The next morning, I woke up at dawn, and despite only getting a few hours of sleep, I felt great. As I walked into the living room, I could see the paper and vial from yesterday. Hmm, should get rid of that. I doubt those entities would appreciate that stuff just lying around. I grabbed the note and chucked it into the fireplace, where it burned to ashes in moments. The vial was identical to several of my own, so I’d just need to rinse it and add it to the others.


    As I entered the kitchen, I heard a commotion from the guest room. No doubt, Meleri just woke up. A few minutes later, the door to the guest room opened, and she walked in dressed in the nightgown I lent her yesterday. I gave her a quick wave. “Morning, sis. Hope you got enough sleep.” She nodded without a word. “Let me guess, feeling a bit overwhelmed by all of this?”


    As I spoke, Soot woke up from where he was roosting for the night. He clicked his beak a few times and ruffled his feathers. “Oh Morning, Mistress, and… Meleri, was it?” I glanced up at him. “Morning Soot, fancy some breakfast?” He clicked his beak a few more times before he flew down and landed on my shoulder. “Sounds good. Looks like your sister could use some, too.”


    I glanced over at her. “I think that’s more the realization that yesterday wasn’t some strange dream.” That seemed to knock her out of it as her distant gaze finally seemed to focus. “You can say that again. I… was so confused for a few seconds when I woke up and didn’t recognize the bedroom.” I gave her a wry grin. “You’ll get used to it in no time, I’m sure. For now, how does a Full English sound?”


    She blinked a few times. “I was thinking of taking only a few slices of bread…” I waved her off. “Nonsense. I made a vow when I ate my first meal here to never serve or eat another hurried breakfast, and just a few slices of bread fall within the term hurried. So you’re going to eat a proper breakfast and that’s final.” Soot flew over and landed on her shoulder. "Trust me, she won’t budge on that one. No one has been able to, regardless of arguments."


    She hesitated for a moment before nodding. “Fine then, Full English sounds lovely.” She flinched for a moment as Soot gave her an affectionate head rub. She glanced over at me and I gave her an encouraging nod. After a brief hesitation, she carefully reached up and scratched Soot at the base of his neck, earning delighted coos from the Raven. “That’s nice, don’t get me wrong, Mistress is great at this too, but her sharp talons can be rather rough compared to your nails.”


    I eyed the two before I returned to the kitchen to make breakfast. “Hey Sis, cocoa or tea?” There was a moment of silence. “Cocoa, please. Soot also says he’d like some meatballs, since bacon’s too salty for him. If you wouldn’t mind.” Meatballs eh, fair enough. “No problem: By the way, sis, mind setting the table since I’m making the food?”


    The door opened, and she walked into the kitchen. “Sure, just tell me where the different things are.” Soon after the food was cooking, the cocoa stirring and Meleri was watching it all go on by itself. “You know, that almost feels like cheating.” I looked over at the self-making food. “Oh, there’s no cheating involved, I assure you. The spell required to have food make itself is… surprisingly complex.”


    Soot hopped over to his usual spot at the table. “That’s an understatement. Weeks upon weeks of burned or undercooked meals as you kept on refining the spell. When you finally nailed it, it was like Midsummer for both me and Midnight.” I arched an eyebrow. “Oh sure, you damn drama crow. If you mean weeks upon weeks was one entire day dedicated to trial and error with small portions of food to not waste it. Then I suppose it was horrible for you. Granted, the smell of burnt fat lingered for days, so I suppose that was a downside.” Soot cawed in indignation over being called crow, but couldn’t really refute the truth of that statement. “Yeah, you’re right. Wasn’t much fun tasting the failure’s, though.”


    As we spoke, the frying pan levitated from the stove and deposited several sausages on our plates and meatballs into Soots’ bowl, before travelling over to the sink to wash itself. It was followed by some bacon for me and Meleri and fried tomatoes for all three of us, and a bowl of scrambled eggs for us to share. Finally, two cups of hot cocoa for me and Meleri and some water for Soot, since he couldn’t drink cocoa.


    Breakfast was proceeding in peace as talked about the bedroom situation. “Well, Mistress, I suppose the easiest thing to do would be to conjure up another bedroom.” I looked over at Soot as he spoke. “Sure we could do that, but there are the stone pillars to consider. Since I don’t know how deep into the swamp they have to go to hit bedrock, I need to be cautious. A mistake on that end could mean I’d bisect the house, after all. Not to mention proper balancing after the fact.”


    Meleri finished her cup of Cocoa, then tilted her head thoughtfully. “How about just enchanting the hallway, so the room is just there, you know, bigger on the inside. Would that be possible?” Huh… Not the worst idea in the world. And it wasn’t like the house wasn’t already doing that with some of the other rooms.


    “Hmm… It might be doable. I should probably see if one of my books got further information about adding to already enchanted houses, however. Just in case. It would be bad if I screwed up and trapped us all inside a house with no exit, or some such.” Soot nodded in agreement as he swallowed another meatball. “A prudent idea, wouldn’t want to make the living room endless on accident, thus trapping us all inside for all eternity. Or worse, shrink the inside until we got crushed. Spatial magic is… finicky, to be mild about it. As I am certain you remember when you made your pouch.”


    As he mentioned the difficulties with the pouch, I instinctively rubbed a small scar on my left wrist. “That’s… an understatement.” The scar was the only sign that a mishap during the construction cost me my hand. I needed to make a regenerating brew to get it back, and the process left a small scar. A very pertinent, and painful, lesson that stuck to this day.


    Meleri looked like she wanted to ask what happened, but then seemed to think better of it. With breakfast done, I went into the potion room to fetch one of the more advanced tomes. The art of making a pocket space bag differed from making a living space, so looking through advanced magics for the information would probably be a better idea.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    I immediately ran into an issue. It would appear that my experience with spatial magic was… insufficient. The section mentioning that stuff was blurred out. Well, that was... Not entirely unexpected, as I was always averse to messing with it, given the inherent risks and my previous experience.


    I would have to research it slowly then, so meanwhile, looks like me and Meleri would share a bed once Miva returned. It would only be for three more days, anyhow. I put the book away. “Seems like we will be shelving this for now. There’s no way I’m going to conjure in a new room when the book thinks I’m not ready.” Meleri looked confused. I opened the book and pointed at the page as I explained how the books worked. “That’s a neat way of making sure you don’t get in over your head. Good on the writer.”


    With that out of the way, I gave Meleri a tour of the house and the surrounding area. It quickly became apparent she possessed the same ‘homing’ instinct for the house I possessed, so she wouldn’t get lost. Just how many of the same bonuses I possessed passed to her? All of them? If so, I would probably have to teach her how to channel magic, if nothing else, for her own safety. After that was done, we relaxed on the porch, where Meleri and Soot, after a bit of prompting from myself, were having a game of chess.


    As the game progressed, I was going over the basics of spatial magic again. Since I didn’t want a repeat of before. However, I hardly even began reading, before we could hear noises from the forest, and soon after Miva and the rest arrived from among the trees. “Well, you’re all early. I expected you all around dinnertime, not lunch.” Miva, who I now noticed possessed bags under her eyes, glanced over at Tobin. “We were up early thanks to a certain Brownie…” Ah, so that’s why.


    “Well, that’s too bad, then. You know my rules, Tobin, no alcohol for guests before dinner. Seriously, pulling the others out of bed at dawn like that was rather unkind, considering you know that’s how I operate.” Tobin, who until now was grinning with anticipation, visibly deflated. “Right… there was a rule like that wasn’t there…. Oops.” He gave me a sheepish grin.


    I just shook my head in response. “Why don’t the rest of you guys head inside and take a quick nap until dinner? You look like you need it.” Miva staggered inside, along with Midnight and Ivy, who were so tired her glow was flickering. Winter was already asleep up on her outdoor roost.


    “Honestly, Tobin, your love for alcohol is becoming worrisome. Miva looked more than a tad sleep-deprived there. Not to mention, I doubt you kept a leisurely pace through the forest, either.” The Brownie looked very uncomfortable as I scrutinized him. “Anyhow, let’s head inside. I’ll make some tea, and then we can take things from there. I will expect you to make amends to the others, though.” The old Brownie nodded rapidly. “Of course, I’m ashamed that I let my eagerness blind myself to what I was doing.”


    I sighed before I walked over and patted his back. “As long as you realize it and make sure it doesn’t happen again, it’s what matters.” Tobin nodded, his expression turning solemn. “True that. Now then, how about that tea and maybe introduce me to your look-alike, eh?”


    I glanced over at Meleri, who was putting up a good fight against Soot, albeit she was on the losing end of that battle so far. “A bit later, she seems preoccupied right now, and I’d rather not disturb the two when they are that focused.” Tobin glanced over at the board and nodded. “Hmm, true, the bird gets rather annoyed when he gets interrupted. And considering how alike she looks to you, kiddo, I’m guessing your kin. I’d rather not earn her ire then. I have seen what happens to those that earn yours, and I want no part of that, considering you’d likely take her side.”


    I decided not to point out that between the two of us, Meleri was far calmer. It would take a concentrated effort to make her outright angry. That being said, if you made her angry, it was far worse than what I could do… pre-magic. As of now? I couldn’t say for sure. A punch thrown in anger would undoubtedly be lethal… Hmm, I’d rather not think of that possibility.


    Just as I pondered that, I noticed that Meleri and Soot were cleaning up the pieces. Both seemed rather pleased, so it must have been a close game. “Looks like I can introduce you after all.” I walked over to the two. And watched as Soot flew up on Meleri’s shoulder. “Great game, the closest one I’ve ever had, since Mistress always winds up crushing me without mercy.” Meleri gave him some friendly pats. “Sounds like her, alright.”


    The two then noticed me and Tobin. “Well, since the two of you are done playing, let me introduce you to Tobin. Tobin, my sister, Meleri.” Tobin broke into a wide grin. “Sister, you never mentioned you had one! Nice to meet you, kiddo. Names Tobin.” Before Meleri could react, Tobin grew to our size and pulled her into a loving hug. Soot barely escaped being buried in Tobin’s beard.


    I couldn’t suppress a chuckle at the comical sight of Meleri flailing wildly at the sudden hug. “Tobin, ease up on her. She is as strong as me, and you might break something if she keeps flailing like that.” Tobin blinked a few times, then let go. Then seemed to realize he just messed up his beard as he pulled out the grooming kit I gave him and let it go to work.


    Once Meleri recovered from the initial surprise, she brushed a few loose strands of beard from her clothes, then gave Tobin a warm smile. “Nice to meet you, Tobin. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” She offered him a handshake, which he, after a brief hesitation, accepted. “Well then, why don’t we go inside and make some lunch? After all, while the others might be out like a light for the next few hours, we certainly aren’t.”


    Soot hopped from Meleri’s shoulder over to mine. “Sounds good to me.” Tobin grinned and headed for the door. “Sounds like a plan, Kiddo. Say you wouldn’t have some of that sweet brown tea you served last time I was here?” Sweet brown tea? What was he? Oh. "You mean Cocoa?" Tobin lit up. “Yes, so nice and tasty. Now granted it’s not winter this time, but surely, it’s not something you only serve in winter, is it?”


    I was tempted to just outright lie about that, since he caused the others a bunch of anguish from their lack of sleep to near force-march from Nettledale. However, I thought better of it. “I might have enough for another kettle or two, though I am running low on the ingredients and since it’s out of season, I can’t get anymore from Appleridge until later this year.” That caught Tobin’s attention. “The Fauns grow the ingredients?” I nodded. “Somehow they can grow plants that frankly should not be able to grow in this climate, including cocoa beans and the sugarcane needed to make hot cocoa. And no, don’t ask, they won’t tell you.”


    I could already imagine Tobin going there to haggle for the knowhow already, so it was better to pre-empt that. I would rather not cause the interruption of trade between Nettledale and the farm, so better to nip that in the bud and get it over with. “Anyway, Tobin I should be able to scrounge up enough ingredients for a cup or two for all of us.” With that, I opened the door and gestured the others inside.