I descended the stairs and began to look for my luggage. "It’s in Ana’s room," Kilamin spoke seeing me search for it. He was still sitting in the living room with Ana, both were having tea.

"Would you like some tea, dear? Ana asked me.

" Thank you, Ana but I don’t really drink much tea." Smiling at her I steered myself toward her room. I opened the suitcase with all the gifts and took them out one by one.

Zavrian entered the room: "Can I help you carry them?"

"Sure, thank you Zavrian." I handed him some of the gifts while I carried the others to the living room. All the boys had gathered there. I started with Rumais and Rian as they were the youngest. They shyly accepted their gifts mumbling thank you. Their eyes lit up with excitement, especially at the boxes of chocolates.

Zavrian was overexcited to receive his and gave me small hug. Then I gave Ralph and Zeph their jackets, Ralph wore his instantly and showed everyone how it fit perfectly. Zeph only mumbled a small thank you. I had two more gifts for Zeph but I wanted to give those in private. The chocolates had melted a bit because of the temperature difference.

Finally gave Ana her gift and a hand-woven shawl with all the delicacies of our realm. She wasn’t expecting it and told me it was too much. I just smiled and asked her to accept them. She thanked me wholeheartedly. The boys loved her necklace and asked her to wear it. But she wanted to save it for a special occasion.

The boys had started playing the board games I had brought and there was a lot of chaos and shouting. Zeph accused them of cheating while Ralph denied it with a sheepish smile. This felt like a real home full of laughter and brotherly love. My heart fluttered at the thought of having a real sibling as well, to share all my worries and insecurities.

"Come, Serene, play with us," Ralph called me and I joined in their fun. The game we were playing was called ’Nail That Ring’ the board had different coloured rods on it of various sizes and lengths, and each rod had a different colour. The metallic rings were of different colours as well and had tiny diameters, ranging from one inch to 5 inches.

Hooping the tiny rings got you more points, the larger the ring the lower the points. Similarly with rods, the thicker the rod compared to the ring size more points will be attributed. Everyone took turns while Kilamin offered to keep the score tally. We spent almost an hour, fighting, playing, yelling, and laughing with each other. In the end, Zeph won with two points more than me. Zavrian was highly disappointed with the result while Zeph laughed in his face.

After the intense gaming session, we decided to head out. The boys were excited to show me something but they didn’t wanna say what. Kilamin decided to go with us. Zeph had brought his guitar and was carrying it behind his back.

"Serene, wear a jacket. Nights are get cold here." Zeph informed me. I went to the room and took out a woollen shawl and carried it on my shoulder. The place we were going to was nearby so we decided to walk. We said goodbye to Ana and headed out.

The sky was clear and there was not a cloud in sight. Both our moons shone brightly today, the larger one called ’Urial’ was bluish while the smaller one was known as ’Sarite’ and had a reddish purplish tint to it. The air had become crisp so I wrapped my shawl around my shoulders. Zeph took my right hand in his as we joined the others. Kilamin was walking behind us.

"Is he the one who protected you against that vampire in the Conference of Leaders?" Ralph whispered to me referring to Kilamin.

"Yes, he is the Head of our Military Force."

"What?" Ralph and Zeph exclaimed together with disbelief written all over their faces as they glanced back to look at him.

"And, he is doing a mere guard duty? That too with so much humbleness?" Zeph asked me with utter shock.

"He is protecting his future queen, there is nothing more important for him than that. His words, not mine." I clarified. "And the way he protected me, I don’t think anyone else is better at the job than him. Guys, he is very strong, much stronger than me."

"But, he appears to be only a few years older than us." Ralph chipped in.

"He is 23, so about 5 years older than us."

"I am glad you are alright. Xin Li told us what happened and how he protected you." Zeph whispered tightening his grip around mine, I nodded at him.

Kilamin kept his distance from us, giving us the space we needed. Zavrian, Rian and Rumais were ahead of us pushing and shoving each other playfully. From the corner of my eye, I saw something scuttle toward me and I screamed, clutching Zeph’s arm as it almost climbed my leg.

Kilamin came running toward me, "what happened?" he inquired. "That," I pointed to a large spider which was almost as big as a dinner plate.

"It’s just a spider, Serene." Zeph laughed in disbelief. "Just a spider, look at its size. I have never seen such a humongous spider before." Fear was evident in my eyes as I stared at it. Kilamin moved his hand and a gigantic glass jar appeared from underneath the spider entrapping it. He then moved the glass jar further away from me and released her so it scurried away in the opposite direction. I heaved a sigh of relief, seeing it go away from me.

"Thank you, Kilamin." He bowed and went back. "And no thanks Zeph." I glared at him. "Seriously, you needed saving from a spider? What happened to the independent, brave Serene?" He teased me.

"But but it was so big. I am not used to such big ones. And, I hate spiders." I pouted. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"Ahh, we are used to spiders, snakes and scorpions. We have pretty huge ones here. It’s because of the terrain. We know you are not used to them so it startled you." Ralph came to my rescue.

"Yes, she will fight a Schlangto but will scream her head off at a spider. That’s Serene for you." Zeph teased me again and I punched him playfully as the three of us laughed.

"We are here," Zavrian shouted from the front. "Look, over there." I followed his finger and almost gasped at what lay ahead. My eyes flew wide open at the mesmerising sight in front of me.