Eruana was confused by the lady's reaction but still bent down to help pick up the vegetables.
Suddenly, the young lady also bent down, but not to pick up the cherries but to hug Eruana.
As a protective reflex, Nithara stretched her hand to pull Eruana away from the stranger.
"Eruana.." The lady pulled Eruana into a tight embrace.
I've looked everywhere for you, it's been so long. Oh, my sweet little sister." The lady said, hugging Eruana even tighter.
Nithara froze. Her outstretched hand was only an inch away from Eruana.
With a cracked voice, Eruana uttered the name that hadn't left her mouth in thirteen years.
"L-Lameerah?"
Eruana hugged back the young lady named Lameerah.
Nithara, on the other hand, was dumbfounded by what she was seeing.
They're sisters? That was one of the hundred questions in Nithara's head.
Lameerah pulled away first, cupping Eruanas face and squeezing her hand in turns.
"Oh my Astra— wherever have you been? I tried to come back for you in the orphanage, but they said you've been adopted, and they won't even say who or where you've been taken! I've missed you so much!"
Now that Nithara closely looked at the two, she realised that it was hard to even deny the claim.
They looked exactly like each other, with one looking like the older version of the other— the only difference is Lameerah had really long hair and light skin tone.
In the spur of the moment, the bell on the door rang again.
Feywa had finally arrived, and with the speed of light, she came between the two and quickly hid Eruana behind her back and sent Nithara a 'what the heck is going on here?' look.
"Feywa it's alright, she's my sister, the one I've told you about." Eruana spoke in reassurance as she moved to her sister's side, leaving Feywa in a state of shock.
"Stay at my place while you're in town." Lameerah offered, which Eruana quickly agreed to without hesitation.
The two left hand in hand, leaving the other two no choice but to follow them.
Before long, the four of them arrived in front of a blue gate.
Lameerah stepped aside to command the gate to open. Fingers dancing in the holographic tablet that came out from the side of the gate.
Nithara saw this and hurriedly went into Feywa's ear while Lameerah wasn't looking, "Fuck, this house is armed with third-gen security."
Feywa also took this chance to tug on Eruana's sleeve and whisper in her ear, "What the heck are you doing? We have to go!"
Eruana looked at her with puppied eyes, "Please just for a little bit, it's my sister"
"..." Feywa gave in.
The house was quite nice, it felt warm and welcoming. Lameerah took the initiative to give Eruana a house tour, their chatter slowly fading from where the other two were left.
Feywa and Nithara sat on the nearest couch, one fidgeting on her seat, while the other anxiously shook her leg.
Nithara took notice of this and asked, "Why do you seem restless?"
"Who wouldn't be restless with this?!" Feywa answered, pointing at the direction where the sisters headed.
"What do you mean? Lameerah seems nice."
Irritated, Feywa hid this by speaking in a hushed tone. " Eruana has a terrible character judgement. I know their sisters and all, but something about her feels..off"
"Ahhh, no wonder you were so opposed to Eruana taking me in." Nithara chuckled.
"That's different, but this? Something just feels wrong. AAAAGHHHH"
In her infuriated state, a fragment of her spiritual energy had seeped out, making the small flowers in the tiny vase placed on the table in front of them grow abnormally big.
At that moment, the two sisters had gone down to meet them.
Lameerah excused herself out, saying, she'd grab some ingredients to cook for her visitors.
Her gaze lingered on the flower, "Huh, was that flower that big before?" Lameerah shrugged her shoulders before going out.
Eruana walked towards Feywa and sat next to her, and mumbled something while nuzzling Feywas arm. "I think I wanna stay."
"What?!"
"I know it's all of a sudden, but that way we wouldn't have to through the hussle of looking for Ophel's Valley. If you want, you and Nithara can also stay here, Lameerah already agreed." Eruana persuaded.
A nerve was ready to pop in Feywas temple.
"Are you hearing the things you're saying? What happened to 'stick together till the end'?" She pinched the bridge of her nose.
"We were supposed to go there to find someone who could remove that crystal!" She pointed at Eruanas chest as she spoke those last words.
This made Eruana back away, eyes wide in disbelief in the words her friend had said, their rims turning red.
Her expression quickly changed from sadness to anger. "If you want to leave, then leave! I'm staying with my sister whether you like it or not."
Feywa was at a loss for words. She hastily grabbed Nithara's arm and dragged her out with her outside.
Disregarding the gate, they leapt into the roof of the nearest building.
Leaping five roofs away, Feywa finally let go of Nithara's hand. She sat down on the side of the roof, momentarily bathed in moonlight.
"Let's stay for tonight, she'll eventually change her mind." She slumped into the spot next to Nithara.
"She always does."
"You really do have a soft spot for her." Nithara sat down next to her.
"Mm-hm"
"If you don't mind me asking, where exactly is this 'gut feeling' rooting from?" Nithara asked.
"Her sister was never good to Eruana. She told me about their past in this brain-washed way as if she was manipulated to see her sister in a golden light." She grew frustrated.
"I tried to talk her out and make her realise the twisted ways of her sister, but she just wouldn't budge. So I eventually just gave up." Feywa clenched her fist.
"Seeing how nice she was to Eruana earlier, I want to chase my past thoughts away, but my gut just won't let me, and I. Always. Trust. My. Gut." She added.
Nithara didn't reply, but still understood Feywa's point of view.
Feywa took out the card Nithara gave her earlier that day, and swiftly sent it flying towards Nithara, which she effortlessly caught, making feywa chuckle and somehow lifting up the mood.
"So, where did you get it? You said 'it's a long story'. Well it looks to me that we've got time to spare time. So, spill."
It made Nithara laugh at Feywa's sudden interest to pry into Her past.
Though she knew that it was just to quickly pass the time, she didn't mind a little show n' tell session with Feywa.
"If you insist." Nithara shrugged then leaned back to make herself comfortable.
"I insist."
"Alright, don't judge, but to cut to the chase, a past lover gave it to me."
Feywa almost choked on her own saliva.
"What?!"
"I'm not lying, he gifted it to me on my twenty-first birthday, and he let me keep it even after we broke up." Nithara protested.
Feywa couldn't help but tease Nithara, "Wow, he must've been down bad for you."
"Hm- I don't really know, it was probably just because he was materialistic.
"Oh really now?" They both laughed.
Nithara looked up and noticed dark clouds start to roll in. "Looks like a nyct storm is rolling, we should take shelter."
"Yeah I already made one while I was out earlier, it's nearby. Let's just stay here for a bit and wait." Feywa said.
Suddenly, a loud rumble came from Lameerah's house.
Feywa and Nithara shared a look of agreement and leaped back towards the direction of the house.
Nithara was ready to jump down into the house lawn but Feywa swiftly grabbed her then yanked her into a nearby balcony— where they hid behind two potted palm trees.
From there, they saw five hunters outside of Lamerahs house.
They were fully geared with weapons.
Seconds later, the walls on the upper floor came crashing down along with something that looked like an animal covered in a net.
Four more hunters emerged from the smashed wall and jumped down to meet the others.
The creature inside kept changing from one animal to another, shaking and uncontrollably growling at the hunters until it went limp and took the form of a small koala.
Nithara didn't need any confirmation, she knew it was Eruana.
"They captured her with an M08i. It's hindering her ability to shapeshift!" Nithara grew worried.
Feywa was quick to analyze the situation as well.
"We can't go swoop in carelessly either. Look, their armed with T049i's. One shot from those, and we'll be left powerless."
"I thought you said there were three of them?" They heard one of the hunters ask the person who just walked out the front door—it was Lameerah, fingers on her temple, she emitted a different aura compared to the last time they saw her.
"Just stick around or search the area, I doubt they went far." She answered.
"Even if you wouldn't be able to capture the other two, this one would still make scientists waste a lot of money to buy it." She added.
"Those bastards!" Feywa gritted her teeth, ready to pounce, but Nithara stopped her.
"Wait.."
"Wait for what?!"
"That" Nithara pointed at the dark clouds rolling in.