A large package arrived at Elais’ doorstep the next day addressed to Yura, revealing to be the many dresses that Adrienne had sewed just for her. Elais walked up the stairs with the sizable box in his hands, opening her bedroom door. He placed it aside her now dust-free vanity table, waking her in the process. 

“Your dresses from Adrienne came,” he explained, not wanting to scare her with his presence. 

Yura woke up with excitement on her face and scrambled out of bed to view the contents of her package, beaming at the feel and look of her new dresses. She immediately kicked Elais out of her room so she could try them on immediately, one after another. She ultimately settled on a chocolate-brown sleeveless lined dress, wearing a white frilled collar shirt underneath it. She paired the outfit with matching brown tights that Adrienne had gifted her, in which she had also given her a style guide with the items she made as a reference for her to follow. 

Yura made her way down the stairs with Mr Foxy in her arms and into the living room where Elais had been waiting for her with his legs crossed as he read a newspaper, breakfast already present on the dining table in her usual sitting spot. She seated the doll next to her on the table, making sure her new friend also had a share of breakfast. Elais noticed that she presented herself rather well in her new clothing, minus the unmade belt attached on her dress. 

“Yura, since your powers are currently a safety hazard, you won’t be able to go to school with other people until we can figure them out,” he said, fixing her belt for her as she ate. “So, I’m bringing teachers to you instead until then.”

Her mouth was full, but her eyes expressed warmth and gratitude. “I’m so keen to learn more until I can go outside more. When do I start?”

“Today actually. They’ll be here shortly,” Elais replied, brushing her unruly wavy bed hair. 

Shortly after, there was a loud knock on his front door. 

Elais escorted the two newly hired teachers into the living room and had them seated on the velvet seating as he prepared tea for them. Yura had a quick peek at them from the corner of her eye as she sat at the dining table. Both had short silver hair with small angular ears poking from the top of their heads, and wore matching coffee suits with taupe collared shirts underneath their blazers. Yura was quick to notice their large silver bushy tails and watched them sway side to side occasionally as Elais brought them freshly made tea. The feminine teacher noticed Yura from afar and waved at her with a soft smile. The muscular teacher then noticed her attention, and waved back, fixing his tie into a bow-tie as he turned his attention back to Elais. 

Elais walked over to Yura and brought her over to introduce her to her new teachers, who remained in their original seating. 

“It’s lovely to meet you, Yura. I’m Varna, and I’ll be teaching you the lovely world of magic and science,” the feminine teacher said. Up close, Yura noticed her facial markings that consisted of two diagonal lines with the top line twice the length of the bottom, on both sides of her cheeks. She also had different coloured eyes to Yura’s curiosity; the left was cyan and the right was golden.

“I’m Viktor. I’ll be teaching you about the joys of history and linguistics,” the muscular teacher said. He had identical facial markings, and wore a monocle on the right side. With both teachers sitting next to one another, she noticed he also had a similar case of heterochromia as Varna, the only difference being that his colours were reversed. 

“Elais has explained to us about the situation regarding your powers and your current circumstances,” Varna said. “We will help you learn more about them so you can control them better.”

“And you don’t need to fear harming us in the process. We’re both werewolves - and twins by the way - Varna possesses strong magical abilities, and I have all the brawn,” Viktor said, his tail swaying as he palmed his fist into his hand.

Yura’s eyes glowed with excitement. “It’s nice to meet you two. I’m pleased to start learning soon.”

Elais rose from his seat. “If it’s alright, I’d like to observe the first lesson in case her powers activate. I’m still investigating them and I fear there may be harm present.”

Viktor waved his hand. “Oh fear not Elais, do join us!”

Elais moved to a larger velvet sofa and laid down as he let his head lay on the arm rest. “For now, just use this room for safety purposes. If things go well, the library will be all yours.”

The ticking of the grandfather clock grew louder as he continued to read the newspaper, occasionally looking up in case her powers set off at any given moment. There was no particular news of note, but he had nothing better to do himself whilst observing her. Yura had appeared to be taking the lessons well, fully engaging her concentration to the newfound knowledge being presented to her. The twins took turns engaging her in different subjects and providing different perspectives and insights, ensuring that she would not grow bored from her studies. Their textbooks were worn from all their years of usage, but its contents were still as interesting as they had originally been due to their methods of teaching. Varna demonstrated some small bursts of magic and gave an overview of the different types that Yura could specialise in the future, with Viktor assisting in her reading comprehension through the fun of history, giving her points for every time she could guess what happened subsequently. The lesson and the day had ended before Yura realised, with Elais observing nothing peculiar of note occurring during that time. 

Elais poured some more freshly made tea for the twins at the main table, the aroma providing much needed ease. 

Varna was the first to pick up her teacup, intaking the aroma before taking a sip. “She’s an absolutely fantastic student to teach. She comprehends new concepts rather quickly,” Varna said, stirring her tea, with Viktor nodding in agreement. “But there’s something I’m confused about from what you explained earlier. Her magical reserve is so little, I don’t see how she could possess such abilities.”

“I don’t quite understand it either,” Elais replied, rubbing his chin. It was true, since not only was her magical reserve so little, but she was definitely not controlling her powers from his observation. 

“During our magic studies, I felt what appeared to be a protection ward. There’s definitely constant magic running through her body, even if it’s just a little,” Varna said. 

“Adrienne said the same thing,” Elais responded. Almost word for word.

Varna briefly paused, with Viktor looking at her with some concern, as if he knew what she was thinking at that moment. “That name.. It’s been years since I’ve heard of her,” she said in a barely audible whisper.

“You know of her?” Elais inquired. He didn’t know much of Adrienne’s history, especially given that she had appeared abruptly into his life. The coincidence of a mutual connection made him aware of how small the world really was.

Varna nodded, looking down at her teacup. “You see, we were close friends. We researched the savage incident together, and then all of a sudden she went missing when we were looking for a cure…”

Viktor patted her on the back with sympathy written on his face, with Varna’s expression becoming rather grim from recalling her past. Varna took a deep breath. “Protection wards, as you know, usually have a pattern unique to its caster,” she continued. “The problem is that it felt like old, timely magic, something I can’t recognise at all. With older protection ward magic, they required runes to be incorporated on its bearer and caster, which I don’t see on Yura whatsoever.”

Elais jotted down her notes for his own reference. Despite being old himself, he sometimes forgot the principles of magic. Perhaps he also needed to relearn his magic studies alongside Yura. “Thank you. This has been rather helpful.”

Viktor smiled warmly at him. “Regardless of the circumstances, we’ll do everything we can to help you both, especially after you saved us from being mauled by savages,” he said.

Elais scratched the back of his head, trying to recall the incident. “That happened so long ago I forgot it happened.”

Varna smiled lightly at him and Viktor. “It did happen four centuries ago. I wouldn’t be surprised you’d forgotten.”

Viktor glanced back at Varna with a mutual understanding. They both shot Elais a curious glance. “Say, what exactly is Yura’s relationship to you? Is she…”

“-No. She’s not my child,” Elais cut in. “I’m taking care of her because Adrienne told me to after she got me to find her. She claimed that she was linked to my immortality and offered to help me undo it.” He took a deep breath at the memory, trying to clear Adrienne’s annoying pleas out of his mind. She could have been wasting his time, but at the same time she may have been speaking the truth. Either way, he didn’t have much choice.

“I wonder what she’s been up to all these years,” Varna said to herself quietly. “If you don’t mind, could I have her contact details? I’d love to catch up with her.”

Elais nodded and wrote down the details for her and handed it over. 

The twins prepared to take their leave for the night, packing up their textbooks and study material. Viktor turned to Elais as Varna stepped out the door. ‘You know, you haven’t really changed from back then. I’m thankful you at least respond to some of our letters, so we know you’re still alive!’ he said with a big grin, with the door shutting behind him.

Elais walked by Yura’s room, where she was writing into a diary at her vanity table. She looked up at him with a warm smile. “I had fun studying today,” she said, showing him the diary that Viktor had given her. 

Elais read her current entry, noting that she was happy to have friends. “I’m glad you’re taking the lessons rather well,” he said. “From time to time, I may need to leave the house to investigate your powers with outside material since my own is evidently not enough.”

“Okay,” Yura responded. She prepped for bed with the Mr Foxy doll in her arms. Elais looked at the doll before turning off the light for her, feeling chills run down his spine just looking at it. The doll itself was creepy, but he felt as if there was some extra layer of creepiness to it. He brushed it off, since it was a trivial matter anyway.