He scoffed. “Finished, he says.” He turned back to Hana, chuckling to himself. “We’d love to see where you’ve chosen to build, wouldn’t we, dear?”
“Of course,” Hana nodded. “It’ll be nice to get out of the house for the afternoon.”
Marin reappeared from inside the house, sporting a comfortable pair of shoes and a light jacket. “What are we waiting for?” she asked, waving her hand over her head as she made her way towards the forest. “Let’s go!”
“It’s this way, Marin,” Lia yelled across the clearing as the rest of us entered the woods on the northern side of the house, opposite of where Marin had charged off. She caught up to us a moment later with a sheepish grin, and we made our way north through the unmarked forest. After an uneventful hour of walking, the telltale sound of our nearby stream told us we had arrived. “We’re here!” Lia announced as the clearing slowly came into view.
Marten stopped at the treeline and stared at the completed structure in complete awe. “That’s...you couldn’t have...but, you just…” he babbled, looking between Lia and myself for an explanation. “That’s a house! A whole house!”
Hana patted him gently on the back as he continued to sputter. “He’ll be fine,” she assured us with a smile. “Go on ahead.”
Marin took the suggestion to heart and ran ahead across the lawn. “It’s so beautiful!” she shouted as she circled the house, disappearing around the back corner.
As Lia and I approached, I couldn’t help but bask in the beauty of what we had built. The building stood two stories tall with a rough wood exterior and red slate shingles that matched the leaves of the surrounding trees. A deck sprouted out midway along the front face of the house and ran around the left edge, bordered with a thick railing and partially covered by a slanted wooden awning. A simple red door and a stone staircase stood at the right corner of the house, positioned only a few yards away from a thin path through the trees that led towards the stream.
When Marten had recovered from his initial amazement, we all entered the house together. Although it was entirely empty of furnishings, it was still a sight to behold. The first floor was entirely open apart from a staircase near the center of the house, which bisected the space into two distinct rooms. The front door deposited us into what would eventually be a dining room, adjacent to a kitchen space with counters and cabinets and a door that led to a small pantry room. Large emberwood timbers stood at equal intervals throughout the space, supporting the second story above our heads.
As we moved down the length of the house, the ceiling disappeared as we passed the staircase, leaving the space open up to the roof two stories above us. Long windows lined the outside wall to our left, which looked out onto the deck and let copious amounts of natural light into the living area. A large stone fireplace sat in the middle of the far wall, and a door led out onto the sitting area of the deck. Behind us, the staircase led up to a second-floor balcony that ran the width of the house. The lofted space was split into three rooms that would eventually become bedrooms once we began the process of furnishing.
Lia and I leaned against the fireplace mantle with wide grins as our guests explored the house. Marin dashed up and down the stairs several times, examining every room on the second floor and the empty basement in an excited fervor. Marten moved at a significantly slower pace, stopping to examine various aspects of our craftsmanship every few feet; Hana consistently ushered him along when he dawdled for too long, nodding patiently as he admired and explained various techniques we had used. It became clear that his inspection would outlast our patience, so we waved Marin over and moved outside to the deck.
“This place is really amazing, you two,” she said once we were outside. “I still don’t know how you built it yourselves. And so quickly, too!” She spun and leaned back against the railing as she stared at the structure. “I wouldn’t believe it if I weren’t standing right here, staring at it.”
“It took over a full journal of planning, plenty of studying, four days of hard work...and some magic,” I said. “To be fair, I still can’t believe how well it went myself.”
“Magic,” she murmured, ignoring the rest of my statement. “Are we still doing that? The combat and magic training?”
“As soon as you’re ready,” I nodded.
The fuzzy ears that were usually folded atop her head perked up at the offer. “I’m ready now!”
“Okay, maybe not as soon as you’re ready,” I laughed. “How is your business with Marten going?”
She sighed. “We’re meeting with various businesses every morning for the next...forever. Elise set us up with all of the companies that don’t work with her for various reasons, to see if we ‘can meet their needs in a more effectual, personalized manner than a larger organization could provide,’” she said, mimicking Elise’s voice.
“That wasn’t half bad,” Lia giggled. “If you’re going to be busy every morning, how about this? We’ll meet you at my parent’s house at noon, bring you here for training, and take you back at sundown? That should give you plenty of time for your business meetings, and it gives us time for our own work back here.”
“Yes!” Marin answered hurriedly. “I’m ready! Can we start tomorrow?” she asked me with large, excited eyes.
“That’s up to your teacher,” I said with a grin, nodding towards Lia.
Marin gasped. “You’re going to be teaching me?!” She grabbed Lia by the shoulders and hugged her briefly, then shook her side to side. “Can we start tomorrow? Please? Please!”
“Okay, okay!”
