After the kettle clicked and the last plate found its shelf, the house remembered how to be a house.
Reika opened the balcony a hand's width. Night air came in clean and cool, lifting the edge of the curtains. Rachel dimmed the lights to a warm shade that makes wood look like itself. Seraphina turned the winter flowers a single degree until the tallest stem framed Luna again. Cecilia snapped a picture of the charter on the console and titled it, very seriously, "charter v1."
"Rooms are ready," Reika reported, already two steps ahead. "Fresh linens. Spare sleep clothes in every size. Toothbrushes labeled."
"Of course they are," Rachel said, grinning. "You're a menace and a gift."
Alice glanced at the clock and then at me. "Your people came far," she said. "Let them stay."
"They're staying," I answered. "We have enough rooms to house a small guild."
"Or a large family," Rose added, with a look that made something in my chest unclench.
