"Bel stop running around! You're stepping on the flowers! Stay on the pathway and don't cut through the garden! Cyril, don't fall asleep or you'll be wide awake at midnight. It's too early for a nap. Wait, what are you eating?!" Everything was a mess–especially when it came to keeping an eye on these two. Lysandre had come along with his mother in a visit to the Goddess of Life, Lady Angela. Cyril and Belen came too, and he was already being run ragged. The twins didn't sit still. As soon as you weren't paying attention one of them would be gone, and sometimes both would at the same time. Belen didn't listen to him, and he had to chase him down a lot. Cyril was the more obedient out of them, but Lys still had to make sure he wasn't getting himself in trouble. Cyril in particular had a bunch of strange habits that made him more troublesome than his older twin sometimes. Like for instance, trying to eat flowers.

He had turned to see the silver-haired boy with flower petals sticking out from his mouth, paused in the middle of chewing. The Rosenite boy sighed in exasperation. "Spit that out! You don't know where that's been!" The boy pulled the remainder of the half-eaten plant out and said in reply: "But they're not poisonous–I saw it in a plant encyclopedia. It said pansies were edible…"  He did throw the rest away and kept his hands off the flowerbeds for the time being. Putting his hands on his hips, he asked the boy. "Do you know where your brother went?" Cyril shook his head, which meant Lys would have to find him the old-fashioned way.

"Stay here ok? I'm going to find him before he gets in trouble." After walking down the path further, Lysandre transformed into a golden-brown colored bat and took off into the air. Searching while flying wasn't much better than doing the same on foot. There were a lot of trees blocking his sight, even from a bird's-eye view. Flapping, he circled around a few times before deciding to land. If he didn't find Belen soon, who knows what would happen when his mother came back. Preparing for a descent, a gust of wind threw off his balance and he found himself struggling to keep aloft. Soon he was spinning around, spiraling downward! Panicked clicks and squeaking was heard as the bat crashed onto some potted chrysanthemums. 

Part of his wing was stuck in the stems, and he was flailing around trying to get it out. While he was busy, Cyril was wandering around the path and noticed something wriggling on the bush. He felt something pull him out, and was relieved to see a familiar face. But that relief soon turned into an overwhelming desire to escape–when Cyril decided to feed him fruit. The boy had taken the bat over to a nice shady spot under a tree where a cloth laid on the grass. There was a pile of freshly picked berries, likely what the boy had found when traipsing through the goddess's garden. Cyril was holding him in a way where he couldn't move, and then proceeded to shove a strawberry at his face.

"Cyril, let me go! I don't want—mmrrph!" The tip of a berry muffled his attempts to communicate, and he was forced to finish it off. He thought it was over, but then Cyril brought another one and tried to make him eat it again. Belen, having gotten bored once he realized Lys wasn't chasing him, came back and noticed his brother sitting down. "Hey, Cyril whatcha doing?" 

"Bel! Lys said he was looking for you. Did you see him? I found this little guy stuck in some flowers. I think it's a fruit bat. Do you think they like strawberries more or blueberries?" The silver-haired boy said to his brother. Belen shook his head. He was a brunet unlike his younger twin. "Nope, I bet I lost him. He didn't even find me! Hey…uh, don't you think you're giving it way too much? That berry's even bigger than it's entire body." Taking advantage of Cyril being distracted, the bat wriggled free from his grasp and tried to take off again. Unfortunately he ended up flopping onto the ground onto his back, and his wings made it difficult to get up. He didn't have good control over his shape-shifting yet, so he couldn't turn back properly.

Things were so quiet on the grounds. The sun was hitting her grey fur just right as she flicked her tail. The sun made her so tired but it was the prancing of the temple grounds that stirred her. Stormy grey eyes rolled open as she stretched all four of her legs, paws, and claws. A yawn left her lips as she rolled her tongue out.

There was a call for help. An animal in need or so it sounded like. She got off of her tree branch and pounced down. In leopard form, she was weighed twenty pounds and was almost three feet in length long. Her eyes narrowed in on the boys playing with the fruit bat. She let out a loud growl as she pounced out of the shrubbery and took the bat out of his hands and into her mouth gently.

She pounced up into the trees and ran the treeline before spitting the little fruit bat out onto the branch. Her body shifted and her lithe body was shown. She wore a gown made of cream silk with her shoulders exposed and her red hair was long and wild past the mid of her back. She picked up the fruit back. “I’m sorry for being so rough with you.” Her fingers gently rubbed his furry form. “Are you okay little guy? I heard your cry.” Gently her fingers cleaned the berry juice from his little lips and she gave him a smile. "You'll be okay now."

He was being grabbed again, and Lys couldn't see who or what had caught him. The fear of being eaten in this form sent a jolt of anxiety through him, and he struggled more. Finally, he was let go. Falling, he latched onto a branch and clung to it like a koala to its tree. Looking up he squinted his bat eyes as he couldn't help but think he'd seen that familiar red hair somewhere. "…Poppy? Is that you?" The golden furred bat said. It took some effort, but he was able to shift back out of being an animal. He was older than the first time they literally ran into each other, and his blond hair was now in wavy curls past his ears. In a plain shirt and trousers, the cuffs were rolled up.

"Um…thanks. You really saved me back there. Cyril kept shoving food at me so I couldn't talk. He'd probably drown me in fruit if you didn't grab me." Sighing, he rubbed the back of his neck. Realizing this was the first time Poppy had seen him in his animal form, he looked away trying to wait out the sudden awkward feeling he had. Subconsciously he wiped the corner of his mouth trying to think of what to say after that.  

Meanwhile the twins were chatting when a little blonde girl with grey eyes skipped by. She overheard the older boys talking about a golden-colored bat, and went over to see what they were doing. "Hey, did you say you saw a yellow bat?" The boys turned to her. "Yeah, Cyril said he found one stuck in the bushes over there. Don't bats normally come out after dark though?" Belen asked. The girl crossed her arms and nodded, shaking her long curls. "They do, but that's because they're normal bats. You probably found my brother. He's still not that great with shape-shifting, even though he's the only one who can do it besides daddy. Where did he go?" Cyril looked worried, and began speaking. "Well we–" A look of horror came over Belen's face as he interrupted his brother. "Oh gods, we're so dead!" 

Her face flushed a bit as soon as he said her name. She didn’t know why until he shifted back. “Lys?” Oh god! She had Lysandre in her mouth! She had an actual boy she knew in her mouth! She turned her back to him for a few moments as her hand came up and she began to obsessively play with her curls. Again and again, she spun the one curl around her finger. “So… is Cyril your brother or something?”

Gods it was so awkward no as she sat on the branch with him. Finally, she turned herself to him and tilted her head. There was really no point in hiding herself from him. They were just two kids up in a tree and he happened to have been in her mouth… That’s all right? Nothing to panic over. Her face was as red as her hair for a few moments before she choked down the embarrassment.

“It’s been a while.” She was now playing with the skirt of her dress as she thought about it. “You… look different.” Well of course… they were grown now and that made her blush more as she looked away from him. He was cute and he had been in her mouth. Her fingers grasped at her dress the more she thought about it. “You are alright though… right?”

They both had an awkward silence from meeting each other again. It couldn't have been weirder. "Cyril? No–he's a friend. He's here with his twin brother. Mother said they could come along since their parents were busy. My little sister's here too. You probably didn't see her before." Again, another pause. "…I have a little brother too, but he's back home. He doesn't like going outside much." When she asked him if he was alright, he nodded. "Yes…I am. I'm still learning how to shape-shift like my father but I'm not very good at it." He remembered how easily Poppy could do the same thing he struggled with, years earlier. He tried not to think about the situation, and his ears were getting red.

As the two were catching up after not seeing each other for a while, pandemonium was breaking loose on the ground. Cyril was watching his brother pace back and forth while biting his lower lip. Belen was muttering and looking around, trying to rack his brain on what to do. "We're dead. We're so dead. His mom is going to kill us. Our mom is going to kill us!" The silver-haired boy nervously asked his brother, "What do we do now?" "I don't know!" Belen threw his hands up in despair. "We have two choices: find Lys before his mom comes back and asks where he is, or ask Chrys to find him for us. But we don't even know where that cat ran off to!"

"Why don't we tell his mom he's missing?" Cyril innocently asked. His elder brother whirled around with an incredulous look. "Are you crazy?! We can't just tell her we had him in bat form and then a big cat ran away with him in its mouth! AGHH!!!" Pulling at his hair, he was trying to think up a way to lessen the impact. "Ok, ok I think I have an idea. We'll tell her, but let me do the talking. Absolutely do not say anything!" Belen made a motion across his mouth signifying that Cyril should keep his lips 'sealed'. His twin copied the motion, and gave a nod.

Taking in a deep breath, Belen tried to look less anxious as they went to find Nerine. So far only the two of them knew what had happened. Lysandre's younger sister Chrysanthe only knew that they'd seen her older brother in bat form. As long as they didn't say a word, nobody would know.

Poppy blushed a bit more as she listened to him. “It’s alright. Shifting isn’t easy for everyone. You’ll learn and it will be like a fish to water.” She gave a smile as she calmed down. Reaching into the very awesome pockets on her dress she pulled out the same handkerchief as before and held it out to him. The very same candies were there. Not everything had changed so much but this was how they had broken the ice before.

“Look at the bright side at least my mother can’t hold us up by the collars anymore.” She gave a shit grin to him as she popped one of the candies in her mouth and leaned against the tree. Her eyes were glued on him for a long time. “Mother told me that you guys live in Railoch and that I’m not supposed to create problems for you.” There was a laugh from her lips. “But that was so long ago that I don’t think I can really cause too many problems.”

She set the swaddled candy down in between them and eyed him once more. “It’s weird seeing you now… Also, I apologize for having you in my mouth. That was a bit awkward but I didn’t know how else to get you without hurting you.” It was more embarrassing that she hadn’t just shifted and run out to snatch him but she had to live with her choices. “I have a little sister now too.” There was only so much she could think of but one thing came to mind. He said he would be her friend which made her smile.

“If you want… I could teach you how to shift better. You can come here whenever you like. We did say that we would be friends."

He took the candy she offered him while listening. Holding it in his hand, he smiled. It brought back memories, back before he had his younger siblings and before the twins were even born. It was good that some things never changed. Popping into his mouth, he chuckled when Poppy brought up how her mother had caught them. "Yes, we do live in Railoch. We have our own rooms back at Antikythera. My father has a place in Kurayo, but I'm not allowed to go there." Nerine had told her son at an early age to stay away from Koschei if he could help it. It was dangerous, in many ways more than being out in the wilderness. His father agreed, and if he had business to attend to there he would leave alone, returning after. Chrys kept asking why they couldn't visit their father's other estate, but after a while she lost interest. Efrain only asked once, and was satisfied with the answer their parents had given.

Moving to a more comfortable position, he grinned. "I agree. There's not much to really cause problems with there. Most of the time things keep running, and Mrs. Ky–I mean, the Steward only stops things to check they're still in working order." Poppy thought it was weird seeing each other after so long, and he felt the same way. When she started apologizing, he shook his head. "No, it's probably for the best anyway. Cyril didn't even notice until you were long gone." Poppy was his first friend outside his home. When he had left Sularia, he wondered what happened to her afterward. He had hoped her mother didn't scold her too much, since she looked upset when she found them. Then came the twins, and with his younger siblings arriving shortly after he had his hands full every day.

When she offered to teach him how to handle shape-shifting better Lys looked back at her wide-eyed. "Really? You'll teach me? I'd like that. We could make up for lost time, if your mother thinks it's alright. You could come visit us at Antikythera too–but it's much nicer here. The only area with trees and plants is the greenhouse, which probably needs to be renamed since it's much bigger than that."

Belen and Cyril were both in front of Lysandre's mother, looking solemn and serious. "Um…so about Lys–we saw him in his animal form on a bush, but a big spotted cat came out of nowhere and took him in its mouth." He was bracing himself. Cyril had kept quiet just like they discussed earlier, but it was still difficult. Nerine's jaw dropped as she heard the news. Right away Belen was regretting his choices. This wasn't going to end well…

“I have a sister in Kurayo. We’re not allowed to visit her either.” Poppy gave him a smile. It was weird how much they were alike in some ways. “Yeah! I’ll teach you! We can go anywhere we want I promise.”

After a few more seconds she looked thoughtful. “I want to show you something.” Poppy climbed down the tree and helped him down as well. Taking his hand in hers she blushed at first before pulling him along. “This way.”

The fields were full of vibrantly colors flowers that were larger than average. They came up to Poppy’s mid-thigh. Grabbing Lysandre by both hands she pulled him into the field and began to spin around and around with him. “Isn’t this beautiful? Wonderful?!” She laughed with him and swung around with him. Eventually, they both fell down and Poppy rolled onto her back and laced her hand with his by instinct. The skies above them were like stars but it was still daylight.

“This meadow is a nighttime meadow. It is majority night time and here you can see all the stars that ever existed in the night sky.” She pointed a set of constellations out. “They call those right there… the wolf. The guardian of the fey.” She traced the stars so she could show him how they connected. “That right there is Valara the most fierce warrior in Kurayo lore.” She kept naming them and showing him. It seemed to go on forever.

By now Angela had heard and she was calming down Nerine. “It’s fine. He is somewhere in the temple grounds. I don’t know where but we’ll find him… and you’re sure you said it was a leopard?” Angela eyed the twins. “Why is it that those two are trouble whenever they are together.” It would seem like she was talking about the twins at first but Nerine could piece together who she was talking about easily.

Following along with her again, it was just like old times. His eyes widened as she brought him to rolling fields filled with flowers in bloom. With a quiet gasp, it was like a painting. He'd seen the inside of the Steward's private studio once, and remembered the dabs of paint forming shapes. They had just walked into one of those. Spinning around while holding hands with Poppy, they both flopped onto the flowers that stretched as far as his eyes could see. "It's amazing! They go on and on forever!" Lys laughed, taking in the thousands of scents mixing together.

Elysia was wonderful in so many ways. The skies, the stars, and even the beaches were full of wonders. Everything was so vibrant here, fitting for a place of life. He laid back and watched as Poppy showed him the stars and constellations, and talked about the shapes the twins knew from their mother. "Cyril and Bel told me lots of times about the stars their mother knew back before she came here. I don't know if they were different or the same in the skies, but they had interesting names. There was a cluster of seven stars named after seven sisters, a great hunter whose belt shone brightly on Venti evenings. Even dragons and animals too. I wonder what it was like for their mother there."

Rolling over to his side, he looked carefully at the plants surrounding them. "This place is so beautiful. Just lying here, it feels like time stands still. Chrys would love seeing this, and I bet my mother would too. Would it be alright if I took a few of these for her?" He saw some white lilies with pink radiating from their centers. Flowers in the garden at home didn't last very long, and it was a pity they only bloomed once each season. This was the first time Lysandre had seen blooms from different times of the year all at once.

Nerine's fears subsided when Angela reassured her that her son was still in Elysia. Placing a hand to her forehead, she was feeling less worried knowing he was safe. Perhaps she should have told him not to fly too far from the buildings. The surrounding area was still a jungle after all. The twins nodded in unison as Belen confirmed what they had seen. "Y-yeah, it wasn't small–pretty big but not as big as a tiger. It did have spots, big ones."

He felt his heart skip a beat when he thought the goddess was talking about him and his brother. However that little hint tipped Nerine off as to what might have happened. Belen watched the face of the scholar, noting she didn't look upset anymore. Did that mean they were safe? He still didn't dare to say anything. Better wait things out than to let it slip. Cyril had no idea if things were going well or not. His brother looked nervous still so maybe they weren't out in the clear yet. "I hope Lys is ok…" 

“I think they do go on forever,” Poppy was breathless as she caught herself with a laugh. “The Sun is the father and the moons are two of the daughters… There are some others as well.” She looked at Lysandre now and smiled. “The dragon is their sister… and there are others too. I can teach you about all of them. If you want.” She blushed a bit as she rolled on her side and watched him.

“I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. Except maybe Sularia.” Poppy looked around with him and smirked. “You can take as many as you want. A whole arm full if you want! This place will just go it back.” She snapped off a flower and watched as it grew right back. “See? That’s the magic of this place.”

“Poppy please bring Lys back,” Angela sent a mental message.

Poppy got a weird look on her face and she was a bit disappointed. “Come on they are looking for you.” She got up and took his hand after they picked flowers together. They could wait a little bit longer. Together they ran back to the temple and what a far run it was. It wasn’t exhausting Poppy who hopping and skipped her way up the stairs. She spun Lys around and around once they got to where his mother and the twins were. “Please come again alright?” She gave a look to the twins. “HEY! You are the little troublemakers who were force feeding poor Lys! I had to save him from you both!”

Angela tapped her arms after she crossed them. “And so the truth comes out.” Angela looked at the little troublemakers and gave them a smile. “All in all no harm has been done Nerine. Poppy you look like you want to ask something.”

Poppy got a bit nervous but she looked to Nerene. “Can… Can Lysandre please come here to learn to shift from me? The dweebs can come with him I promise I won’t get him in any trouble.”