Elias opened his eyes and stared up on the unfamiliar roof. It took him a while to understand why it looked so unfamiliar to him but then the events of last night came back to him. They had arrived late at night to the cultivation zone and were dead tired when they finally reached the twin's parents home. To be fair, they had warned him about the hike and Elias had brushed it off.

But his legs were numb like he had walked to the edge of the world and he pondered on if he would be able to even get up right now. He heard the girls having a cheerful conversation with their mom, whom Elias had met briefly before getting ushered to bed.

He hadn't noticed the little boy that sat peering at him on a sofa across the room from where the bed was and Elias felt a pang of panic. But the boy just smiled at him and rushed out of the room.

“Mom, mom! The boy is awake now!”

The boy yelled as he ran into the kitchen and was sternly hushed for interrupting one of the twins.

Elias got up and started to get dressed when he felt that someone was looking at him and he thought it was the curious boy but there was now a shy little girl at the door peeking. Just looking at him like she was trying to judge his future.

But when their eyes met the girl shied back and from the footsteps running to the kitchen, Elias understood that he had scared her. As he finished dressing and peek out of the room both small kids had started playing some kind of game on the kitchen floor.

The twins and their mother sat at a rustic wood table and the whole kitchen smelled like herbs and freshly baked bread. A weird sensation for someone that came from a place where the only thing that smelled was the pollution from the factories. As it was quite dark the night before when they had arrived Elias hadn't seen that much of the twin's mother, she looked to be a short, stout woman with a friendly but windswept face. But when it cracked up in a huge motherly smile Elias felt all warm inside.

The kitchen was the main room in the house, well the only room in the house. It was as if they had built new small rooms connected to the kitchen whenever they needed more space.

It felt cozy and homey, two things nothing in the slum even came close too.

“You must be Elias, the girls have been talking non stop about you since they got home.”

Their mother said with that warm smile and started to get up from her chair but Ella got up first and offered to get Elias some breakfast.

“My name is Mia if you didn't know but I guess that the girls have told you that already”

She made a gesture for Elias to sit down at the table and he complied with her request. He doubted that anyone would decline such an offer made with that warm smile. And Ella put out bread, butter, and tea and joined them.

“A rather shy boy but from what the girls tell me you are a good shy boy”

She said after a short while and the twins started to blush. Something that made Elias smile, it felt like some sort of revenge from the all the times they had teased him so far.

“Mom, he doesn’t have to know everything we say to about him”

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Freja complained and stuck out her tongue and Ella joined her, a sweet and familiar rebellion. And their mother just chuckled and took a sip from her mug. Elias felt swept away by all the love and friendship they all shared until his discom started beeping, an alarm to let him know that they had to get ready for the speed rail trip to Denmark. The twins bolted to their rooms to get their last stuff and Elias continued eating as his stuff was still packed.

“They are good girls and I hope you can be with them a while”

Mia said and as Elias meet her gaze he could see the sorrow and yearning for her girls to come home safe and sound. As Elias struggles to answer her she continued with.

“I trust that you will look out for them and Elias, try to get them home safe”

Elias just started at her. But he felt the need to say something so he croaked out something that resembled a - yes, of course, he would.

The twin's mother gave him an approving nod and then all the sorrow was gone and the warm motherly smile was back. As the girls came back from their hunt for stuff to pack Elias felt calmer. He had a hard time dealing with human emotion and he hated the fact that he hadn't answered Mia properly when she clearly was concerned.

“Elias, we have to leave now if we want to catch the first rail to Denmark”

Ella said as she made a sandwich for the road and he let out a loud sigh. Walking all that way back again felt like something he didn't want to do ever again but he had to keep going. Not for his sake but for the sake of all the people that counted on him. Mia followed them a bit on the road but her legs protested after a while and she hugged them all and told them about the lunch she had packed.

“I will take care of them”

Elias said as she turned away and he could see that she hid her tears from the twins. Ella and Freja, on the other hand, started to hum, or Freja tried to with half and sandwich in her mouth. He guessed that they knew but felt the urge to be strong and cheerful to not have a depressing potential last meeting with their beloved mother.

As they continued there walk under the warm pre-summer sun they talked about everything they wanted to see and do in Denmark, there was some sort of music festival they were scheduled to visit. Something that Elias thought sounded fun, and he started to feel that excitement again.

Ella and Freja were some steps ahead of him when Ella turned to ask about if Elias could ride a bike and if that was the best choice of transport to get from the Central city to the festival field. He assured them that he could ride a bike and he was baffled on how much the twins had studied the travel plan.

“You have to know where you're going, otherwise you miss the scenery and only see the road”

Freja said when she slowed down and matched Elias pace. She was not even winded and Elias felt like his lungs were coming out of him.

“Another of your grandmother's wise proverbs”

He asked between breaths and Freja chuckled and gave him a friendly pat on the back. Ella had gained some good distance on them and stood and waved at them to hurry up. Freja and Elias looked at each other and he just knew that they needed to pick up the pace if they wanted to reach the platform before the rail left it. As they reached her Elias had a hard time to take more steps as his legs felt like pure mush.

But the twins danced ahead of him and he understood that they have lived completely different lives, even though they came from the same part of the world.

When they both slowed down and a staggering Elias caught up with them they just looked him over with mischievous smiles. And he knew that they had done something to get revenge for the events of that morning.

“Just say it”

He said after catching his breath for a little while and they smiled at him. He felt envious of these two girls soulmates out there because they were so radiant and beautiful when they had that smile on their lips.

“Its 20 minutes until the rail comes and we are here!”

So they had rushed him on even though they had plenty of time but that didn't matter as he was here now and the walk had been over with faster this way. He was one of those people that wanted to get things over with, especially bad things.

He pinched them both on the arms at the same time and gave them a smile as they climbed the stairs to the platform. A calm bicycle ride in the cultivation zone of Denmark sounded like a nice experience as long as he didn't have to walk for miles to get to the festival.