"Be quiet, Wren. I'm not talking to you. I'm asking her."

This was my mother and sister's usual way of bullying me. However, I was a different person after winning an argument against my father. Well, not really. The only thing that mattered here was that Aginaci was on my side. I turned her way to confirm it.

"Aginaci, do you want to answer her question?"

She shook her head.

"See? Are you going to force her to talk after what she has gone through?"

"But I want to thank you for allowing me to stay here. Thank you, I'm very grateful."

My mother smiled widely.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it. Make yourself at home. How's the food?"

'She's acting as if she was the one who allowed her to stay here. How shameless.'

This was yet another typical attitude from her. In her mind, her family's accomplishments were her accomplishments. It was simply obvious.

"I've never eaten anything as good as this. It's incredibly delicious."

"Oh my! How nice of you to say this."

("What a sweet girl. At least Wren has good taste.")

Elodie couldn't bear to stay silent any further and was the one who fired a question next.

"Hey, what should we do after dinner? What do you do in your free time? What are your hobbies?"

"Uhm…"

("What are hobbies?")

She looked at me again, not knowing how to answer correctly. This was also how their short time together before dinner had gone. Elodie had asked a ton of questions and Aginaci had tried her best to answer her and not say anything weird. I had to intervene again.

"Don't ask so many questions at the same time. Oh right, can you teach her how to take a shower after this? She's from a very retired part of the countryside and she doesn't know much about modern stuff."

"Really? In this day and age? Are there still people living like this?"

My sister might be able to believe it but my parents weren't fools.

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("Even in the most obscured parts of the country, people still have running water, electricity, and even possibly internet access. Why is he lying like this?")

("Is that the backstory these kids came up with? But why?")

"Yeah. So, can you do it, please? You don't want me to be the one to show her, right?"

"Of course not! Fine, I'll do it. We can take a shower together after eating. Is that fine with you, Aginaci?"

"Yes. Thank you."

"Sure!"

One more good thing accomplished. Even though my parents didn't believe my story, it didn't matter. Now, it wouldn't look so weird even if she didn't have much common sense about modern appliances.

"Also, she only has these clothes on her. Can you share some with her for a few days?"

"Clothes? Hmm…"

("I'm not so sure about sharing my clothes with someone else.")

"I don't think my clothes would fit her…"

My mother interceded.

"I can lend you some of mine if you don't mind wearing clothes from someone my age."

"No, of course not. Thank you again."

"Don't mind it, this is nothing. Come to my room after showering. I'll get you some pajamas for the night too."

("This family is treating me better than I expected even though I'm just a stranger and a sudden burden on them.")

'It's all because you're a girl. On top of that, your sad look is working wonders. You're polite and nice too. If you continue like this, my parents might adopt you.'

Of course, this was a joke. I knew this would never happen, even if I explained her exact circumstances to my family. They were nice because she would only be here for a short while and had no reason to be mean to her.

The rest of the meal went on like this, with my mother and sister trying to learn more about Aginaci. I was helping her whenever she had trouble answering. When we were done, the two young girls went to take a shower while I cleared the table and did the dishes. It took them quite a while to finish and they immediately entered my mother's room when they were done. I used this time to take a shower too.

Another long time passed and Aginaci came out wearing one of my mother's pajamas. She was carrying a bunch of clothes in her arms and was being followed by the two other females.

"We don't have an extra bed for you so you'll have to sleep on the sofa. I'll give you a blanket so you're not cold during the night."

My little sister couldn't help adding.

"Wren, you better not go to the living room during the night. Aginaci, if he tries anything, just shout and we'll throw him out of the house."

'So, you're going to keep the stranger girl and throw away your brother? I'm always feeling so loved at home.'

"I won't. Aginaci, we've got a lot of things to talk about. You can put the clothes on the sofa for now."

"Hey, I was first. Let's chat some more in my room, okay?"

Aginaci was yet again unsure of what to do.

"There's a lot of things we need to decide about her future. You can talk to her later. Let's go, Aginaci."

"Hey!"

Aginaci knew this was more important and followed me into my room.

("Darn it, Wren. You'll pay for this.")

I could only sigh inside at my sister's vindicating personality. It wasn't that bad, though. She would soon forget about it, like usual.

I closed the door behind us. I had time to think about our next steps while she was busy with my mother and my sister. As weird as it might be, Aginaci seemed to be registered at school. As such, the best way forward was for her to graduate and make a living on her own after that.

The first step in that direction was to teach her contemporary common sense. The problem was that we were in a hurry. I also wasn't confident in my teaching. I didn't know how well I could explain things like how a computer or a car worked if she asked.

However, there was a magical shortcut to fix all these issues in one go.