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StLQ Chapter 16 - Warm
🕑 Added 2025-08-12 14:56:04 +0000 UTC“This is Mister Pewewson!” Nelly gushed.
My sister’s excitement filled the small bedroom. A bright alchemical glow stick lit the room and all its yellow-ness. The sheets, paintings on the walls, and most of Nelly’s toys had been picked exactly as she liked them. Bright yellow and preferably with a unicorn horn.
Luna had her hands on her thighs, sitting on her feet at the edge of the room, watching nervously as Nelly showcased a plushy. Mister Peterson was the second newest of her three plushies—of course a yellow and pink unicorn. Nelly had asked me to name it when she received it for her fourth birthday. I’d jokingly called it Mister Peterson, to which Nelly threw a tantrum, saying she would never name it something so stupid.
After an argument, my thirteen year old self had managed to convince her that the plushy was a male unicorn, and that she would have to come up with a fitting man’s name. She believed me for whatever reason, but coming up with a male name was apparently too complicated, so Peterson became the final name.
“He’s very cute?” Luna said.
“He can fly!” Nelly said. She ran around the room, holding Mister Peterson as high as her hands could reach.
Nelly ran past me. I placed my hand on Peterson's flight path, grabbing the plushy, and I waved him a little higher. “Whee,” I said.
Nelly pouted. “Kaiii, give him back!”
“Wheuum,” I said, flying Mister Peterson around a few loops before booping him into Nelly’s nose. She grabbed it, clutched it tight against her chest, and scowled at me. It was more cute than angry.
“Why don’t you let Princess Luna have a go?” I asked.
Nelly protected Mister Peterson between her arms. She tended to protect her toys with her life if she had that expression. This time, however, she fussily handed the plushy to Luna.
Luna held the plushy like a mage being handed a staff for the first time. She treated Mister Peterson like some legendary artifact. Nervously, she held him up. “Wheeeee?”
Nelly chuckled, clapping her hands. Luna blushed red and handed the toy back. She looked to me with eyes that said, “Please help.”
She honestly looked like she needed a break. “Luna, would you like a bath before food’s ready?” I asked.
“Um, sure?”
I took her to the washroom. The washroom, with its tiled floor, was the most expensive room in our unrenovated house. Another alchemical glow stick shone brightly enough to make the floor itself reflective. We had a working drain and water heaters. The walls were still just bricks, but this was far better than the dark bathroom I’d seen through Luna’s lich sight.
I checked the water closet—the large cabin in the corner filled with jugs of water. Half of them were heated up with an alchemical heating element. The other half was cold water for drinking. We didn’t have pipes or taps yet. In this day and age, we sadly had to bring in water from outside. I grabbed two of the hot jugs and poured them into our decently new bathtub.
“Um, a basin is fine,” Luna said. “You don’t need to fill a whole tub.”
“Baths are quite normal, you know,” I said. “They’ve been the standard for decades.”
Luna flushed. “Really?”
“Water was cheap in Lokora. A full hot bath costs less than a slice of bread. Did you really not have baths at home?”
“Mother said… that I’m not worth the water.”
Oh wow… How does this keep getting worse?
I tried not to let my surprise show on my face. Luna looked embarrassed enough already. I added some of my mom’s soap into the bath. “Here’s a towel, and I’ll find you a change of clothes. You can leave your uniform there. My mom knows how to wash them. You’re a bit smaller than her, but her clothes should fit, I think.”
“You suggest I wear your mom’s clothes?”
“You probably want to change at least your underwear, no?” I asked. “Maybe I should go buy you a new pair.”
“No, you really don’t have to!” Luna said. “I’ve survived with less.”
“As our visitor, you’ll have to survive with more. Is that fine?”
Somehow, my words made Luna afraid.
“Surviving is a good accomplishment, but there’s a lot more to life than just getting by,” I said. “We’ll take care of you until the situation is sorted out. Is the water too hot?”
The moment I asked, I knew that Luna had no idea. Even if she had a preference, she’d still go with whatever was provided.
“Do you know how to take a bath?” I asked. “I can ask my mom to help you if—”
“I’ve read how it works,” Luna said. “In stories, I mean. Baths are always comfortable in stories. I just lay in the water, right?”
“Yes, you lay in the water and relax in the most comfortable position you can think of. Preferably with your clothes off.” I smiled and said, “Have fun!”
I closed the door. Hopefully Luna didn’t panic and accidentally drown herself. I probably didn’t need to worry. Her last sentence had shown vague enthusiasm. If she could solve Bob’s escape room, she could probably survive a bath as well.
I joined my mom in the kitchen and helped prepare dinner. Or planned to, at least, until mom sent me off to deal with Nelly instead.
***
With the scent of buttery pancakes—the smell of home itself—filling the air, mom prepared a change of clothes for Luna. Mom did that without being asked, already knowing that Luna needed clothes.
“It’s a bit too large…” I heard her say through the washroom door. “I don’t believe this house has anything smaller. Maybe if you wear Kai’s clothes?”
“This is perfect!” Luna’s flustered voice said. “Thank you.”
“Really?” mom asked. “I can’t even see your nails. Maybe if we fold the sleeves?”
You got it, mom! I thought, listening in with my ear close to the door.
Nelly pouted at me. “Kai, creep!” she said.
I blinked. “Where did you learn that word?”
Nelly crossed her arms, then laughed and ran to the kitchen.
Little fiend… I thought with a sigh.
The washroom door opened. Mom came first, Luna following like a skittish kitten. Her cheeks were halfway hidden underneath an oversized woolen sweater. The upper half of her cheeks was reddened, eyes pointing down, her right hand clutching the left. My mom’s smallest skirt covered her knees.
“Not quite tailored, but good enough for pancakes,” mom said. “Oh, you don’t have any allergies, do you?”
Luna shook her head, and we moved to the kitchen. A stack of warm pancakes awaited on the table. Four plates were prepared with table napkins and all. I took a seat first.
I rubbed my hands in honest excitement. If there was one thing that could make me feel like a child again, it was my mom’s pancakes. She made them every sixth day to celebrate the end of the week. They never grew boring, even if we were out of syrup every two out of three weeks.
On top of the pancakes, mom had prepared just about everything our kitchen had: bacon slices, cooked vegetables, apple juice, whatever fruits we had left in the cabin. Eating all of this would probably hurt our budget for next month, but mom was smiling nonetheless.
Our small table felt cramped with the three of us. With four, we had to squeeze our chairs close enough that I’d probably receive jam spray from Nelly’s way of eating to my left. Luna was close to my right.
I drove my fork through the pancakes and secured myself the largest stack. Then I did the same for Luna, giving her a healthy stack of pancakes. With a slap of jam on top, I pushed aside all the nonsense next door—the upcoming explosions and lich bullshit—and allowed myself to enjoy a rekindled memory from childhood. Pancakes.
I watched Luna’s reaction. The first bite caught a remarkable amount of emotions. For Luna’s standards, that is. She paused, blinked a few times, then cut another bite. Her posture was still nervously straight, and she ate in silence, but her eyes weren’t searching for escape routes or spots to hide. Thankfully, she seemed to like the pancakes.
She declined seconds, of course, until my mom insisted that everything on the table was prepared to be eaten. I filled my plate, and Luna followed, if only out of hospitality.
With the table emptied, the rest of the evening went by quickly. We played with Nelly for a few hours. I continued my princess story from before. Nelly and Luna both listened intently. Eventually, Nelly’s little limbs exhausted themselves to sleep.
The house fell silent, and Luna and I played a few games of chess. I won the first few games easily, considering Luna didn’t know how the pieces moved. After the fourth game of explaining some basic tricks, Luna used my own trick against me with an innovation of her own, which led to me losing my queen on the eighth move.
I managed to come back after Luna also blundered her queen, but some of her moves honestly impressed me. She didn’t look distracted during the game. Rather, she looked focused, which made me happy.
Mom prepared the guest bed next to mine in the meantime. Our guest bed was really just a foldable spring bed with a mattress on top. Uncomfortable by any reasonable standards and squeaky to any sudden movements. The type of bed guests accepted for a night or two, while dreaming about sleeping in their own bed.
When Luna saw it, with pink sheets and a thick black blanket, my mom’s old pajamas laid out on top, her whole face opened up. She froze at the door.
“Forgive the mismatched colors,” mom said with a smile. “I couldn’t find a suitable blanket. It matches your hair at least?”
Luna was staring at the bed with her mouth ajar. She spoke softly. “A bed? For me?”
“Beds have also been the standard for quite a few decades,” I said. “We won’t go bankrupt.”
Luna didn’t move. She continued staring, her thoughts jumbled and broken.
I tapped her in the back, nudging her closer to the bed. I placed the pajamas in her hands and nudged her to change, then exited the room to put on my own sleepwear.
When I returned, Luna was nervously examining the bed, feeling the mattress as if it was some art piece in a museum. I helped her out by lifting the blanket. She carefully slid in, laying her head on the pillow.
The springs were already squealing as she moved around a little. “It’s bouncy,” Luna noted.
“It’s a cheap spring bed,” I said. “I think I’d prefer the mattress on the floor.”
“My legs fit straight…” Luna said, as if that was some huge revelation.
I chuckled. “Luna, I’m sorry, but you’re funny.”
She lifted the blanket over her nose, eyes poking out and facing the ceiling. Then she covered herself fully underneath, hiding under the blanket. “Kai…?” she asked.
“Yes?”
“Will you really send Mother away from me?”
“Yeah,” I said.
The child protectors and whatever black magic investigators would probably take at least a day to show up. By now, Luna’s mom was probably panicking, wondering why her little imp wasn’t showing up home.
As fun as it was to watch Luna stumble about in awe from basic household objects, the situation was far from sorted out. “I promise to keep you safe,” I said. “You won’t have to sleep in a closet again. Your Mother will be arrested.”
