Curiosity

                Carahya and Tibias entered the humble house, into a small kitchen. Carahya looked around and said, “So…this is gonna be home for me now, huh?”

                Tibias looked at her and said simply, “There are several guest rooms to choose from. The room just off of the staircase is mine, but please feel free to take whichever empty room you wish. The most accessible one is just off from the kitchen.” Tibias mind still swam, and again he projected forth more information than he initially planned. “Ms. Trean was the last one to use that room…and there are clothes in the closets, as well.”

                Carahya shrugged. “Probably won’t take that one, then…I dunno, something just kinda skeaves me out about sleeping in someone else’s bed, you know? Besides, where’s the fun in just settling for the most accessible?”

 Tibias put a hand to his head and strode to the cabinets, set to prepare tea to ease his mind. “Just…don’t get yourself into trouble…”

                Carahya looked at her new mentor and smiled at him with a tilted head. “Oh, come now! Me? Trouble? Nah…you’ve got the wrong girl on that one.” She chuckled, began to saunter off towards the staircase, and turned back around. “Hold it…does that mean I can’t even have my old clothes?”

                Tibias continued making his tea and did not look at the shifter. “The council has frozen your assets and taken hold of your residence. Your landlord will be informed. So, naturally, all of the belongings within your residence are under the council’s possession, as well.”

                Carahya groaned and whined, “But what if I wanted to – “

                “Those too, Ms. Faroth,” he interrupted, and glanced at her. At her look of complete bewilderment, he added, “The council is also aware that you are in legal ownership of two other estates – those of your deceased maternal and paternal grandparents. Those are under their control now, as well. This is all you have.” He set the tea kettle onto the hot stove and walked to her. “I suggest finding things in the closets here that you will find suitable. Goodness knows the next time you’ll have the money for new clothing.”

                Carahya’s calm face turned into a grumpy scowl as she faced her mentor. “Fine,” she said to him sharply, turned on her heel, and stormed up the stairs.

                “Ah, teen angst…” Tibias chuckled and went back to its tea. “It’s been ages since this house has seen such teen angst and rebellion…”

                Carahya took a quick peek into each of the unoccupied upstairs rooms. Each was colored in a drastic contrast to the dark reds and browns of the downstairs. One room was plain, boringly simple, with varied shades of gray and black on everything. She shuddered; the room reminded her far too much of the room in Kole’s apartment for her to be comfortable even standing in the room, so she moved on to the next.

                One of the rooms was a sunny yellow, with a bold, fiery-colored bedspread. Carahya assumed that a woman had once lived within it, from the floral cushion on the desk chair and the feminine brightness of the curtains. Curiously, Carahya looked within the closet for clothing. There was not much to choose from; the closet was quite sparse. In complete contrast to the bright and colorful room, the clothing was all dark and bland, and too formal for Carahya’s tastes. Granted, her simple black t-shirt and cargo pants were pretty plain, but she would have quite the contrast, had she access to her typical wardrobe. With a huff of dismay, she left the room to find the other bedroom left.

                It was cozy, with calm, earthy green walls and a kelly-green bedspread. A desk and a bookshelf – full of all sorts of books – sat in one corner of the room. Carahya instantly felt at ease, and walked over to the windows. She pulled back the cream-colored curtains and looked outside to find the roof’s slight overhang and a fantastic view of the trees surrounding the house. After throwing open the window and deciding that yes, she would be able to climb up to sit on the roof at night if she so chose, she migrated to the bookshelf. She heard Tibias call upstairs to her, something about going out to the grocery store to stock up on “teenager food” and that she’d rely on herself for cooking said “teenager food” for meals. She shouted back an appropriate response without taking her eyes away from the bookshelf. She found a few interesting titles and lifted them from their spots in the bookshelf to put next to her new bed.

                When she looked back at the empty spaces, she did not find, as she thought she would, the wooden back of the bookshelf. No, she found that she could peer into the adjoining room. Getting closer to the empty space, she looked around to see which room it was. Logic told her that the way it was set up, it couldn’t have been a room she’d seen already. Still, she had been through all the doors on that hallway but Tibias’s, which was on the opposite end of the hallway. She chuckled in disbelief and said to herself, “Well, now. A secret room behind the bookcase…clever. SO original.”

                After playing around trying to discover which of the books held the “secret lever” to open the doorway, she found that there was a handle on the far side of the bookcase, built into its wooden side. She turned it, and pulled the bookcase – hinged, apparently – out from the wall. She wondered whether Tibias even knew of the existence of this place, and snuck inside. “Gee, Tibs, what an ideal moment to go shopping…now I don’t need to worry about you breathing down my back and ruining my fun.”

                She left the bookcase open, so she would be sure she could get out the same way she got in. The extra room was somewhat dark, windowless, and small; it was a study of sorts, apparently left in exactly the same state for several years, allowing everything in the room to gather layers of dust. The desk held several documents, sprawled out for studying over the surface, and the shelves above it held books and picture frames. Puzzled, Carahya lifted one of the frames from the shelf and looked closer at it. Two young men and two young women stood together, posed for a memory. The two young men were obviously Kole and Tibias; Shadow-ass was quite recognizable, looking barely older now than he was then, and Tibias was blatantly just a younger version of himself. The young women both had raven-black hair and paler complexions, one with green eyes, the other with blue. She put the photo back in its place and decided to leave the study alone for now; with her next five years set to take place in this house, there would be plenty of time for investigation later.