It was quiet.

Warm.

Calm.

Plop, pitter, patter…

*rustle*

He stretched.

Arms over his head and back lifting for wings to sprawl out, downy feathers brushing against soft nest-sheets and pillows.

Barely cracking his eyes open revealed a small room stuffed to the brim with fluffy blankets, pillows, and plushies.

Sleep still plague his mind but Raphael was lured away from continuing to bask in the comfortable nest by the smell of tea and breakfast emanating from beyond the door separating him from whatever that mouth watering scent was.

He groaned, hands coming up to rub his face, trying to get rid of the lethargy he could feel draping over his body.

Reluctantly, he pushed off the bed-nest and choppily walked, staggered, his way out of the nest-room to find a resplendent kitchen, sparkling clean mana stoves, oven, sink. Everything and anything a home chef would need at top tier quality and maintenance.

He scanned the kitchen to find a familiar, but still heartwarming, scene: Brother Stonehearth reading the latest news and bounties on his Adventurer, guild provided, Twilight Inc. Tablet; Yuxan humming while setting up the dining table; Riri-ja finishing up some dumplings and plating them.

As Raphael stood in the doorway, eyes shot up to meet him and softened as all three of his flock sent a soft mana pulse to greet him.

Brown-gray, misty-lavender, and purple-lightning-gold ripple across the room, Raphael meeting them in the middle with his own beige-yellow pulse.

“Raphy! I’m almost done with these flower shrimp dumplings, go brush your teeth and we can all chow in!”

After they had exchanged haoluses, Riri-ja quickly shooed him off to freshen himself up.

Raphael smiled at the show of care and proceeded to the bathroom to brush his teeth and do a quick towel rinse, he’d take a more thorough clean when he had the time to slowly card through his wings alone or when one of his flock had free time to preen him.

Returning to the kitchen after he’d woken up a little, Raphael could feel an underlying sense of something in the room.

It wasn’t anything malicious per se, maybe not even anything bad. Just, a bit, off.

It was like walking into a room at school or work and knowing that something happened before you got there, and it was related to you, but no one brought it up or mentioned it. So you just kinda have to live with that air of, “There’s something we need to talk about but we have no idea how to say it so…”

Raphael rubbed his thumb over his thigh twice, trying to appease the unease that the sudden change in atmosphere had caused in him.

Walking up to the dining table, his flock was already seated and there was a plate of dumplings with some soy sauce and a set of chopsticks waiting for him as soon as he got there.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

They all smiled up at him again, waiting for him to take the first bite as the youngest of the flock so they could dig in.

“Lushinmo watches over us.”

Raphael's voice washed over the room as he created a triangular shape with his hands, thumbs as the base and fore and middle fingers as the tip. He bowed twice, once to the land and another to the gods, before he picked up his chopsticks and dug in.

There was a sudden flurry of movement and sound as the group ate and talked.

“An-one hav- -nythin- to do -oday?” Riri-ja asked, her mouth still half filled with dumplings.

“I have nothing. Last request got me handled pretty well. And anyway, it’s just after festival, no one cares.” Brother Stonehearth swallowed before replying.

“Hn. Wasn’t your last request a clear mission to the Front? Nothing too exciting happened, did it?” Yuxan looked away from his dumplings to comment.

“As you would expect, honestly. The spawn tide was still strong but was definitely dying down, Vitornisk man, I hate spawn season.” Brother Stonehearth waved his chopsticks in agitation as he complained.

“Yea. Can’t imagine dealing with spawn waves every day, sounds like a nightmare. We’ll happily stick to our tracking and gathering requests all the way,” Riri-ja interjected, making a face at the thought of taking clear missions to the Front.

“What about you little wing? You have anything to do today?” Seeing that the conversation was rapidly derailing, Yuxan tried to get back on topic by bringing in Raphael.

“Eh? Oh. Yea, I was gonna go bother Luhuo-ki since we haven’t seen each other much, with me being at the theatre and him doing whatever he does out-district. Hmm, by the way Riri-ja, your dumplings are delicious as ever.” Startled, Raphael’s head shot up from his plate to join the conversation, shooting a beaming smile at Rirenrir.

“Ahh! Don’t smile like that Raphy! I haven’t seen you in a month, remember?!” Riri-ja exaggeratedly flailed around and covered her eyes with her arms like Raphael’s grin had personally attacked her.

Raphael frowned at the display while Yuxan and Brother Stonehearth laughed at his wronged expression.

Stuffing another dumpling into his mouth, Raphael ignored the trio in order to fill his hungry belly that hadn’t had real food since yesterday morning.

After he’d stopped laughing, Yuxan continued where they’d left off, “Luhuo, Luhuo, I’ve definitely heard that somewhere. Oh! Is that the “Little Wukong” I’ve been hearing about?”

As Raphael was still ignoring them, it was Stonehearth that answered, “From what I know, his name’s Yan Luhuo. He’s a brat from out-district that, I don’t know why, keeps on coming over for spars and mischief. Last I heard, he almost got caught by one of those Silvers’ guard patrols for a prank or somethin’.”

Riri-ja had unburied herself from her arms by now and was listening closely.

“Phew- Sounds like a firecracker. But since he was almost birdmeat, is he gonna be vulture-bait?” Yuxan commented, having finished his food and was now resting an arm on the table with his chin on a palm.

It was then that Raphael interjected, “Luhuo-ki isn’t vulture-bait. At most, he’s pigeon-bait cause he’s adventurer-brave.”

Raphael’s flock looked at each other, Rirenrir the one that decided to ask, “Like our kind of adventurer-brave or the propaganda kind?”

Frowning as he finished his final dumpling, Raphael tilted his head back side to side as he considered the question.

“Hmm, like- neither? He’s- Yea! He’s newbie-brave! The kind that, because he’s really good at it, is doing fine so far but you know he’s gonna fall flat on his face sooner or later.”

Nodding his head when he’d finally found a good descriptor for his friend, Raphael didn’t notice how his family had matching looks of grim determination on their faces before it smoothed into an indulgent look of appreciation when he’d look up at them again.

“Yea Lil’ Sun? Anything else you want to tell us about your plans for the day?” Brother Stonehearth leaned closer to the table, turning Raphael’s attention to him.

“Uhh. Maybe buy some early weather charms for Ignukoyl? Someone told me that this year’s shinestorms are gonna be stupidly heavy. Since a Child of Verndel had been born in the Rubellite Empire.” Raphael could feel that his brother was expecting him to say something, but he didn’t know what, so all he could do was apprehensively answer the question half-heartedly.

Stonehearth let out a long breath, hands trembling under the table.

“Alright. But do you know when you’re coming back today? We-” Stonehearth gestured towards Yuxan and Rirenrir and then himself, “-wanted to talk to you about something.”

Raphael looked around the table, he could tell that his family was very nervous: by the way that Brother Stonehearth’s brows were wrinkled, just a bit; Yuxan was fidgeting with his sleeves; and Riri-ja’s lips were pressed tightly together. Though why, he wasn’t sure.

Raphael sat back on his stool, his hands gathered in his lap as fingers tapped his thighs to the rhythm of songs he’d learned, as he attempted to avoid overthinking whatever had spooked his flock this badly.

Feeling the tension building in the air, Raphael eventually decided to put off figuring out whatever it was that was causing it and diffusing the situation first.

“Okay, I think I’ll be back by 22’Lu-o at the latest. But, quick question, do you know what time it is right now?”

The unrelated question seemed to have broken the tension as the group was smiling again and Brother Stonehearth checked the tablet he’d put aside before reporting, “It’s 13’Sol-o right now, Littlest Muffin. Better get going soon or you won’t have time to do much with that friend of yours.”

Raphael jumped up from his seat after hearing the time, not forgetting to thank his brother before he was off to the restnest to change into a new set of resilient clothes he wouldn’t mind running around the district with.

Since he knew, his trip to see Luhuo-ki this time wasn’t just a fun outing. He was gonna need to chip in that favor that his friend owed him.