POV:Ayami

“Ayami?” I was brought back from my thoughts from a surprising voice I recognized

I turned to the side to see Kayda dressed up in a beautiful blue ruffle dress, her brown hair kept in a bun.

“Kayda?” I asked as I reciprocated her surprise

“You guys know each other?” Reo asked curiously

“of course they know each other. They study in the same class” the honey like voice of grandmother echoed the glass conservatory.

Its hard to believe this woman is in her late 90’s

“The souls separated will always find their way back” she mumbled

 “Come sit Kayda” she gestured the maids to bring her a chair.

“Kayda, this is your aunt Auden” she gestured to my mother, who gave a warm smile to Kayda, “this is Your uncle Ezekiel” she continued

“Hello, Kayda” he accepted the handshake Kayda extended with a smile

“This is Reo, your niece …” she paused before adding “brother would be better than niece, since you would have grown up together here like that” a hint of guilt in her tone

“and this as you know, Ayami, your friend at Uni but now she is also your sister”

Kayda smiled as I gave her one

“Your grandpa will meet you all, tomorrow” she continued “make yourself feel at home, this is your home too and if you have to know anything, don’t be sacred to ask grandma” she said looking at both me and Reo

We both gave a nod to her

“and I know we haven’t had any reason to bond yet, but I would love it if you could try to” she continued

“And …”

She looked at me and Reo with eyes that couldn’t hide the tears dwelling up on them

“I am sorry for not reaching out to you sooner” she quickly averted her eyes from us to Kayda and cleared her throat in attempts to get a hold of herself

“Kayda why don’t you take them with you and show them around”

Kayda nodded

“But...” Reo paused looking back from mom to grandma

“You can call me grandma dear” grandma said with a dewy smile on her face 

Reo continued “grandma, kai said to report to his office after the meeting with you”

“Oh, that boy!” grandma hissed “the damn company all the time just like his grandpa”

Kayda pursed her lips in attempt to hide the grin on her face

“it’s alright grandma, it is pretty important” Reo justified

“Alright dear you can go” grandma said

She turned to face me and Kayda who were standing to get permission to leave the conservatory

“Kayda, make sure to tell kai to come see me today” she demanded

“of course, grandma” Kayda grinned

“You may go now”

 ***

We both chose to take a walk through the garden to the hilltop nearby the mansion.

The garden had almost all the flowers I saw on the conservatory but much older than the ones inside.

Just like she said the hike to the hill top was pretty easy but what I saw was much more than what she explained. A gigantic tree that looks like it could touch the clouds seemingly at least about a thousand years old. Its leaves hanging down like vines that caressed our hairs like a mother’s touch as we walked through it. Cold breeze that hushed through the vines made it seem like summer was still far away.

“Do you like it” Kayda asked as she sat down at the foot of the tree

“Like it? I love it” I exclaimed

She let out a chuckle “glad to know that I now have someone to accompany with me to my favourite spot” she said

“Our favourite spot” I corrected her “it feels like the cold breeze and the vines just took away all the burdens and thoughts I had” I took a deep breath before sitting down near Kayda

“I know” she agreed

“This was apparently the favourite spot of the last princess of Celestia” she continued “and she requested to never take this tree down”

“Last princess of Celestia, the one that went corrupted?”