comfortable to him.

Huh, well– the more you know.

There was a separate, smaller cabin used for storage a little higher up in the tree. It used to be a bedroom they shared, but they found it unnecessary once they got older.

That was odd though, she now knows where Ray sleeps, but did Kaida just not sleep then? Maybe she hung from the ceiling like a bat?

Kaida grins at Lia's clear but unspoken question and tells her about a hidden cove. She says that's where she retreats into her shadow to sleep along with her treasures.

Yeah right. 

Lia gives Ray a look, conveying how she's not buying that story at all.

But he has the audacity to shrug and says not to question his oddball of a sister...

Of course, why wouldn't she be able to sleep in her own shadow?

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"I know Alvee cleaned you up a bit, but do you want to take a bath?" Kaida prompted, thumb pointing back towards the bathroom.

"That'd be nice," Lia answers, hopefully knowing– maybe remembering, what a bath is— "But I don't have any clean clothes."

Kaida hums, "I have a big blouse you can use, I don't really have what people would call 'nightwear', but it should be comfortable enough." Well— at least she hopes so.

The girl still acts like she's a bit shell shocked, sometimes she'd laugh and talk easily, but then there's moments like these where she's very reserved– stuck in her head.

"You can tap on the stones underneath the tub to make 'em heat up and don't worry, they stop after a while, no boiling our new found companion," Kaida chuckles, but only succeeds in getting a tight smile from the other.

Maybe that was a bit too morbid...

Ray luckily cut through the awkward silence, "Kaida will bring your change of clothes, I'll get the water ready." He directed, walking off towards the bathroom, "Wait here."

What the–

Kaida thought her brother was being difficult, she got why, but that didn't mean she liked it. Then he forcefully tries to act like this was all normal, like he isn't constantly uncomfortable and on edge! She needs to know where he stands.

He walks back into the room while Lia goes off to take a well deserved bath.

The door closes and she waits in tense silence.

"You're awfully weary around someone you offered to give a personal ride to our home." she bickered.

"It's that obvious?" His tone suggested he didn't know if he was in trouble yet. 

Kaida scoffed, a bit amused, "You're not exactly subtle when it comes to your feelings towards people." She took a seat on his designated spot. "Jay may be used to your brooding and glaring demeanor but Lia is not, I'm sure she's picked up on your mistrust by now."

"Yeah..." Well that's not much of a reaction.

"Even if she's a literal airhead right now she still doesn't strike me as an idiot, you've seen how she's different sometimes, if she wanted to hurt us she would've tried to do so already."

"Yeah," he repeated, starting to sound tired, maybe because of the conversation– well too bad.

Is that all he's gonna say? Apparently her expression alone conveyed that question loud and clear.

"Okay I get it," Ray scrambled, "I just don't know what you want me to say." Anything but what he's saying now would do.

"Oh I think you do," she was done playing, while Ray only seemed to get very agitated.

"You—" he cut himself off, noticing the anger seething in his voice.

With a frustrated sigh he started to compose himself. He better, he knows not to start a heated argument with her, if it turns into a screaming match she'd win. A hand swiftly moved through unruly hair, "I don't really trust her– there I said it."

Thought so, but Kaida should probably have considered him a bit more.

"I'm sorry for bringing her here, I didn't listen to your arguing against that, but I can't say I regret it either. I want to see where this'll lead us and I hope you'll find that you can trust Lia at some point, even if I can't explain why I do." Kaida made sure to look Ray dead in the eyes, knowing he'd only resign if he knew she was being honest about what she'd said.

"Well," he sighs, "your gut has never really failed us before."

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Lia was enjoying her warm bath, that is, until she overheard the two mages. She couldn't help it, she was alert in her unknown environment and picked up on the conversation, one not as softly spoken as the topic should require.

The wolf didn't trust her.

Ray was right not to– and somehow knowing that didn't make her feel that bad. She's actually a bit relieved.

They're helping her even though they don't fully trust her, a stranger with a strong and potentially dangerous spirit.

But they aren't naive idiots.

The talking ceases and she thinks it's about time to get out of the bath, it was surprisingly nice. Just when she was drying herself off there was a rap on the door, followed by a pale hand holding some clothes.

"Get comfy on the bed of pillows I took from Ray, he won't complain," The dragon girl stated without ever moving or looking into the room.

When Lia took the clothes from the outstretched hand the other girl tried to close the door, however a dark thing flew through the crack of the closing door.

"Ipo!" Kaida's voice scolded, though the tiny creature ignored her, heading straight for Lia's damp stands of hair.

Even if Ipo was a slight inconvenience while trying to put the clothes on, she found herself to be surprisingly unbothered.

Just take it one day at a time Lia...

A weird first day though, she could hardly keep track of all the things that had happened.

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The girl fell asleep quite fast, to Ray's utter amazement.

Neatly tucked in on the makeshift bed Kaida scavenged together from his own— now significantly less comfortable– bed.

But Kaida was right, this isn't that bad. She hasn't shown any reasons for him to distrust her, or to dislike her either now that he thinks about it.

Lia stirs a lot in her sleep however, keeping him up— which is annoying. He can't really get mad though, she's struggling quite a bit in her slumber, that must not be pleasant for her either.

Ray decides to get some water, shifting into a human when sees she tossed everything he unwillingly lend to her around the place.

"What warped memories are making you so restless..." he whispers, not actually wanting an answer.

Her face scrunches up and it immediately reminds him of his favorite little dragon. Kaida used to have a lot of nightmares too when she was younger.

Should he...

Slowly moving closer he gently rubs a wrinkled forehead, making small circles to ease out her frown into a more relaxed expression. The girl merely lets out a deep breath, something Ray mirrors in relief.

Seems like scared people all want comfort regardless of how they get it.

...Or who is willing to give it to them.

What am I even doing?

He fixes up some of the pillows and looks back at Lia, sleeping way more peacefully.

"I hope you'll find that you can trust Lia at some point, even if I can't explain why I do."

Yeah, he's still far from trusting her, but accepting she's not evil just because he doesn't know her is a start.

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"Do you two ever dream about your spirit?" Lia asked a little while after she woke up.

Before the wolf could grumble a response Kaida froze in her silent approach, before aggressively sliding the doors aside, "How did you know I was already up on the deck?" the girl barked out, amazed and equally flabbergasted.

Kaida wildly gestured towards the open doors, "The dorn screens were even closed, do you have some kind of—"

"–Some kind of eight sense, yes." Lia deadpanned, finishing Kaida's sentence.

Ray and Kaida's mirrored stares spurred on an elaboration, because yeah; that may have been a bit too blunt. "I am very aware of my surroundings and—" she paused as a thought hit her, suddenly feeling wide awake, "And– I don't know why I know that or why I..."

Why do I do that?

The siblings shared a look before Kaida spoke up again, "You wanna think about that right now or do you want some breakfast first?"

As a matter of fact, she didn't want to think about it right now.

But breakfast sounded really good, so she hummed, "Food would be nice."

Ray took that as his cue to shift back into human form, "I'll grab something, would you like slightly old bread or slightly older buns?" he asked and that didn't come out as a joke at all.

"Just whatever you guys are having 's fine."

Turned out that with the right creams and berry mush to put on the baked goods– it was actually an okay meal to start the day.

Ipo even joined them, though she's not sure the creature even eats... or is able to do so.

"You asked before," Kaida stated while going in for extra fruit goop, "If we dream about our spirits," she began, "I do– dream about Mr. Dragon I mean, we talk too. It's pretty normal I think, spirits are part of you after all."

Hold on— Mister Dragon?

Lia had to huff a small laugh, "You have a dragon spirit but don't know its name?"

Kaida almost looked scandalized, "Mr. Dragon ís his name idiot," Kaida huffed.

Ray apparently also communicates with his spirit through dreams, but not very often. It's not really talking since it's a wolfking, his words aren't spoken but can still be heard. Kaida told her Mr. Dragon does the same, talking inside her head like he always did.

Lia tries her best to describe her dream, but it gets more and more fuzzy. Was it about her memories? The odd figure she saw didn't really talk, but she has a strong feeling it was trying to tell her something.

Not having a clear answer to her situation Ray advises she should wait and see, "You should always be cautious with spirits, even your own."

Kaida suddenly got serious, holding Lia's gaze, "Agreed. Lia, treat the spirits with respect, if Ophiuchus wants to talk they will eventually."

So even Kaida shows respect to that she deems worthy of it.

Showing she understood Lia kept her voice leveled, "Noted."

When they're cleaning up after breakfast Ray comes with a bright idea, "How about we get some books from the library to read up on the celestial mages, see if we can figure out what Ophiuchus' spirit actually entails."

This piques Lia's interest, a vague gut feeling and the image of mountains of books flashing in her head.

"I think I like books."

The poor guy looks startled, "You think? Oh... right." To his credit, he didn't sound too condescending. Though he still chooses to avoid further talking by turning into a wolf.

"I think that's his way of saying we should head out now," Kaida helpfully translated.

And so they made their way to Miklion yet again, a girl with a careful smile on wolfsback and a flying spawn of darkness, now accompanied by a little shadow creature.

They just arrived in the city and already saw a familiar face waiting for them.

"Ugh, it's you again," Ray groans.

The fea smiles just as sharply as yesterday, "Good to see you too sunshine." His teasing only makes Ray look more annoyed.

Not that the Jay seems to care, for he turns his attention towards Lia instead, "Hi dearie, how are you holding up?" he kindly asks.

"Fine I think?" That sounds about right, "I'm lucky to be alive so... Living in the moment for now." Lia says, tone lighter than her words.

The others notice the implications however, "That's–" Jay begins a bit sadly, but he dismisses that sentence, "You keep doing that hun," he sighs, not unkindly. "I know you'll be great." he gives her another warm smile, maybe hoping to get one back.

"Thank you Jay," Lia smiles, "Were you waiting for us to show?"

The fea laughs, "Guilty as charged, Al said you'd visit today, the cards told her." he explained, "I don't know why you're back again so soon though."

"We're going to pay the library a visit, Ray thought it'd be a good idea. See if we can discover some more information about her spirit and its magic, maybe even the prophecy itself who knows." Kaida told her friend, sounding pretty peeved about something.

"Hmm, I don't doubt they will have some information, but I think I've got a better address for you," the fae winked.

Turns out Jay actually knows about a library owned by one of the signs themselves; Capricorn. "It is as good a starting point as any, I can even help show the way."

He proceeds to put a spell on a little origami jay bird, one which is supposed to lead them to the seagoat's library.

Lia feels a smile of amazement forming on her face, the whole spell just looked so pretty.

The other two didn't seem as impressed, Ray was quick to take another jab at Jay. "Even if this old man knows the origins of the signs, there's no way he is going to know all about your recent predicament Lia. Maybe we should split up, see if we can gather more intel."

Seems like Kaida is more than excited to hear that new plan, "Sweet! If I just question folks around the guilds, I don't have to walk around in a boring stuffy library!"

Boring? A library? Full of books and stories? How did she think—

Jay quietly whispers the supposed reason, "Kaida can't read dearie."

Said girl was busy telling her brother where she's going to ask around and luckily didn't catch that.

But her brother seemed to regret his suggestion already, "I don't want you sniffing around those places on your own. You always manage to get into a fight, you go with Lia, I'll ask around town." he tried to bargain.

Even Lia could tell that wasn't going to work.

Kaida scoffed, "Hey at least I'll get information out of my victims, you're so bad at getting information, let me handle this, you go with Lia."

Jay found the perfect time to join their little discussion again, "And I shall accompany our dear mistress of shadows."

"You?" Ray dared, disapproval dripping off his tone.

"Hi," Jay mockingly waved, "yeah, I'm still here too y'know, willing to help and all. Remember I can burn anyone to a crisp in mere seconds, not a fire fae for nothing wolfie." He sassed. "Besides, Kaida loves hanging out with me." Jay smiled like he knew he'd just won.

Especially after hearing all that. 

"I do," Kaida agreed, looking at him with an almost scaringly serious expression.

Ray let his distaste for this plan known by another growl, "That's because you two are a menace, a walking sparkling annoyance and a force of shadowy destruction." Something told her he wasn't exaggerating.

Ever the opportunist Jay took his chance, "Naw you think I'm sparkling, that is so nice—"

"Shut up, not another word," Ray cut off. "You go with Kaida, I'll visit the library with Lia."

Okay, seems like they've got a plan.