The room at the end of the hall used to hold spare blankets and Lord Varen's (the previous owner of this house) discarded stuff. Mira changed her mind about cleaning it every day after they came to this house, but nothing ever got done yet.
But this morning, Elara had cleared it, knowing a situation like this may come sooner than anybody might think.
When she pushed the door open, the space looked simple and ready. A bed with fresh sheets. A small table. A candle. A window facing the back garden. There was enough room to breathe.
Selene stood in the doorway and took it all in.
"It's not very large," Elara said from behind her. "But the morning light comes straight in."
"It's fine." Selene stepped inside and set her bag on the foot of the bed. She looked out the window. The garden lay neat and green. Elara's herb rows, the patches Mitsu had been tending, were quiet under the almost setting sun.
She turned around. Elara still stood in the doorway watching her, with that careful look on her face like she wanted to say more but hadn't decided yet.
"Thank you," Selene said, with a simple smile on her face. "For the room."
"Of course, you're welcome here, you're one of us now," Elara just answered simply.
Selene nodded once and didn't say anything after that. So, Elara left her to unpack.
The evening came just like that.
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Mira appeared in the doorway twenty minutes later, leaned against the frame, and started talking about her loom(A tool for weaving clothes). The tension problem she couldn't fix. The vendor who kept shortchanging her on the thread.
Selene just sat on the edge of the bed and listened as she kept talking on her own. At some point, she asked a question, and Mira's whole face lit up, as finally somebody had actually shown a real interest in her work.
Of course, for Selene, it was just a way to keep talking to Lys's sister, and if possible, get to know her better.
After a while, Mitsu brought tea without being asked, with fresh herbs to go with it from the garden behind the house. This herb was grown in the backyard of this house by Elara and Mira together. She set it on the small table and stepped back.
"You don't have to do that," Selene said to Mitsu.
Mitsu grabbed her apron and said, "I know. I just wanted to." She looked at the teacup instead of Selene. And said shyly, "Uh…Welcome to the house."
She slipped out before Selene could answer. Selene stared at the plate for a second, then picked up a piece of bread with a smile on her lips.
"She'll grow on you," Mira said from the doorway.
"Yeah, I can see that," Selene answered almost whisperingly.
Author note: There is an extra chapter on my Patreon page. Title name: Chapter 107.5: Mitsu's first day. As you can guess from the name of its title, it is about Mitsu. So, support the story, read many extra chapters, and enjoy many other benefits listed below.