It took us about two hours, with Kero, Chirpy and Rebecca in animal form and me on Kero's back, to get to Kero's home. I wasn't surprised to see Rebecca change into a Timber Wolf. Her brown hair matched the colour of her fur and it even had her smiling eyes.

When we got to Kero's home, I rushed inside to see my friends. I was then surprised by Kero's younger sister, Katelyn, when she jumped into my arms. "Aathy!" She squealed.

"Hey Kate!" I grinned.

"Welcome back! It took you long enough!"

I smiled at her and saw Aryan walk in from the kitchen. "Aathy!" He grinned.

"Hey!"

He walked up to me and gave me a quick hug. "How are you?" He asked.

"I'm fine! And you?"

He nodded. "Bored. That trip to Kyrian Mountain was too fun."

I laughed and then saw Savannah running down the giant staircase of Kero's house. "Aathy!" She yelled.

I grinned and let her jump into my arms as well.

"Oh, gosh I missed you!"

"I missed you too!" I said as I hugged her.

She gasped and pulled away. I looked at her and noticed that she was looking at Chirpy. "Chirpy!"

Chirpy looked up, surprised by her yell.

She ran up to him and grabbed his hand. "You won't believe who you're going to see!"

Chirpy looked at her, confused. "Who?" He asked. He opened his mouth to say something else, but then he froze as he looked past Savannah.

I followed his gaze and saw a red headed girl, who looked about my age, stare at him. Her eyes were just as orange as his were and there was something else about them that made them look similar.

"AMBER?" Chirpy yelled.

Amber started screaming as she ran right into Chirpy, almost knocking him down. "You're alive!" She screamed.

Chirpy laughed. "I'm so happy to see you!"

I walked to Kero's side as the two yelled happily at each other. "Who is she?" I asked.

Kero smiled. "His younger sister."

My mouth fell open. "No wonder they look alike!"

Kero nodded. "Everyone in his family looks like one another in some way."

Chirpy looked at me. "Aathy! Meet my second youngest sister, Amber!"

I smiled at Amber. She had shoulder length red hair and large orange eyes. She was shorter than me, and she looked mature. The biggest difference between Chirpy and Amber was that. She was short and mature looking whereas Chirpy was tall and childish looking. Not that that was a problem, Chirpy's childishness was his best trait. So I assumed Amber's maturity was her best trait.

"It's nice to meet you Amber!" I smiled.

She grinned. "Nice to meet you too. I was told that you and your friend took care of my brother. Thank you for that."

"No problem! Chirpy's amazing." Yup, she was definitely mature.

Amber then looked at Kero. "Keroshan! You have been awfully quiet."

Kero smiled at her. "I thought I should let you and your brother talk. You two haven't seen each other in a long time, yes?"

Amber nodded and took Chirpy's hand. "Come! There is so much I need to tell you, big brother!"

Chirpy smiled. "Same here."

They walked into the living room where they sat and spoke.

I looked up at Kero who seemed to be looking for someone else. "Who are you looking for?"

"Serena." He said.

"Oh." I then remembered about the sandwiches. "Oh yeah! Hey guys, my mom made sandwiches and fruit salads for all of you guys." I took the basket from Kero and thanked him for carrying it. I then followed Savannah into the kitchen and she helped me distribute them and as always, my mom's sandwiches were the best.

"Tell your mom these were delicious!" Katelyn said. "Just like all the other things she cooks! Your mom is amazing!"

I smiled. "I'll tell her, and yeah, she's pretty awesome."

Rebecca, who had stayed for a bit, got up. "Okay, well I should get going. My mom's going to be worried."

Kero nodded. "We will come to visit soon." He said.

She smiled. "I'll let my mom know." And with that, she left.

Kero then turned to me. "Come." He said, taking my hand and helping me up.

I felt my cheeks heat up when Savannah and Katelyn giggled. I rolled my eyes at them, trying to hide my embarrassment.

Kero took me outside. "The last time you came, I never got to show you around." He smiled.

"Are you sure it's okay for me to go outside though? I mean, wouldn't Raakshyans try to kill me?" I asked, a little nervously.

He answered my question by kissing me. I remembered how they couldn't touch me if I was the lover of a Raakshyan. He pulled away and smiled. "Just remember that you are my girl, Okay?"

I smiled and nodded. I had always wanted a guy to call me his girl, and Kero knew that. That was one of the good things about being in love with someone who knew me almost as well as I did. He knew what I liked.

He took my hand and guided me to the dirt road.

"You guys have a lot of catching up to do with technology." I said.

Kero nodded. "But we were once ahead of your people. The curse has really messed us up. I'm just glad we didn't go into extinction." He smiled at me.

I smiled back. "I think it's impossible for people like you to go extinct. I mean, you guys are so powerful!"

He nodded. "Yes. We are. You're right."

I nudged him and laughed.

We walked in silence for a bit. "Will she be mad?" I asked.

"Who? And why?"

"The queen... why? Well... because we're... in love."

"Ah." Kero said as he looked up at the sky. "She will be." He paused and then looked at me. "But that doesn't matter."

I nodded. "Okay... but where are we going?"

"I was thinking of showing you around. We'll go to the market first, and then to the school..." He paused.

"And?"

"Well, I was wondering if you would be okay with coming with me to my mother's grave..."

"Of course I would come!" I said. "I'd love too."

He smiled. "Thank you."

When we arrived at the market, I felt strangely at ease. Not like the last time. The last time we came here, everyone stared at me like I was a nasty bug. This time, they looked at me, saw that Kero was holding my hand and looked away.

I was also not afraid to look at the people now. Everyone was so different. Their hair were different colours, I even saw a purple haired man. The place was absolutely colourful. Everyone had symbols on their foreheads, everyone but some of the little kids who were running around and singing songs in a language I didn't know.

We walked to a man with long orange hair and a long orange beard. "Keroshan!" He smiled. "Welcome home, son!"

Kero smiled at him. "How are you, sir?"

"I am fine, fine." He looked at me.

"This is Aathiray, my lover." He smiled and my heart jumped because of the fact that he said it so easily.

"A human?"

Kero nodded.

The man looked awkwardly at me, but smiled. He then turned to Kero. "You will grow to be just like your father! You should be proud of yourself, lad."

Kero stiffened but smiled. He then bought me a fruit that looked like an apple but felt like an orange and we left. Kero helped me peel it. "This is a lalum fruit."

"Lalum... interesting." I said.

"They are sweet and my personal favourite. I know you like sweet fruits, so I thought you would like this." He took a single bite out of it like it was an apple and then handed it to me.

"Kero... why did he say you were going to be like your father?" I asked. I knew he felt uncomfortable speaking about his father but I really wanted to know what he meant. Was Kero's father once in love with a human? I knew for a fact that Kero's mother wasn't human.

Kero hesitated. "My father... he believed that Raakshyans should treat humans kindly, he thought that they should be treated the same way we treat each other. He was fond of humans."

I looked at Kero and saw him glaring at the floor. "Oh..." I said. I took a bite out of it and was surprised by how sweet it was. "Mm! It tastes good!" I said, deciding to change the subject. I took another bite.

Kero looked up and smiled, he seemed pleased with himself. "I knew you would like it."

I smiled at him. "You know me too well."

He grinned.

He then showed me around some more, he bought me so much food that I stuffed myself like crazy but all of it tasted delicious.

Kero then showed me the school he went too. It was huge. It was almost like I imagined it to be though. It was made of red bricks and had a large bell at the very top. Though school was long done, there were a lot of kids running around. Kero said it's because there's a park behind the school.

"There's one more thing I want to show you." Kero said as he stopped walking. "It's fairly far though, so I'm going to have to carry you and run."

I nodded and climbed up unto his back.

"Ready?" He asked.

"Yup." I said. My jeans made it a little hard to feel comfortable but I knew he wouldn't let me fall. I tightly wrapped my arms around his neck and took a deep breath.

He started running.

I stared as the trees, people and buildings passed so quickly. I knew his people were amazingly strong and capable of doing crazy things, but I knew I wouldn't get used to it. I was sure that he was going as fast as our car on a clear highway.

He was simply amazing.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

He looked up. "Do you see that tall tower?" He asked.

"Yeah." It was really tall but I knew it would look taller when we got closer.

"We're going there."

"Why?" I asked.

"It's a nice place." He said.

I looked at the tower, it did look nice. It was made of a strange, dark, glass that seemed to reflect the light off it, making it shine. At the top of the tower, there was a clock and on top of that was a strange design that looked like an 'R'. "Kero, what's that design at the very top?"

Kero looked up. "It was a very big sculpture created by the greatest Raakshyan artist in history many years ago. It was meant to be the initials of the first ruler of Raakshya, Raakshya Ravun. In the end, they decided to use that as the symbol of Raakshyans, an 'R' that's designed in that specific way. It's now used on the Raakshyan flag and coat of arms. The Queen decided to put it up on this tower."

"Wow. How long did it take to build it?" I asked.

"One hundred and fifty three years." Kero grinned. "It only took that long because it was built completely by Raakshyan men and women. No technology."

"That's amazing!"

I looked up and noticed that we were almost at the very bottom of the tower. When we got there, I looked up. "Oh gosh, I can't even see the top." I frowned.

Kero laughed.

I walked to his side as he opened the door. Inside was a large but empty room. "Um, Kero... there's nothing in here."

Kero chuckled. "We have to go upstairs."

I looked around again. "There's no door." But there was an indent in the wall.

Kero walked towards that indent. He then placed his hand on it. Suddenly, the mark on his forehead started to glow and then the wall started to glow too. Eventually, the door started to rise. I didn't like the noise it was making, it was the sound of rocks being rubbed against each other. I coughed and sneezed a couple of times as dust flew around. "Ugh! No one's been here in a while..."

When the dust cleared, I looked inside and saw a staircase. I looked at Kero. "Do we go up?" I asked.

He nodded.

I grinned. "Race ya!" I said.

"I don't think-"

I was already running up the stairs before he finished.