I ran up to the little house I had seen the girl enter a few days back. I knocked loudly on the door and soon it opened. A woman with long curly black hair wearing a bright pink apron stood in front of me. "Hi, do I know you?" she asked. I smiled: I was never the type to be nervous in these kinds of situations. "No, but I do know Catrin. I came to ask if she wanted to come outside with me?" I glanced past the woman, but I couldn't see Catrin anywhere.
Her house looked lovely. It was located on a sunny hillside overlooking the nearby forest, and a fresh breeze carried the scent of fresh grass into the house.
Before the woman, who was most likely Catrin's mother, could answer my question I saw Catrin run up behind her. She glanced at me and then a smile spread across her face. "Oh hi, Harley. Did you want to ask me something?" I grinned too. "Yeah. I know this is a random question, but would you like to come and meet my brothers? I like you, so they'd probably like you too, besides, this is also kind of an excuse so that we could hang out again." "Sure, I'll come. I'd love to meet your brothers." Catrin turned to the woman. "I'll be back before dinner, Mom." The woman nodded and Catrin quickly ran past her and out of the house. "So, how far away are your brothers?" Catrin asked. She was still smiling. I was happy to see that. I could rarely find people who didn't find my overwhelming positivity annoying, let alone someone who shared it. "Not too far away," I told Catrin, "but these should save us the walk anyway." I pulled out two teleport orbs. Catrin's eyes widened. "You get enough in your monthly allowance to afford teleport orbs?" I laughed. "Nah, I don't get a monthly allowance. I am just part of a guild, and the guild-pay is sixty gold a day, per mage." Catrin's eyes widened even more. "You get payed to be in a guild?" Before she could explode from all of this shocking news, I tossed her an orb and we were both soon standing in front of Drayson, Daryl and Jake. They had been in the middle of an animated discussion, but they immediately stopped talking when we fazed in. "I'm sorry if we're interrupting..." Catrin began but they just smiled. "Don't worry, we're used to being interrupted," Jake said staring at me pointedly. They all laughed, but I pretended to frown. "What are you talking about, my dear brother? I always let you talk as much as you want, though I'll have to admit, sometimes it's just too much to bear." I bent over exaggerating as I clutched my stomach, and this time Catrin and I laughed along with them.
Soon Catrin was chatting to my brothers as if they had known each other for years rather than just a few minutes. I smiled to myself. Another member of the Smythson Squad.