Alek stared at Pollux's face. "Why are you so surprised? We live on earth. Raining is a normal thing."
"Alek?!" Rin couldn't believe his cousin. Did she forget about the promise between them and Pari?
"What? How am I here? I'm sure I was floating in the river." She ignored her cousin and began remembering what she was doing. She was lying on one of the stones in the living room of the cave. "Did you bring me here? Did I drown? Did I get float away?" She asked. At least she remembered that they were in the cave.
"No, you came here on your own. You were there in the river for some time before you got put and told Jin and Lee that you have figured everything out. You came here afterwards and slept. Don't you remember?" Rin put his hands on his cousin's shoulder. She looked like she was in a daze. Because it had been a while since they were reunited, he had forgotten that Alek didn't work right when she woke up. All the machines in her brain slowly worked as she blinked. It was like watching a sloth.
Alek blinked again with an open mouth before she "Argh?" at him. She did not have any memories of that but, it wasn't surprising because she knew this happens to her occasionally. When she was sleepy while reading a book, she would put a bookmark, brush her teeth, change and sleep. But when she wakes up, she doesn't remember anything. Maybe all of her actions are done by Kiryuu or Alek's instinct... they may never know...
"Forget about it! Do you remember what Pari told us before she left?" Rin shook his head before asking.
"Who is Pari? Oh, wait. Are you talking about Pari, the fae? Then I do. She told us... she told us..." She closed her eyes in concentration and tilted her head. "She is going to rain the area when she gets the permission... Rain!"
"Yeah, rain! That's what I'm telling you! It has rained!"
"Oh! We gotta go!" Alek was about to slide from the stone and realised there was a hoodie on her. "Whose is this? Did you put this on me?"
"It's mine. I didn't know if you were comfortable with me putting back your clothes, so I just..." Rin quickly looked away as she removed the hoodie. Her stomach was revealed halfway as she had a bad sleeping habit. He was used to his sister but not his cousin. She was too mature.
"Thanks." Alek covered up in a flash and blushed a little. "... Could you?..."
"Sure!" He faced the wall and handed Alek her clothes. "You can wear the parker. I'm good."
"Mmm." Alek removed the tanktop and wore her shirt. On top of that, she wore the hoodie her cousin gave her. It was navy pink. Alek didn't say anything about the colour as she knew this colour would match his appearance and character. It didn't feel weird that he wears a pink hoodie. 'I'm done. Thank you."
Rin hesitantly looked back to check if she was really done before helping her get off the stone like a gentleman. "Let's go! Jin and Lee have already gone." He carefully let her wear her socks and shoes. "Can you shift?"
"Yep." Alek nodded. Just like before, Kiryuu took over her in an instant. She looked at the cousin before nodding. They ran out of the cave in a flash on Rin's lead. He was experienced than both Alek and Kiryuu.
Soon, they were where they had met the fairy. They can see three people waiting. Castor, Lee and Pari.
"Now, hold onto me." The fairy extended her little arms for everyone to hold on.
"No offence, but I don't think we can." Jin apologetically told her. She was small. So small.
Pari sighed before chanting something.
"What the..."
"Wow." Jin and Alek watched as the fae grew. She was now the size of Lee's forearm. She didn't get big like this when they were brought into the waterdrop. Her size shrank as they shrank when they were in there, so they didn't feel weird about it, but now, it was very surreal.
"I think it's better. Now hold onto me." She shushed the two curious people from asking her questions and made them hold part of her. She chanted a spell when she was sure the four people were holding her.
"Holy sh-" Rin cursed when there was a hall of water covering them. The hall was spinning around them so fast that it felt like they were in a middle of a tornado of water or in a race car.
The water suddenly broke after ten seconds. The way it broke as like a bubble but a tornado bubble.
"Mamma mia!" Alek tried to whistle but, the sound didn't generate. She wasn't good with whistling.
The sight before them was breathtaking. In front of them, there was a castle. But not any castle. It looked like it was made of glass of something as it was transparent and reflected wherever the light came from. It was also made upon a calming sheet of water as they were standing on it. Around the castle, they could see colourful things flying. Those created some rainbow in the sky.
"Are we in your place?" Rin asked. He was not able to take his sight off his surroundings.
"Yes. This is the place of our tribe, Síbhruíon." Pari told with a smile. She has turned back to her own original size. "Our leader is waiting in the palace. We need to hurry." She flew toward the castle nonchalantly.
The rest followed when realising the fairy was flying away. With every step they took, the water beneath them created a wave sentence beautifully.
"How are we not sinking?" Jin asked after carrying the boy in his arms just in case.
"Because you were invited. If you forcefully entered, then you would be underwater by now. Just so you know, this water beneath us bottomless." Pari faced the shifters behind them and smiled. Her smile definitely didn't fit the words she said and made them smile awkwardly.
"Aha!" Rin laughed awkwardly to reply and, Pari smiled more, causing his face to freeze.
They didn't talk anymore and jogged to the castle. As they got closer, they could see water fountains of various shapes and sizes. It was kind of like walking through a forest of water fountains to the castle.
When they reached the gate, they could see two fairies guarding the massive gate with their small bodies. The gates were like the ones in the human world which made the guards look like fireflies in front of it.
The guards appeared to be both male with one whose hair was dark blue, almost black and the other with soft blue hair. They both had wings like Pari but, theirs' were smaller and, the parts were only separated into two compared to Pari, who had four parts. The gate was like glass, but however, they couldn't see the other side. It was eeiry
The guards lowered themselves and knelt when they saw the fairy, who was flying towards them with some shifters behind her. They silently rose when she flew in front of them. They nodded and moved out of the middle. The gate, or much more like a thick water shield, began to separate from the middles, opening the way to the second gate, which was larger than this one.
"Thank you." Pari smiled at them before she told Alek's guys to follow her.
Alek saw that the guard fairies looked like they were pulling an invisible rope from the sides and knew that they were the ones opening the gate.
"Thank you." Alek told the both of them before following others to the second gate. As soon as she got in, the gate closed. When she looked back, she could see the guards flying in the middle of the gate. "I this like magic water or something?" She asked Pari.
"You are partially right. The watergate is like a magic glass. Only if you are invited, or one of the people from here can see through it. Of course, there are some places that even we can't see through." She told them as she flew. The second gate was a little far away from them but they didn't get tired or bored since there were things to entertain them.
The area between the first gate and the second gate had animals made of water. They moved and made sounds like real animals. They were also the same size as real life but, the different thing was that they were transparent. But even the transparency wasn't the same. They seemed to be the same as the first gate, meaning they could be seen through.
As Lee looked at the animals he passed, he still couldn't see. He squinted his eyes and also shifted the best he can, shifting his eyes, to see through, but still nada.
"You can't look through them, Lee. They are the guardians and spirits of this place." Pari told the boy in Jin's arms. "Open the gate." She then commanded the four people in front of the gate. They bowed and immediately opened the gate just like the previous guards, but this gate was twice as big as the first gate. "Thank you."
Alek smiled at them before getting in. In the far, she could see the third gate, and she could identify that it was bigger than the first or the second gate. The path in between had the same material type of plants and trees. The way was longer than the previous, but it was much as entertaining.
"This is the last gate. So you don't need to worry about going through another one." Pari told them after nodding to the eight guards at the gate. The guards repeated what the previous guards did. "Welcome to our palace."