"Well, just enter." Minaki shrugged the question off and let the young ones breathe.
"You are finally here. What took you so long?" Astraea asked the children, who looked tired. She and the others had been catching up when Minaki told them that they were outside.
The house was filled with plants and also water flowing like a small river on the edges. The river began from the wall, around the house, near the plants, eventually becoming a pond and ending somewhere they could see. Also, when they looked up, they realised it wasn't the light that was making the room filled with light. It was the sun above the sky river that was the roof. They saw fishes creating shadows on where they stood.
"Wow." Alek was in awe as she looked around. She has never seen or been in a house where they had a river flowing.
"Have a seat." Minaki urged them to sit on the sofa that was next to the parents and opposite of him.
A woman around Minaki's age sat next to him and smiled at them. They felt that that was the former head's wife. She, too was, wearing a kimono that was light purple in colour with lilac flowers on it. She had a pixie haircut and was black.
"She is Yukari, my wife." Minaki held his wife's hand and introduced her. She didn't say anything but just stare at each one of the younger generations with a smile.
"I am Alektrona. This is Bia, Kairos." Alek told the woman and looked at Jin to continue.
"And I am Jin, he is Rin and, she is Iris. Nice to meet you. It's a pleasure to be here." Jin immediately continued and introduced himself and his siblings.
"It's a pleasure to have you here." Yukari told them with a little bit of West-Asian accent. "I told you not to go. Why were you running away?" She asked them with her soft voice but, it was firm.
"Were you the one telling me not to go?" Jin connected the dots. He realised the voice he heard in the water was similar to hers.
Yukari nodded.
"Oh..." Jin nodded.
"I heard that you and Fumizuki are close." Pollux saved the room by starting another conversation.
"Yes." Minaki answered. "We Nagatsuki are fishes and, Fumizuki are basically marine creatures apart from fishes. And since some of us cannot live in freshwater, we agreed to share territories. In return, we give them security."
"What kind of security?" Alek asked.
"Do you know Amazon river?" Minaki asked the girl. Alek nodded. "Fishes from there are really dangerous. Our worriers are from there, so we send some there."
"But they must be freshwater animals. How are they staying in the ocean?" Rin asked. He knew how difficult to spend time in freshwater as he was a marine animal.
"They have been training their whole lives. Some of their freshwater features have altered so they can send more time in the sea." Minaki answered.
"I should start doing it." Rin mumbled to himself.
Minaki laughed and commented. "It would be hard, young man. You first need to try shifting with the help of little seawater and then move to freshwater. It takes a long time."
"Ohh, okay. Wait, how did you know that I was a water shifter?" Water-shifter means people who use water, either freshwater or seawater, to help to shift. "Mum?"
"No. Your mother didn't say anything. I guessed." Minaki told him. "It may be hot for you." He then pointed at the table with hot tea that nobody realised was there. Even Kai and Iris, the observers of the family, didn't realise Yukari prepared the tea while they were listening to Minaki and others talk. She acted like a ghost.
"Thank you." Alek told him and smelled the tea. "Does this contain mint?" She asked the wife before she took a sip. It was a green tea but with a unique taste. A good taste. "Also lemon and stevia leaf?"
"You have a good nose and taste. It does contain that." Minaki answered. He and his wife looked impressed by Alek. No one has been able to guess the sweetness of the tea just by taking a sip. "How did you know?"
"My friend's mother loves to bake and, she uses it regularly instead of honey and sugar." Alek told them with a blush. Why was she blushing?
"That is amazing." Minaki spoke. "Do you like it?"
"Very much. I would love to make this at home. Would it be possible for you to give me the recipe?" Alek asked the wife. She somehow felt that it was her who had made it.
Yukari nodded.
"Thank you." Alek smiled and took another sip of the new style of green tea she didn't know.
"Going back, you sound like you know how to live in the ocean." Pollux asked the question he had been trying.
"It's the quite opposite." Minaki faced him. "I actually learned to live in the freshwater. You see I am a shark."
"Weh." Alek stopped doing whatever she was doing. She imagined he would be something much more, non-violent-ish creature...
"She is also a shark." Minaki told them about his wife and got a more surprising reaction. Yes, his wife didn't look like a shark-shifter because of her appearance. She looked more of a Siamese fighting fish, but he knew how deadly when she shifted. So far, she is the scariest creature he has ever met.
"I heard that it's hard to find someone who is the same category as you to be a mate." Jin asked the former head. He has never met or heard of someone marrying someone like each other.
"Wait, Mate?" Alek reacted to that word. She would never miss that word.
"That's how we describe our partner because we are more than wife and husband. We, shapeshifters, don't have the concept of mates like for werewolves but, it's closer to that. But because we live in a human world, we have to use the term, my wife or my husband for them." Alek flinched at her cousin, saying 'human'. It was like a constant reminder that her family was not humans.
"Got it. Thanks." Alek replied and took another sip. "You guys can continue."
"I'm sorry, what were you saying?" Rin turned back his attention towards Minaki, who was laughing.
"I'd say I was lucky."Minaki answered his question after laughing. "I met her on the day when I was exploring a trench that I was not supposed to. We were entirely shifted to blend in, but we saw each other, we knew that we were shifters. She was also not following the rules of Nagatsuki and came to the trench from curiosity and excitement."
"So you were naughty ones?" Alek asked.
"Yes, we were." Minaki chuckled at how Alek described them. She was unique. He has never met someone like her.
"I'd like to do that when I finally shift." Alek spoke excitedly but quietly. Since no one knew her powers, there was a possibility that she was a water-shifter like her aunt and cousins.
"You have not shifted. You were recently introduced in this world of supernaturals, correct?" Minaki asked. The conversation became serious.
"Yes." Alek looked down and kept the empty yunomi on the table.
"There are many ways to trigger the powers but, for you, there is only one left for you. I think your parents have tried the rest." Minaki looked at Panacea and Robin. They nodded.
"And what is the only way for me to trigger it?" Alek asked eagerly.
"Your grandmother... or maybe the family heirloom can tell you that." Minaki told her.
"The family heirloom has nothing in it. The whole book is blank." Alek told them.
"There is a family heirloom in this family?" Kai asked to no one in particular.
"Yeah." Alek answered him shortly and turned back at Minaki. "Are you telling me my grandmother knows? She didn't tell me that when I met her the last time."
"She very much knows." Minaki only said that and kept quiet.
"Are you planning to tell me?" Alek asked but, when she felt like she couldn't get the answer from him, she turned to her parents and aunt and uncle. "Do you guys know?"
"No." Lake told her while Robin shook his head. She felt that they were not lying.
"I suggest you get the answer from your grandmother. It's not something that I should say. I am not part of Minazuki. This is the problem you need to face." Minazuki told the future head. "But there may be a way to know what your powers are without needing to shift."
"What is that?" Alek asked.
"By asking Yayoi." He told her.
"Who is that? Wait, let me guess. They are one of the leading clans?" Alek said.
"You are right. Yayoi is indeed one of the leading clans. They are tricky. They can shift people unwillingly, see through the shift or know what kind of shifters they are. Also, they are not in good terms with us. They are more on Shiwasu's side."
"Then how am I supposed to know my powers if they don't like us?" Alek was a little upset.
"Relax, young lady. Some people under Yayoi were kicked out and, they are in good terms with us. I can contact them now and see if they can know."
"Please do!" Alek almost jumped off the sofa.
He smiled, and she realised that his wife was no longer beside him. She must have already left to contact the rogue Yayoi.
Alek smiled when Yukari returned and nodded. She was going to know her powers.