"Welcome to my home!" Rio said with a huge smile on her face. "Ictoras, the last Lafina city is about two days out. I live out here because it's closer to a lot of ruins." Rio said as we made our way down the large set of stairs. Once we passed the large set of doors Rio waved her hand over another panel which closed them and turned on lights that lit our path down the stairs that lead to the depths of the cave.

"I was really not expecting such a large set of doors just for someone's house." I exclaimed. I couldn't help but think how fantasy like it was. Which was getting me excited and made me realize even more that I was in another world.

"It is to help keep the sand out and also makes it easier to open when there is a lot of sand pushed up against it." Her explanation made a lot of sense. But I still thought I was really cool.

The stairs went down quite a ways before we reached our destination at the bottom. At the bottom of the stairs the area opened up a bit and on one of the walls was a smaller metal door. Rio led me over to it and on the side like the door up above there was another panel. Rio placed her hand on top of it for a second and then called me over.

"Place your hand on top of mine. This way it will register you for both doors." I followed suit and placed my hand on top of hers. A green light shown from the panel for a split second before I heard the sound of the door next to us unlocking. I was not quite sure how it read my hand while my hand was on top of hers though. "There, now you are registered with both doors should be able to come and go as you please." Rio gave me a bright smile and grabbed my hand and lead me into her home.

I was in awe when I entered the house. The ceilings were rather high and seemed to be made out of polished marble. The walls seemed to be made out of the same material. Just the walls and ceiling alone made this place look fancy and expensive. There looked to be a living area and kitchen area and three other rooms off to the side.

"Wow, this is amazing! I really was not expecting this at all! This place is beautiful!" I could not hide my excitement as I looked around. Rio looked at me and giggled to herself.

"Well make yourself at home this is your home now too! The bedroom is on the left, the bathroom is in the middle there, and on the right is my work area. I will show you the work area tomorrow but for now let's get you a bath, some fresh clothes, and some ointment for the wind and sand burn. Then I will make us some food. I'm sure you must be hungry. At least your stomach was saying so earlier." Rio giggled and then grabbed my hand and dragged me into the bedroom.

She seemed like she was having fun. She was smiling brightly which made her look really cute. She matched up some clothes on me and handed me a towel and then brought me into the bathroom. The bathroom was unlike any I have ever been in before. Everything was made out of polished marble type stone. There were small panels to activate the shower. She said she used ancient technology to produce hot and cold water. It was stuff the EElacians left behind. There were circular symbols etched into each panel that you could hover your hand over and just by thinking you could adjust the temperature of the water. The same was for the toilet as well, all though it was a bench-style seat like you would see in a porta-potty. At the bottom of the bowl was another magic symbol that would literally make whatever was in there disappear with just a wave over the panel next to it. Which was very convenient if you ask me even more so than the toilets back home. After she finished showing me how everything worked. She left it to me and walked out of the bathroom which in turn I got undressed and hopped into the shower.

The shower hurt quite a bit due to the burn from the sun, wind, and sand. I just gritted my teeth through it and finished up as quickly as I could. The shower itself was in its own enclosed room with a semi-transparent glass door separating it from the other part of the bathroom. When I finished showering I walked out to find Rio standing there laying out a set of clothes for me. Rio looked over at me and her face turned bright red and she turned around quickly.

"I'm s.. s.. so sorry I wa.. wa.. was just bringing you a lighter set of cloths so it would be easier to deal with your wounds!" She was stuttering over her words as she spoke. She really was bright red from ear to ear.

"Ahh. No need to be sorry. I use to take baths with my friends all the time. So do not worry about it. We are both girls anyway so it's fine. " I said with a smile.

Paying no mind to Rio, I grabbed the towel from its hook and started drying off. Rio turned back around for a second but then quickly looked in the other direction again. I really did not see what the big deal was but maybe things were a little different in this world when it came to being in the nude with the same gender. Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting.

"I'll be out in the living area just come out when you are done." Rio said as she quickly ran out of the bathroom.

'I don't know why she was so flustered?? She may be way older than me but she sure is cute!'

I finished drying off and put the clothes on she had prepared. They were a tad small but beggars couldn't be choosers. She was a few inches shorter than me after all. She gave me a small tank top style shirt and a pair of short shorts I would have to call them. They were both dyed in a light blue color. I walked into the living room with the towel on my head to keep the water from my hair from dripping on the floor.

"Rio I'm all done. Thank you for lending me these clothes." Luckily our bodies were the same shape, except the shirt bottom only covered up to about a little over my belly button which made it more like a half-shirt. But the shorts fit really well.

"It's not a problem it looks good on you. I'm glad that they fit you." Rio said as she was having a hard time keeping eye contact with me. I guess seeing me naked earlier was still making her feel embarrassed. "If you sit down here I will help apply this ointment. As long as you keep this on for about one hour it will heal your burns you got today. It won't even leave a trace of them." Finally calming down Rio started to apply ointment to the burns on my legs arms and face. "I'm am very sorry I couldn't keep you safe from the environment. The outside world is very harsh on Cora." Rio said with a sad look on her face as she finished applying the ointment.

"You don't need to be sorry it's not like you were expecting someone to pop out of thin air. You are already doing so much for me. I should be saying sorry for imposing on you like this." I said with a smile.

"No, it's fine. I wouldn't have invited you if I thought you would be imposing on me. To be honest I'm thankful you agreed to stay here. It has been a long time since I've had any visitors. I think the last was when my eldest sister stopped by sixty years ago. She went off into the wasteland and never came back. To be honest I haven't been to Ictoras in almost forty years." She smiled as she wrapped my treated spots with a cloth to cover them.

"Let's get you to the bedroom so you can lay down until the ointment absorbs in." We got up and headed into the bedroom where Rio pulled the covers back on the bed and prepped it so I could lay down."You can use this bed from now on I will sleep in the other room." She said as she went to walk out of the room. But before she could I grabbed her hand and stopped her.

"There is no way I am going to take your only bed. And there is no proper place to sleep in the other room either. You have done so much for me by letting me stay here so there is no way I'm going to be taking your bed away from you on top of it. Not to mention this bed is pretty big so I would rather us share it. Or I can sleep on the floor. " I explained. I was in no way going to take this poor girl's bed after she had just taken me in.

"Then we should share it then. I do not want you to have to sleep on the floor." Rio said with a shy smile. "You know your funny Sora. You remind me of my elder sister in a way. Even though I'm supposed to be the older one here." We both looked at each other and laughed. "But I still need you to lay down. For an hour. Otherwise, the ointment won't do its job well. While you are resting I will go and prepare some food for us." Pushing me to the bed and then turning to head to the kitchen.