Off to Dinner

"Faye, it's fine. You don't need to cover your eyes anymore," I say after doing the last button on my coat while sitting down on my bed.

She takes a little peek just to make sure, and then she drops her hands with a sigh of relief.

Am I so detestable?

I wave at Lohikaarmi to tell her to drop Astra. She nods and lets go of the little girl.

"PLLLL!" She blows out her tongue at Lohikaarmi and pats down her dress.

"So, did you guys find anything interesting?" I ask, trying to move on from the previous topic.

Before Astra is about to say anything, a knock comes from the door of our room. We all turn to look at it.

Are the nuns back?

"Come in," I call out to the visitor.

The door creaks open. It's Sister Lydia. Thank the Goddess.

"Hello, I am here to tell you guys dinner is almost ready. The other guests have come back and are waiting in the dining hall," she says with a smile.

So soon.

"Thank you. We will be right there," I say.

She nods and closes the door.

"Okay," I say to the girls, "Faye, Lohikaarmi, I need you two to make sure Astra doesn't say anything stupid to the other guests, alright? Their information is valuable to me."

"Mm."

"Yes, Master."

"What? Why me? When did I ever say anything stupid?" Astra asks.

She pouts under my glare.

I turn back to the others. "Also, stay close to me at all times. We still don't know what the situations are between humans and your demographics. Well, technically not Lohikaarmi, but you get what I mean."

They nod.

"Alright, let's go, then," I say and spring up from my bed.

My body feels so much lighter without the Exosuit, but at the same time, there is an air of vulnerability telling me not to get used to that comfort.

I walk to the door to open it for the girls. We head out into the hallway and down the stairs.

Before even reaching the ground floor, I hear the sound of overlapping chatters coming from below.

A dozen guests, is that what Cecilia said? This might get pretty crowded.

"Where is the dining room?" I ask as we step down from the stairs into the empty lobby.

"I know!" Astra exclaims, "Follow me."

She skips toward the hall on the right from the entrance with us behind her.

The sound of talking gradually increases as we get closer. There are two turns at the end of the hall. One side leads to what appears to be the kitchen, and the other leads to the dining hall.

It's definitely not the type of dining hall I am used to, not the cafeteria kind, anyway. This hall is indeed a hall. It's long and tall, like an oversized subway cabin, with one straight table in the center. There are around ten seats on either side of the table, and about half of them are occupied.

The windows on the walls here are colored, too, but I can still tell night has already fallen.

There is no food yet, and the room reeks of sweat. Everyone's faces and clothes are dirtied from some kind of physical labor.

The guests range from my age to late-middle adults. They are all human, and the gender leans heavily toward men.

None of the nuns are here, except for Sister Melody, who is setting silverware around the table with a woman guest helping her.

Melody catches our entrance and gives me a cool nod and a wink, then she moves on to doing what she was doing.

It's as if there was some secret bonding that occurred between us, and no one else can be let in on it. Well, I guess in a way, that's not wrong, but she's treating me like an old friend or something.

There is a cluster of empty chairs on my side of the table. Astra takes a seat at the very edge, and Faye sits down across from her.

A few seats down, a young man probably no older than me is fervently telling a story to his friend beside him. His hands wave in the air as he is doing it. I can't hear what he is saying over the chattering of everybody else, but it must be a funny story, because his friend is slamming his hand on the table laughing.

I grab a seat beside Astra and wave to Lohikaarmi to go with Faye.

"What were the people doing before this?" I ask while fanning my nose.

"Some construction-related work with the other convent, probably," Astra says.

"Would we also have to take part in the future?" Faye asks.

"I think so," I say.

Melody comes over with plates in her hands.

"Afternoon," she says and discreetly pats me on the shoulder.

I clear my throat and try to pretend nothing is happening.

"Good afternoon," Faye says.

Astra sees the nun's hand on me and glances with a squint.

As Melody places the kitchenware on the table, the man beside us calls out, "Yo, Di! Are they new guests?" He then gives us a wave.

Di? What happened to Sister Melody? I didn't know nuns could be given nicknames just like that.

Melody turns to him and says, "Yeah, Owen. Her Excellency will do a proper introduction soon, but you guys should get to know each other. You two had the same orientation after all."

Uh.

Owen furrows his brows in confusion

"We had an orientation?" I hear Faye asking Astra.

Astra shrugs.

"Yeah, what orientation?" Owen says.

"Oh, did you not get it?" Melody asks.

"No?"

"Huh, I guess Sister Abigail is pickier than I thought," Melody mumbles and walks away.

"What orientation was she talking about?" Faye asks.

I just want this conversation to end.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it," I say.

Suddenly, I hear Astra's voice echoing in my head. "Had a little taste of the nuns' hospitality, hadn't ya?"

I move my hand below the table and pinch her thigh.

"Ow, ow," Astra whispers with a frown.

"Well, forget that. Do you mind me joining you?" Owen asks.

"No, go ahead," I say. This is a great opportunity to gather some information about the Holy Capital. He seems to be familiar around here.

Owen says something to his friend and gets up from his chair, then he walks to the one beside me.

Short orange hair curls down to Owen's lightly freckled forehead. He looks at the girls and greets, "How are you doing, misses?"

"I'm fine. Thank you." Only Faye answers. Astra is still rubbing her thigh, and Lohikaarmi is… well, Lohikaarmi.

"May I ask your names?" Owen says.