The inside of Bastian’s house looked as exotic as the outside.

  The entryway opened into a small area on a grey stone slab surrounded by small white peddles along the edges. There was a step up into the main square room, and Mr Sakiyama slid open a cupboard door opposite us to retrieve three pairs of silk slippers.

  I took off my shoes as Mr Sakiyama put down a pair for each of us on the ledge. The fae was already wearing indoor slippers, having not changed his footwear before leaping from the second floor window.

  “Through this door is the gathering room,” Mr Sakiyama waved us into a long open area with artfully placed furniture. There were tall slat windows open on every white-painted wall, letting in the bright midafternoon sun… and I was reminded again how much Bastian loved the Acorn Room back home.

  “Is it like a parlour?” I asked, admiring the carved hard wood of a U-shaped floor-couch that could have easily seated ten. The frame was carved with apple blossoms. The cushions were a handswidth thick, square, and woven with dark purple thread.

  There were other low seated chairs, and a pile of white furs with a few cushions beside the window showing off an apple tree in full bloom. There was a standing desk against one wall, and a set of four chairs around one familiar-sized table in the light of the window at the end of the gathering room.

  “It is a place for comfort, with family or guests or by oneself.” Bastian told me. “It can be formal if we need it to be, but otherwise it’s where you can come to relax. I like to work with my hands, so I’ve picked furniture for different projects.”

  “Now, if you turn left at the front entrance, you will pass a wash room, the kitchen, and end at the dining hall.” Mr Sakiyama waved a hand back the way we’d come

  “Lead the way.” I said, smiling at the fae.

  Mr Sakiyama’s smile, in response, drew tight. “Of course, Countess. But, uh, allow me to show you upstairs first? The dining hall is best seen at dinner, I think.”

  Bastian also stiffened, and I understood what Mr Sakiyama was implying. Even a fae couldn’t work miracles that fast.

  “Of course,” I nodded, “To the stairs.”

  Mr Sakiyama walked up to the inner wall - the only wall in the gathering room that didn’t have a window. The flat surface was hung with eight ink paintings.

  I particularly liked the one of a silver dragon curled around an ink pot, but there were others that caught my eye. The cat licking its own butt; the cherry tree in the front yard raining petals down on the path; and the moon over a moon bridge.

  Mr Sakiyama pressed a spot on the wall with the dragon painting at the end, and the entire wall pushed inwards, revealing a hidden hallway with no windows that ended at a spiral stair. Both sides had five decorative frame walls, alternating wooden to mural to wood to mural then wood again. The floor length murals all depicted scenic views of Peldeep. I recognized the Emerald Palace at the foot of the stairs right away.

  “This door,” Mr Sakiyama said, pointed to the palace, “leads to the kitchen.”

  He pushed it sideways into the wooden panel, and revealed a large clean kitchen. The flat-top table was unlike anything I’d ever seen, with large circles cut into the top. One of them had bamboo woven trays stacked three tiers high.

  It smelled amazing.

  The look on my face must have betrayed me, since Mr Sakiyama smiled softly and said, “It is still a ways until dinner, but let’s bring up a snack.”

  The fae went to the stack of bamboo and lifted a lid, releasing a small cloud of hot steam. The delicious smell intensified. From out of nowhere, three small bamboo containers appeared. Using sticks, he carefully picked up the springy dumplings and placed one in each container, stacking them and then putting a lid on top.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  He replaced the lid on dinner and picked up his single serving stack, bringing it back into the hall. With a ruffle of his antennae, the door slid closed behind him with some skill or perk.

  “Flying-pork?” Bastian asked, eying the stack.

  “Of course, Master Bastian.” Mr Sakiyama brought us upstairs, “your favorite.”

  Bastian seemed pleased, and I made a mental note.

  There was likewise a sliding door at the top of the circular stair, opening into a long hallway.

  “Does this not come up at the same place?” I asked, seeing that we’d come out where I imagined was directly above the familiar sized desk in the gathering room, completely opposite from the staircase.

  “As you say, Countess,” Mr Sakiyama walked past three doors until they reached the second to last. It was directly across from where he’d jumped down earlier. “This is where I’ve prepared Miss Lishinia’s room. Please, let me know if there is anything you might need, and I will have it prepared.”

  The door slid aside, revealing an empty rectangular room with only a few wall paintings hung on one wall. On closer inspection, they were all depicting forests and meadows. It was familiar, not quite like the forests of Sumbria, but a reminder.

  Lish stared long at the paintings, before steadying herself and turning to the fae, “Is there no bed?”

  Mr Sakiyama’s antennae shook again, and various sliding doors opened up all over the room, revealing linens, a closet with some silk house coats and spare slippers, a bookshelf with a few books on poetry, Peldeep history, and two of Feliwyn’s romance novels. One I hadn’t read yet.

  “I’ll set up your bed tonight, and if you do not sleep well we can order an eastern style frame from Lady Ophelia’s.” Mr Sakiyama reached out and placed her bamboo containter on a revealed shelf next to the door. “I’ll leave everything open for you to unpack.”

  From there, he opened the door into the Master Suite. I called it that because it wasn’t just a single room. There was a nursery, a washing room, my own room and then Bastian’s, if I understood the layout Bastian had explained on the ship.

  Mr Sakiyama led us straight past the other doors to the master bedroom at the end, only pointing out the washing room as he went.

  Bastian’s room was surrounded by large windows on the north, west and southern sides, enough that I wondered if I would feel comfortable with so much visibility. At least it wouldn’t be bright at five in the morning when the sun rose in the east. I couldn’t imagine living in the Peldeep version of the Acorn Room for however long it took to prepare mine.

  And I didn’t want to leave Bastian over a room.

  “Here is where you’ll be staying.” Mr Sakiyama explained, bringing the remaining dumplings over to a clean desk the length of the entire room under the western window. There was a spindle in another corner, an eastern style door with a lock leading into what I assumed was my room, and about six potted plants - two hanging from hangers from the ceiling in front of the south facing window.

  “I’m impressed, Hiro.” Bastian stared at the room like it was his first time seeing it as well. “Dare I ask?”

  “I moved your usual, uh, furniture, into the nursery. That can stay as it is while we prepare Countess Peregrine’s room.” Mr Sakiyama waved at the connecting door. “In the meantime, I’ve taken out your usual bedding and replaced it with two mats.”

  “Unacceptable!” A harsh voice cut in from behind. Lish was standing in the doorway with my chest, looking utterly scandalised. “I dare you to say that again! Sharing a room! Before the wedding? Never–”

  “Lish.” I cut off the elf mid rage, laying my free hand on my friend's shoulder. “It’s alright. We just spent every night together on the road. This isn’t much different–”

  “It is completely different.” Lish argued, something she rarely did. “You could sleep in my room; small as it is, it is better than this! Or they could let me sort out your sleeping quarters. Is there some tradition where you are not allowed to use your own room until the wedding?”

  “No, but–” Mr Sakiyama started but never got to finish. Lish shoved the chest at the housekeeper and he caught it in his arms.

  “Then there is no reason why you can’t be reasonable!” Lish declared, turning around to open the door to my bedroom.

  I didn’t get to see her do it, since Bastian instinctively wrapped me in his arms and turned his back to the maid.

  I heard her open the door though, as everything that had been leaning up against it from the opposite side crashed into the room and Lish let out a strangled, “Argh!”

  A pink ball of yarn rolled across the floor until it bumped up against my foot.