It had taken me months to arrive, and my biggest obstacle was finding the doorbell. The gates glimmered with symbols, but I didn’t want to touch them without knowing what they did. The walls that separated me from the gardens were smooth, and there was no sign of a communication regent.

I was locked outside.

I waved at the gardeners, trying to get their attention. They ignored me. There had to be a way to let the people inside know that I had arrived.

I examined every inch of the wall, until I spotted a faded symbol etched into the stone. It was almost invisible. I moved my hand over the symbol, and it was silky to the touch.

I didn’t have to put mana into it, instead, I pressed into the symbol, and it caved inwards. A hidden button. The wall glowed lightly, hardly visible in the daylight, and then another section near my face caved in.

A small screen appeared. It looked like a television screen from Earth.

“Good afternoon?” A man appeared on the screen. “The madam is not- ow”

My eyes widened as the man was struck in the head by a stray bread bun. Before he could finish his sentence a pair of hands entered the screen and pushed him away.

“What is it! Who’s there? Is it my grandson?” A shrill voice called out. “Show me- show me- show me.”

The man was shoved out of view and the screen moved towards a new person. A head of wispy white hair waved in front of me. My heart fluttered as she came into view.

“Grandma?” I asked.

“Yes? Hello? How do I work this thing?” My grandma had the screen stuck on her hair. “Is that a bird?”

The tension drained from my body as I heard her voice. I heard the man return and saw his fingers cover the screen, lowering it down towards my grandma’s face. An elderly woman stared at me with a loving smile.

My dad had gotten her eyes.

“You’ve got your dad’s eyes.” My grandma’s face lit up. “Come in- come in- come in. Leo come get this damned door open. It’s cold out there.”

There was a click and the gate in front of me shimmered. Lines of power and magic interweaved with each other and the delicate patterns in the metal danced before my eyes.

The gate opened, and I stepped into the garden beyond.

Gold chirped at me as he spotted birds flying in around us. They had feathers of all colours and their songs filled the air.

He stayed on my shoulder. He knew how important today was for me.

I had a burning question in my mind.

Who had kept me away from this house for so many months?

Then a figure came into view, and I pushed my thoughts aside.

It was my grandma.

She was accompanied by the man I’d seen on the screen. Leo. He was wearing a suit and helping her down the path.

My grandma’s eyes trembled as she took me in, looking up and down. Then she stepped forward and hugged me.

Gold flapped off my shoulder and I hugged her back gently, trying not to hurt her.

“Don’t shy away from me. I’m still young enough to take a hug without my body snapping like a twig. Come on, give it a whirl.” My grandma chided me.

I brought her in closer and gave her the hardest hug I could.

“Ah!” She let out a shriek.

“Are you okay!” I stepped back in fright.

Then she started laughing.

“Bah, I’m just kidding! Don’t give me that look, I’m old. It’s my right to scare my grandchildren every now and then.” My grandma grabbed and shook my arms. Then she stepped back. “So strong. So big! They don’t build toddlers like they used to.”

I had mentioned in my letters that I was growing more than usual, and I knew my cousin had mentioned it to my grandma as well, but even with my warnings I expected a little shock.

“My growth doesn’t surprise you?” I approached the subject delicately.

“Don’t be silly, when Pernacles told me my grandchild was in his class I pestered him for every little detail he could remember.”

My grandma and I made our way up the slopes towards the main building.

“You know the professor?” I linked my arm in hers to help her walk.

“Know him?” She snorted. “Let me tell you, that man has wanted my heart for fifty years! Well, I’m not giving it to him, but I will accept the free meals.”

I coughed. My grandma’s dating life wasn’t the kind of information I wanted to find out today.

“Oh dear, are you cold? Let’s hurry it up.” My grandma waved her a hand in the air. “Leo.”

The man walking beside us nodded his head. I looked up, curious to see what he would do, and when I looked back towards my grandma I was walking through the front door.

What?

I turned my head to see the gardens behind us and saw the path that we had been on. We had jumped one hundred meters in a split second.

“Was that… Magic?” I hadn’t felt a mana shift. “No mana drifting in the air. It has to be symbols. An onze?”

My curiosity was piqued. I hadn’t seen an activation symbol on the ground, or in the materials around me. I wanted to investigate it.

“I like that look. It reminds me of your grandfather, always curious about how things worked.” My grandma‘s voice brought my attention back to her. “Don’t worry- don’t worry- don’t worry. I’ll teach you about everything in time. For now, let’s enjoy the present moment.”

Gold flapped back to us, and I realised he had been left behind. He chirped at me, and my grandma looked at him with amusement.

As my grandma and I stepped through the room the floor lit up underneath us, an intricate wave of symbols visible just under the surface. The material underneath us looked like transparent marble, but it had to be more durable than that to protect the symbols.

“Don’t panic, grandson.” I heard mirth in her voice.

My grandma's foot stepped onto a glowing section and the room around us disappeared. I looked around in shock as I found myself moved from the entrance to a completely different room.

There was a long table with twelve chairs on each side. A chandelier was hung above us and rays of sunshine fluttered past thin curtains into the room.

“The dining room.” My grandma took in my shock with a smile. “I have the chefs preparing our dinner. Leo, could you be a darling and stay here. We’ll be back when dinner is almost ready.”

Leo nodded his head and moved away from the glowing symbols.

She looked at me. “Up for a little exploration?”

“Absolutely grandma.” I smiled.

She chuckled and tapped her foot against the floor again, and this time I saw the room shift. It lasted less than a second, but it blurred ever so slightly before we found ourselves in a new room.

“This is the kitchen, otherwise known as my favourite room.”

There were people here, and a delicious aroma trickled through the air. Two chefs were preparing food, and it hovered around them. One of them wiggled his fingers and a floating vegetable was chopped into pieces.

“If I stay here too long, I’m going to be tempted to steal the food before it’s ready.” My grandma spoke.

There was another tap on the ground, and we ended up in a new room.

The first thing I noticed was the bed. Its frame was solid wood, but the mattress was strange.

It was made of dirt.

“Your mother sent me a letter because my son wouldn’t.” My grandma smiled. “A magician in our family. I truly am blessed.”

“I love it.” I approached the bed. “It wasn’t too much of a bother, was it?”

I had grown used to my dirt bed at home. In fact, sleeping in a normal bed felt weird to me now.

“No trouble at all.” My grandma walked up to the bed and put her hand against the dirt mattress. “I had a couple of the gardeners shift some up for you from our own gardens.”

She sat down on the dirt and gestured for me to join her.

“It’s so wonderful to finally meet you.” My grandma’s smile was radiant. “I was so worried when Berlia told me you’d gone missing. Dreadful. If I could have teleported at the time I would have.”

She grew quiet. I looked at the bed, and then back at her. When I was walking here, I had thought of nothing but this meeting. I’d wanted to make small talk, and to get to know her.

Now, I didn’t know what to say. It was a strange sensation.

Here was a family member that was full of love for me, and had wanted to meet me for years, yet I couldn’t think of a single topic of conversation.

My grandma took in my expression with a smile.

“Sometimes, it’s okay to say nothing at all.”

We enjoyed the silence. We were family, and we didn’t need to force conversation to know that. Our presence was enough.

The room was serene, and I could feel the love that had been put into it. Something caught my attention and I looked at the windows.

The curtains had images on them, vaguely familiar to my eyes, and I examined them.

They were the same images as the faded painting in my room. The one my dad had covered with the symbol drawings. I had never been able to make out what was drawn.

It was a simple image, a red lion stood atop a green stone.

“I want to get to know you.” I broke the silence. “And the rest of the family. My cousins, my aunt. All of you.”

“I want you to get to know them as well.” My grandma replied, her tone soft. “Our household is a large one. Getting to know everyone will take some time.”

I could read between the lines. It wouldn’t be so easy for me to integrate with the family, and some didn’t want me to be part of it.

Then my grandma clapped her hands together.

“Let’s not dwell on those things. After all, I didn’t get to my age without learning how to enjoy life.” She stood up. “Come- come- come. I want to show off a little.”

She gestured at me to follow her, and this time the room didn’t disappear around us. The mansion changed themes and decorations as we moved through it, each new room drastically different from the one before it.

My grandma glided across the floor, the mansion responding to her movements and intentions. The walls shimmered and shifted out of her way, and the doors opened automatically as she approached.

The glow of the symbols spread further with each step she took. I followed them with my eyes and my head hurt as I tried to figure out how it was all possible. This was a lifetime of work.

It was a living house.

We moved through the kitchens again, and she waved her hand. A bowl flew into it.

“Do you have a sweet tooth?” She asked.

My grandma moved the bowl towards me, and I saw it had candies in it. I took one and my grandma grinned.

“You got that from me if you do.”

We continued walking and entered the dining room. My grandma waved her hand and the curtains fully opened.

She sat down at the head of the table and took the chair beside her.

“This is amazing.” The symbol glow was fading.

“Did your father tell you that I specialise in onze?” My grandma smiled. “It took me years to create this beauty, and now she follows me wherever I go.”

She brought the mansion with her?

I looked back towards the rooms we had passed. The estate was huge. There was another curious thing I had sensed. Or rather, not sensed.

I hadn’t felt a single drop of mana activate since I’d entered. This was all done using onze.

I heard a cough and saw Leo walking up to us.

“Madam, dinner is ready.” Leo’s spoke. “We have a guest joining us this evening.”

“A guest?” My grandma’s eyebrow rose. “I cancelled all plans for today.”

“It’s your brother.”

I saw the corners of her eyes tighten. Then she turned her gaze to me and smiled.

“It looks like you’ll be meeting two of your family members today.” She looked towards the entrance.

I followed her eyes and saw a man walking towards us. He walked confidently, and symbols glimmered under his shoes.

Then a faint glimmer caught my eye. The old man’s clothes were simple, but there was a single decoration that stood out. A silver pin attached to his collar.

He was a silver ranked scriber.

The pin was the same as my dad’s. Symbols appeared within it, shifting and changing with every movement.

He made his way towards my grandma, and as he passed my chair, he placed a hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

“Hello there.” His voice poured into my ears. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

He stayed behind my seat, and I wasn’t sure whether to look at him awkwardly or get up. Then his hand left my shoulder.

“My apologies for the sudden interruption, I just couldn’t wait to meet you.”

I turned my head to look at him. His gaze wandered towards my grandma, and his smile didn’t reach his eyes.

“My name is Fermez Jâl. I’m your granduncle.”