Five Minutes Later:
"There we go." "What's all this?" Sophie interrupted Howl, looking around.
"What do you mean? Derry, please follow me." Howl questioned before heading upstairs.
"Why does it look completely different down there?" Sophie demanded, pissed off.
"Because it is different; I decided to change things up—like you had wanted. All the bedrooms plus two bathrooms are upstairs. And of course, there's the path that leads to the dark room. It's just a room of empty darkness. It's nothing dangerous or anything; it just leads to where my room used to be." Howl explained and clarified for Derry.
"It's a major disaster zone." Sophie added.
"Anyways. Downstairs, I've made the kitchen and dining area a little bigger. There's a decent-sized living room or den, two bathrooms, a storage space, and some closets. We'll figure out what Cassie likes and go from there. Here. This will be Cassie, Willow-Sky, Pixi, and Kori's room." Howl opened a door.
"Oh, wow. This here is nice." Pixi marveled, looking around.
"I'm guessing the bed belongs to Cassie." Derry noted, looking around.
"Correct. You can lay her down now. Willow-Sky will have her own cat bed in the cat tower at the end of the bed. However, she may sleep with Cassie if she wants. The dresser in the corner is Cassie's, along with the vanity under the window. Now, on the left side of the vanity, there are what look like three drawers: only the top one opens. However, all three drawers can be accessed from the inside. Pixi: this is your own personal area. The bottom drawer, is your own personal bathroom. The middle drawer is your bedroom, and the top drawer is yours to do as you please. Kori: you have your own hearth in the corner above Cassie's dresser and one in the living room, away from Calcifer's hearth. We don't want anyone melting or freezing. I will go out in a little bit and get Cassie some pajamas, so she has something else to wear here. I will also pick up an outfit so that when she feels better, we can take her to get clothes she likes. She should be able to pick her own outfits." Howl explained, showing Pixi and Kori around as Derry placed Cassie in bed.
"Awesome! Kori, come here; y'all gots to see this! Howl really knows how to hook a girl my size up! Thank y'all!" Pixi excitedly thanked Howl, flying up and down in her "personal" home.
"Thank you. This is perfect." Kori calmly thanked Howl, sitting in her new hearth.
"You're welcome. And there's a thin barrier that keeps the cold contained in your hearth to keep Cassie, Pixi, and Willow-Sky warm." Howl explained.
"Eh. The cold don't bother me 'less Kori freezes me—or is pissed off. She gets angry, all I have to say is watch out. Things get cold—fast." Pixi explained.
"Maybe it doesn't bother you, but it does Cassie. Honestly, I'm happy we landed in this world." Kori retorted.
"Why?" Pixi questioned, scratching her head.
"Calcifer. When he and I are in the same area, Cassie won't be so cold." Kori answered.
"She never complains." Pixi noted.
"No, Cassie never complains. But I always stay at least five feet above, to her side, or in front of her. If I ever got any closer—even just a foot or two, she'd shiver." Kori replied.
"Sheesh. I was just askin'." Pixi responded.
"What is your accent?" Markl asked Pixi, interested.
"What accent?" Pixi questioned with a mischievous smile.
"That's how she always talks, so she doesn't realize she sounds like she does. To Pixi, we're the ones with accents. Doing some research, Pixi may be a space fairy, but she was originally human from a different world. She was from the south somewhere. It's just how she talks. You should've met her when we did; we couldn't understand a single thing she was saying. Eventually, she picked up how we speak, and we started to understand what she was saying." Kori explained.
"Well, let's let Cassie rest with little disruptions. Come on. Leave Willow-Sky; she's just going to curl up and sleep next to her human." Howl told everyone, ushering them out.
Kori stayed back to keep an eye on Cassie, Willow-Sky, and Pixi.
Pixi stayed behind to set up her drawers.
The Next Day:
Cassie woke up, dazed and confused, forgetting yesterday's events.
"Where am I?" Cassie questioned, looking around, confused.
"Willow-Sky? Kori? Pixi?" Cassie started panicking.
"Don't panic, Princess. Everything is ok. You're safe, remember? We're in Howl's home with him, Markl, Sophie, Derry, and Derry's dog, Taco. Willow-Sky and Pixi are here as well. We are all safe." Kori calmly explained to Cassie.
Cassie sat there, silent and unmoving, trying to process everything.
Knock. Knock.
"Can I come in?" Derry requested, knocking on the door.
"Uh-huh." Cassie barely audibly answered.
"Taco, stay. Good morning." Derry ordered Taco, closing the door before greeting Cassie.
"Good morning?" Cassie questioned, confused.
"It's how we greet someone after they wake up. How do you greet someone when you wake up?" Derry explained before asking, cautiously walking over to Cassie.
"It depends on the day and how it is outside. And right now, it seems to be sunny out." Kori answered, peeking out the bedroom window.
"Bright morning." Cassie softly spoke.
"Bright morning would be your equivalent to good morning. Dull morning means a cloudy or rainy morning. Dark morning means storms." Kori explained.
"What if it snows?" Derry inquired, watching Kori.
"Snow?" Cassie questioned, confused.
"Where Cassie's from, it never snowed; she doesn't know what snow is. Where I was from originally, before meeting Cassie's family, I lived in a world of nothing but ice and snow. Like I said the other day, I am an ice demon; my specialty is ice, not snow. I can freeze things and turn things to ice. I can conjure up icicles and ice sculptures. And of course, I can make it cold." Kori explained, catching Derry's interest. He liked learning new things.
"How are you feeling this morning?" Derry asked Cassie.
"Ok." Cassie softly answered as Derry felt her forehead.
"Well, you're still a little warm, but you should be able to get up and move around if you want. Still, you should take it easy and go slow, so as not to agitate anything. Is something wrong?" Derry informed Cassie before asking her.
"What am I wearing?" Cassie softly asked.
"Oh. Those are a type of this world's pajamas. Howl used magic to change you out of your old clothes and into those. Don't panic: Sophie was there, watching his every move; he didn't touch you and nothing was seen. Despite what you may hear, and Howl and Sophie's interesting relationship, Howl's not a bad guy—and he's not a pervert." Derry explained.
"Pervert?" Cassie softly questioned, blankly staring at Derry.
"A pervert is someone who enjoys sex in immoral ways. Sometimes it can be a person who forces another person to have sex—or rapes them. Sometimes it can be a person who enjoys watching other people have sex or messed up porn. Actually, there are people out there who believe that anyone who watches porn is a pervert—which is not always true. There are other examples, but that's all I have at the top of my head. And actually, the word perverse has a few definitions, but we'll get to that a different day if you'd like. Hearing all that, what do you call a person like that where you're from?" Derry awkwardly explained before inquiring.
"Lecherous or letch for easier say." Cassie softly answered.
"So, here we would say Lecherous or letch for short." Derry explained.
"Are you hungry?" Derry questioned, changing the subject.
"Little bit." Cassie softly answered.
"I'll get Sophie to make you some soup and toast. When you're ready, come downstairs. Everyone is down there—except for Howl; he went out somewhere." Derry insisted before leaving.
"Can we never go home?" Cassie softly asked Kori.
"You know as well as I do, that it won't exist after some time with those beings taking over. Most of our home world was already destroyed. I'm sorry, Princess; it's just not safe anymore." Kori explained before apologizing when Cassie fell onto her stomach and started crying.
"You're safer here, Princess. And at least y'all ain't alone; y'all have Willow-Sky, Kori, and me. Not only us, but y'all have Howl, Sophie, Derry, Markl, and even the dog; they will keep y'all safe." Pixi insisted, peeking out of her drawers.
"Mrow." Willow-Sky cuddled up to Cassie.
"Let her be. Princess, we'll be downstairs when you're ready." Kori sadly instructed before letting Cassie know.
"Can't y'all make her forget that world?" Pixi questioned Kori.
"No. I don't have that power, and you know it. And even if I did, it's forbidden. Only the king had that ability and only used it in dire situations like such." Kori answered with a huff.
"Good morning." Sophie and Markl greeted Kori and Pixi.
"Morning." "Mornin'." Kori and Pixi replied as Howl walked in.
"I'm about to make chicken noodle soup and toast for Cassie; it should be done within half an hour." Sophie informed Kori and Pixi.
"Oh, thank you. But I don't know if she'll be down to eat any time soon." Kori sadly answered.
"Why not? Derry said she was a little hungry." Sophie questioned, confused.
"Unfortunately, she's more homesick than she is hungry. She just wants to go home." Kori answered with a sigh.
"Kori had to tell her it was impossible." Pixi added.
"And you had to further tell her she wasn't alone." Kori retorted.
"Well, she ain't." Pixi insisted.
"Pixi—she's in an entirely new world not by her choice for her safety. She's in a world without anyone like her. In this world, her kind don't exist. Here, there are cats and dogs. There are demons, wizards, witches, fairies, and whatever else there is here. But there are no celestial beings like the princess. Yes, she's immortal like everyone else here, but she's not like anyone here. She is all alone in that aspect. All she wants to do is go home and be with her parents—which you know can never happen. And despite what she wants, Cassandra knows that it's impossible as well. She doesn't know this world or anyone here, and she's scared." Kori firmly told Pixi, getting through to her.
"Not to intrude, but how do you know there aren't any of whatever her kind are here?" Sophie questioned, watching Kori and Pixi.
"Because here, her kind was wiped out thousands of years ago. This is where her mother came from; her mother watched as the beings who attacked our world now, attack this world then. Her mother and a few others of their kind barely escaped this world to where Princess Cassandra grew up. It is damn near impossible to escape those beings one. Trying to escape them a second time is impossible." Kori explained.
"Why bring her here if those beings are so dangerous?" Sophie questioned.
"Because it's blocked off from ever coming back here. Her mother made sure when she left, that the way here was forever sealed for her and those beings. Princess Cassandra was only able to come here because her mother kept an item from this world and used her magic to enchant it. That's what allowed her daughter to come here. Her father was killed before getting the chance to come with Princess Cassandra so that she wouldn't be alone. And while her mother could have come back with that item, she made sure her daughter was taken care of before her. And with his dying breaths, her father was able to use his ability to send clones of us with our presence and scents in them to other worlds to throw them off." Kori explained.
"How can you be sure that one or more of those beings didn't think of the same thing as her mother and take and enchant an item to get them back here?" Sophie questioned.
"I get where you're coming from. You don't want your family or anyone from this world in danger. Those beings have little to no magic. And if they did have any magic at all, it wasn't strong enough to enchant an item to transport them and God only knows how many others back to a different universe. Yes, they can enchant items to get them from one place to another in the world they're in, but not to another. There was only one with powerful enough magic to do so, but he's gone. He tried killing Princess Cassandra when she was two; he wanted to drain her abilities and take her soul and immortality like he did all the others. However, due to her pure nature—and probably being the purest of her kind—when he went to touch her, he lit up pink before turning to dust and evaporating into nothingness. Those beings are warriors and use their speed and strength to defeat their targets. And thanks to their previous leader, who is no more, they had armor that protected them from our princess's kind's abilities. There was only one other world that they could have sent us to that they couldn't get to. However, if they did that, our princess would have died in a matter of hours due to the atmosphere." Kori explained, becoming annoyed.
"Ok, that's enough. Sophie, make the soup and toast and one of use can take it to Cassie after a bit. But I have one question." Howl stopped Sophie from asking any more questions before speaking up.
"Yes?" Kori questioned while Pixi sat on a shelf.
"How much of that does Cassie know?" Howl inquired.
"She knows her mother was from a different world and that she was sent here for her safety. And it was just supposed to be her and me sent her, but she refused to leave Willow-Sky and Pixi behind. She refused to let Willow-Sky go, and Pixi refused to leave from inside her shirt. So, a higher price had to be paid." Kori answered.
"So, is it safe to say Cassie shouldn't know any of what she doesn't know?" Howl questioned.
"Yes." Kori answered.
"Ok." Howl sighed before casting a simple spell, preventing anyone from talking about what they just learned—except for Kori and Pixi.
"What did you just do?" Sophie demanded.
"Made it so no one here can tell Cassie what she can't know. If Kori or Pixi decide she can know, they can tell her." Howl answered, watching Sophie.
"But that's not fair!" Sophie yelled.
"And that's why I made sure you couldn't say anything—because you have a big mouth. Now, drop it." Howl further explained before demanding.
After a few minutes, they heard Cassie's door open and shut before seeing Cassie and Willow-Sky…