This past week had been the most peaceful Olifar had felt in a while. Besides changing his bandages, the nurses gave him a few instructions on what he can and can’t do then left him unbothered the rest of the time. He still hadn’t gotten any of his stuff from home, but Calley had said she’d come back with it soon.

The first time she had called, he thought the nurse must have gotten the wrong room and accidentally gave him someone else’s call, but when he heard Calley call his name over the speaker he had known it was her.

There was a sudden knock at the door, louder than his usual nurse, and he called for them to come in.

“Hello, Olifar! Guess what I have~”, Calley poked her head through the crack in the door.

When he looked at her curiously, she threw the door open and showed him the small suitcase and backpack in her hands, and a smaller, pastel pink box. She had casual clothes on, so it was probably a stir off for her.

“Your stuff! And… umm... macarons!” She looked at the box, as if she had forgotten the name of whatever was in there, before shuffling over and gently setting the bags on the floor next to his bed. Then, she opened the box and carefully passed Olifar one of the brightly colored discs. He took it, and she set the box on the side table where he could easily reach them from his bed.

“I went to Third Island lastir and saw these, they’re so cute! I thought you might like them, the vendor said they’re from Earth. Have you ever had one?” 

As Olifar shook his head, he sniffed the macaron in his hand, it smelled very sweet, almost like the flowers he had seen on his school tour of First Island. He nibbled the edge of it. It made a crunch noise as he bit into it, and proceeded to melt in his mouth. The outside was crispy, and it was very sweet, as he had expected.

“Thank you… it’s good.” He looked at Calley who had already taken a few bites of hers, then looked down at the bags.

“You’re welcome…” She followed his gaze towards the bags, “there wasn’t much in your room, you should go through them and make sure I got everything.”

Olifar nodded, “I will, thank you again.” He hadn’t realized how little he owned until it was all packed up in a (small) pile right in front of him.

“It’s fine, just tell me on the phone if you’re missing anything and I’ll see what I can do.”

She’s so nice… why can’t everyone be like her?

Olifar nodded and promised to look through his luggage soon, then she left, probably to enjoy the rest of her stir off work.

A few minutes after Calley left, he slipped out from under the covers and knelt down to pick up his backpack and suitcase. They were smooth and slick to the touch, made of water resistant material that was used often in bags and shoes. It wasn’t much good for clothes though, so they were made with a different, softer, water resistant cloth.

Wow, is this really all I own?

Olifar silently thought to himself as he placed each on the bed. He opened the bulging suitcase first, which was filled to the brim with neatly folded clothes. Shirts, sweaters, leggings, a couple shorts, pajamas, underclothes, and socks, all in off white or pastel colors. His extra pair of shoes was crammed in the outer pouch of the suitcase, and nothing seemed to be missing, so he closed it carefully and set it back on the floor.

Next was his backpack. It was the same backpack he used for school, and was worn down with holes in the straps and sides, and stains in some places from when it had been thrown in the trash.

There wasn’t much in it, a couple books, his cracked phone, schoolwork, a pencil case, his wallet, bathroom supplies, and some other junk. This was everything he owned, so he took out his wallet and looked to see if his bank card and cash was still in there.

To his relief, Olifar’s bank card had not been removed. Although the money he had earned a couple weeks ago was gone, that didn’t matter as long as he could access his bank account.

With a peaceful smile, Olifar put everything back into the bag, set it on the floor, and climbed back into bed. He would take a shower after dinner, then put on a comfy sweater and pajama pants.

***one week later***

Olifar had just woken up when his phone started ringing, and reached over where it lay on the nightstand to answer it.

“...hello…?” he rasped, his throat was still dry from sleeping.

“Olifar! Hi, it’s me, Calley. I’m calling to tell you that I’m coming to pick you up! Thistir* you get to meet your new foster parents and get settled in.” Olifar’s stomach dropped, then filled with butterflies. No… more like bees. He was going to meet his foster parents… thistir. *today is called thistir*

A sense of dread was slowly taking over, and Olifar started taking deep breaths, hoping to calm down.

What if they’re not nice? What if they hate me?

“I’ll be there in 30 minutes, ok? See you soon!”

“...Bye-” Olifar had barely gotten the word out when he heard the dial tone, signalling Calley had hung up.

…Guess I should get ready then…

Slipping out of bed, Olifar shivered when his bare feet touched the cold ground. He crouched down to his suitcase, got out his favorite fluffy, pastel pink sweater, light blue shorts, white thigh high socks, and his only good pair of shoes, which were safely tucked away in the big pouch on the outside of his suitcase. He wanted to make a good impression, so he wasn’t going to wear his torn up ‘school’ shoes when meeting his new family.

He scampered over to the bathroom, which thankfully had a lock, and shut the door. He didn’t need bandages anymore since he healed faster than the average Traetan(probably due to being part… whatever his father was), but the wounds were still tender and stitched up, so he had to be careful not to reopen them.

He was out of the shower a short 10 minutes later, and hurried to dry off and get dressed. By the time Olifar had finished drying his hair, brushing his teeth, and packing up, it was already 37 minutes after Calley had called. He was patiently sitting on the edge of the bed, eating some breakfast a kind nurse had brought up for him, when Calley knocked impatiently then burst into the room.

“Olifar, so nice to see you again. You’re eating breakfast? Tell me when you’re done and we can leave whenever you’re ready!” Calley said then looked around the room and sat in one of the chairs by the bed.

“I’m pretty much done… we can leave now, if you want” Olifar hesitated, she had just sat down and now he wanted her to get up again. He didn’t think she would get mad though, so he went ahead and said it anyway.

“Alright, if you’re completely ready, we can get your bags and bring them to my boat.” She stood up, gesturing to his suitcase and backpack as she did so.

“Ok, I’m ready…” Olifar threw his trash away and grabbed the bags, then followed her through the door, down a few hallways, to the front desk to check him out of the hospital. They walked out the front doors to see the suns rise, reflecting beautifully across the surface of the water.

The parking dock wasn’t too far away, and they were in her small, grey motor boat in no time, loading his bags in the floor storage area in front of the back three seats and hopping into the front seats.

“It will take about an hour to get there, so you can just relax, listen to music, make yourself comfortable.” Calley smiled as she started the boat and turned the radio on, then they were off, heading to Olifar’s new home.

***

It had been about 40 minutes, when he looked out of the window and spotted a herd of hippalar.

Aren’t hippalar supposed to live in shallow water? They even have babies! So cute…

The slender creatures were blue all over, with the exception of their white belly and underside of their long, thin tail that flared out at the end. The single horn in the middle of their head looked magical as it reflected the light of the suns, and the wing-like fins on their back only added to the effect.

Olifar came to the conclusion that their herd must have been migrating. This was the most likely reason, as hippalar could outswim almost every predator, and only made their home in shallow waters.

The smallest ones, no bigger than the size of his head, clung to their mothers’ backs. You could tell which were male or female only by looking at the fins on their back. Females had larger, darker fins, while males had small fins the same color as the rest of their body. The young were nestled right in between the two top fins, comfortably sleeping, or craning their necks to look around.

Olifar turned in his seat as they passed the herd, squinting until he could no longer see them. They were one of his favorite animals, and they had been far from their home, right when he was on his way to his new home. He took it as good luck and looked forward, they were almost there, he saw some houses in the distance, meaning they were near his new neighborhood.

Neighborhoods were spread all throughout Traetys, and most were only temporary because of the fact that Traetans loved to move around. Some were permanent, with houses anchored to rocks or the ocean floor, and only these neighborhoods had schools. It was common for parents to teach their children at home instead of sending them to school, so schools were often small, and usually at the center of permanent neighborhoods.

Bea and Georgi had been in a permanent neighborhood, so he had gone to school there. Now he would be living in another permanent neighborhood and going to the school there.

As they got closer, the houses loomed up above them. All had at least three floors, some even reaching five... from what they could only see above water.

So they’re wealthy...

Olifar had never met someone wealthy enough to have a house with three floors, let alone five. He couldn’t believe he would be living in such a huge house. Even though Bea and Georgi had been well off, they had only had two floors.

Calley’s boat slowed to a stop in front of a four story house, slowly pulling in to the wide dock full of sleek, fast looking boats. The grey motorboat looked almost out of place, too chunky and wide.

As they climbed out and Calley tied the boat to the dock, Olifar looked up at the massive house casting a shadow over him and shivered, his nerves making the house look foreboding.

“Alright, let’s go inside!” Calley started up the dock and to the front entrance, a colorful door of intricately carved coral, all placed together seamlessly and probably reinforced with some kind of metal on the inside.

The knocker was carved into the head of a gandet, it’s snarling fangs bared at whoever came up to the door and a golden ring hanging from it’s neck.

There was a doorbell to the right of the door, so Olifar would have thought the knocker was for decoration, but it looked well used, the ring not as polished and shiny as the rest of the head.

Calley reached up and pulled the ring back, knocking it against a small metal piece on the door three times.