Arriving downstairs, we are greeted by Granny Fezzoxa.

“Dewick's newest couple has come for breakfast”, she says with a big grin.

“Grandma!” Rowan protests.

“Couple?” I ask, “who? Rowan and I?”

“Yes, couple,” Granny answers, “Rowan and you. I take it you don't remember?”

“No, I don't remember anything at all.”

“This makes this a little difficult… Yesterday, you proposed to Rowan, in front of everyone in the village. Even though you were drunk, you were so blunt about it, it's hard to imagine you wouldn't have done that even if you had been sober.”

“I… I see. I don't know how it happened. Would you be so kind and tell me what exactly did I do?”

“You caressed Rowan's ears in front of everyone. According to our customs, that's a proposal.”

“That's a proposal?!” I open my eyes wide.

“Yes, so… I take it you didn't know about this?”

“No, I didn't know this. I hope I didn't embarrass you too much, Rowan.”

“I… I don't mind,” Rowan answers, “and… I don't mind accepting your proposal. You are quite a cutie.”

“That's natural… wait, you don't?!”

He thinks I'm cute. I guess given we're betrothed now, I'll accept it. I can feel myself blushing.

“And there's no problem with us being… of the same sex?” I ask. Not that I have a problem with it, I swing both ways.

“No, why would that ever be a problem?” he answers, shaking his head, “we only have to finish the pilgrimage first.”

“I see. I'm not intending to, but just for me to know: what would be the consequences of me taking back that proposal?”

“Taking back your proposal would shame me.”

“I… I see. I have interfered with your life without knowing it. Drunk or not, I will have to answer for my actions. So… I will do my best. I'm counting on you as well, honey.”

“If… if you call me honey, I guess call you cutie,” he answers while blushing.

“That was definitely not what I was prepared for. Please tell me if I'm about to break a spoken or unspoken rule.”

“I'll try my best, cutie.”

❄ ❅ ❆ ❄ ❅ ❆ ❄ ❅ ❆ ❄ ❅ ❆

“Since we're talking about things now”, Granny Fezzoxa continues, “you should know all elderly here know you're what we call ‘a person from beyond the sky’. And Rowan here discovered that when he brought you to bed yesterday.”

From beyond the sky? So they know I'm an alien? Does that mean I'm not the first alien to arrive on this planet?

“I… I see.”

“And we, I mean Rowan, Cyma and I, know about Mittens.”

What? How did that happen?

“It's a spirit that follows you around, isn't? You do talk to it from time to time.”

That seems like a misunderstanding, but then, they are my family now. Should I tell them about the shuttle?

“You don't need to force yourself,” Fezzoxa continues, “just know, no matter what secrets you have, you're one of us now.”

Let's do this.

“It's almost correct. Let's go outside the village, Ro… honey. I'll show you first, I don't think I can properly explain it without showing it to you.”

“Outside the village?” he asks.

“Yes, Mittens is outside the village, to the East.”

❄ ❅ ❆ ❄ ❅ ❆ ❄ ❅ ❆ ❄ ❅ ❆

We walk outside the village. Ten minutes later, the shuttles comes towards us.

“What is that?” Rowan asks, “I've never seen anything like it!”

“That's a ‘flying home’, as Aura calls it,” I answer, “Mittens is inside.”

The shuttle lands near us and opens the door. I enter and gesture Rowan to follow.

“So this is a flying home…”

“Welcome to the Speeding Kitten, Rowan,” Mitten answers, “I am Mittens. I guess congratulations on your engagement are in order.”

“That voice…”, Rowan looks around for the source of the voice.

“Mittens is the voice of this… no, let me rephrase this: you can think of Mittens like something similar to a spirit that inhabits this ‘flying home’.”

“Flying homes are ancient artifacts from the Age of Spirits!!” Rowan exclaims, “nobody is able to use them! I've never seen one… so that's how they look like…”

“An ancient artifact? From your standpoint, I guess it's natural to call it an artifact. I wouldn't call it ancient, though.”

“So everything you told be about yourself…”

“No, I didn't lie,” I interrupt him, “I just left out a lot of details.”

“I guess you're worried about what others think about you having a flying home.”

“Yes, that's about it.”

“There's shouldn't be any problems with it. People might revere you, but that would be all. If I didn't know you're just a person like any other I would too. As grandma said, you're one of us now, no matter what secrets you have.”

“So there's no danger of people wanting to steal from me? Or worse, killing me to get their hand on it?”

“No, you should be fine. Not many would think to attack someone chosen by both Aura, or an artifact as this. People fear the retaliation of the spirits.”

“Chosen?”

“People that the spirits have been spoken to receive stronger blessings. You can see it by looking at their hair, part of your hair changes colour when receive a blessing. The more intensive the colour is, the stronger your blessing becomes. Also, it's said when you reach a certain level, you can sense how strong people are. So with a hair of such a strong shade of wind as yours, I doubt people will dare to touch you.”

Shade of wind? So, wind is also considered a colour on this planet.

“I see. I haven't checked my hair recently.”

I take out my personal terminal and set it in mirror mode. Looking at my terminal, I see I have bright lime coloured highlights in my dark hair.

“I haven't noticed my hair changed.”

“Anyway, you should decide to bring the shut-el to the village, you can put it on the plot to the left of grandma's house. That place was abandoned.”

“Was?”

“The plan is to fix that place up for the two of us to move there. Originally, we just wanted to eventually fix that place just for you, but we're a couple now. Since I'm to move to your place, it'll happen sooner.”

❄ ❅ ❆ ❄ ❅ ❆ ❄ ❅ ❆ ❄ ❅ ❆

Having parked the shuttle in the village, we go back to the elder's house. The villagers seem to be surprised to see it at first, but as they see Rowan and me leaving the craft, their expressions calm rather quickly.

After consulting Rowans and Mittens, Rowan and I are back at the elder's house. A young Vulpinefolk woman and a Procyoninefolk man of the same age join us in the meeting. The woman, I think she was called Ruby, has bright red hair with green and white highlights. From what I can recall, she's a mason.

The man has brown hair with green and white highlights of slightly different hues. Both the woman's vulpine ears and the man's procyonine ears are pointed upwards. I think his name was Tom They are glaring at each other. I don't think they get along.

“I assume this is about fixing up the house next door?” Ruby asks, “I can't think of another reason why you would have me sit at the same table with this stinking raccoon.”

“I was about to say the same, stinking fox!”

“Please,” Granny reacts, “I know you currently aren't the best of friends. But jobs like these require you to work together. Aster has some special needs for the house.”

“Basically, I want to be able to ‘dock’ the flying home to the house. But the house should be able to function as a house even when the shuttle isn't there. As for the implementation, I just need a gate or door to the outside at the end of the hallway. It needs to be big enough, so I can align the door of the shuttle to it.”

“Why not use the back door?” Ruby asks.

“What? Are you too lazy to do the work?” Tom interject.

Everyone present glares at Tom.

“Sorry,” he mumbles.

“I'd like to have a usable back door, even the flying home is there,” I answer.

“I see, that's not a problem, but wouldn't that let in the cold?” she asks.

“No, I just need to temporarily stuff the seam with something insulating, like wool or hemp,” I answer, “after that, it's just a matter of making a wooden cover for purely aesthetic purposes to hide the seam.”

“Purely aesthetic?” Tom reacts to the mention of some carpeting, “I see, it's so you can just remove it when you need to remove the flying home. It's not how I do my craft, but I can see why you need it. How about we make it you can remove the door and hang that aesthetic frame to hinges?”

“That'd be perfect!”

“Good, do you have any other special needs with the house?”

I glance at Rowan. He shakes his head.

“No, that'd be all for now.” 

CC-BY 4.0 quốc Thái “RPGReki” Chung
https://amau.ga/1/4/