“You met Mama back then!?” Sera’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Yes.” Phim smiled gently. “As I said at that time, I got separated from the Saint’s Army during the battles. I tried heading towards the nearest settlement for treatment, or at least to get some medicine. I had just been passing through the woods when there had been a thick smell of blood and rustling from the bushes. The sound of movement was clearly not that of animals, so I cautiously went to take a look. Sitting at the base of a mountain like tree was the most beautiful and dangerous thing I’d seen. Your Mother was pretty banged up, but he was also covered in a thick layer of hostility and murderous intent.”

“Wait a sec!” Sera interrupted. “If you met Mama after retreating from the battlefield, then how could Mama not know you were highly ranked in the Saint’s Army!?”

“Well, like you pointed out, I had not long come off the battlefield.” Phim cleared his throat. “So, it can be imagined that I was pretty beat up myself. It was to the extent that I had reverted to my Centaur form. So, your Mother wouldn’t have realized anything from meeting a banged-up Centaur in a dishevelled uniform. Back then I was under the preconception that my human form was stronger and that my Centaur form was a symbol of my weakness, of course I now know that it’s the exact opposite of that. And now in my Centaur form, I’m a lot stronger than I was in my heyday in the army.” Phim shrugged with a smirk.

“Not to mention your Titan blood.” Sera reminded him. “And then? What happened next?”

Phim chuckled. “At the time I saw your Mother, I realized he was a Demon right away. But, honestly, at that time I was tired of the fighting. I had been considering whether or not to ditch the army myself. And it was at this time I met your Mother. So, I decided to take your Mother to the nearest doctor regardless of his struggles. I had a hunch that it would change my life forever. And it did.”

******

As Sera was causing her Father to deepen his reminiscence of the past, the doors in the corridor outside her room opened simultaneously. The occupants of the rooms came out the door at the same time and glanced at each other. Ada was stunned and proceeded to point.

“Ah! Rubim! You forgot to put on your butt coat!” She protested whilst pointing to Rubim’s body that belonged to a horse below the waist.

“At least call it a robe!” Rubim pouted. “It's a lot better than your butt skirt!” he pointed at the long dark green skirt that covered Ada's silky black coat, down to all four of her knees.

“Yeah, but I remembered to put mine on!” Ada rolled her eyes.

“I hadn’t realized my butt changed again!” Rubim moaned.

“Daddy said that our forms will stabilize once we come of age, but before that it'll be very unstable, and we could change at any time.” Ada reminded him. “He also said that we should keep notice of our changes and always have a change of clothes on hand just in case. How can you not notice your butt getting a lot bigger and having extra limbs!? I noticed straight away!”

“Ok, ok I get your point!” Rubim surrendered, am I not allowed to be still sleepy!? Ugh girls are so annoying! “Let me go get my robe.”

Rubim turned around and walked back into his room. Ada stomped her hoof as she smirked in triumph. Rubim came back out with a dark blue robe that covered from his waist down to his knees and across his rear. Covering his shiny chestnut coat.

“OK let's go! Mum should've made breakfast by now.” Rubim grinned as he trotted to the staircase. Ada also grinned and followed.

****

Down in the kitchen, Luciel checked that everything was cooked through and started to lay up the dining table, humming a light tune whilst doing so. Hearing voices coming from the staircase and the distinct rhythmic sound of hooves descending, he smiled gently.

“Good morning my little colt and filly.” Luciel called out gently.

The voices on the staircase stopped, but the hooves' steps increased. He soon saw his little son and daughter nearly cantering down the staircase towards him.

“Slow down! It's dangerous to run down the stairs.” He reprimanded gently.

The two slowed down until they reached the landing. After which they trotted towards Luciel. Once they were closer to Luciel, whose arms were spread open, they opened their arms too as they plunged into Luciel’s embrace.

“Good morning, Mummy!”

“Good morning, Mum!”

“Good morning my little ones.” Luciel hugged both of them close to himself, his tail, that was much longer than Sera's, unravelled from around his hips, expanded from the size of a belt to much bigger and thicker as it wrapped itself around the two from behind. Ada and Rubim loved the hugs they got from their Mum each morning, it always made them feel secure and safe. After a little while Luciel released his embrace, his tail wrapping itself back around his hips, returning to being a belt, and leaned down as he kissed each of them on the forehead.

“Do you two know where your Father is?” Luciel tilted his head. “He should be done waking you all up by now.”

Ada and Rubim looked at each other and shrugged.

“Last we knew Daddy went to wake up Sera.” Ada stated whilst Rubim nodded his head in agreement.

“I guess it's taking a while.” Luciel narrowed his eyes, Looks like there's something that mischievous young lady hasn't told me and is confiding in her Father. What has she done this time? Luciel then smiled. “In that case, whilst we wait for them to come down can you two help me set up the table? It looks like we'll be needing the larger seats as well.”

Ada and Rubim straightened their backs, looked at each other, communicating through each other’s eyes.

Rubim: Mum had that look on his face!

Ada: Sera or Daddy must’ve done something they shouldn’t!

They looked at Luciel in unison.

“OK Mum!”

“Ok Mummy!”

They proceeded to get the chairs they'd need to use as Centaurs and brought them back to the table to swap them out with the normal ones.

Rubim paused for a moment and looked at Luciel curiously.

“By the way Mum, how did you meet Dad?”

“Oh! I want to know too!” Ada’s eyes sparkled.

“Well, looks like those two will still be a while anyway, so I'll tell you.” Luciel realized he hadn’t actually told them before. “However, after I'm done telling you, if your Father and Sister still haven't come down, I'll leave it to you two to go get them.”

They nodded and propped their heads up on their hands with their elbows supporting them against the table. Eagerly, they waited for Luciel to begin the story.