Having always been more of a morning person Emira was awake and dawning her new clothes while her brother snored overhead. Her chosen outfit consisted of dark slightly torn jeans and simple white sleeveless shirt. Pleased by what she saw and how comfortable she felt she headed downstairs drawn by the scent of something enticing.
As she reached the bottom she found the source of the smell to be Camila's stove as it cooked various things while the human women happily sang to the radio.
The sight was a bit surreal to her, not just because abominations fixed all her meals but also because the last time, she'd seen someone happily fix a meal was her own mother a very long time ago.
Unable to stop herself, her mind opened one of the few good memories of her mother. She and Edric, at age four, sat at the table waiting for their mother to fix a snack. It wasn't fancy or anything, really little more than a slaughterbutter and jam sandwich and some pretzels.
"Here you go you two. Two sandwiches for my precious children, one cut into triangles for Edric and one without the crusts for you Emira."
"Ank u mom" was their response as they stuffed their mouths. Odalia laughed a bit and looked upstairs. "Now we just need your father to bring your baby sister and we can have a proper family meal." She remembered her mother whistling a happy tone as she walked upstairs but it got fuzzy after that.
Camila saw the young girl standing on the last stair and waved her over. "Morning Emira."
"Goodmorning Mrs. Noceda, I take it I'm just in time for the famous Noceda breakfast?" she asked a bit jokingly as she made her way to the table. Camila rolled her eyes as she sat at the table.
"I wouldn't exactly call it famous, but it satisfied six teenagers every day. And please just call me Camila, family should never be formal with each other."
"Really? Well, why don't I go a step further then ask to call you mom then? I mean Amity already does." It truly had been a joke, just something to keep it casual. Camila, however, happily hugged her. "Of course, you can call me mom. But only if that's truly what you want, I don't want to make you uncomfortable or force you to do anything."
Her face starting to burn she sheepishly yet happily said "... Okay...mom..."
Okay this is awkward, and yet she just makes this feel so natural. But then again not like my actual mother would ever be anywhere near this affectionate. She made a mental note to not get addicted to this.
"Great now let's get you properly fed. Can't have my babies going hungry again." She did her best not to blush at being called one of her babies as the phone rang making Camila curse in Spanish before answering.
"Yes?what?... oh my god how many?" Her face quickly morphing into a panicked expression, she rushed out of the room just as Edric lurched into the room half awake and still in his pajamas. He gave his usual morning grunt before happily devouring everything in front of him. Knowing he'd be a while she decided to try the stack of pancakes before her and knew she'd never be able to go another morning without having these.
As the twins ate Camila would rush in as if looking for something while still on the phone, something they'd long since become all to accustomed to.
"What? I mean yes, I can but we've never... yes...yes, I know but...Hey! Don't you try that Andrew we both know it's you who owes me..." Eventually she left the room and Edric asked the obvious question.
"What's got Mrs. Noceda all riled up?"
"Not sure but seems whatever is going on really has mom on edge." This single statement got Edric's attention as he gave his sister a look.
"What?"
"First Amity and now you, why am I the only one left out of this whole mom thing?"
A moment later Camila seemed to appear out of thin air and kiss his cheek, catching him off guard. "Don't worry Edric I'm not about to leave my little man out." He did his best to not look embarrassed.
"So... mom?" he asked a bit tentatively, which after a moment made Camila light up. Seeing this was okay he went on. "What was that phone call?"
"Oh that, bit of a veterinarian emergency, seems some rich jerk just got caught having a series of exotic and illegal animals. Some of which need care and shelter until they can contact locals zoos and animal sanctuaries." she grabbed her purse before angrily cursing. "I spend one summer assisting a zoo vet and now Andrew thinks I can stitch up a tiger!"
As the twins watched their new mother have a small episode, they had one single thought.
Curses sound so much cooler in Spanish.
"Anyway, I got to head to work so I hope you two will be okay on your own."
"Actually, mom if it's okay with you I'd like to tag along."
"Well, I suppose we could use the extra hands but why?" Her new daughters response was a series of fumbled words as she stared at her food. Edric laughed at this and said something that earned him a jab to the rips.
"She wants to come so she can pick up some tips on animals to impress her girlfriend."
"Edric! Viney is not my girlfriend, at least not yet."
The name seemed familiar to Camila. "Wait a moment Luz told me about her... a beastkeeper and a healer if I remember right."
"Yeah, Em's been crazy over her but much like mittens did can't ask her out without freaking ou- Ow!"
"I DON'T FREAK OUT OVER HER!... I just don't know what to say when I see those adorable eyes of hers." she said in-between hitting him.
"Well, I suppose it could be great to have a magical healer with me." Edric not wanting to miss this, spoke up. "Wait I want to go to! Plus, I'm an actual beastkeeper."
Normally she'd say no but she did have to admit their skills could come in handy.
Besides how bad could this actually be? Andrew overreacts when we get anything bigger than a Doberman. I'm sure we can handle it just fine.
As it turned out, it was far worse than she'd imagined. Her car had just parked when she and the twins were rushed out. She'd barely got out a "these two will be shadowing me today" before being rushed into action. Edric and Emira were immediately pushed into either helping secure an animal or rushing about with supplies.
The beastkeeper in Edric was amazed at what creatures he was seeing. A black and white horse, a wingless dragon called a Komodo, a very large orange and black cat that gave him the most adorable roar as it lunged at the cage. But his best was by far the black and grey creature bravely attempting to undo the latch to its cage.
"Hey there little guy, what kind of creature are you?" He'd hoped that if he placed a treat in then possibly it would calm down long enough for him to study. The creature grabbed the treat with Its flexible hands before dipping it into its water bowl as if to clean it before biting it into bits.
Seeing his amusement, a visibly exhausted Camila patted him on the head. "I see you've met one of our towns infamous trash pandas."
"Trash pandas? That sounds like an awesome name for this species."
"Heh, no that's just their nickname, their actually called racoons. Their known for getting into and eating garbage, also invading homes and generally being adorable mischief makers." This only made him stare at the creature more. "It's beautiful." he reached out a finger, but the racoon only hissed and turned around. Curious, he quickly looked around seeing it was only Camila before using his magic to read the creatures mind.
"Hungry...scared...FLEE!"
"Little guy is scared."
"Well don't worry, he's being relocated back to the woods later today." As she said this and how he was gazing at the racoon she got an idea and after quickly checking off with her boss she came back smileing. "Edric how would you like to release him?"
"Really!?"
"Yes, thankfully our clinic is near the woods, so just open the cage once your far enough away." She then looked the raccoon in the eye. "And you little guy best stay away from Mr. Jenkins house again. Next time you may not get so lucky."
With a quick hug and "thanks mom" he was off taking his new friend deep into the woods.
"Alright now to find my other one."
Emira not surprisingly, was also found with a creature. Thankfully this one was just a lightly wounded cocker spaniel puppy.
I see she's found duchess. And here I thought she'd be next to the tiger.
"You poor thing, don't worry I'll heal that leg of yours." She twirled a blue circle over the dogs bandaged leg and within seconds it lit up before the dog let out a low whine before crawling onto her lap and licking her.
"awwwwwwwww"
"Glad to see you're having fun. For a moment I was worried I'd find you passed out in a chair."
"Well, it was bad at first, but my healing teacher always told me that in this line of work you have to be ready the moment you smell blood."
All Camila could think was... Half their sayings revolve around death
"Okay then, have you learned anything to win the heart of your not girlfriend?"
From how she started petting the dog like it was the only thing keeping her sane she guessed no.
"it's just she so...and I try but... ehhhhhh Viney..."
It was in her moment of gasping did the dog live up to its man's best friend title and placed it's paws on her knees and gave long howl before rushing to its bed and bringing back a toy bone and placing it at her feet.
"I think little duchess here is telling you to be bold." Emira eyed the squeaky toy and the dog before seemingly getting the message. "So, I need to give her a gift? But what if that doesn't work?" duchess's response was to roll on her back and look adorable. "Really? Just be my adorable self?"
Camila had to strongly repress her urge to laugh as Emira seemed to be having an in-depth conversation with the young puppy.
"Alright Emira I think it's time we leave."
"But moooom I can't leave duchess. She needs my love and healing!" she wined hugging the dog to her chest like a small child would.
Repress your motherly instincts to spoil! Repress them!
"Emira, Duchess here already has an owner. One that will pick her up today."
Eying the collar she sighed and set the dog down. "Fine"
"I know sweetie but if you want an animal companion why not get one of those palisimans? I thought Luz told me about some adoption program the school has."
This seemed to cheer her up for a moment before she looked back at duchess. "They won't be as cute as duchess."
"Perhaps, but it would be yours and yours alone, now let's go find your brother he's been left alone far too long and it's making me nervous."
They'd just excited the backdoor and were making their way into the woods when he came smiling and covered in honey and scratches.
"Emira my goodness! What happened!?"
"Well mom just as you asked, I released the raccoon deep into the woods."
"Okaaayyyy"
"Buuuuttt then I realized I could study him more in his natural environment." Turning back to smile at the woods he continued his story, his voice full of emotion. "We had quite the spiritual moment, I offered him some honey berries I'd found, and he bit my fingers and ran off into the woods. I gave chase thinking I'd passed the painful racoon intuition. I even met his family, they were awesome!"
By the time he turned around only his sister was standing there. "Where's mom?"
"Went to get a first aid kit and something called a tetanus shot. I take it you got too involved, and they attacked you?"
"Yeah, they robbed me almost immediately. Crawled all over my body and stole the berries right out of my pockets before gracefully climbing the trees. Some mothers even carried their kids in their mouths! But more than my injuries I realized something."
"What?"
"You remember how our old mom years ago bought us palisman wood and told is she'd call a carver when we turned fourteen?"
"I remember her telling is we'd disappointed her, and we'd have to wait a few years before corrupting Amity."
"Yeah, terrible but as I was walking back, I remembered seeing them in dad's lab last week. Sooooooooooo..."
In all of her life she'd never been prouder of her brother and actually hugged him instead of lightly hitting him. "Edric you genius! I can make my very own Duchess!"
"I don't know who that is but okay!
When Camila returned shot in hand, she saw the twins creating illusions of what she guessed were their future palismans and smiled.