When Mandy peeked out to check - HOLY-- There was no way in hell these would blend in anywhere or anyhow?!! The previous clothes Leum and Veri had been sort of simple and inconspicuous, not that it made them stand out less, but still - these were... they looked like magazine models with makeup, styled hair, accessories, and what have you.

Like Tia just recently, everyone looked like they had an uncontrollable shopping spree. Even Hal was carrying some stuff.

Mandy opened the door to let them in, casting a questioning look towards Hal. Wasn't he the one with the best common sense among all of them? Mandy felt betrayed. Hal didn't seem to understand her look, but he didn't ask anything either, only further giving Mandy a feeling that he knew about her already.

As they walked in, Mandy noticed another detail... Why was Albus wearing a dress? It suited him, but-- Okay. Perhaps she shouldn't ask for now. Mandy decided to ignore this and waited for them all to enter, before locking the door behind.

"There's no need to take off shoes," she said, slipping past them to walk through the illusion barrier. But that said, only Hal seemed like he was about to.

All except Ceruleum looked surprised to find the forest in the apartment, but no questions were asked for now, as they headed towards the sound of typing.

"Gus, weren't you.. hiding things?" Hal spoke up, as he was looking around the place in wonder.

"This was an accident," August replied, halting to type and looking over at them.

Hal pursed his lips a little but didn't ask more about it, seeming to accept that accidents could happen.

Mandy thought that August would need to tell the tale all over again, but apparently not the case with Hal. Yet if this was a part of what August called 'best common sense' then.. it wasn't common sense to not question stuff like that.

Riveria made an expectant expression at first, seeing August looking in her direction, but since August made no comment, she pouted.

If Mandy had to guess, she had expected to hear a compliment? And Mandy had expected a comment on these three not looking like anything that could blend in. But that did not come either. Mandy sighed as she gave up. What had she even expected?

Rather, August got up to open his suitcase to take out ink and a brush and while he did more tree branches grew out of the wall, forming more shelves akin to those August made before to hold the belongings he got from Tia.

"How are you doing that?" Hal asked next.

The familiars put down their bags and found places to sit, near the place where August had sat before. Riveria seemed to have an even deeper pout.

"It's a bit like remote controlling a toy car," August said. "If that car was sort of sentient in a way, so more like asking if it can do it and then requesting it to do it."

None of August's familiars seemed to find it odd in any way, even Hal accepted it at that level and opened the bag he was holding.

Mandy tilted her head. "Are forests sentient?"

"If by sentience you mean able to feel, perceive and some form of thinking then yes, plants, as well as animals, can do that," August dipped his brush again. "But differently to humans that have collective subconscious(or unconscious) as a background thing, their collective subconscious is on almost the same level for animals, and for plants it's.." August thought a bit, but his hand did not stop moving over the wood. "About 80% is in the collective. Fae paths are easy because plants are that interconnected, using animals is harder, humans are possible shortcut mediums, but draining as hell," August said while his brush moved.

In a sense Mandy could understand what August meant, because she had to study up Jung in the university, but it didn't look like Albus, Hal or Riveria got it judging by their eyes that seemed to be looking elsewhere, having zoned things out. Ceruleum seemed to understand though. Maybe because his father was a dryad too?

Anyhow, it was surprising to hear that the so-called collective unconscious that wasn't even a proven thing scientifically turned out to be something where walking fae paths was a proof of concept. The more you learn. From the way August phrased it, it seemed like he had tried using both animals and humans as a medium for shortcuts, but.. if dryads could do it, didn't that kind of make them hard to catch regardless where they were? Mandy would have asked, but she got distracted by the things Hal took out of his paper bag.

Same as the other two August's siblings Hal too came with a food offering, but rather than pastries he had brought some snacks any fitness trainer would approve off - veggie sticks, roasted meat strips, cheese, eggs, lettuce wraps..

Oh! Now that Mandy looked at the bag these were in, the place was on her list of 'where to order from', so it was lucky she would get to try something from them. But true, true, one couldn't look like Hal unless they ate like a sportsman and ran some 20 km each morning or weight lifted all the time. She was curious about his training menu but asking that straight out didn't seem like the most polite thing to do.

"This is a bit late, but I'm Amanda Bookman, you can call me Mandy." There was a sense of small relief to be able to introduce herself normally like this.

"I figured." Hal smiled. "But pleased to meet you, I'm Henry Galord, but you can call me Hal."

"My pleasure," Mandy smiled in return, then thought that she might as well ask about something she was curious about. Seeing his response would tell her a lot about his way of thinking. "Hal, mind if I ask about them blending in?" she glanced towards the three.

"Ah," realization passed Hal's eyes. "If you place them next to August, they blend in, don't they?"

OH! In that sense they did! If they were meant to follow August around anyhow, then looking like that just made them look like some unapproachable group of rich youth or something along those lines. Which.. might be what August was going for anyway?

"Why is Albus wearing a dress, though?" Mandy asked, as that part was still-- well..

Hal cast a surprised look towards Albus. If Mandy had to guess he judged Albus to be a girl from the start.

"I decided to be a girl," Albus replied, his voice now having changed to a lighter, more feminine one. "August said we should blend in and my current appearance fits a human girl better."

The corner of Mandy's mouth twitched. True. But-- what? He decided to be a girl? How did that work?

Ceruleum and Riveria both had amused smiles as they listened. Looked like Riveria had given up on August complimenting her, as she now listened to them talk rather than pouting and stealing glances at August.

As Hal finished opening the packages and dressings, August was done with drawing as well. He put his laptop away on the shelf and sat down, instantly reaching out for some meat.

"Is that something you can just decide like that?" Mandy asked, now reaching out for some food as well.

Albus nodded. "I'm of a type of being that can."

Oh. So it was a unicorn thing. Wait-- "Can you two do that?" Mandy looked towards Ceruleum.

"I would have if I could," Leum replied with an amused smile. "August does like girls better."

August rolled his eyes. Like, 'duh, obviously'.

"For now," Ceruleum added, as he reached out for some meat as well.

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August choked and Mandy helped with patting his back. She couldn't help but breathe a bit more roughly at that. Was that the future? Or was Ceruleum messing with them? She kind of wanted to see.. and it's not like it was a problem either-- she could shapeshift into a man if she practiced--

Hal pursed his lips but said nothing to that. Rather, he tried to shift the topic. "What made you change your mind about taking familiars?" he asked.

"I made some stupid conclusions and Leum jumped in on the occasion to trick me into contracting him while I wasn't thinking straight," August said. "Veri got taken for a ride and-- Albus happened while I was confused."

Hal was silent for a while, then nodded. "...Best of luck, I guess."

"I'll need that," August said, some despair returning, and continued eating.

Neither Ceruleum nor Riveria made any reaction to that, only Albus let out a sigh as he, or now she, munched on some carrots.

"Right, Mom asked you to step by sometime in summer. She learned some new magic she wants to show off," Hal said.

"Why didn't she call abo-- oh," August made an awkward smile and reached for his phone, typed something on it and put it away.

"What happened to your previous phone, by the way?" Hal asked.

"Salamander ate it," August said. "Along with my house."

"Well...perhaps you should set up a reserve apartment or two with stuff in it?" Hal asked, looking over at the bags on the shelf that was made yesterday. "It seems inconvenient to need to purchase it all over and over again in haste."

From the lack of reaction about Salamander eating August's belongings and 'over and over again' Mandy concluded that this was not-- uncommon. Wait-- was this the reason why Tia was good at shopping in August's place? Perhaps August really was driven into a corner when he set up that isolation barrier and he did look pretty run-down when he moved here. Comparing him then and now was like comparing a famished stray cat with bald spots and a torn off ear with a well-groomed pedigree cat. Some serious crap needed to go down to make him appear that bad, now that Mandy spent a moment considering it.

August's eyes lit up. "That's a good suggestion," he said. "Will look for one, when my deadlines aren't as pressing."

"You can use my lair if you want," Riveria offered.

August looked like he was about to refuse, but then he thought on it. "Okay. I'll still need a human apartment or house, but that might work as a reserve spot."

Riveria made a small fistpump with a smile and Mandy almost melted at how cute she was being. It was a mystery why August considered her the most perfect after he had dated someone this adorable...

"Mhm, yes, Veri is known to be murderous if woken from her sleep, so no one dares to approach her lair," Ceruleum added with a nod, approving of the decision.

Mandy's smile cracked. Right. There was this problem.

Riveria nodded with a proud expression, like that was a good thing.

"Is your treasure going to be fine if you are away?" August asked to Leum.

Hal perked up at the question, listening in a tad more intently than before.

Mandy knew that dragons had their treasure both from fiction and what she could glimpse from their conversation before and she knew that Veri and Leum had different preferences for hoarding, but it did make one wonder what kind of treasure Leum had if August seemed concerned.

"Each of them picks their wielder, otherwise they can not be taken," Leum said, not seeming concerned one bit.

Wielder? Weapons? Weapons that picked their wielder? Like Excalibur? Mandy could see Hal pondering on it, but it looked like both Albus and Riveria either knew or didn't care much about it.

August tilted his head with a hint of suspicion. "If they are sentient and have their own protections, how could you gather them up?"

"I didn't gather them up, they came from my domain, to begin with, so they return home after their task is done without me needing to do anything," Ceruleum replied.

August tilted his head slightly as he munched on some carrot. "They don't fly through the air, do they?"

"Would be fun if they did," Ceruleum chuckled. "But no, they materialize any of their previous wielders and walk home, maybe fight a bit to let off some steam along the way."

Crack, a celery stick snapped under Hal's fingers. "Gus, is he what I think he is?" Hal asked, his expression dark.

It looked like materializing previous owners was a dead giveaway. Mandy was curious if the mythical Excalibur or perhaps Durandal was among Ceruluem's treasures, but Hal's reaction didn't give her a chance to ask.

August's eyes narrowed. "His current name is missing Ceru-"

Hal's back straightened. "Are you aware of Gustavsberg?"

"Grisham told me today. I contracted him after and" August counted with his fingers. "1)no, he did not contract me to hide, 2)I knew nothing of it, 3)It's an oracle thing, so better not to ask."

Hal pursed his lips, looking towards Ceruleum. That look was a lot like one August made from time to time. The one where suspicion mixed with incredulity. It was interesting how siblings shared small gestures like these.

Ceruleum smiled in response and Hal sighed. "Alright, and what Albus was before?" He seemed to be mentally preparing himself for another shocker.

"An aheal unicorn named Albusflores von Plaustribus," August replied.

Albus smiled a little, finishing her carrot.

That didn't seem to ring a bell with Hal, although he was surprised at the unicorn part.

"Albus, what did you do in Ahea by the way?" August asked.

"I was a second in command on a spacecraft," Albus said.

Both August and Hal squinted, showing to Mandy that she wasn't the only one who found this shocking. Spacecraft? Unicorn on a spacecraft? She had been under the impression that Ahea was the peaceful fantasy haven/realm of gods/kind of place.

Riveria and Leum continued eating like it wasn't anything worthy of note.

"Second in command?" August asked.

Oh. so that's what he was surprised about. Well, given the first impression Albus had made on them, that was hard to imagine, true.

Albus blushed, pouting a little. "I said I was sorry," she said, twirling the ends of her hair with her fingers. She certainly wasn't a dolt if she could figure out what the suspicious reaction had been for.

"I'm surprised Ahea has spacecrafts," Hal said, expressing the same concern Mandy had.

"Of course we do," Albus said, tilting her head. "Differently to Urea, Ahea does not have dryad protection that isolates both extra dimensional and outer space threats."

Uh-- true, it made sense. Both Mandy and Hal nodded.

"Wasn't Ahea said to be peaceful?" Mandy asked, though.

"It is," Albus said with pride. "Our military is amazing. We mobilize instantly, teleport towards danger and deal with it so fast regular citizens don't even notice. We have had exactly zero war induced causalities for the past three centurie--" Albus's shoulders sunk down.

"Our spacecraft will mark the biggest war causality in the past two millenia, I guess," she added looking like she might break out into tears.

Riveria, again, put her hand on Albus' shoulder.

"Is it fine if we don't contact Ahea about it?" August asked, frowning.

There was resolve in Albus eyes. "The military will deal with it without me needing to say anything," she said. "But I'd rather Glacies doesn't know about me being alive." Her eyes were dark as she said it.

Uuuu, revenge plots. Well, it did seem like Albus had an incredible amount of faith in Ahea's military, Mandy could only hope it wasn't misplaced.

"And it's not like I can face my family anymore," Albus added, looking like a maiden that had committed a grave sin.

"What was the deal with bicorns?" Mandy asked. Previously Albus had been knocked out just after mentioning them, but the same line of 'not being able to face parents' popped up.

Albus was at a loss of words, turning red.

Riveria came to the rescue. "Ahea has these weird theories about light and dark dryads. Light ones being pure and innocent and Dark ones being depraved or what have you."

August gained the eyes of a dead fish, but rather than commenting anything on it, he choose to munch on some veggies.

Mandy and Hal gained wry smiles at that. Well-- If Mandy had to say a thing or two about depravity, then - with that workaholism streak it was not easy to fit depravity into his schedule. Although he did have the potential and one had to be kind of wicked to get rid of their ex-lover by drugging them to fall in love with someone else, who also held pure feelings of love for you. Gasp. Maybe it was true?

"There's no bigger honor for a bicorn to be contracted by a dark dryad and unicorns and bicorns have this rivalry thing going on where they try to do everything in the opposite, so it's something related to that," Riveria added.

Albus nodded to confirm that. "It would be a great dishonor to my family if anyone finds out. So I will only go back to take my revenge when I have learned to shapeshift into another form and learn some horrid dark alignment curses to slowly torture Glacies into committing suicide and then I will eat her soul." Albus expression changed into a bright expectant smile at the last two parts.

August, again, didn't look like he had expected anything to begin with as he continued munching on veggies. No shock present. Ceruleum and Riveria looked proud.

Hal and Mandy exchanged looks of silent terror. This wasn't normal. Hal and Mandy looked at August next, then exchanged looks again, both breaking out into helpless smiles.

"Yeah, this is the reason why it's a waste for August to be an exorcist, he would make a first-grade wizard," Hal said to Mandy.

And that's how Mandy found out what Hal had meant about class change. Wizards and witches were those who used astrals and stuff to do things for them and while it did not seem like August was happy about it, he was the exact type of odd that might work well for that given how unphased he was about stuff either of his familiars said other than their feelings towards him.

August squinted at Hal. "Why are you going on about it?" He asked.

"Hmm, All the witches I know have mentioned it at least once that it's a waste for you to be an exorcist given your dating habits," Hal said with an amused smile. "And to me, it feels like you might fit in among them better than you do among exorcists."

August didn't seem all that convinced about the first line, but he started properly listening at the second one.

"They also have a strong support network and they don't betray their own members in case any of them have problems with the church or other organizations," Hal added.

August looked sideways. "But they also have ties to Terrea, just like Church has ties to Solus," August said. "To me, they feel as risky as the church is. And, before you play that card, Grisham said that if things do come out, Church isn't likely to kill me, but rather lock me and everyone close to me up."

Hal looked surprised. "I didn't think you'd consult Grisham about it," he said. "But if he says so, then that's probably how it would be. You think witches would take the same approach?"

"No idea," August said.

"That's not likely," Ceruleum noted. "Witches value freedom above all else, thus they don't lock anyone up. I'd guess that they would lend a hand in evading church, however, if you really went as far as to integrate into their community."

August cast a surprised look towards Ceruleum, but before he could ask further--

"Why would Aug need to do that?" Riveria asked. "We can beat up anyone coming for us."

"If it does come down to it, I doubt they would even try using force, rather odd convoluted blackmailing of sorts through their connections," Ceruleum said. "Hence using witches might work out better as they have a similar, perhaps even higher, level of influence in the non-seeing side. Then August would have both the guild and witches backing him, which means church wouldn't be able to do much to hinder August's or his family's ability to live like they do now."

It came to Mandy's mind that one of the questions August had asked was about Leum's intentions to have him either live in chaos or peace. This was a step towards possible peace.

Both August and Hal were listening to what Ceruleum said with a confounded kind of care. At some point, however, a realization passed over August's eyes and his expression returned to a more neutral one.

"Fine, after this deadline passes I will try to infiltrate witchcraft community," August said with an expression that was a mixture of 'what a pain' and 'have to do what you have to do'.

Both Hal and Ceruleum made an affirming nod at that.

"I'll introduce you to some witches at the summer solstice," Riveria added. Despite her earlier question and doubt, when Ceruleum explained it like he had, she seemed to fully understand and accept it.

"That works," August shrugged.

Albus eyes sparkled over again. "Tiamat's party~~" she hummed to herself and munched on another carrot.

Surprise passed over Hal's eyes, but he did not ask about it. Rather, just made a faint nod to himself, looking kind of relieved.

"Albus, in case you can tell - what kind of mess is happening over at Ahea," August asked. His eyes had been on Hal, but since Hal did not ask anything, he moved on.

Albus finished munching, then thought a bit. "Something is off with Hades, one of their factions seems to be looking for something or someone in secret. I don't know much more than that. But - well, knowing just this much was enough for them to destroy our ship, so--"

Mandy pursed her lips. Okay. A dolt was a dolt after all. Albus dropped something that might get them all killed like it was nothing.

Leum and Veri looked curious, while the rest of them had expressions similar to Mandy's.

"You better not tell anyone--" Albus said, her voice drowning out seeing their expressions.

August sighed. "And that betrayal?" Might as well hear the rest.

Albus straightened out. "Glacies was on the carrier that engaged in the secret communication with Hades. We peeked at their conversation and learned about them looking for someone or something important from the context, but then they noticed us and shot at our ship." Albus drew a breath, her fingers clutching on the hem of her dress. "When our ship got destroyed, most of us evacuated. Yet - there was this odd jamming happening, and we could only teleport as far as the nearest floating garden. No communication was possible and then they hunted us all down."

Albus gulped, then continued. "Glacies was the one who found me and put Hadeans on my track. I was shot in my side and missing a front leg when I crossed over. I just barely patched myself up when that thing showed up and then I ran-- and met you."

Wou. Mandy listened with wide eyes. 'Floating garden' caught her attention, but there was no way she could ask about that right now.

August squinted. "Are you completely sure you don't need to report that?"

Mandy too felt like this thing with sudden jamming and hunting them down and secret communications was a very big deal. Albus was likely the sole survivor-- any decent novel would have a whole plot related to that and Albus being the key to resolving things.

"Officially Albusflores von Plaustribus has died and dead men tell no tales," Albus said with dead looking eyes.

August shrugged and gave up.

If the reason for silence was a combined deal of dishonouring family and taking revenge then.. well, something was off with Albus and Mandy had no idea what exactly. Wouldn't someone so proud in the military, also someone to climb as high as a second in command on a spacecraft be more.. hmm.. eager to serve the military? Eager to resolve things? But then again, there were those dolt-y tendencies too...

"Will there be a war between Hades and Ahea?" Riveria asked to Ceruleum, they were the only ones completely cool at all this.

"I'm out of divinations for today," Ceruleum replied. "But you know that's too vague for me to tell anyway."

"Hm. You didn't see any of that in your dreams?" Riveria asked as she picked up a meat piece.

"In dreams, I'm peeking at Urea's flow of fate, I don't get hints about Ahea," Ceruleum replied.

The two talked about it like it was about the weather. No worry present.

Somehow in the midst of all that, they had all managed to eat up most of the food.

Hal checked his phone and got up. "I'll be going then. Best of luck with stuff and feel free to call if anything else comes up."

August nodded. "Thanks," he said.

Mandy got up to go let Hal out without even thinking about it and since it was so, August got his PC to continue typing.

"Unpack your stuff there," Mandy could hear August's voice, as she walked to the door.

Hal seemed to have something on his mind and left after saying his byes. Mandy, sadly, didn't get her chance to ask about his training menu. Hopefully, there would be another time.

When Mandy got back she could see Albus coaching the dragons on how to fold clothes. Huh? "Why do you know how to fold shirts?" Mandy asked. Albus had been wearing greek style clothing.

"Military uniform has it," Albus replied. "I'd show you if it wasn't bloody and ruined."

Show? "Where do you keep it?" Mandy asked.

"Ah, this," Albus lifted her hair up to show her ear - there was a row of four small earrings on it." Seeing the questioning look on Mandy's face, Albus said. "Spatial storage with instant equip option."

Kind of like August's suitcase? Mandy wanted to see.

"Step back a little, I will show how it works," Albus said and put her hair behind her ear to leave the ear openly visible. "There are four ways to activate them, one of them is by password - 'Quattor'" As she said that an ominous looking huge tube appeared in her hands, somewhat reminding of a science fiction gun for blasting lasers. One of the earrings disappeared from Albus' ear.

"What does it do?" Riveria asked.

"Shoots your magic over a huge distance," Albus replied. "It works on any spell, but I mainly use it to cast healing. Rottaq."

The tube disappeared and an earring re-appeared in Albus' ear.

Mandy caught that the password for returning the weapon into an earring was the same password, but spoken the other way around.

"Other activation methods are a secret for now," Albus added, then pointed to her ear. "The first one contains my military uniform, which is sadly ruined, the second one has casual clothes, the third one had consumables and emergency rations, but those were spent and you just saw the fourth."

Albus' hands returned to folding clothes and without even batting an eyelid, she neatly sorted them all out. Veri and Leum used her work as an example and did the same. All would be fine if their underwear wasn't stacked among the rest neatly on the display. But none of them appeared to care and Mandy figured that it was... well, better if they weren't bothered by it.. Hm. Yep. So she decided not to say a thing.

While the three were finishing sorting their items, August had opened his suitcase to draw a stack of eight strips. The drawings were relatively simple.

"Mandy, arrange these around the zone you want to isolate in cube form and you three help Mandy out with cleaning the place up," August said, then returned to typing.

It didn't take long for Mandy to figure it was about the kitchen space. With a smile, she picked the paper strips up and ran towards it. The groceries and stuff would come tomorrow and while she had picked out things that would be easy to use even without a proper work desk, having one would make it easier still.

Mandy had the three change into loungewear before they set to work, feasting her eyes at them casually changing with no shame present. As soon as she set up the zone to isolate, the plants either retreated or wilted and it was up to them to clean it up. Albus was quickest to catch on to it making glowing floaty orbs appear to illuminate things for easier cleaning, but as soon as Riveria and Ceruleum figured how things should look like, Mandy could only marvel at finely controlled water and fire magic at work. It took them only a couple of hours to clean things out and since most of the waste matter was burned by Riveria, there was only a melted chunk of plastic and metal left to be thrown out later. The way Riveria burned it all inside an isolated orb, no smoke or smells leaking out, was so artistic Mandy felt like it was a waste dragons didn't work on cleaning stuff up in general.

Along the way, Mandy managed to ask about floating gardens. Apparently Ahea had a lot of special rock type that floated high up in the air and many cities were built on those. She also managed to ask about Excalibur and Durandal and Leum confirmed that he had both of them and a whole bunch of others too. Surprise or not - King Arthur and a lot of mythical and legendary figures were actual people, but they came from a time and civilizations way before this era, from a time where all writing and records were either lost or monopolized by some small groups on the seeing side.

According to Ceruleum, Medieval times saw the th-->>

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