Gaius and Isabelle hung around for a few minutes in the wake of Nexus’ short departure, their eyes looking around the place slowly. The last time they had been here was a few years ago, back when they wanted to travel to the Republic from the Mortal Light Dynasty.

“Just a short stop here, right?” Isabelle asked.

“We could stay a day longer if you want to, though.” Gaius sat down on the floor and looked around. They were currently at what would probably pass for the entrance area. It was a long hallway that ended at a dull-looking door, and the whole place was lit up by a cheery flame. Rooms branched out from the doorway, each of boasting shelves full of books and a nice fireplace.

“Can we?” Isabelle asked. “I suddenly remembered that there were some books I never got around to finishing.”

“You were reading some of them?” Gaius asked.

“When you came back from your confrontation with the Last Star,” said Isabelle. “Other than taking care of Nakama, who was awake after a while, I also poked around for some interesting books.”

“Right, I was badly injured by him, wasn’t I? And then we travelled to the Eastern Territories to get the uh, Crystal of True Restoration.” Gaius smiled. “Memories can be rather dear at times, I guess. Even debilitating injuries become nostalgic.”

“And there was I, watching over Nakama as she went to Kishi Gakuen.” Isabelle smiled.

The two reminisced for a few more minutes, and they were talking about their life in Mi-Zu when three figures popped out of nowhere. Before Gaius could look at them properly, two cannonballs slammed into him, forcing him to catch them and not be bowled over at the same time.

“Gaius!”

Rubbing two heads, Gaius glanced at the amused Xanadu, who had a slightly apologetic look on her face. “Kids who miss their big brother can be surprisingly fast.”

“Thanks for taking care of them,” said Gaius.

“No issue. These two are great kids,” said Xanadu, who began to look around the place. “So, this is your secret base.”

“Yes. Make yourself at home.” With each of his hands occupied by Nakama and La-Ti, Gaius could only let Isabelle take the lead…assuming she still remembered the layout of the rather complex Library. “Nexus, do tell her about the Library in-depth. I’m somewhat…preoccupied right now.”

Turning to Nakama and La-Ti, Gaius interrogated them about school, and the two were happy to talk about it. Interestingly enough, the Phrontistery of Scientific Reasoning had brought students over to the Heaven-cleaving Fortress in support of the war effort. The support came in the form of building, repairing and maintaining artefacts — not combat duties — and if or when the war was over, everyone who had went along would graduate with the highest of honours.

Of course, these two weren’t going for that. Gaius took special care to tell them that in no uncertain terms were they to head over to the Heaven-cleaving Fortress, which netted him sad pouts.

Oddly enough, they got over it after a while.

“Right, something fun happened yesterday!” Nakama’s eyes blinked rapidly, and Xanadu, who was walking in front of them, stumbled. While Isabelle checked up on her, Gaius turned his attention back to the two kids, whose eyes were alight with glee.

“Go on, then. What happened?” Gaius asked, even though he knew all about it.

“Well, we were playing a game yesterday, and there were lots of soldiers in it,” said Nakama. “The small ones, that could stand and move by themselves. Halfway through the game, they actually came to life, like Stone and Lightning!”

This time, it was Isabelle’s turn to stumble.

“Little soldiers?” Gaius asked. “Show me later, okay?”

“Okay!”

They chattered on about more things as they walked down the hallway into what Gaius had dubbed a living room. Like every other room, a small fire burned away merrily in the fireplace, and La-Ti made little sounds of wonder as he scooted over to observe it. The boy was soon joined by Nakama, and the sight of two children squatting down in front of a nice fire made him smile.

“Alright,” said Xanadu. “Let me dump this here.”

“Dump?” Gaius asked.

A small mountain of cushions appeared onto the ground. The Phantom Blade placed her own backpack down moments later, before flopping over onto the cushion.

“I see you’re taking ‘Make yourself at home’ quite literally,” said Gaius. “Still, why these cushions?”

“Why not? The kids love them, and they’re great to lie down on. In fact, the three years I spent in lying down on my bed was nothing short of wasted. I should have been lying down on a pile of cushions instead.” Xanadu sighed. “How regretful.”

“I-is that so?” Gaius didn’t think her opinion would skew to such an extreme, so after making a mental note to try it out for himself, he shrugged his shoulders and gestured at the cushions. “Do continue, then. Just don’t let it be a tripping hazard.”

Beaming, Xanadu returned to the fun task of dumping more cushions on the ground.

Somewhat bemused, he turned to Isabelle, who was clearly holding her laughter back. “What’s with these three and cushions?”

“You don’t want to know. Trust me.” Pulling him over to rub his cheeks, she said, “What are your plans now?”

“Plans…well, I suppose we can stay here for a night or two,” said Gaius.

“Great! I’m just going to wander away into the Library for a few hours, then,” said Isabelle.

“Sure, go wild.” Gaius looked around the living room, and then jiggled his shoulders up and down. “I’m going to cook lunch for you guys.”

Isabelle paused at those words. “On second thought, I think reading books can wait. Come on, let’s go whip up some food. Together.”

For some reason, that last word was emphasised heavily, and before he knew it, Isabelle’s hands had clamped down on his shoulders. Steering him away from the others and into the kitchen, the two began to bustle around.

As it turned out, Isabelle still didn’t quite like the idea of him cooking…even if there was precedent, and he wasn’t all that short anymore.

Gaius, however, liked it that way.