Rai pinched Sin a bunch until she shot up from his lap, like a corpse rising from a grave.

“Wha... what happened!?” Sin babbled. She wiped the drool from the side of her lips.

“He said he’d teach you. You start tomorrow, a little while after I finish chopping up some firewood. Jin’s got his own stuff to do on the farm until then.”

Sin sat up and leaned against the back of the sofa.

“I brought you back in when you passed out. Figured the heat of the fireplace would do you better than the coldness of my room, so we’re here in the living room.”

“I see... thank you.” Sin said. She took a moment to process what happened. “I can’t believe he said yes... you know, I thought it was doomed when I couldn’t move him.”

“Yeah... I knew better though. He’s tricky with his words, and he’ll say things that don’t actually mean anything. He mentioned that you could win, but he never said anything about you having to win for him to want to teach you.”

Sin stared at Rai with a new kind of awe.

“... Woah... I didn’t even notice that. It’s so tricky... Jin would do well as an aide to the Deceiver if that’s how he thinks!”

“I don’t think he’d be happy there though. Anyway, c’mon. Let’s go to sleep.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. I’m pretty tired after all that, so some sleep would do nicely.”

“And you got a big ol’ me to cuddle to sleep!”

“Mmm. That’s exactly what I want!”

Rai and Sin went to his room and got comfy on his bed. There was just about enough space for the 2 of them.

“We can use the bathhouse in the morning.” Rai said.

Sin nodded against his chest, and quickly fell asleep in Rai’s arms.

She felt so comfortable in his embrace, that Sin couldn’t imagine anything else now.

Night passed faster than Sin expected.

…

*CHK*

*CHK*

What’s that sound?...

Sin noticed the light of Zenith’s twin suns peeking through the curtain. Sunrise must’ve just passed.

*Ngh*

My body’s sore... huh. I think it’s from using as much of Queen’s Domain as I could yesterday. At least, that’s what makes sense since me and Rai didn’t do... the other thing.

Sin also noticed a distinct lack of Rai beside her.

*CHK*

Really though... what is that sound?!

Sin got up from the bed and stretched. She currently had very few clothes on, and thought that maybe showing her bare body to Jin and Reiki wasn’t the best idea.

So, Sin pulled out a loose cropped shirt, and a pair of tight, but stretchy and flexible pants, from her knapsack. She put them on and opened Rai’s door. Sin made her way into the living room.

“Morning Sin!” Reiki said. She was sat at the dining table with a cup of tea beside her.

“Good morning Reiki.” Sin said as she rubbed her eyes.

She also caught a whiff of her own breath.

*Gag*

I HATE morning breath! Hate it hate it hate it!

“Sorry, gimme a sec.” Sin said to Reiki, clutching her mouth.

“That’s fine, I hate morning breath as well.”

Sin dashed to the washroom and sorted herself out. She figured that there was no point in fixing her hair up since today was a training day, so she left it dangling loose.

*CHK*

That sound... I still can’t tell what it is! It’s too muffled through the walls, but it’s happening constantly.

Sin returned to Reiki at the dining table.

“You drink tea?” Reiki asked, before Sin could say anything.

“Yep! I really like tea, especially cinnamon tea, or honey tea. Those are my favourites.”

“Ooo. You got a sweet tooth then?”

Sin nodded.

“I think strawberries might be my favourite fruit of the lot, just because they’re so sweet!”

“Ah. A pity about Aunt Petunia then. Could’ve gotten some of the best fresh strawberries for you from her, but she died of illness just recently.”

A pang of guilt hit Sin. She couldn’t tell Reiki about the vexling, or Jin would probably kill her.

“... My condolences.”

“Oh it’s fine. When you live a life this far out, doctors are seldom found. Healers much less. It’s just our way of life.”

*CHK*

“Would you like a cup?” Reiki asked.

“Yes please!”

“C’mon then, show me how you like your tea done.”

Sin followed Reiki into the kitchen.

Reiki flipped the tap on. Water streamed out from it into a pot that Reiki had placed in the basin. She then put the pot on the stove and turned the gas on.

Reiki noticed Sin’s slight confusion, probably at the ‘device’ in front of her, she thought.

“It’s an old fashioned gas stove. I doubt you’d have heard of it.”

“Oh... nono, it’s just that... don’t you have a kettle?”

“A... kettle? What’s a kettle?”

“It’s a... well it’s a thing that you put water into, and then you push a button. The kettle heats it up using a heat element in the bottom, and then it makes a satisfying little ‘ding’ noise when it’s all ready.”

Reiki stared at Sin with what was possibly the most confused face Sin had ever seen on her.

“... Right.” She said.

*CHK*

“I’ll bring you one! Well... if, that is, you want one. I... really don’t mean it in a rude way, it’s just that kettles are more efficient and faster, so I thought you might like one.”

“Ahahaha! You’re too sweet. I’d love one then. Here, you see the water boiling? That means it’s done now. You said you like cinnamon and honey?”

“Oh, uh, just one of the two. I’m craving something sweet now, so I’ll have honey if you have it.”

“Yep, there’s some in the cupboard right there.” Reiki pointed to a small door just under the counter.

Sin opened the door and took out the jar of honey after a moment of scanning the cupboard’s contents.

“We only have loose tea though. None of that new-fangled teabag stuff out here.”

“That’s fine! I don’t know how you’d make it that way though... could you make a basic cup for me, then I can add the honey?”

“Sure!”

Reiki prepared a slightly larger jug beside the cup that Sin would use. She also got out a strainer. Sin watched carefully, so she could replicate this and make Reiki a cup of tea later on. Reiki put a few spoons of loose tea into the jug, and then poured the boiling water from the pot into it.

“Now, we wait a minute while the water absorbs all that goodness from the tea.”

*CHK*

They waited for the tea to be ready.

Reiki mixed the jug with a long spoon a couple times throughout the minute.

Once she decided it was ready, Reiki slowly poured the tea from the jug through a strainer into Sin’s cup.

“Tell me when.”

Sin waited for the cup to be roughly 5/7ths full.

“When.”

Reiki stopped.

“All yours.” She said.

“Thanks!”

Sin took a clean spoon and added a single small spoonful of honey to her tea.

*CHK*

She gently mixed it into the tea.

“I normally mix it slower because honey’s quite... gloopy. So mixing it slower gives it more time to mix in with the tea.”

“Oh I see.”

*CHK*

After about 20 seconds of mixing, Sin looked satisfied.

She took a whiff of the scent lifting up out of the cup.

“Wonderful. It smells so good!”

“Here, let me as well.” Reiki said, as she brought herself closer to the cup.

She sniffed the scent and had a similar reaction.

“It’s... nicer than I thought it’d be!”

“Fhooo. Do you not like sweet stuff? Fhoo.” Sin asked as she blew on her tea to cool it down.

“I do... sometimes. I mostly like spicy stuff.”

“Oh just like last night!”

“Yep, I have spice with mostly everything. Even my tea!”

“You have spiced te-”

*CHK*

“Okay... Reiki, what on Zenith is that sound?”

*CHK*

“Oh, hehehe. Why don’t you take a look for yourself.” Reiki said with a cheeky grin.

Sin looked confused.

“Come, I’ll show you.”

Reiki began walking to the front of the house. Sin followed with her cup in hand. She’d taken some mini sips to see how hot it was. With each sip, Sin came to the conclusion that it was still too hot. But she liked the taste that came through the blistering heat.

As Reiki opened the front door, Sin felt a wave of the morning’s cool air coming through.

It was just past sunrise.

The outside was just a little foggy past the farm’s fields.

*CHK!*

It’s louder...

Sin took a sip of her tea, which kept her warm in the cool air outside.

She followed Reiki out to the side of the house.

In a small outcropping with a bunch of fallen tree logs, Sin saw Rai.

He was chopping the logs in halves for firewood.

Without Stormflow.

Wait... wouldn’t he normally be using Stormflow right about now?

Also...

That’s so fucking hot.

Rai was shirtless. And sweaty.

He was in full focus, almost chopping the logs to a rhythm only he could hear.

*CHK!*

Oh, he’s chopped another one. Mmm... keep at it Rai!

Sin watched as she sipped on her tea. She’d made an impromptu seat of a cleanly cut tree stump near Rai.

Reiki had quietly left already, having gone back into the house.

Sin was so encapsulated by Rai that she didn’t even notice Reiki leaving.

After a few minutes, Sin had finished her tea. She grew colder and colder, and decided to keep a low amount of fire magic running inside her mana channels just to keep warm.

It was a small drain of mana that she didn’t quite mind, since right now all she wanted to do was watch Rai.

After an hour or so, Rai ran out of logs.

“Whew. Way faster than when I was younger. Nice!” He said to himself.

He stood still for a moment, taking in Zenith’s suns’ light.

Sin couldn’t believe it.

Rai looked even hotter now than before.

He stretched, which showed off his back muscles to Sin in a way that made her swoon.

Sin swore that she’d fallen for him again, even though they were still together.

“Rai.”

He jumped.

“WOAH-HOLy shit!... What the fuck!... That was terrifying, holy fuck...”

“Hehe, sorry. Uh, can you come here for a sec.”

“Yeah, lemme put my shirt on first th-”

“No! I mean... please no. C-... come here please. Shirt off...”

“Uh... sure?”

Rai walked over to Sin’s tree stump.

She hopped up off the stump and sniffed his neck.

“Sin...”

“Mmm?”

“What in the fuck are you doing?”

“... Sniffing you.”

“I can see that.”

“Mm... It’s nice.”

...

“Sin...?”

“Yes, Rai?”

“Are you... alright?”

“What? It’s fine for you to like me smelling like roses, but I can’t like your natural scent?”

“Wha-... no that’s not it. I just... you caught me off guard, that’s all.”

“Mhmm... that’s what I thought.”

“...”

“...”

“Are you enjoying yourself?”

“Very much so.”

“I would like to go to the bathhouse, whenever you’re done.”

“Oh! Let me clean you!”

“Uh, what?”

“You know, like when couples bathe together, and they clean each other! You can clean me too!”

“That... actually doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”

“See? You’ll like it. And it’s hot and fun, especially if there’s a good amount of room.”

“Well, there’s definitely more than enough room. I don’t know why Jin made it so big, but the bathhouse can easily fit like 8 different people bathing at once.”

“Maybe... he thought you’d make more friends.”

“I wouldn’t bathe with them though!”

Sin remained quiet.

“... Wait... did you just insult me? I feel like you must’ve just insulted me...”

“...”

“...”

“C’mon you dope. Let’s go bathe together!”