Noel grumbled and stretched as the smell of bacon wafted into her room, her tail twitching as she woke up. She heard her mother calling from downstairs about breakfast being ready soon, and so she pulled herself out of bed, threw on some casual clothes, and commenced morning grooming. Having a Caprimet's tail and the accompanying tuft at the end set her apart from pure humans, as did the goat-like ears and the small horns; it also set her morning grooming apart from others. Sometimes, she would hide the special brush for her furry aspects when people came over (assuming it was company that did not also have fur) so that she wouldn't have to explain it. Her human hair and her Caprimet fur were similar reddish-brown shades, with her hair being a darker color. Her hair, her fur, and her deep blue eyes were all traits from her Caprimet mother; her tanned skin was from a human father who had long been left behind.

When she made her way down the stairs, she was immediately ambushed by her younger sister Drea. Unlike Noel, Drea was a full-blooded Caprimet, something like a bipedal goat person. Her fur was primarily a grey color, though she had reddish-brown parts along the bottom of her muzzle and going down her neck. The ruffles on her sundress seemed to bounce with her when she moved. Her head-hair was black, something from her father, but her eyes matched Noel's. "Morning, Ellie!" she chirped in her childish voice. "Mom made breakfast."

"I see that," Noel said, patting Drea on the head before adding, "Let's go say good morning to everyone."

Noel and Drea went into the kitchen, where Noel's stepfather Kelves and younger brother Alves were sitting at the table. "Morning, Noel," Kelves rumbled in his deep baritone. He was a large, heavyset Caprimet, grey and white and black, with horns that curved behind his head. He always dressed comfortably; clearly, he had no intention of going anywhere special today, since he was still wearing a tank top and pajama pants.

"Morning," Alves said, waving. He was a shy young boy, primarily red like his mother, but with white parts along his throat and body from Kelves. He was still wearing his pajamas as well; Noel found herself wondering why neither of the menfolk had gotten dressed while all the ladies had.

"Morning, Kel and Al," Noel said, waving back to them.

"No 'Kelvie' today?" Kelves said with a soft chuckle.

"Maybe later," Noel replied.

The click of the stove being turned off drew Noel's attention to Alea, her mother. She was a red-furred Caprimet, with patches of lighter and darker red here and there. She dressed simply, a dark blue dress with short, light blue sleeves; somehow it managed to flatter her full figure without clinging anywhere in particular. "Good morning, sleepyhead," Alea cooed as she brought plates to the table: pancakes, eggs, bacon. "How do you feel today?"

"Still sleepy." Noel sat next to Alves at the table, and Drea sat next to her. "I think I need coffee."

"I'll set it up for you while I'm up. These little coffee machines with the cups are such wonderful inventions," Alea mused aloud as she set about readying Noel's coffee.

"We didn't have those in the Sealed World, or even in Lemanta," Kelves said, already digging into his eggs. "We've really come a long way. We started in Lemanta, got sent to the Sealed World, and now we're here in Medlia."

"Not many people can say they've lived in three worlds," Alea said, pouring cream into Noel's coffee and then setting it it by her. "You can mix it yourself, right?"

"Mom!" Noel made her indignation clear. "Yes, Mom, I can mix my own coffee, cut my own pancakes, and even eat my own bacon." Nonetheless, her indignation had a teasing edge to it, and Alea simply laughed her off.

"Well, that's a pity. I'd be happy to eat your bacon for you," Kelves said.

"Yeah, sure is a pity," Noel said with a giggle.

"Someday I'll cut my own pancakes," Alves mumbled, pushing pancake slices into a pile with his fork.

"Yes, someday you will." Alea beamed and tousled Alves's already-messy hair.

"Daddy, can you pass the syrup?" Drea leaned in slightly to get a better vantage point as Kelves slid the bottle of maple syrup over. Alves was occupied with a forkful of pancakes, and so Noel was the one to make sure the syrup made it to Drea. "Thanks, Ellie."

With all the plates set, Alea finally took a seat at the table next to Kelves. "So, what does everyone have planned for today?"

"I wanna play with Daddy in the garden," Drea said.

"Well, I do need to do a little weeding and watering. If you want to help, you can come with me," Kelves said.

"Yeah! I'm good with the watering can." Drea was already gesturing as though she were holding an invisible watering can.

"What about you, Alves?" Alea asked.

Alves set his fork down. "Don't I have a piano lesson today?"

"Yes, that's right!" Alea's smile remained. "But what else do you want to do?"

"I'm gonna look for more music," Alves said.

Alea finally looked to her first child. "Last but not least... what are you going to be up to today, Noel?"

Noel swallowed a bite of egg before she spoke. "I think I'll go visit Melia and take her around town a bit. It's always more fun to visit people with her."

"That sounds like a good plan," Alea said. "Geralt tells me that Melia always has a good time with you."

"It's better than leaving her to roam the Internet and find all kinds of weird stuff," Noel said, unable to hide a smile as she remembered a rather risque game Melia had discovered and told her about. The girl loved playing with things that were supposedly off-limits for her age.

"She does that?" Kelves said, taking a bite of bacon.

"Yeah, she does. I get to hear about all kinds of things." Noel's fork clicked against the plate as she speared a pancake piece.

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"Is that so? Perhaps I should have a word with her parents about parental controls," Alea said, arching an eyebrow.

Noel groaned. "Come on, Mom, don't do that to her... you know she doesn't work by normal kid rules. She's four and thirteen like I'm nine and nineteen."

Alea sighed. "I am well aware of the oddities of half-Magicant aging," she said. "When I was pregnant with you, all the way back in Lemanta, a foo-fire Magicant told me about what to expect. And in the Sealed World, you were ten years old physically at two years old."

At the mention of the Sealed World, Noel's face fell solemn. "Not counting the two years in stasis."

"No," Alea said softly.

"What's stasis?" Alves asked.

"It's when time doesn't move for you, and you don't grow up, but you're asleep and you can't do anything," Noel explained.

"Sounds scary." Alves took another bite of pancake.

"Not really. You don't know it's happening," Noel said with a shrug.

"Mommy, are you okay?" Drea asked, seeing her mother become just as crestfallen.

"Hmm? Yes, I'm fine, sweetheart," Alea said.

"Maybe we shouldn't talk about these things right now," Kelves said, setting his fork down. His plate was clean.

"Sorry," Noel mumbled.

The rest of breakfast was quiet, though the tension released as the meal came to a close. Kelves and Drea set out for the house's garden and Alves went to his computer in his room, leaving Noel and Alea to clean up in the kitchen. As Alea put the final dish away, she said to Noel, "When you go to pick up Melia, give my regards to Geralt and Faith, alright?"

"I always do," Noel said as she grabbed her purse. "And don't worry, I'll be home by dinner time."

"That's my girl," Alea said. "Have fun out there."

Melia's house was just down the block from Noel's, a fortunate side effect of Alea and Geralt entering Medlia in the same group. Noel knocked on the door, and a red-furred Caprimet man with blue eyes answered. "Hi, Uncle Geralt," Noel said with a friendly wave.

"Good to see you, Noel," Geralt said with a grin. "Melia's inside playing her computer games. Should I get her for you, or would you like to come in?"

"Sure, I'll stop in for a bit," Noel said. She entered the house; seated at the living room table was a human woman was light brown hair, pale skin, and green eyes. She was dressed nicely, if not formally; a simple blouse and skirt was good enough for her. "Hi, Faith," she said.

Faith waved at Noel. "Hello, Noel. How's your day been so far?"

"Fine, thanks. And you?" Noel asked.

Faith sighed. "Busy. I'm still sorting through some paperwork from the last wave of immigrants to Medlia. There weren't many of them, thankfully, but processing always takes a while, just like it did for your family and Gerry."

"Don't forget to take a break every once in a while, dear," Geralt chimed in.

"I won't," Faith called over to Geralt, who was heading upstairs. "So, where are you thinking about taking Melia today?"

"I've got a few places in mind," Noel said. "I know I want to go to Esci's lab first."

"Oh boy. You know Melia has a love-hate relationship with that place," Faith said.

"Yeah, but she always has fun with Delfine when she's there, so those two can gab about weird nerd things while I catch up on some things with Esci." Noel heard the rapid thumping of footsteps coming down the stairs, and when she looked over, there was a young teenage half-Caprimet girl with similar features to her: red hair, a tail with a tuft on the end, small horns. Her eyes were green like her mother's, however.

"Hi, Noel!" Melia chirped, straightening her pink striped dress. "Where are we going today?"

"Anywhere and everywhere," Noel said.

Melia scrunched her face up. "No, really, where are we going?"

"We'll start at Esci's lab, and then we'll go look for our usual suspects."

"Okay, fine. Just don't get too science-y with Esci, okay? I've already been researched a bunch this month. She's not getting anything new out of me." Melia remained pouting as she went down the stairs to Noel's side.

"Take care out there, all right?" Geralt said.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine," Noel said. "By the way, Mom says hi."

Geralt chuckled. "I'm sure she does."

"Maybe on the way back, I can say hi to Auntie Alea?" Melia asked. "Drea and Alves, too."

"Yeah, we'll see about that. Shall we get going?" Noel took a few steps towards the door, looking over her shoulder to see if Melia was coming.

"Yeah! I need to talk to Delfine about some things, anyway." Melia bounced over to Noel. "Bye Mom, bye Dad! We'll be back in time for dinner!"

The two hybrids left Melia's house, heading downtown for a rather conspicuous laboratory (one labeled "LAB" in big letters, at that). As they walked, Noel found herself marveling at the diversity of Magicants she saw. Caprimets were but one type of Magicant, and what Noel saw made that clear. She saw a schoolgirl made of green fire, a floating six-sided die with an eye on every face, and a blobby creature that casually reshaped himself as he carried on a conversation with a long-legged bird Magicant. Truly, the "monsters" of Lemanta were a motley crew.

Eventually, the girls arrived at Esci's lab. As they approached, the doors opened for them, and they entered what appeared to be a waiting room, complete with chairs and magazines.

"Why can't Esci just have a doorbell like everyone else does?" Melia groused. "Why does she have doors that open, and then this place where she has to come get you? You'd think that, with all her security gadgets, she'd be able to see who's coming and either let them in or not."

Noel shrugged. "I don't know. She told me this was based off her lab in the Sealed World. I guess it was like this there, too."

"Still really weird," Melia said. Noel simply nodded and took a seat in one of the chairs.

After a few minutes, the door on the other side of the room made a grinding noise. It opened slightly, and then got stuck. Some mumbling could be heard, along with a nasally female voice shouting, "Del, the door's stuck again!" Soon, a yellow, scaly hand curled around the door, and with a deep grunt, someone on the other side pulled the door back into position. It then slid away as if it had never gotten stuck in the first place, revealing two Magicants: a green, lizard-like woman, and a yellow-and-black striped woman with a glowing orb danging from an antenna on her forehead. The striped woman grinned to reveal an array of very sharp teeth. "Heya, Noel and Mel! Nice to see you two. Esci's been flipping her notes around all day."

"Yes, welcome!" Esci said. "And yes, Delfine, thank you for fixing the door for me."

"Aw, anything for my sweet scaleface," Delfine said as she pulled Esci in for a noogie, making the shorter woman squeal and flail. "But you know how I am about my name! Del, Fi, Delfi, Delly-elly-oxen-free, just not Delfine! Or late for dinner."

"Del, no! There's people around!" Esci wriggled out of Delfine's hold. "You know I was just getting your goat."

"Yeah, of course, because we're half goat person," Melia grumbled.

"Oh, come on, Melia, don't read into it so much," Noel said, giving Melia a playful shove.

"I-it was just a figure of speech. I'm sorry, Melia." Esci looked down, contrite.

Melia blew a decently long raspberry at Esci. "And I was just getting your goat! Silly Esci."

Esci laughed nervously. "Well! Now that we've all trolled each other, how about we go inside? I promise you two won't have to go through any analyses today."

"Of course," Noel said. "This is for pleasure, not for business."

"All righty then! Onward ho, to the guts of the lab!" Delfine darted forward and scooped Melia up, making her giggle as she was carried inside.

"The guts?" Esci said. "Well, let's go inside."

Noel followed Esci in, and the doors shut behind her.