Lee showed off his house with pride. He was the one who drew all the walls and brought stones in here. It took a long time to do this but, it wasn't a problem since he had a lot of time.
"You are the second ones to be here because Pari was the first." Pari and e met when he was creating a second home in the cave and, she had helped him finish. She was the only person who knew of this place as she hid it with her fae magic and, none could enter unless one of them invited them.
"Did you do all of this?" Alek sat as she walked around the second living room.
"Yes!" He smiled. "Take a seat!" He initiated everyone to be seated. Soon, he brought what seemed to be plates to the table. "Here."
"Thank you."
"...Thank you."
"Thank you..." They all took the plates and, Lee smiled at them.
"Wait here. I will bring you drinks and something to eat.!" And with that, Lee went to one of the tunnels that were leading into further parts of the cave.
"What do you think he is going to serve?" Castor whispered to his brother and cousin.
"I don't know." Pollux replied.
'I hope it's water. I'm thirsty." Alek spoke and received a sigh from them. "What?"
"Here!" Lee came back with cups of water. He was running and spilling some of the water, but he didn't see them. He gave the visitors the cups and went back.
"Where did he get the water from?" Jin, again, whispered. The cups that they were given seemed to be handmade by Lee because they had the same drawings. But weren't poorly made. It had the shape of a cup. In fact, it looked like it was made by a pro if it wasn't for the drawings and the handshapes of a boy.
"I don't know!" Rin whisper shouted.
"Ahhh. It's refreshing." Alek drank the water and told them. "It's sweet."
"Seriously?" Rin looked at his cousin in disbelief. He didn't know where the water came from, nor was the cups clean.
"The water is from the river nearby that everyone uses for drinking. I wash the cups every day because I use them for Mr Law and Ms Zote." Lee came back with a plate full of cookies.
"Who are those?" Alek asked.
"Let me call them!" Lee kept the plate on the table and rushed to the other tunnel. "Them!" Soon, he came back with two stuffed bears. One was wearing a blue tie and the other was wearing a red hat and sunglasses. "This is Mr. Law and this is Ms Zote."
"Oh..." Rin realised his sister used to be like this. She would treat her stuffed animals alive. She would eat with them, play with them and bathe them. Maybe because Lee used to have a friend who was a girl, he may have been playing with stuffed animals with her. "Hello... My name is Rin." He greeted the toys that sat next to him and Lee. Looked like they had their own seat.
"Hi. I'm Jin." Jin waved his hands at the Mr and the Ms.
"I'm Alek." Alek smiled at the stuffed animals with her heart. She remembered she used to play like this when she was with Aether. And also, when Bia wasn't cold as now and was still tiny. She would cry when Alek didn't play with her toys.
"They said hi." Lee smiled. "I brought these from my house!" Lee pointed his finger towards the cookies.
"Thank you." Alek quickly sat on the ground and took a bite of the cookie without shame. "These are sweet."
The boy blushed.
"Lee, how did you know how to make these cups?" Rin tapped the cup he was holding.
"How did you know I made them? Is it because you are from the family of the leading clans?" Lee dropped his mouth.
"No. The drawings you have here and, also you wrote your name. I didn't know you could write name." The name was misspelt and read as 'Lec' but, that didn't matter. Still, it was impressive for a four-year-old to write alphabets.
"Ohh. I learned from my friend's grandmother. She made cups and plates from mud. I and her used to help her." Lee told them with a sad smile. He missed his friend.
"What are their names?" Alek asked.
"This one is called John, and the other one is called Teddy. You have Jimmy," Lee told Alek. "You have Tim." He looked at Pollux. "And you have Reed." He then told Castor.
"Wait, are you telling us the name of utensils?" Rin jumped from his seat and stood up. He did not see that coming.
"Yes. You asked me their names..." Lee looked like he was confused. He just answered the question he was asked.
"Ohh..." Rin was speechless. He wanted to say so much but, he kept quiet. "Well, she was asking the names of your friend and her grandmother."
"Ahh. Her name is Wren and, her grandmother's name is Heidi."
"Are they harpies?" Jin asked.
"Yes. Wren is a flamingo and, grandma is a parrot." Lee told them.
"Really? Did they teach you hard words too? You sound old." Alek told the boy. The boy she used to babysit didn't talk like Lee did.
"No. Pari did. She teaches me." He told them. When they were together, Pari would teach him English as he had a hard time speaking. Heidi couldn't talk due to having a slashed vocal code when she was young. Hence, they didn't talk but said things by pointing and no need to speak to communicate.
"She is a great teacher." Jin smiled at the boy and, Lee smiled back with a yes.
''How did you bring these stones in here? They are your size." Rin asked.
"Pari is the one who helped me bring it here." Lee spoke.
"How?" Jin asked.
"Using water. She caused a big tsunami to bring the stones here." Lee widened his short arms to emphasize his words. Pari did flood the cave with water from the nearby river, which was enough for stones to reach the living room. From there, Lee adjusted it until it became what it is now.
"I didn't know Pari was that strong." Rin muttered. He had underestimated the fae and her magic. He noted himself not to make her his enemy or get her mad.
After that, they had a little chat before leaving the cave to explore the territory of Nagatsuki. Since Lee knew every part of the forest and was their guide, they didn't have to worry about being lost.
"Come!" Lee brought them to the river that people used to play and swim. But since the part where Lee brought them was not where people usually came, they were alone. They could hear voices from the upper side of the river and, it sounded happy. This made the three people sad as imagining the feeling when Lee is playing alone with himself and hearing those happy voices.
Lee jumped into the river. "Come!"
"Okay!" Alek shouted and ran to the river but before she could jump in. Somebody grabbed her wrist and stopped her.
"Not today, Alek." Jin told his cousin.
"Ow." Alek spoke as Jin was holding her wrist, where she hurt herself when trying to escape during locked up in a cell.
"Sorry." Jin let go immediately when he noticed where he was holding. "Alek, you can't get in there and swim."
"Why?" Alek asked.
"Because you are bandaged. You have bandages all over your body."
"And?" She blinked her eyes at him.
"So you are not supposed to swim with it." Jin told her.
"That's not fair." Alek pouted.
"It is what it is. Plus, you are not supposed to do hard excercise." Jin put the girl on a nearby rock. "You are staying here. I am going to swim with Lee."
"Wait, you not going to suffer with me?" Alek asked the cousin who had turned around to leave.
"No." Jin replied and continued walking.
"Betrayal." Alek told her cousin and booed before she lazily lay on the rock. The rock's surface was smooth and, she felt like she was lying on tiles. If she wanted to heal faster, she needed to stay away from exercise. But Castor sounded like not to wet the bandages but, what if she was to shower? Should she shower with the bandages on or off? Or was she even allowed to shower?
"What are you thinking?" Rin asked and sat next to her.
"Can I shower?" Alek asked her cousin from the position.
"I think you can. I'm not sure. But aren't you healed?" Rin asked. Since Alek had an ancient form and could connect with her easily, maybe she was able to heal quickly using her beast's power. It was hard for Rin and others to borrow powers from their ancient forms as they were violent and often did not listen. Instead, they borrowed powers from their modern forms, which were slower but faster than humans.
"I don't think I'm healed. I can still feel the pain in my torso." Iris had wrapped her venomous tentacles to bring back Alek and, the pain was still there.
"Maybe you can ask Kiryuu for help." Pollux told her.
"I can do that?" Alek sat upon the rock. If Kiryuu could do that, she would not give her the piece of her mind she has been thinking.
"We usually use out modern forms to heal but, it is weaker than ancient forms. And I think Kiryuu can help you with it."
"Really? Let me ask her." With that, Alek slumped her head on Rin's lap and went to ask her beast to heal her.