Eris curled up against her blanket. It was very bright, despite her closed eyes. She buried her head under her pillow.

She lay there for a bit, then sighed, still tired. She should probably get up. She managed to sit up in her bed, eyes slowly blinking open.

… Where the fuck was she? She blearily looked around at the room she was in. Relatively small, the room was plainly decorated, with almost nothing covering the walls except for a sizeable bookcase in the corner and a dresser next to it. Light poured in through a sheer white curtain. Eris’s phone was plugged in on a small table next to the queen-sized bed she was laying in. And her suitcase was standing in front of the dresser.

Ah. Right. As the haze cleared from her brain, she realized Valie must have put her suitcase there. And probably plugged her phone in too. That was really sweet of her. Eris smiled fondly.

And that meant this was her new home.

She was living with Valie now.

Her smile grew into a wide grin. Hell yeah. This was gonna be awesome.

The décor would need some work, though. This room was so boring! That was probably Valie’s fault too. Forgivable, though.

As she considered that, the smell of frying eggs wafted into Eris’s room. Suddenly realizing how hungry she was, Eris quickly readied herself for the day, pulling off the rumpled clothes she had flown and slept in and throwing on a cute yellow sundress. Her bedroom had a connected bathroom, which she used to brush her teeth.

Readied up, Eris stepped out of her room. Across from her door, there was another similar looking one just across the hallway. Probably Valie’s room? At the end of the hallway was a downward staircase, illuminated by sunlight coming in through a large window. The smell and sound of cooking were much more noticeable out here.

Eris hurried down the stairs. At the bottom, she found an open and spacious living room, dining room, and a kitchen. There was a desk in one corner, which had three monitors and a black RGB-lit computer sitting atop it. Yeah. Her sister was a nerd.

In the kitchen stood Valie, dressed in slacks and a blouse with an apron overtop. Her straight reddish-brown hair flowed down her back.

Valie was facing away from Eris and intently concentrating on the frying pan in front of her. Perfect. Eris walked up behind her sister and threw her arms around her waist, saying “Boo!”

“JESUS fucking christ!” Valie jumped, body tensing, the frying pan clattering as she dropped it to the cooktop. Eris giggled like a gremlin in response, her tail swishing slowly as she hugged close against her sister from behind. Slowly, Eris felt Valie’s body relax. Valie started giggling as well.

“You are such a fucking asshole,” Valie said through her laughter. “You know I haven’t lived with anyone else in years, right? Fuck.”

Still giggling, Eris said, “Yeah, well, gotta get you used to it again somehow, right?”

Valie groaned in dissent. “Ugh. You couldn’t be a bit more gentle about it?”

“We’ll see,” Eris said in a sing-song voice. She couldn’t physically see Valie roll her eyes in response, but she knew that it happened.

“Well if I have a heart attack and die, it is officially your fault,” Valie said. Eris giggled softly, smiling and pressing her head against the back of Valie’s head as she continued to hug her sister. She let herself feel the warmth and softness of her sister’s belly. Eris hadn’t really realized how much she had missed teasing Valie over their years apart. But she had missed it. A lot. Their relationship was very special. Annoying other people just wasn’t the same.

Eris sighed softly. She really didn’t want to lose her sister. Not ever again. The swishing of her tail slowed, and her cat-ears drooped back. “Hey Valie?” she asked.

“Yeah?” came Valie’s reply. She was focused on cooking again. It looked like she was making omelets.

“Never ghost me again,” Eris whispered, almost pained to consider the possibility. As she said it, she felt Valie’s body tense in her arms.

“I… I’m sorry, I..”

Valie’s response was cut off by Eris saying, “I’m not asking for an apology. Just… Promise you won’t do it again.” Eris hugged Valie tighter, clinging to her.

“I.. I’ll never ghost you again.”

“Promise me.”

Valie nodded softly, then turned around. Eris didn’t release her hold on her sister. The two of them stood together, faces inches apart. Valie looked down into Eris’s eyes. Eris looked into her sister’s eyes in return. As she did, she was very suddenly struck by how beautiful Valie’s eyes were. They were grey with subtle flecks of green, like the color of a summer storm. The eyes softened as the sisters held each other’s gaze.

“I promise I will never ghost you or abandon you ever ever ever again,” Valie whispered to her. There was an intensity to her voice. Eris smiled up at her sister. She could feel that Valie meant it.

“Thank you,” Eris said, from the bottom of her heart. Valie smiled back at her.

For a long moment, the two continued looking into each other’s eyes. Eventually, Valie looked away. And… Was Valie blushing? … Whatever. Didn’t matter. Eris hugged her closed, burying her face in her sister’s shoulder and nuzzling. She felt Valie hesitantly hug her back, gently at first, and then tighter. It made Eris feel safe. Secure, even. Her sister wasn’t going to leave her. “Thank you,” she whispered again. Valie nodded in response.

“… Omelet’s probably done,” Valie said eventually. She turned around and back to the stove. “I made one for you. Want it?” She dished two omelets from the frying pan onto two plates sitting on the counter. Eris’s stomach growled as she looked at them, and she nodded eagerly against Valie’s back. She could hear Valie smile from the way she chuckled softly.

Two sat down at the small dinner table and started to eat. It was the first real food Eris had had in a hot minute, and though it was tasty, she spent little time savoring the omelet. She gobbled it up hungrily, despite it being somewhat overcooked. Admittedly, that was probably her fault.

As Eris ate, however, she looked at her surroundings. There were a lot of bookcases for the relatively small space, five of them, all filled with books. They were mostly texts on magecraft, from their appearance, though she also saw some fiction and even a yuri manga series that she recognized. In the living room area, there was a small couch facing a TV, which had a Nintendo Switch hooked up to it.

“This place must have cost a fortune,” she said to Valie. “I mean. A condo this size in the middle of Seattle?”

Valie tilted her head and shrugged. “Honestly, I never asked our parents how much it was. But yeah. Probably expensive.”

“They paid for the whole thing?” They certainly hadn’t done that for Eris’s place in Berlin.

“Yeah.”

“You spoiled bitch,” Eris said, smiling, as she continued to look around. There was even a small balcony, it looked like, right across from the staircase.

“Guess that makes you a spoiled bitch too, now,” replied Valie, a bit of teasing in her tone.

“Hah. I wish. Maybe by proxy.” Valie simply shrugged and continued eating.

She glanced then at Valie. Valie had taken off her apron, revealing the plain blouse underneath. How boring. At least that’s what Eris tried to tell herself. But actually, Valie wore it well. Combined with her glasses, it gave her sister a hot librarian sort of look.

Careful, Eris, she thought to herself. She didn’t need to go down that path again. So, to distract herself, she teased, “So you still dress like a square, I see.”

Valie snorted and finished her bite of food before responding. “Hey fuck off! It’s professional” she said, slightly indignantly, but with a grin that showed she knew Eris was teasing. “And we’re getting our first assignment today, so I figure I should look nice regardless.”

Eris’s cat-ears perked up at this. “We’re going to see Father, then?” It would be the first time since she’d left for Berlin.

“Ah…” Valie replied awkwardly. “Well… actually no. Michael’s coming over here to give us the details. Around 2 pm he said.”

“Oh.” Eris deflated, her ears folding back, and let out a disappointed sigh. Of course. How silly of her to assume that your daughter coming home for the first time in years would be a reason to go visit her. How silly of her to assume she was anything but her parents’ cast-off. Still… Maybe if she did her work well enough, she could finally prove herself to them. Force them to acknowledge her as useful, if nothing else. She clenched her teeth.

“I’m sorry, sis,” Valie said to her, her voice tinged with a slightly pained empathy. She must have recognized the turmoil in Eris’s body language.

“It’s okay. Not your fault.” Eris put up a half-hearted smile. “Besides, between the two of us, we’re gonna do a great job! They can’t ignore me forever if I’m actually useful.”

“Hell yeah we are!” Valie grinned back at her. “Although… Just make sure you’re taking care of yourself first. I don’t think our parents have your best interests at heart.”

Eris sniffed. “I don’t need a lecture.” Valie had a point. But still. She didn’t understand. She could take their parents’ approval for granted. Eris had never been able to.

Valie opened her mouth as if to say something, then shut it, and just nodded. “Sorry,” she said. “Just. I hope you know I’ll love you no matter what. No matter what you’re capable of or how ‘useful’ you are.”

Eris grinned at that. She felt a warmth glowing in her heart.

Careful…, she warned herself again. But Valie made it so difficult. Eris thought she’d gotten over these feelings, during their time apart. At least she’d been able to stop judging herself for how she felt. But the yearning, combined with her inability to tell Valie about it, had been so difficult.

And now, if she wasn’t careful, she was going to develop a crush on her sister for the second time.

Eris looked into Valie’s eyes, and found again that beauty, that intensity, that security, and that love that Valie held for her.

In spite of herself, Eris’s heart grew warmer. Her smile brightened.

Fucking hell.

The doorbell rang at exactly 1:58 pm. That would be Michael, then. Eris sat at the table, looking up from watching videos on her phone, while Valie got up from her computer and went to let Michael in.

By that point, Eris had managed to stow away her… complicated thoughts about Valie. It was probably just the excitement of them being back together again. It would wear off. Surely.

Valie came back up the stairs, with Michael trailing her. He looked much as Eris remembered. Quite tall, short buzzcut black hair, and clean shaven. He was probably about 20 years older than Eris and Valie were, so not quite as old as their parents. As he walked behind Valie wearing jeans and a leather jacket, Eris couldn’t help but think her sister was a bit over-dressed. Even if she did look good.

Michael looked at Eris and nodded. “Eris. Welcome back.”

Eris nodded back. “Michael.”

Michael checked his watch. “Well. Down to business.” He remained standing as he looked from Eris to Valie, who were now sitting next to each other. He batted his hand with a thick set of documents he held in the other. “Alright. So. Basically you’re interning for your parents’ business now. I’ve drawn up documents for you.” He placed part of the stack of papers on the table. “Eris, you’ll have to fill some of these out so we can put you on payroll. This is all just bureaucracy basically. Email me if you have questions.

“This…” He placed another, smaller, stack on the table, apart from the first. “… Is the more important part. Your first assignment. There’s detail in here, but I’ll summarize. One of our Ley Lines in Eastlake, near the docks, has become blocked. We need you to go unblock it and reattune it to the correct Resonance.”

Unblocking blocked Ley Lines? Ugh. Of course. Eris rolled her eyes at this. “Really? You’re having us do baby work?”

“Look, if you have a problem with it, talk to your parents.” Of course this was their fault. They knew she was capable of more than this, but all they cared about was that she didn’t make trouble for them. Eris felt her frustration rise.

“And, fact is,” Michael continued, “one of you has pretty much zero experience in this kind of work.”

Eris found herself standing forcefully out of her chair and raising her voice. “What the hell do you mean, zero experience? I’ve been doing this shit for like three years. Do you know how many Ley Lines I’ve unblocked?”

Michael sighed. “I wasn’t referring to you, Eris.” He glanced at Valie, who shrugged sheepishly. Eris’s anger turned to confusion.

“Wait… Valie? What do you mean?” Eris asked.

Valie nervously scratched her temple. “Well. I’ve just never really done any field work.”

What? “But you’ve been studying here for six years. What the hell have you been doing?”

“Theory, mostly. Some device design work. Prototyping. That sort of thing.” Valie still looked uncomfortable.

Oh. Eris nodded slowly. “Huh. … Okay then.”

Valie looked down at the ground. “Look, I’m sorry. I’ve been meaning to actually do some more practical stuff for a while, and I thought this would be a good opportunity. Especially with us getting to work together and all. I didn’t realize how much you didn’t want to do it.”

“Hey, no, it’s fine.” Well. It was sorta lame. But the reason was less lame, which made it easier for Eris to accept. She back down in her seat, placing her hand on Valie’s shoulder. “It’s fine. I can teach you. Honestly that sounds fun.” It was beginning to sound less like Valie was her babysitter and more the other way around. Well. More of a mentor. But Eris really didn’t mind that. That just meant she and Valie could spend more time together. Her heart warmed slightly at that thought.

Valie perked up a bit, smiling softly. “Yeah. It does sound fun,” she said. Eris was always glad to see that smile. And gladder still to have been the one to cause it.

“You two done?” Right. Michael existed.

“Sorry! Yes!” Valie responded quickly.

“Right. Well, as I said, the information is in that briefing document. Best estimate of its location and so on. Apart from that, all you need is this.” From his pocket, he took out an oblong purple crystal, about two inches long, and placed it on the briefing. “This is a Resonant crystal. I’m sure you can get Eris to explain why we use them.” He glanced at Valie.

Eris could see Valie try not to roll her eyes in response. “Look, even if I haven’t done this before, I do know the theory. Resonant crystals ensure we can consistently attune the Ley Line to the correct Resonance to be harvested by our Mana receivers.” Huh. Eris hadn’t actually known that. She’d never really thought that hard about why the crystal was necessary.

Michael gave Valie a “hmph” in response. “Alright. Whatever. Just get it done. The sooner, the better, as always. Any other questions?”

Eris piped up, “Is the Ley Line in contested territory?”

“Nope. Wouldn’t send a rookie on this assignment if it were. Fair question though.”

Eris nodded, then looked at Valie with raised eyebrows, wordlessly asking if she had any questions. Valie just shrugged, though she looked a little lost.

“Alright then,” Michael said. “I’ve got places to be.” With that, he walked down the stairs and exited the condo.

“Well,” Eris said, looking at Valie. “Guess we might as well do it tonight.”