Lainey gaped up at the house and Kirov led her off the hovercraft with a hand at the small of her back. Lainey had played piano at her fair share of extravagant parties over the years. She’d seen her fair share of beautiful, towering houses, with elaborate entryways, curving driveways, and beautiful gardens.
While Kirov’s home wasn’tquiteas big as those, it was just as elegant and beautiful. Looking at it from below, it looked to be two stories high, made out of a white stone swirled with grey and gold, that resembled marble. The back of the house was built into the hill, so above the house Lainey could still see the top of the hill peeking out, the green, lush color a sharp and beautiful contrast to the white marble.
Kirov led her to what she assumed was the front door, though it was made of mirrored glass, just like all the tall, huge windows that adorned the front and sides of the house. It gave privacy, since no one could look in.
Lainey glanced down the terrace, to see another house. While not as big, it was a similar design, made out of the same stone, with the same beautiful windows.
“Who lives there?” she asked, just as Kirov placed his hand on the glass of the door. A blue light bloomed from his handprint and then the glass slid away, just like the windows in the Golden City, to reveal the inside.
Lainey gasped, forgetting her question entirely and not realizing that Kirov hadn’t answered her.
Because the inside of the house was...
Incredible.
For one, it was wide and open. The same marble stone lined the floors, but it was light grey in color, with streaks of cobalt and white threaded through, creating a swirling, elaborate pattern through the house. Considering the floors were darker, it was surprising that the space felt surprisingly bright.
But it was the windows and the open floor plan that made it so.
For once, Lainey didn’t feel trapped by walls, because there were hardly any. And when she strode into the space immediately off to the left of the entryway, she looked wide-eyed at the towering glass windows that showed the beauty of the lake, the outpost below, and vast land that stretched miles and miles beyond.
She guessed that room was the living space because there was a fire pit—true to Luxirian tradition—surrounded by cushions, though it was the largest fire pit she’d ever seen. Looking away from the windows, into the room, she saw it was divided by a clear glass panel. When Kirov went to touch that as well, the panel lit to life and she saw a video image feed of the lake, its waters lapping at the shore. Sound accompanied it, coming from speakers she didn’t see, that seemed to surround the entire room. She heard the gentle waves, heard a small humming from what she assumed were insects similar to those pink fireflies, and the gentle rasping whisper of the wind. She closed her eyes for a brief moment and could almost imagine she was there, like she’d been teleported there.
That was how good those speakers were.
She swore she even felt that gentle breeze on her face.
Lainey turned to look at the windows and she asked Kirov softly, “How can you ever stand to leave this place?”
Kirov approached her, stroking his fingers down her cheek. It was right then that she realized her bare feet weren’t cold on the marble-like floor. In fact, they felt quite warm.
When she looked down in confusion, he murmured, “I programmed the floor to sense weight. It will heat where you step. It is necessary when the cold season comes. It warms the whole dwelling then, but takes little energy.”
Lainey smiled. He truly was brilliant.
“Come,luxiva,” he murmured. “I will show you the rest.”
Lainey went with him gladly as Kirov took her from room to room. The bottom floor was mostly made up of the vast living space, where Lainey already knew she’d be spending the majority of her time. The back area of the bottom floor was divided by a huge, magnificent bathroom. It was similar to the one they had in the Golden City. In the middle was a perpetually filled hot spring for bathing and soaking, but the far wall was all windowed glass, showing a different part of Troxva, towards a forested area to the right of the lake.
There was another room on the bottom floor, filled with screens and another fire pit and she wondered if it was like his home office.
“No kitchen?” she wondered aloud. Perhaps it was upstairs. Although, she’d noticed that the house in the Golden City hadn’t had a kitchen area either. They’d had all their meals delivered.
“Most Luxirians take their meals at the meal halls, or have them sent,” Kirov explained.
“Oh,” Lainey said.
He studied her expression and asked slowly, “You wish to cook your own meals?”
“Well, I did enjoy cooking back on Earth. A lot of people cook,” Lainey said, looking around. She gave him a small smile, “But we’re not on Earth, are we?”
Kirov was silent a minute, his eyes suddenly looking past her to look at the space. He nodded finally and said, “I will build you a kitchen if you wish to cook, female.”
Lainey gaped. “That’s…that’s not what I…you can’t simply build me a kitchen, Kirov. Where would you put it?”
“There,” he said, gesturing to the office. “It would be easy to reconfigure. No time at all to build once I design it.”
“But that’s your office,” she said, protesting.
