"Good morning girls"

"Good morning Adel!"

"So… ah… yesterday was the first time everyone succeeded, but few of you were still too tired to do anything, today I expect you all to be in a good condition after the training, let's start already"

"Yes!" Everyone took their places on the table and Adel initiated the stones.

After our 15 minutes training Drei was feeling great! Even more energetic than before the training, a complete opposite of the past where she was drained of all energy. I guess this is the right feeling for this ritual, to gain energy and not lose it. Of course, even if everyone was awake, not everyone was as energetic as Drei and Zwei, the other three needed one or two more sessions to get completely used to this.

"How are you three feeling?" Adel asked the others that were not as used to the process as us, and they replied in their number's order, like it was the normal.

"I'm good, not tired at all"

"I'm good too, bit tired but I don't need to sleep right now"

"I'm the same"

To sum it up, practice was the key. This was already the third session since Einer first succeeded, but only the second for the other two, hence they were ok but not as good as the more experienced.

"Good enough, you can also go outside today. Have fun. Zwei and Drei will explain the rules to you." she said and turned around to leave, maybe to the training room… but aren't you forgetting some things dear Bakadel??

Fortunately I was not the only one to notice this, Zwei took the lead and talked before she could leave completely.

"Excuse me Adel… sorry but… Maybe you should register their mana before you leave? How are they going to get back in the house?"

"Oh.. ah… yes, that's right, thanks."

We all left the front door and waited for her to register them, the same procedure as before was done to each one.

"That's it, now you can also enter this house, only those registered this way can open the door, you won't be able to enter another home without the owner's permission" a similar explanation, but new info, we could enter other places, only needed permission.

"Adel, sorry… Are you going to give them an Ejwel?"

"Yes, here" She conjured three more small stones, or should I say 'call'? That's the term the nice lady Emma used isn't it?

"Drei and Zwei will teach you to use it." An uncomfortable silence followed, 10 seconds or so

"Did I teach you two how to use it?" Bakadel finally remembered something important… to late tho.

"No… but we learned from Emma"

"Who?"

"A gentle person that works on that building"

"Ooh, Emma, ok… But next time you should ask me… or remind me if I forget to teach you something, I'm not used to dealing with people that don't even know the basic common knowledge… so… ah... I forget that I'm the one that needs to teach you that… Don't be afraid and remind me if it happens again, like you did today."

"Ok, thank you!"

Drei and Zwei were clearly relieved and happy to hear that, it would be a lot easier to be able to freely ask questions. Adel also seems to be learning how to deal with the new situation she is in. I mean, teaching 5 newborn kids with no common sense... it would appear that we are her first 'students'.

And to confirm my guess, she actually decided to teach how to use the Ejew herself. She is definitely maturing along with us.

"So.. ah.. That's it… you can go, bye"

She again turned around to enter the house without waiting for any reply, but stopped at the half opened door, scratched her head and closed the door back.

"I'll show you around myself" oh… she is playing her part now.

"Let's go" and we all followed her like baby ducks following their mother.

We went around showing the boundaries to where we could come and go freely, the big roots circling around were still there, magnificent and giant like before. But this time she talked a bit more than before, giving us a bit more information to work on… she is still really bad at it tho. I appreciate her trying nonetheless, the girls do too I'm sure.

"This section is called the 'nest', it's where all the newborns of the cycle are located. It's specially protected by Mother" with pointed to the big roots, so.. That was a protection to this 'nest', and that's why we could not leave… good, make sense.

"This place has special mana properties, purer and tailored specifically to allow body development and growth for you…. That just means you grow better here than outside of the nest… it's also easier to train and perceive mana… you will sta..."

Oh no… such a rare and good stream of information interrupted by another lucky encounter with Mia. I guess it's a good reward for Adel that is trying to be a better teacher, but still… did it need to be in the middle of a good explanation? Like, the first good explanation she was given us in forever??

"MIA!"

Adel literally ran and jumped into her arms into a warm hug... I could not hear what they said to each other since they were a bit too far… The way our lovesick Adel hugged Mia made it appear that the two of them didn't see each other in a lifetime… we all know that is not true.

After the long hug and some exchanged words Adel remembered that we existed and made a hand movement calling us to approach them.

"The other three you didn't know yet are Einer, Vier and Funf" and pointed to each one. But said nothing else. Drei was the savior of the day and whispered into Einer's ear

"Introduce yourself" It really was discrete, but enough to Einer understand, the others would probably follow her lead.

"Hello, I'm Einer di Adel, generation 866"

"Hi, I'm Vier di Adel, generation 866"

"Hi, I'm Funf di Adel, generation 866"

Adel was happy with the introductions and Mia gave us a warm smile like last time.

"Hello girls, I'm pleased to meet you. I'm Mia di Hanna, generation 858. Please be friends with my kids"

"Yes!" All five of us replied together. So cute…

I noticed that her 4 children were wearing a belt-like thing with pockets! POCKETS! I so want that, it is utterly uncomfortable to walk the entire time holding the Ejew. To my happiness Mia also noticed that we were all caring it in our hands and did not have pockets

"Adel… "

"Uhm? What?"

"You forgot to give them temporary belts… they are caring the Ejew by hand, risking to lose it, and it's a bother"

"Ah no… ah… ah… ah Yes! We're just going to get it now! This is their first day outside. I wanted to show them some new things..."

"… " Mia just looked amused to her, clearing knowing the truth, but let it slide.

"Then go get it"

"Ah.. yes" she faced us and continued "Lets go" She wasn't too mad as she was disappointed this time. She is really hard to understand.

"You look like a lost kitten… I'll come visit you after the next phase beggin ok? Cheer up a bit and do a good job with your children" that's so sweet… Mia knows how to encourage someone.

I'm happy with the tiny bit of new information too, this world has kittens? Meaning cats? I LOVE cats! Maybe they keep them as pets? I'll be so happy if Drei adopted one…

"Ok, I'll be waiting!"

"If you feeling better go, I'm sure they will be happy to get a belt to carry stuff on" This time Mia took the initiative and hugged Adel, it was a relatively long hug, then she stopped and pushed Adel toward us and walked to her kids.

The path to the belt store… due to lack of information and a better term I'll be calling 'belt store', lame I know, but what can I do? The path was the same as all the others, similar houses, similar trees, similar everything… I hope we get used to this and don't get lost too much.

We didn't walk much, now we are in front of the belt store. It is a bit different from the normal houses, it's the same style but only one floor, there is a sign in front of it too.

Adel entered and we followed, inside wasn't anything like a store. Looked more like a nice living room with a couple of extra shelves, filled with stuff. An elegant short-haired lady was seated on the sofa reading what looked like a book. Oh, they had books here too.

"Hello Merci, you're still working here… I'm Adel di Hanna, 858"

"Hello hello, where else would I be? And I remember you Adel… you used to come here all the time… time… time sure flies fast hum? It's already your turn to care for the hatchlings? "

"Yes and I suck at it too… "

"Ahahahaha don't say it like that, I'm sure you will improve in no time."

"Yea right, I already messed up a bunch.. And forgot to get them belts… that's why we are here… and I want to introduce them to you." She looked at us, she had a weird expression showing… by the context I assume she knows this Merci from when she was still a child. Maybe they really get along?

"These are the five I'm responsible for. And for you, this is Merci, she is one of the rare permanent residents here, you can come to her to ask all sorts of things or just talk if you want to. She likes to talk"

"Yes yes, I like to talk. It is certainly true you can come here if you want to talk, but regardless we will be seeing each other even if you don't want to. And it is nice to meet you, I'm Merci di Yuul, generation 770" Wow, she is ancient! Efalem sure live a lot… tho I'm assuming without much context that a 'generation' is the year they are born to… who knows what really is.

Adel gave a nast look to us, focused on Einer… Oh, yea, we do need to introduce ourselves, and Einer should be the first one to do so… She understood the message and started. We all followed in order. Funny thing, this order was never truly mentioned as a rule, but just felt natural, I don't really understand why.

"Good to be young. Here, take these" She conjured 6 belts and gave to each one of us. Then took the extra one and used to teach us how to use it. We tried to copy her movements but it was hard while holding the small stone in one hand.

"Right… You can put your Ejew on the table first" we did, then everything was smooth and we were able to fasten our belts correctly. It was just a normal belt with small spaces that could hold stones a not much bigger than one Ejew. Of course we retrieved the stone and placed inside one of the small pockets. Small as they were, we now had POCKETS! Are pockets a problem for women in every world?