Meeting The Family
"We should be strong enough to continue our journey, and we both breakthrough," a shove to his side remind him of the other party member.
"Three of us," he amended. "Let's continue our journey then," Ina nodded as she get on top of Sutal, Ryker following suit.
-x-
"It's already night. Let's build a camp," Ina suggested as she get down of the stallion.
"We don't need to," Ryker replied, stopping her progress.
"What do you mean by that?" she asked back, her brow arched as she wonder why he said that.
Ryker did not say anything except taking out a square object attached to a string. A look revealed it is a miniature mansion, the size of a pebble.
"What are you going to do with that?" while she did not know a lot of thing, she is smart to guess the thing in his hand is the reason for him to claim that they did not need to build a camp.
She watched the mansion grow slightly bigger, to the size of a small rabbit. She wanted to ask what they are supposed to do with it when he carried the mansion and put it in a hidden spot.
After he was done with the task, he fished something, a golden token with some unknown characters on it. He pulled her closer, before doing the same with Sutal, the stallion seem excited for some reason.
Ina watched as a golden barrier surround the three of them, before everything turned black.
-x-
Ina blinked, color returning to her vision. As she looked around, she was immediately awestruck. Instead of the forest they were in before, they are in front of a large mansion, one she recognized to have some similarity to the miniature mansion.
"W-where are we?" she asked, shock by the turn of event.
"This is the Hidden Ancient Mansion, a spatial tool that will be our home during the night," Ryker answered before pulling her towards the towering building.
She turned towards the stallion, wondering how the animal would act when she spotted the stallion trotting towards several mares at the meadow around the mansion.
"Sutal had been here before?" she asked, looking at him questioningly.
"Yes. I get him to become my stead by helping him become a Genesis Beast, and bringing his mates into the Hidden Ancient Mansion," he answered.
The brunette could only nod, though she is a bit jealous a beast would get to know his secret first. Then again, he did follow him first so it make a certain amount of sense for him to know.
"Why don't you show me this place sooner?" she asked.
Ryker was in deep thought before answering, "Mostly because I want as little people to know. No offense to your parents but it is hard to know if they will tell other people about it, consciously or not," Ina merely nodded even if she disagree with him.
After all, while her father would keep it a secret, the best way to keep the spatial tool a secret is by limiting the number of people that knew of it.
"I want to introduce you to my younger siblings," Ina turned her head towards so fast she suffered from whiplash.
"Younger siblings?" she parroted, barely believing what she just heard.
"Yes. This is the safest place for them. There is no way I will bring them with if not for the fact I have this mansion," he replied, before the two entered the living room.
This is where Ina mee the rest of the siblings, which left him in utter shock. When he said younger siblings, as in plural, she suspected for them to be at least 2, maybe even 3, with 5 being the highest number.
She did not expect for there to be 13, all in varying ages with the oldest being 12 years old and the youngest could barely walk yet, only one year old.
The children looked at Ryker with widened eyes before smiles bloomed on their faces.
"Big brother!" they cried out before running towards him. They crashed towards their older brother, who merely chuckled at their adorable attempt to knock him over.
"Kids, slow down, I can barely hear what you said," Ryker said, stopping the children from babbling about what they do beforehand.
He give all of them headpats, before taking the youngest in his arms, the little girl squeling in pure joy.
"Everyone, this is Ina," he introduce her to them, all eyes on her at that moment. She gave them a small smile, looking at all of them and wondered why he did not bring them out in the village.
"She is my wife and will be your big sister," he then dropped the bombshell, as all of them screamed as one.
"WHAT?!"
-x-
"Big sister, when did you marry big brother?"
"Big sister, when do you like big brother?"
"Big sister, when will we get nephew or niece?"
"Ezekiel!" she raised her voice, her face red at the question.
"What? It's a good question," the white-haired boy said, pouting at the end.
"Maybe when your brother done with his journey. Then we will think of giving you a nephew or niece," she answered. "Right now, it is hard for us to take care of children. Especially with all of you being so young,"
The children let out an adorable 'ahhh'. Ina could not help herself as a small smile formed on his face at their cuteness.
"I should go to the kitchen now. Ezekiel, Esran, Sheena, keep watch on the rest of your siblings," she said, earning a nod from all three children. With that covered, Ina entered the kitchen, to see both Ilina and Ryker busy making their meals for the day.
"Let me help you with that," the two stopped what they are doing before relaxing when their eyes land on her. Without saying a word, Ryker pushed one of the uncut meat towards her, the brunette accepting it and began to chop.
With no words said between them, they get to cooking, preparing a meal for all 15 people in the mansion.
-x-
"I still can't believe you don't let them come out," Ina voiced out, with Ryker sighing. He had enough of his siblings saying the exact same thing. He did not want to repeat himself to Ina.
"Then again, they are children. So it will be harder to keep them safe," she continue, causing him to nod. After all, if not for their lack of babysitters that at least one year older or younger than Ryker, he would prefer to leave them at the mountains.
Of course, he did not voice his thought and just pulled the smaller female into his arms.
"Yes. That's why I put them inside this place. It would allow me to check on them when needed, while protecting them," Ina hummed as she snuggled closer to Ryker, her husband wrapping her with his think arms.
"Let's go to sleep first. Tomorrow we have to make breakfast," Ina nodded before shutting her eyes, the couple drifting to sleep.