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I will totally sit atop it with my feet soaking in the water while sipping on a paya!

The left and right sides of the terrace each led to a bedroom with a window onto the river. Directly in the back, they had three rooms with no window. The left one contained pots, utensils, dry foods, and some fruits. The large number of empty shells indicated that once the rest of the family awakened, far more things would fill them. The room on the far end was a bit larger. The left side served as a linen closet with blankets and pillows—no body towels. The right side acted as both an armory and tool shed. It was divided into three very distinct sections: one for hunting and combat, the second for farming, the third for potting and sculpting.

Clean, efficient, with everyone having their little section… just the way I liked it.

And in between those two, the one thing I didn’t realize I’d been in great need of—a bathroom! From my studies, I knew they had toilets like we did, but I didn’t understand why they had two separate ones. And one wasn’t a bidet. In between the two toilets, a small shelf displayed a stack of thin sheets that had to be toilet paper. Across from the toilets, a stone slab at a lower angle towards the wall served as a sink. Two small melia stones flanked the faucet. On the opposite corner, the shower had no separation walls, only drain holes in the stone floor. It had a bigger version of the sink’s two melia stones embedded in the wall.

“If you need to relieve yourself, the seat on the right is for urine, the one on the left is for feces,” Taelen explained matter-of-factly. “Do not fret if you do both in the feces bowl as it can be harder to avoid for females.”

My eyes widened in understanding.

“Ah, so they are directly forwarded to the right processing center to be turned into fertilizers!” I exclaimed.

“Correct,” Taelen said approvingly. “This is the shower. We only ever use it to rinse the salt water off our skins. Most of us do that at some of the freshwater waterfalls outside, with this as our backup. Simply run your palm over the left stone for hot water, and the right stone for cold.”

After putting down the bag Maeve gave me, and that he’d still been carrying, Taelen quickly demonstrated how to use the shower, getting himself wet in the process. And yet, as soon as he turned off the shower, the water fell off him as if his skin repelled it. And his vines gobbled up any lingering moisture. Knowing what would happen, this time I stared not to miss it.

“I’m not jealous at all at how quickly your skin dries,” I said, my voice dripping with envy.

He laughed, picked up the bag, and stepped out of the room to grant me a wee bit of privacy. After relieving my complaining bladder, I rejoined him outside, feeling ten pounds lighter.

Two staircases on each side of the back wall led upstairs. The left stairs gave access to Vailig’s bedroom, while the right ones led to two vacant bedrooms, one of which formerly belonged to their sister, Kaya. All three upstairs rooms also faced the river with a wide window allowing plenty of light and fresh air to come in.

“This is my bedroom,” Taelen said, leading me to the ground floor room on the left. “My parents sleep on the opposite side.”

Like in the storage room, green stones embedded into the wall by the entrance illuminated the room as soon as Taelen ran his palm over it. They weren’t like the traditional glowstones I had experienced elsewhere.

“These lights are made of melia stones, specifically treated for that purpose,” Taelen explained, catching my curious look.

“You always used them for lighting?” I asked, curious.

He shook his head. “They can be transformed to work as an energy source, either for cooling or heating. When properly set up, they will maintain a steady temperature, regardless of environmental changes. It is perfect for composting or if you need something portable to safely cook in the wild as the heat never creates open flames.”

My brow shot up, and I stared at the stone with renewed interest. I didn’t have the technical knowledge to properly assess the stones. But I could see their great value if they could indeed be used as clean, biodegradable sources of heat, cooling, and lighting. My gut also suspected more advanced testing would reveal additional lucrative functionalities.

“Did the Settlers know of the melia stones?” I asked.

He nodded. “But they called them batteries.”

My eyes widened. They wouldn’t have labeled them that if they didn’t find a way to use them as power sources. If they figured that out 450 years ago, God only knew what else the people who extracted them today discovered.

“Let me share that information with Maeve,” I said distractedly, while quickly typing it on my com.

He nodded before glancing around the room. It only contained a large bed that ate half the space, with a hollow nightstand on the left side. A beautiful wooden sculpture of some sea creature hung on the wall above a long, narrow console. The exquisite creation featured a mix of corals and real scales inserted into strategic areas to make it almost lifelike.

“As we must ride early in the morning, I suggest we go to sleep now,” Taelen said.

I stiffened and gave him a stunned look. His confusion at my reaction made me realize he likely assumed we would simply share a room since we were soulmates.

“Would you prefer a separate room?” he asked hesitantly, having guessed the source of my unease.

I shifted on my feet, suddenly feeling silly and self-conscious.

“Hmm… I guess it’s fine to share a bed with you,” I said with a nervous giggle.

He tilted his head to the side and studied my features as if they contained the answer to the greatest mystery in the universe.

“You are strange,” he whispered more to himself than to me.