The sun was just crossing the center of the sky when the sounds of horses pulling carriages could be heard outside the house, many of the children got up and ran to go see what was going on, they were all curious as to why they had been woken early and bath and put on the clothes they had received for their summer gifts, the eldest children rushed to reign the younger ones in.

The House Mother who had been checking on one of the cakes she was baking, quickly wiped off her hands and took off her apron to reveal her auburn dress that had a large bow hanging from the side, she patted her hair and left the kitchen unaware of the small child that was still sitting in the corner of the sitting room, she went and made sure the children had all been aligned and when they were perfect she went outside with her son one step behind.

She smiled at the sight of the large white carriage that was being pulled along by five white horses all wearing golden reigns, a tall tree elf with short brown hair dressed in silver armor that had a long white cape trailing behind it stepped off the front of the carriage and moved to open the door, he reached his hand inside and it was taken by a dark dainty female hand and soon a body followed stepping down and out the carriage.

The tall moon elf stood in front of her white carriage, in a long white lace dress that fitted her curvy shape very closely and was now being held up by two tree elf girls, her dark silky hair that seemed to shine under the light, was left to run down her back in stylish waves that contrasted with her dress, her rich silver eyes scanned her surroundings and laded on the beast woman that was standing on the porch from across her.

It was as if all grace flew out the window as the elf happily ran to the woman and took her in a tight embrace "Chao-xing, it's been so long since I last saw you!" the moon elf yelled excitedly as she held her best friend closer to her placing a kiss on her cheeks before pulling back and pouting at her "why don't you visit me anymore, I get so lonely in that big white house by myself, you don't even stop by for tea anymore." she patted the woman's arm playfully and gave her, her best take on sad eyes.

The beast woman shook her head and let out a sigh she couldn't believe the woman standing in front of her "Eun-Byeol is this any way to behave when you brought guest with you?" the elf folded her arms over her chest and looked away "come now you're a young lady, a Duchess and you should behave more proper."

The moon elf rolled her eyes and stood straight clasping her hands in front of her and raised her head so she was looking down her nose at her friend "this proper enough for you?" she asked in a mocking tone and stuck her tongue out at her friend when she sighed "anyway enough with this, lets go inside I want to meet my many nieces and nephews, oh and I brought some people along who said they wanted to adopt a child or two." she didn't wait for the beast woman to speak walking around her and going inside.

The other guest followed suit greeting the house mother and entering as the Duchess began to squeal at the sight of the children, she walked up to Da-ye and watched her with pure satisfaction "you look just like my older sister, awe and those rich brown eyes of your's I just want to squeeze you!" Da-ye blushed and the Duchess laughed before moving on to the other children reacting excitedly to the sight of each one of them.

She stooped down to pick up the beast child, his round pink cheeks had her smiling a she cooed at him and made weird faces that had him giggling "oh my you're a darling, I just want to take you for myself but I honestly don't know what I would do with a child, I'd probably forget you're in the house until I'm ready for cuddles." the guest laughed at what she said and she happily handed the baby over to a beast woman that she had brought along with her, who looked at her husband with shinning eyes.

She walked past the children and went into the room she remember for being the sitting room, she hadn't been here for many summers but it looked as if nothing changed, when she entered the room she yelped in surprise and the tree elf that had traveled with her rushed into the room brandishing his finely smote sword, the moon elf looked at him and waved her hand "it's okay Baek-Hyeon, I just didn't notice the little child before I entered I'm sure he's not going to hurt me." Baek bowed deeply to the Duchess and took a few steps back to watch her as she moved over to the child.

Eun-Byeol stooped down in front of the chair that the small child was sitting in she smiled and gently patted his leg, the boy seemed to have been in a daze as he rose his head up and jumped back because of how close she was, she took his small hand into hers and rubbed her thumb over his "now I'd remember those big green eyes anywhere I went, how have you been little Sin?" the moon elf said in a soft gentle tone.

Sin had still been running through the thoughts in his head when he felt someone patting his leg, when he looked up he came face to face with a very beautiful lady who gave him a smile he had never seen from someone before, her face was a bit too close so he had jumped back out of reflex but she didn't seem angry and when she poke to him he had the urge to hug her and beg her to leave with him.

He understood what she had been saying because she had spoken slowly, she was asking if he was okay, no one had ever asked him that, he was too accustomed to being yelled at and then the fact that he didn't know the right words to speak to her with led him to nod, the woman seemed to be sad as she ran her fingers through his hair, she leaned up and pressed a kiss to his head before leaving the room, he watched her go and then looked around the room that was filled with the other children and new men and women that he had never seen before.

He watched them all with slight interest he wondered what they were all doing here, they were talking to the other children in different words that he couldn't understand and one woman was even speaking in words that hurt his ears, he reached up and covered it tightly and kept his eyes on her she was speaking to a short girl that was wearing a bright pink dress and had her pink hair up in a braid, the woman seemed to look like the girl, her eyes were a strange purple color and her hair a light pink, her skin was pale and her ears were pointed, they weren't as long as the one's the woman who had spoken to him earlier had and weren't as short as his.

When the woman left the room with the girl he was able to move his hands and looked at the other people he saw a beast woman sitting in a chair with a baby in her hands and a girl was standing next to the chair looking down at them with a happy smile on her face, he recognized the girl he had seen her around before, she was usually out front when he came through with a log and she would be holding the child, he continued to look around the room, his eyes stopping on Da-ye who was speaking to a man that had long pointed ears like her's and rich wavy hair that fell just above his hips.

Sin still couldn't understand what they were doing here or why they were talking to the other children and smiling at them like that, he shook his head and got up going out the room, when he turned to the hall he bumped into someone and almost fell, someone caught him and put him to stand upright he looked up at the woman who scowled at him and stepped back brushing her hands off on her dress, she gave him one last glance before going into the room with the children.

For second he wanted to cry but held it in, it wasn't necessary for him to cry this was just how things were for him, maybe it'll get better when he leaves the house but for now he had to let it be, he walked out the front entrance just as a horse came galloping forward, it skidded to a halt in front of the porch and a tall man with very long blonde hair jumped off, even as it was pulled into a high one it still hung at his knees and was very thick, his eyes were almost golden shinning in the sun, his ears were pointed with a slight curve at the end.

He tied the horse to the porch and ran up the steps stopping to look the small child over, he arched his brow and leaned over hold his face, a wicked smile curved his lips and he walked into the house. Sin watched him leave and then went to sit on the chair that was in the corner of the porch, he started to rock it back and fort like he had seen the other children doing.

*

The Duchess was walking about the house looking for the little Sin, she had last seen him in the sitting room but when she went back he was no longer there and all of the other children and guest they had brought were eating, she could hear Baek's footsteps as he followed close behind her being extra careful now that they were out of the town, she just hummed and sipped from her glass as she made her way onto the porch, she looked for a place to sit and smiled at the sight before ear.

The child was curled up on the white rocking chair, his hair was loose flowing over him and contrasting with his slightly tanned skin, his fist were curled and he appeared to be sucking his tongue, his now pink ears flicking every few minutes, he was so cute she wanted to hold him but he also looked so tired, she signaled to Baek who walked forward and took the child into his arms, she lead him back into the house and to her friend who was in the kitchen filling the plates for her guest.

"Chao-xing where does little Sin sleep?" her friend snapped her head up and looked from her to Baek who was cradling the sleeping child, she saw a strange look cross her eyes and she squinted her's, her friend smiled at this and dusted off her hands reaching for the boy "no it's okay, just tell me where his bed is and we'll carry him up, you have to focus on our guest." she spoke with a stiff voice.

Her friend sighed and told her that the room was on the left soon as you went up the stairs, she nodded and left the kitchen, she soon entered the room and was surprised at the size of the bed, Baek placed the child on the bed and took off his boots before placing the covers over him, the Duchess looked around the room in curiosity to see what types of things that child liked, but all she saw were books and writing utensils along with different tubes and boxes filled with stones that she knew were used for alchemy and there was no way a child that young would be studying alchemy.

She placed her glass down and looked through the drawers, they all had clothes that belonged to one of the older boys, she felt as if something snapped in her, her friend had lied to her she said that she was treating little Sin as she would any other child, if that was the case why would she lie about where his room was, the Duchess curled her fist and left the room, her friend had a lot of explaining to do.