Drew was stunned. He hadn't even knocked on the door yet and the person on the other side basically told him to leave. 

"That's one nice way to greet your neighbor," Drew responded. 

"Go away," the voice hissed, "can't you see I'm busy." 

"Doesn't seem like that if you have time to shoo me away. Plus, I can't see you." 

"Leave," he snarled, "Leave now! You're annoying!"

However, Drew would not give up.

"How am I?" He asked. 

"You're wasting my time." The voice quickly replied. 

That wasn't a good response. Drew thought.

"Can I at least do something for you?"

There was a brief moment of silence. 

"Leave." The voice ordered. 

Drew decided to leave the conversation here. It was no use trying to reason with this guy.

"Okay then," Drew sighed running his hand through hair, "can you at least tell me your name before I leave? We are going to be living under the same roof for a while." 

"Elias, " the voice answered with a trace of annoyance, "Elias Damus Ryhard. Now leave!" 

With that Drew turned around and returned to his room where he decided to continue unpacking. Time passed and Uncle Ryhard returned. It was five.   

"I'm home." A voice bellowed from the floor below. 

Drew rushed down to the below. 

"Welcome back." He greeted.

"You finished unpacking?" Uncle Ryhard asked. 

"Yeah, just about done however I do need some things to finish off the room," Drew smiled as he opened up a holographic tab with a list on his communication device, "do you know where I can perhaps get some of these cheaply?" 

Looking at the list, Uncle Ryhard pointed to a door to the right of the kitchen. 

"You can get a small waste bin and a laundry basket from that closet over there. The rest, you would have to get it from somewhere else. You could try some of the thrift stores across the street. They have some pretty nice stuff for a cheap price. Also, be careful when you're out there you probably notice earlier that those thugs were following you." 

Drew nodded understanding his advice.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." 

Drew ran over to the closet and pulled out a small plastic green waste bin and a black cloth laundry basket. They were a bit dusty from sitting in there but Drew could easily get rid of it with some water. Closing the closet door, Drew heard footsteps coming up the stairs. An exhausted woman's voice could be heard. Turning around, Drew identified a slim woman who seemed to be in her thirties wearing business casual attire consisting of a long-sleeved white blouse, blue jeans, and black heels. On her head was a pair of black shades that matched her blond hair and her slightly tan complexion.    

"I'm back." She greeted placing down her waterproof computer backpack. 

"Welcome home." Uncle Ryhard smiled and walked over to the women pecking her on the forehead, "how was work, honey?"

"Same old," She mumbled under her breath, "Those old crooks don't know a thing. They won't give me a big fat raise!" 

"I see," Uncle Ryhard responded knowing that her mood was not too good. 

The woman glanced up and notice Drew, who was watching the scene unfold before him like a movie. 

"Who's this?" She glared at Drew, inspecting him from top to bottom. 

"Ah, yes!" Uncle Ryhard remembered, "Drew this is my wife Jenny Amina Ryhard she's an appraiser at the Ozwarth Medical Facility. Jenny this is Drew, he will be living with us from now on." 

"Nice to meet you Mrs. Ryhard." Drew bowed with respect. 

Suddenly, she burst into laughter. 

"You don't have to be so formal," she laughed approaching Drew then putting him in a chokehold, "just call me Auntie! Don't worry Ryhard has told me about you." 

"Oh, is that so?"

"Indeed, I know all about you kid. Your mother and I were best friends in Star." She smirked. 

"Really!" Drew was stunned. 

"Of course, originally I had a crush on your father but I somehow fell in love with the man you see here." 

"I was her back up plan," Uncle Ryhard pouted dwindling his thumbs.  

"Aw," she cooed hugging Uncle Ryhard, "you were not!" 

Drew felt like he was watching a terrible real-life soap opera happen before his eyes. Feeling a little disgusted with their intimate relationship, Drew picked up both bins and went up to his room. Ten minutes later, he came back down and noticed that Auntie had begun to cook dinner. Today's menu was garlic chicken with wild rice risotto and a salad. The fragrant aromas coming from the kitchen reminded Drew of the time he spent cooking in Star's soup kitchen. Watching Auntie hold the knife with grace, he fell into a trance. Her knife skills far surpassed his own. She was like a conductor. With each cut, it was as though she was playing an instrument. Xylophone, no. Piano. Every cut was a note and those notes were smoothly strung together form a food ballad, no, a symphony. The cuts were swift and clean, not a speck of food touched the shining silver blade of the chef's knife. Auntie noticed that Drew was entranced by her knife work. Stopping her cutting briefly, she pointed her knife at the teen.

"Would you like to help?" She offered. 

"Huh," Drew shook his head snapping out of his brief daze before responding, "sure, I have nothing to do." 

"Grab an apron," Auntie ordered pointed over to a drawer. 

As instructed, Drew put on the apron and brought out a cutting board with another chef's knife. 

"I heard you used to work in a soup kitchen at Star." 

"Those were the days," Drew smiled. 

"And now you are here in our household. That means you must have reached Low F-Class." 

"Mid F-Class," Drew corrected as he brought out some dressing from the fridge, "Star compensated me with another high ranking gene regiment after Winter passed away." 

"Ha," she huffed then punched the countertop, "Linus was compromised. He was compromised. That guy always tried to take the burden for the team. Always sacrificing himself for your father, your family." 

"He really looked up to him, my father?" Drew asked with a solemn expression. 

"Not just him!" Auntie snorted as she cut the onions, "We all did. He was our captain. He lead us to countless victories. Saved us from our darkest times. He was our light. To your mother. To Mathis. To Linus. To myself. To all of us! Linus was the closest to your father. His family served your father's for generations!"

Drew cocked a brow.  

"Uncle Winter is an Avain?"

"No," Auntie shook her head, "he's Human. The Winter family, as you know, is a prominent family of Snowhawk Avains on Xolk. Despite most Avains living on Xolk, there are also some other races that live on there as well including Human. You know kid, the world is a lot bigger than you think it is. Linus's family was the first of the Human families to settle down on Xolk over a thousand years ago. His family was a family of researchers that rescued by your father's family on multiple occasions during the early exploration of Xolk. Since then, they've served the Winter family as butlers and Linus was one of them." 

After hearing this, Drew realized the more he heard, the more he realized how complicated his family and past were. 

"I didn't know." 

 "Of course you don't," Auntie chuckled as she poured some white wine into a pot, "this is only the tip of the iceberg." 

"Well if that's the case, can you tell me about my mother?" 

"No problem. She and I were roommates on Star's Xolk campus. My first impression of her was pretty good. Despite being the first daughter of the Night family, a family of Nightengale Avians just a prominent as the Winter family, she didn't act like a spoilt rich girl rather, she was the most humble person I ever met. I remember her leaving the dorms with me every weekend to volunteer at refugee camps. Handing out water bottles, talking with some of the residents, taking pictures to raise awareness, she was incredible." 

"She must've been really nice," Drew said in admiration.

"The nicest person I've know to this day, she had a heart of pure gold. But that stupid incident killed her and your father. It's dumb how both of their families fought over such a trivial matter. Even they thought this whole conflict was pointless but no, their families believed that your power could make either one of their families the strongest in the Orion Alliance. Once they wiped out each other, some shady organizations got involved and made this whole thing a lot messier. Seriously, you were a frickin' infant!"

"Everyone had been saying the same thing." Drew laughed although it was not really the appropriate time. 

"Of course! It's ludicrous!" Auntie shouted slamming a spatula on the marble counter. 

"Anyways,"  she continued, "Have you meet Elias yet?" 

"Mm," Drew nodded, "but he shut me out. Is that normal?" 

"No," she said, her voice lowering two octaves as she grabbed some plates from the cupboard, "he wasn't like this until a few months ago. He one day just shut himself up in his room and from then on, he wouldn't talk to us." 

"What happened?" 

"I'm not sure. He never told Mathis or me what happened but I have a hunch that it might have been something that happened after he graduated from Compulsory Education." 

"Bullying?"

"Perhaps," she replied with uncertainty, "come on, dinner is almost ready." 

"Should I call Elias?" Drew offered. He was eager to meet Elias face to face.  

"Sure." She nodded placing down a plate of piping hot food on each bamboo placemat on the table, "I'll get Mathis. He should be closing up the shop right about now." 

Taking off her kitchen apron, Auntie scurried down the stairs to fetch Uncle Ryhard while Drew ran up the stairs to tell Elias that dinner was ready. Knocking on the door, Drew was faced with the same hostile greeting. 

"What do you want now?" 

"Um, your mom told me to tell you that dinner is ready," Drew told him plainly. 

Silence. 

"I'll come down," Elias groaned, "give me a minute." 

"Alright, I'll see you down there." 

Silence, once again. 

What happened to him? Drew thought as he hurried down the stairs. Whatever it is, I'm going to find out. 

Arriving at the dining table, Drew was greeted by Uncle and Auntie Ryhard with warm smiles and hot food. The fragrance coming from the juicy chicken could be smelled from upstairs while the musty aroma from the white wine in the risotto hiding within the strong chicken fragrance tickled his nose a bit. Taking a seat on the left side of the table, the three of them waited as their guest of honor was about to arrive. Loud footsteps cam down the stair and Drew saw two, pale plump legs. One loud step at a time, more of the figure began to appear. His large fatty arms, his round belly that could be seen falling out of his red tee-shirt, his dark eye bags that could clearly be seen behind his medium-rimmed glassed that showed signs of sleep deprivation, his unkempt orange hair and faded blue eyes, it was him. 

"Elias," Uncle Ryhard welcomed, "so nice of you to join us for a meal." 

Silence. The figure, Elias, slowly dragged the chair, causing it to scrape against the wooden floor. The sharp sound caused Drew to jerk his body a little. Elias sat down grabbing his fork and knife and started to eat. More silence.   

Uncle Ryhard continued trying to set a cheerful mood, "This is Drew, he is going to be under our care for some time. I hope you two can get along well, you guys are the same age too!" 

Silence. Awkward silence. 

"Well," Auntie began holding up her mug filled with tea, "since we've gained a new member to this family, I propose a toast." 

"What a wonderful idea," Uncle Ryhard said raising his voice to the point where it sounded artificial. Holding up his mug filled with coffee. 

Hesitating a little, Elias held up a glass filled with water.

"I guess I'll join."

"That's the spirit!" Uncle Ryhard rejoiced. "Come on Drew, this is our welcome to you."

A smile crawled onto Drew's face. Like the rest of the 'family', he held his glass up, letting the light from the chandelier reflect off its rim. 

"I'll be in your care."