2591 New Neighbors (Part 1)

Lith quickly washed the kitchen tools that the women had used to prepare the ingredients and put them back, giving the living room a more orderly appearance.

"There was no need, but I appreciate it." Zinya washed her face and neck, sweaty from the heat of the stoves and oven. "Gods, I wish I had a shred of magical talent. Doing everything by hand takes a long time and is exhausting."

At those words, Kamila stopped using Spirit Magic to grab bits of the delicacies spread along the rectangular table without the need to stand up and pretended to have used cutlery all along.

"Zin is already depressed because she can't get pregnant. I'd better avoid rubbing my ever-growing powers in her face.' She thought.

Kamila had yet to reach the yellow mana core but thanks to the synergy with Elysia's red core, she could exert the magical prowess of someone with a deep green core. Her secret magic lessons with Solus had already reached the point where Kamila could float on her own.

'I can't wait to be able to fly by myself.' She inwardly grinned at the thought. 'Flying with Lith is nice and he does every silly thing that comes to my mind, but in the end, I still rely on him.

I wonder what face he'll make when Solus and I tell him that I've mastered tier one magic and I'm close to starting learning tier three.' As if answering Kamila's thoughts, Solus walked through the door of the house.

"I'm home and I'm beat." She said with a tired expression on her face. "Sorry for being late. I had to take a short rest before coming home."

The mana geyser in the Trawn woods was close enough to allow her to regain her strength, albeit slowly, as long as Lith was home. Solus had waited until she was sure to be capable of keeping her human body for the duration of the lunch before returning home via the Warp Mirror.

"Welcome back." Lith offered her a cold towel, a glass of water, and a hug. "How was the lesson?"

They were all a ruse to stay close to her and feed her with his mana and life force without arousing Zinya's suspicion. Too much.

"Great, no thanks to you though." Solus put the towel around her neck, gulped the water, and did her best to not linger in the embrace for too long. "Because of your absence, I had to talk and cast spells for two."

"What do you mean, dear?" Raaz arrived right after her, still sweaty from working in the fields under the sun until a moment ago. He clicked his tongue when Lith didn't offer him the same treatment. "Isn't the lesson the same no matter the number of professors?"

"No." Solus shook her head. "After completing tier three, the class is working on Void Magic tier four. The problem is that not even us have cracked it yet so whenever one of our students comes up with a theory, it's up to us to double-check its viability and eventually incorporate it in future lessons."

Lith rolled his eyes and put a cold towel knotted in a tie to Raaz's neck, handed him a cold beer, and used water chore magic to remove the sweat from him while patting his shoulder.

"There you go, Dad. Happy?"

"Very," Raaz sat heavily on the nearest chair, smacking his lips in appreciation for the beer. "I know I'm not as pretty as Solus, but you should take care of your old man as well, son."

He said with exaggerated pain, as if he was just back from the battlefront.

"By the way, what did you do the whole morning?"

"I took care of my wife. Kami was feeling tired and down so I showered her with attention, unlike someone else who has a pregnant wife as well and hasn't even asked her how she feels nor thanked her for working her ass off to prepare this meal." Lith replied.

Raaz felt his beer coming back up when he noticed Kamila sitting at the table surrounded by food like a princess while Elina was still working over the hot stoves like a maid.

"Yeah, that would have been nice." Elina's glare sent a cold shiver down Raaz's spine. "At least Lith apologized to me and then took care of the finishing touches to allow me to rest. Where's my towel, drink, and hug?"

She grumbled while staring at her husband who kept fumbling with his words and looking around like a trapped animal.

"Here you go, Mom. Sorry." Lith helped her to sit down before giving her the full treatment with her favorite drink, honeyed strawberry juice, instead of beer.

"Thanks, dear, but I wasn't talking about you." Her voice went from warm and loving to cold and reproachful as her gaze moved from her son to her husband.

"How are you feeling, Kami?" Zinya went to Raaz's rescue, more interested in her sister's condition than letting a family quarrel ruin the mood. "Is everything alright?"

"More than alright." She gave everyone a dazzling smile as she touched her own womb. "Today Elysia kicked for the first time and we both felt it!"

The room erupted into cheers as everyone congratulated her and placed their hand on her stomach as well, hoping for a practical demonstration.

"What about you, Mom?" Solus asked. "Is your baby moving already?"

"No, but thank you for asking, dear." Actually, the baby had already been kicking for a few days but Elina didn't want to steal Kamila's spotlight.

It was her first pregnancy and Elina wanted to make her feel special, not in some kind of competition where she got second. She and Raaz had decided to not say anything until Kamila felt her own baby moving for the first time, wait a few days, and then announce their own.

Elina stood up to kiss Solus' head and caress her hair in a way that baffled Zinya.

'I still don't get if she's a relative, an adoptive daughter, or what. Everyone treats Solus with great affection even though they at first introduced her as a maid from the Blood Desert.

I'm especially worried about Lith's behavior but since Kami doesn't seem to mind, I'd better keep my questions to myself. After all, Lith is a powerful mage like Zogar and the gods know how many secrets he has.'

Pregnancy and magic weren't the only things Zinya envied about Kamila. Before coming to the Desert to propose to Lith, Kamila had asked for her sister's blessing and told her that Lith had been open about his secrets with her and that they were the reason for the breakup.

Even though there were things Kamila couldn't tell even her sister, Zinya was happy for her anyway because it meant that Kamila's marriage was based on trust. A trust that Zinya painfully felt still lacked in her own.

"Yet I have good news as well that Raaz and I have waited until this moment to share." Elina said, "We've finally decided on our baby girl's name. We are going to call her Surin."

More cheer ensued, this time even louder as Salaark joined the family.