Michelle

  The day after enrollment, the group started looking at houses. The school they had chosen for the girls had been partially based on what the homes in its vicinity were like, but they wanted to get a much better idea of what they would need to do to actually live in one of them.

  Fortunately, a house could be paid for in installments, but that still required a certain amount of money. It would be some time yet before they could afford to live in one of these houses, but having a goal was good.

  While Amber and Sarah went to start looking at places they could get apprenticeships, Michelle and her daughters went to a temple.

  Like Michelle had been expecting, however, they were unable to talk to any of the gods. As a priestess explained to them, the gods are aspects of mana that cover the entire world, so for them to manifest and talk with every single person who wanted to do so was simply impossible.

  Put like that, it’s amazing that they stayed in one place for long enough to meet with all of us Earthlings.

  Diamond was looking down after they left.

  Michelle patted her. “We’ll figure out it one day, sweetie. The important thing is that you’re doing okay.”

  She replied, “Yeah, but I wanted to meet them! I’m the only one of us who hasn’t. I’m the only one without a Gift, too…”

  “You’re also the only one of us who can change her size at will, and you’re good at sneaking because of that. That’s far more amazing than anything I could do when I was born, which was just poop and cry.”

  She snickered, which, coming from a wolf, came out as more of a strong huff. “So I’m more amazing than Mom?”

  “That’s right, you’re an incredible girl.”

  Luna added, “Yeah! Sis is the coolest!”

  Diamond gave both of them a lick on their hands as thanks.

  ———

  The following day was for shopping. The school supplies were easy enough to take care of, and they even had backpacks that fit Awakened anatomy.

  The part that had Michelle a little nervous was clothes shopping, because they weren’t going to buy clothes only for Luna. Everyone was going to get something.

  Despite her anxiety over it, it turned out to not be a big deal at all. She ended up with a few tunics, comfy pants, and a comfy pair of boots, entirely unlike what she had used for fighting life-or-death battles out in the wilderness.

  She also decided to try on a dress for the very first time, which had the others excited. Michelle felt a little lost, though, not just because it was her first time wearing something like that, but because she couldn’t even rely on her knowledge of Earth’s fashion to help her figure out what might be good or not.

  What she ended up with was a simple design that flared out slightly as it went lower, and was entirely in dark blue. Amber just about died from seeing it, which made Michelle feel obligated to buy it.

  Amber’s choices for herself were similar to Michelle’s safe choices, though she didn’t focus as strongly on comfort as her girlfriend had. Sarah’s were much more form-fitting.

  Luna chose a wide variety, with most of her things being blue, because she wanted to match with Diamond’s fur, which was also a light blue color. It had actually darkened ever so slightly after she was born, though, and it had taken them a while to even notice It. Even after pointing out that their hair and fur colors were already incredibly similar, Luna didn’t change her mind.

  As for Diamond, she wanted books. She had no idea what her interests were yet and she felt like she had to catch up to Luna, so she was very interested in reading. She did also get a new scarf and a bracelet, though.

  As Sarah was the one who had read the most books since arriving in this world, she did most of the work in helping Diamond find things to read.

  With their shopping done, they spent the remaining days before the girls started school looking for places to work, but otherwise just relaxing. An entire year’s worth of effort had led to them being here to start their new lives, and the relief they all felt was palpable.

  Michelle and Amber both managed to find blacksmithing apprenticeships, though at different smithies, and Amber also found one for alchemy.

  Businesses here were much more likely to take people in and teach them things, but that didn’t mean they had lax standards. Anyone they thought wasn’t doing well enough would be kicked out.

  The three women were all up to the challenge, though, and were eager to get started.

  ———

  Diamond

  The wolf and her elven sister were being led to the edge of the school’s property. As excited as she had been to start school, Diamond was suddenly quite nervous about it.

  Her sister comforted, “School is really fun, sis! You’ll see.”

  Mom added, “Just try it and see what it’s like.”

  “I will, Mom,” Diamond replied. She was never going to run away from this, but it was still an entirely new experience for her. She had heard about what it was like to go to school from everyone, and had even seen some of the building last week, but she didn’t know what classes and other kids were like, and she had never been separated from her family before.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  They reached the school. Amber and Sarah had also come to see them off on their first day, but the three adults would soon begin taking turns on who dropped them off and who picked them up.

  Diamond reluctantly parted from her mom and the others, waved goodbye, and walked to the entrance with Luna. She had been glad for her sister coming with her this far, but they wouldn’t be in the same classrooms, and she then had another sad separation, though from Luna this time.

  Using her Astral Hands to open the door, she entered her first ever class alone.

  “Hello there. Diamond, yes?” a dryad man asked.

  Diamond nodded, but didn’t say anything.

  “Alright, why don’t you take a seat for now, and we’ll introduce you to everyone once class starts.”

  “Y-Yes…” she stuttered.

  I want to go home…

  “Hi! Who are you?” someone asked excitedly. Diamond turned her head to see a harpy girl standing next to her. She was distinguishable as a harpy not just by the wings on her back, but by her talons, sharp fingernails, and sharp teeth.

  “I-I’m Diamond…” she stuttered.

  “I’m Tiala!”

  “Nice to meet you,” she managed, a little thrown off by the girl’s intense excitement.

  “Are you a new student?”

  “Yeah, today’s my first day.”

  “That’s great!”

  As Diamond struggled to keep up with how fast the girl talked, another student came up to them. The wolf was glad another person showed up, because she didn’t know how to handle this situation, but she was also nervous that another person showed up, because that meant being in yet another situation she didn’t know how to handle.

  “Hi, who are you?” the dragon asked. Like Diamond, the dragon girl before her was also an Awakened.

  “I’m Diamond,” she said again.

  She was a little thrown off by the dragon girl, too, but that was because Diamond remembered the giant lizard that had injured her before she was fully born.

  The dragon girl and that lizard were drastically different in every possible way, however, so Diamond quickly got over that aspect of things. It was still dealing with new people that was making her uncomfortable.

  “Nice to meet you, Diamond. I am Izara.”

  She’s much easier to deal with than Tiala.

  There were a few other students Diamond had to struggle with suddenly meeting, and she was immensely relieved once class finally started.

  Her relief was cut short when the teacher suddenly asked her to introduce herself; asking for her name, age, and a hobby she had. She reluctantly sat up straighter, placing her forepaws on the desk to raise herself higher.

  “My name is Diamond. I’m seven years old. I like books.”

  Nobody would understand if she went around saying she was only a few weeks old, so it had been decided for her to lie about her age. None of her family had ever heard of anyone else being born the way she was.

  The teacher spoke, “Diamond, could you repeat that? You spoke rather quietly.”

  The beleaguered wolf cringed. With great effort, she managed to say it a second time, loud enough for everyone to hear.

  “Thank you, Diamond. Izara, would you mind helping her until she gets caught up to where we are?”

  The teacher had planned ahead and assigned Diamond to a desk with an empty one beside her. The dragon girl sat in it and smiled at her.

  The lesson finally began, and Diamond was glad she didn’t have to focus on socializing beyond whispering questions to Izara.

  The teacher ended class a little early, which meant all the students could finally talk to the new girl. Despite how nervous and uncomfortable she was, she was also happy to meet new people, and was feeling a conflicted mixture of wanting to talk more, but not having the nerve to initiate conversation herself.

  She was also deeply missing everyone in her family, but wouldn’t be able to reunite with any of them until lunchtime with Luna.

  ———

  Luna

  The young elf girl was ecstatic to finally be in school again. She understood why it had been so long since her last day of school back on Earth, but that hadn’t made the wait any easier.

  Still, she had remained patient, and had seen that her mom and the others were trying her best, so there just wasn’t anything else they could've done.

  What made her even happier than finally going to school again was that her Gift had suddenly turned into a real person, her sister. She had someone she could go to school with! Or so she had thought, but they ended up in different classrooms. However, Luna knew that Diamond would also do her best and that they would see each other again during lunch.

  Her first three classes of the day had all been fun because of all the other kids she got to meet, but it was too soon for her to tell who was going to be a good friend or not. There were already so many candidates.

  The differences between her old school and her new one mostly came down to the fact that everything here was done with enchantments and magic instead of electricity, and the number of humans in the school was only a small fraction.

  Luna wasn’t even one of them anymore, though she didn’t feel any different than she did then.

  Except for the better hearing, I think…

  It had been explained to her by Mom and Amber, and she had understood what they were saying, but she just couldn’t figure out what “precise hearing” was supposed to mean.

  Making sure she had copied everything she needed from the lightboard—like a whiteboard, but is written on with light pens, and can even display images—she packed up her things and walked outside with her lunch in hand where she had agreed to meet up with her sister.

  She had only just turned the corner when she heard, “LUNA!”, and her wolf sister jumped on her and licked her face.

  She laughed and hugged her sister before gently pushing her off. “Sis, has it been good so far?”

  “It’s… hard… There are so many people, but they’re nice? I think?”

  Luna rubbed the wolf’s head, imitating their mom. “You’ll get used to it. Now come on! Let’s eat!”

  Though some other kids joined them for lunch, Diamond was able to handle being around them much better because Luna was right there beside her.

  She’ll be okay.

  Language class really clicked with Luna because of the ritual she’d unwillingly undergone the previous year. With a teacher explaining the words and the text, it all just snapped into place in an instant for her. This wasn’t a new feeling for her, though, as her family had all been teaching her throughout their travels.

  Her last lesson of the day was Magic. After the teacher had her introduce herself, she also asked Luna to demonstrate what she could do, and was impressed with both her power and control, which were excellent for her age.

  The teacher then used Luna’s demonstration to begin going into detail about ways the [Water] element and [Cold] modifier could both be used, whether someone had just one of those or both, as Luna did.

  As the lesson went into various ways to increase precision and reduce mana wastage—mostly as a review for Luna—a girl sat next to her.

  “Hi, I’m Nipha. You said your name is Luna, right?” she asked. From the horns, spaded tail, and purple skin, Luna could tell she was a demon.

  She nodded, “Yeah.”

  “Nice to meet you, Luna. I’m happy to have someone else who’s ahead in magic like myself. We can practice with each other!”

  “Okay!” Luna nodded again, eagerly this time.

  The lesson eventually came to an end, and so too did the school day. Luna met up again with her sister and they walked back to the entrance together along with the many other students.

  The two girls found Mom waiting for them by herself, still a little sooty from the first day of her apprenticeship, despite having cleaned herself off already.

  They ran up to her. “Hey, girls! How was your first day?”

  “I loved it!” Luna exclaimed. “I’m so happy to be back!”

  Diamond was more reserved. “It was… okay. There were so many new people. It was hard…”

  Mom hugged the poor wolf. “It will get easier as you get used to it. If it’s still difficult after a while, we can figure something out, okay?”

  “Okay, Mom.”

  The three of them returned to the inn they were still staying at. A while later, Amber and Sarah both returned from their apprenticeships as well, and the five of them held a celebration together. Coincidentally, it was also only a couple days ago that they finally passed the one-year mark of how long they had lived in this world.