"Ah, now that is a palace, it only needs the interior and some plants to make it complete. ...Where am I supposed to go to find the interior?" Sydra thought aloud. Even when on earth all he had in his apartment was his bed from childhood and a couch he bought from his uncle. And of course, the nature spirit had no memories of home decorating.
'I'm sure there is a store around here.' Sydra thought as he returned to his body and put the book back. Leaving the library, he began walking down the streets in search of a store that sold the items he needed. 'Oh, what is this?' He thought as he saw a building that looked like it had what he needed. Going inside, Sydra saw a lot of bed and bath stuff that he needed, such as a runic shower, a magical bed, a kitchen sink, washers and dryers and a few other things.
"Hello, welcome to Beyond Baths and Beds, how may I help you today?" A store worker asked as he walked up to Sydra.
"I need all of this, how much is it?" Sydra asked the manager, while pointing at all the items he had seen.
"That will be one hundred and thirty seven gold." The store worker said, as he quickly calculated the prices of each item.
"Perfect, here you go." Sydra said as he pulled out the gold and handed it to the worker before placing all the items in his Arbor Sanctum and leaving the store.
"Well that was quick, now I need to find a place to spend the night. Tomorrow I will focus on upgrading my connection rank with my Shadow Void Cloak so I can enter the Arbor Sanctum with my physical body." Sydra decided as he walked to the tailors, thinking that he could ask to spend the night on some backpacks. Sadly, when he got there the place was already closed.
"Dang... Where to now?" Sydra wondered as he looked around.
"Sydra?" Called out a female voice behind him. Turning around he was surprised to see Echo there.
"What are you doing out so late?" She asked looking up at the sky. It was indeed late, as Sydra had taken a few hours to complete his mansion.
"Oh, I was looking for a place to spend the night, and I can't go to the Inn or I will die," Sydra said in complete seriousness. Trying to discover if he was lying or not, Echo looked closely at Sydra's face.
"I see... Why don't you come home with me then?" She said, seeing no traces of lying on his face.
"Really? That would be great, thanks." Sydra responded following Echo back to her place. It was a two-story stone cottage with a large yard on the outskirts of town. The place was well taken care of, and the inside was incredibly cozy. There was a fire going in the fireplace and the smell of dinner cooking from the kitchen. Looking in that direction, Sydra saw a beautiful girl around the same age as Echo, with long light blue hair and green eyes. She was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, with a cute apron over it as she starred at a pot on the stove.
"Philo, I'm home and I brought a guest." Echo called out to the young girl cooking. "Sydra this is my younger sister Philo, she lives here with me and takes care of the place." Echo said introducing the two of them. The young girl turned and looked at Sydra while sizing him up.
"Sister, you have finally brought a man home. This is amazing, how long have you two been together?" Philo asked, deciding that Sydra was no threat.
"No, that's not it. Sydra and I are just friends and he needed a place to stay the night, so I brought him over. Your okay with that right?" Echo asked with a slight blush, glancing at Sydra who was busy looking around the place.
"Oh? If that is the case then I will get the spare bedroom ready for him." Philo said, disappointment barely hidden in her voice. Her sister was a beauty, but she was always working in the forge. This made it impossible for her sister have time for romance, and that disappointed Philo, who was a romantic.
"Thanks, if you don't mind may I use the bathroom to change into my night wear?" Sydra asked, hoping to freshen up before dinner.
"Sure, it is just down the hallway, Philo can show you the way." Echo said, as she took over finishing up dinner.
"Come on, it is this way." Philo said leading Sydra down a hallway with photos on the wall. They were mostly of Echo and Philo growing up, with one of them being the two girls with an older gentleman who had a large sword on his back, and a scar running down his face.
"That was our father figure, as we were both born from water sources and don't have real parents." Philo said, noticing Sydra looking at the photo intently.
"Ah, I know that Echo is from the river that runs down past the forge, where are you from?" Sydra asked, looking away from the photo.
"I come from a small pond that is on the outskirts of the town, and I am the third generation from the pond. You know how nature spirits die with their trees, well water spirits are a bit different. When we die, we return to the water source that we came from and it then produces a new water spirit. The new water spirit will retain some of the memories from the previous water spirit, and will be considered the next generation of water spirits." Philo said, looking at the other photos on the wall. "My sister's river and my pond our connected, so that is why we feel a sisterly connection to one another."
"Hmm, so where is the man now?" Sydra asked, noticing that the house didn't have a touch of man inside it.
"He died a few years ago, while he was out on a quest. He had been attacked by bandits, and they killed him." Philo explained, a tear running down her face.
"Oh, I am sorry to hear that." Sydra said, glancing again at the photo.
"Anyway, here is the bathroom. Dinner will be ready soon, so don't take to much time." Philo said, wiping away the tear and heading into the guest bedroom. Entering the bathroom, Sydra took off his clothes for the first time since entering this world. Luckily, he was a nature spirit so he never smelled bad, but the same couldn't be said for his clothes. Getting into the shower, Sydra turned on the hot water and let it run over his body. Turning around to allow it to cover his back, Sydra began thinking about the old man who had taken care of the nature spirit as a child. All living things knew that spirits were the gods gifts to this world, and who ever found a spirit child and did nothing would be cursed by the gods. While those who raised the spirits as their own, were blessed by the gods. The nature spirit had been raised by an old man who had taught him the rights and wrongs of the world, and reminded Sydra of his own grandfather. The resemblance between the two was uncanny, and Sydra sometimes wondered if this world was a parallel world to his own.
Getting out of the shower, Sydra began to dry himself off when the door was opened. Looking behind him, Sydra saw both Echo and Philo standing in the doorway with red faces.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were showering!" Echo said, still not taking her eyes off of Sydra's toned back. Sydra had the towel wrapped around his waist, so they couldn't see anything below the waist, but if above the waist was anything to go off of, Sydra must have been packing.
"It is fine, but if you don't mind I would appreciate it if you could close the door now." Sydra said, getting slightly red himself. This was the first time he had been seen half naked by girls, and it was slightly embarrassing. When he was growing up, he had been in an all boys school, and had never been in a relationship before either.
"Of course, sorry. Dinner is ready by the way." Echo said as she quickly closed the door. But not before Sydra heard Philo ask Echo if she was drooling.
'Dinner will be fun...' Sydra thought as he pulled out the night wear he had received from Pop-pop. It was light silver in color with gold and blue cuffs, and felt incredibly soft on his skin. "This is some high quality sleep wear." he said aloud as he admired himself in the mirror. The night wear complimented his white hair and piercing blue eyes incredibly well.
Leaving the bathroom, and going into the dining room, Sydra saw three plates of something that looked like spaghetti on the table.
"Maybe you should have waited until after dinner to change into your night wear." Philo said with a small grin on her face.
"Indeed, that might have been for the best. I'm not exactly the cleanest eater either." Sydra responded sitting down at the table. A few minutes later Echo came out of the kitchen with three glasses of champagne and sat down at the table.
"I hope you enjoy dinner, it is Philo's specialty." Echo said as Philo smiled widely and looked at Sydra in anticipation. Taking the first bite, he was amazed at good the food tasted. It was almost like spaghetti but better somehow.
"Wow, this stuff is amazing. I must compliment the chef on such a job well done." Sydra said, quickly taking another bite.
"Thank you, I put my love into it, so you better like it." Philo said as she made a little heart with her hands.