The sisters returned from the magic forest Sophia and the others had accidentally created a little while ago by using raw magic to grow a few gigantic trees. It seemed like the plants around there were all affected, as well, because even though it was winter already, everything was perfectly lush, green, and full of life. On the way back, they decided to go and visit the others because the two, with the help of Chloe, who came up with it, wanted to find out if it could be controlled and make the plants and trees look like permanent fall or spring. Sophia and Steph also added some details to their story, so that no one would get too suspicious about the dog’s sudden appearance.

“Alrighty!” After briefly returning to the mansion and exchanging a few words with the wolves, who were also back there, Sophia smiled at her sister. “I have a portal in the room of the first princess. Should we take that or the scenic route through the castle's main entrance?"

“Scenic route, please!” Her reply was instantaneous. “I want to see all of it!”

“Sure~.” The tiger had no issues with that. “Shall we head out?”

“Let’s go!” Like any good dog, her tail was excitedly wagging from side to side after hearing they'll go on another walk. Then again, her tail hadn't stopped wagging since her transformation, but it still got even more intense. It would definitely hurt if someone got too close to it.

“By the way, how’s the tail doing?” Naturally, the older sister didn’t fail to notice it, either.

“ITCHY!” Steph immediately got loud. “It’s gotten a lot better already, though!”

“That’s good to hear.” She knew how bothersome that was, after all. “To the castle!”

“To the castle!”

Highly motivated, the sisters left the mansion to be on their way.

----------------

“Brr…” Sophia started hugging herself three seconds after leaving their home while slightly shivering. "S-So cold! Why is it so much colder here compared to the fox village?!"

“Is it?” The dog-girl seemed completely unaffected. “Feels pretty comfy to me. I wouldn’t mind it being a few degrees colder, actually.”

“…” Sophia stared at her with big eyes. “Are you insane?!”

“I’m perfectly fine~.” She smiled at her. “If anything, it seems like I enjoy this kind of temperature even more since my transformation. Is it because I mostly thought about a husky when sorting my new features? Okay, my eyes have some slight influence of a Shiba, but my main idea, especially with my tail, was a husky. Did I gain some other traits from them, as well? They love the cold, too, after all.”

“I never expected, after having forcefully been ripped out of my world, that this would be the thing to tear us apart…” The blonde sounded quite defeated.

“Oi!” Steph didn’t like the sound of that.

“Well, at least you will be really tight with Chloe. She’s even more of a freak in that regard…”

“…” She smiled for a second before glaring at her sister again. “I'm this close to giving your inner cat a massive kick in the butt!" She pinched two fingers together while saying so. “Try to get your warmth bubble or however you’re going to call it running!”

“You have no idea how much I’m going to tease you once it gets warm again…”

“If you survive until then.”

“…” Sophia went silent again.

“Also, I do remember that you weren’t the biggest fan of it being too warm, either.”

"A-Ah.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you are way too high maintenance?”

“I, uhh… heard that a few times, yes.” She awkwardly scratched her cheek. “About 7,000 times by you alone.”

“I am fairly sure that’s way too much of an understatement.”

“S-Shut up!”

----------------

As Sophia was a little pouty afterward, the sisters continued their walk in silence until reaching the castle, where Steph got excited again.

"Woah!" Her eyes were sparkling again. "It's so much more impressive up close!"

“It is, isn’t it?” The blonde had recovered from earlier and nodded a few times. “For most places in the old thing, castles weren’t really a thing, huh? Especially such immaculate ones.”

“Yup! It’s great!” The dog-girl was in a good mood. “By the way, why were the guards at the entrance so shocked when they saw us together…?”

“Ahh…” Sophia awkwardly scratched her cheek. “I do have a theory... One that could get quite troublesome later…"

“Hmm?” She tilted her head.

“They know that Maya and I are a couple, and they know Maya…”

“Okay?”

"Everyone in the castle knows that my cat is slightly possessive and quite jealous at times. Now, they saw me walking around with another girl, and we are even holding hands…”

“But we’re sisters?”

“Do we look like sisters, though?”

“Ah.” Steph saw the issue. “Have fun with that.”

“Trust me, I’ll take you down with me. That has become my motto whenever I get in trouble that isn’t my sole responsibility.”

“Do you mind if I steal that motto? I have the feeling I’ll need a lot in the future.”

“As long as you don’t use it on me.”

“You just wanted to do the same with me, though!” The dog-girl got loud.

“Older sister privileges.”

“Nonono, that’s not how that works!” Steph shook her head. “The little sister is the one with the privileges!

“Isn’t that a little one-sided?”

“Yup!”

“It’s hard to defend oneself against such a smile…”

“That’s also the power of a little sister!”

“Little sisters are way too strong…”

“Sure are~.”

“I wonder how strong you are against Kira…”

“Kira?” The violet girl tilted her head.

“She’s the queen of the country.”

“Ohh, fancy!”

“She definitely is fancy. Ellie’s also with her~.”

“Ellie…?” Steph needed a second. “Oh, that’s the little girl you so extensively talked about during your recap, no? The one everyone has to love, right?”

“Little tiger-girl, to be exact. You're right about the other part, though. She's the bestest!”

“I’m already looking forward to meeting her!”

“Well, both of them just arrived in the entrance hall, so we’ll meet them soon. Detection magic is sooo handy~.”

“You have to teach me that asap!”

“Sure~.”

----------------

“It actually is true what the guards and maids told me…” Entering the castle, the duo was immediately approached by Kira, who had a stern expression while slowly shaking her head.

“Bad So… phia!” Ellie, holding the queen’s hand, was trying her best to mimic her mother.

“U-Urgh!” The blonde took some actual damage from that.

“You do know that Maya will kill you, right?” Kira looked at the linked hands of the sisters before staring at Sophia. “Okay, I get it. This dog is incredibly adorable, but even so!

“Even so!” The little tiger princess let go of Kira and put her hands on her hips. Judging by her impression, she had no idea what was going on, but it was also clear that she was having fun. The queen most likely had taught her that pose just moments before meeting the sisters. “E-Eh?!” She only then took a better look at the violet dog-girl and her expression. “Y-You…!” Immediately after, Ellie dashed away from the entrance hall.

“O-Ouch…” Steph didn’t take it too well.

“Okay, that’s a new one…” Even Kira was surprised by that. “Anyway, you two are more important! Sophia, what are you thinking?! You were the one who turned Anna down because you said you only wanted Maya, and now this?! I mean, it was a good decision because of Ari, but that's a different matter!"

“C-Could you calm down for a second…?” Sophia wasn’t expecting it to escalate that much.

“Why would I?! You’re in for a stern talking unless you give me ONE good reason for this!" She pointed at both of them, especially their hands, while raising her voice.

“She’s my sister.”

“Oh.” The queen calmed down in an instant. “That… That is a good reason.”

“Thank you…” The blonde was glad it ended up being so easy.

“Wait, WHAT?” It wasn’t going to be easy, after all. “She’s your SISTER?!” She stared right at the dog-girl.

“N-Nice to meet you…” She was a little overwhelmed. “My name is Stephanie. Everyone calls me Steph, though. Yes, we are sisters.”

“Really?!” Kira changed her attention to Sophia again.

“Yes.”

“Eh…?” The queen’s expression changed again. “I, uhh… I thought you, well… lost your family…?”

“W-Well…” Sophia scratched her cheek. “That’s what I believed, too… As it turned out, in my sister's case, at the very least, for now, lost seemed to be a more literal meaning… I thought she was gone, but in the end, it seemed that we just got separated a long time ago… Somehow, we managed to run into each other again.”

"Seriously…? But, she's a member of the dog folk, and you're a tiger… That isn’t supposed to be possible. Siblings should always be tigers when one of the parents is a tiger. I mean, you’re an exception in pretty much anything, but this should be different. Then again, the magic I can feel from your sister is completely abnormal, as well… So, what's normal anymore…?”

“Uhh…” Steph tried to be a part of the conversation. “Sophia and I have different fathers… Neither of us ever met him because he, err… was gone before she was born, and we grew up with my father and our mother until we got… separated. I haven't seen them in a while, either, and I have no idea where they are.

“Ohh!” Kira nodded a few times. “Then, it makes a lot more sense. That way, it would be entirely possible for both of you not to be tigers if your mother wasn't one."

“S-Something like that…” Both sisters seemed a little awkward.

----------------

Afterward, the sisters explained what happened the last few days in a way it somehow made sense while leaving out all kinds of details, barely making it believable. Thankfully, as the two made it sound like a touchy subject, Kira refrained from asking about too many details, and they somehow managed to talk their way out of it.

“Wow... Is there any part of your life that isn’t complicated...?” After having listened to everything, Kira looked at the blonde with a questioning expression.

“Mhmm... The last few days aside, I’d say my life lately wasn’t overly complicated.”

“Wow...” She had to repeat herself. She naturally had a hard time believing it after everything that had happened since they met.

“Ahaha…” Sophia could only awkwardly scratch her cheek. “Anyway, would you mind telling Menzor about this if he’s interested…? I somehow really don't feel like explaining everything to him, as well.”

"Sure." She nodded a few times. "Once he gets a break from dealing with all the stuff this not-complicated girl has done lately, I'll tell him.”

“T-Thanks…”

“Uhh…” Steph eventually joined in on the conversation. “The cute little one… Ellie, right? Did I do something to her earlier? She ran away the moment she looked at me… I don’t look scary, do I…?”

“If anything, you’re adorable, but Ellie’s a little shy from time to time.” Kira tilted her head. “It got a lot better after meeting Sophia, so running away like that was a little surprising. I'll have a talk to her later that it was a little rude what she dis…"

“Hmm… She instantly fell in love with Chloe, though.” The blonde wasn’t sure if that would work as an explanation.

“That fox is just a big ball of fluff. There’s no way that Ellie wouldn’t love her after a minute or two.”

"Actually, she actually did need a minute or two to warm up to the girl attached to the tail, so… Steph is also super fluffy, though. Her running away seems a little weird.”

"That's true. Our dear dog here is rather high on the fluffiness scale. Way above the threshold of Ellie unconditionally liking her…” The queen had no explanation for her behavior, either.

“Alright, according to my detection magic, Ellie ran to her room! Let’s pay her a visit and find out why she did that!”

Afterward, Sophia grabbed her little sister's hand, and the two made their way toward the little princess's room.

“Always good for a surprise, that girl…” Waving after them for a moment, the queen eventually also returned to wherever she came from before.