5th December

Maia slowly got used to sleep in the strange room and bed and with her exhaustion from the tour she slept long into the morning. When she got down around 10, her aunt prepared a breakfast for her and chatted while the girl was eating. Her uncle and cousin were not at home. "Margot and Dorothe will come for tea today with their family." Explained her aunt. "And the Stripes also will come, so we will have a big round and you will get to know a few more of our neighbors." Maia smiled between her bites and felt a bit excited that she would meet the rest of the Riley family and the Stripes, that she had been interested in since the mass on Sunday. When she was finished with her meal, she chatted a bit longer with her aunt and helped her to prepare the lunch. Her uncle and cousin returned for lunch. They had been to one of the neighborhood towns a few Milo away to visit a friend of Derick. After lunch, Derick took Maia out and showed her the town up to the forest. They did not have the time to go into the forest or visit the lake, that Derick told Maia about, but he showed her the big houses and explained her where which family lived. In the afternoon they returned just at the time when the Rileys and the Stripes arrived.

Dorothe greeted Maia excited and hugged her and her mother did the same. The young girl had become good friends with Maia in the one day they went shopping together and Maia eyed her brothers from the corner of her eyes while she returned the hug to the girl. Anthony Riley was a big wolf around 16 and just like Derick he was muscular and looked very handsome. Maia felt the blood rush into her head when she eyes the wolf, who was the younger image of his father, a 40 years old wolf that started to get grey fur here and there and did not have the pitch-black fur of his son. The other son of them seemed as shy as Maia and only gave her his paw very reluctantly. His name was Len and even if his pelt looked like his brother's, he was not as an impressive look. He was handsome for a 10 years old kid, but he was not as muscular and strong. When the Stripes greeted her, she wondered if all boys in this village were handsome to a degree that was making her flustered. Chris Stripes, the 14 years old white tiger, was not only handsome and had a strong build, but he also had a great charm. As a greeting he took her paw, kissed it and purred so strong, that her whole arm was vibrating. She giggled and looked to the ground a bit shy. A bit later she knew, where the boy got this manners from, because his father, Nathan Stripes, a 33 years old gentleman, also took her paw and kissed it as a greeting. Melissa Stripes, Chris' mother, greeted her with a hug just like the Rileys.

"You've got an extremely cute cousin Derick!" mentioned Anthony and smiled to Maia. "I agree with you." Said Derick and Maia could hear a bit of pride in his voice. She felt happy that Derick found her cute and that he took pride in others flattering her. She did not know what to say and Chris, the white tiger boy added to the conversation: "The stars in the night will look dull next to the beauty of this young lady." The blood in Maia's head began to drum in her ears and she felt like fainting. Sophie rescued her from the embarrassment of all this flattery. "That's enough guys. Tea is served. Please sit down at the table." And she took the shoulder of Maia and led her out of the room. "You should cool down your head with a bit of water." She mentioned and Maia knew that her embarrassment had been noticeable. "Don't worry about the boys. They are good boys and just wanted to make you feel special. I think they overdid it a bit though." She smiled and Maia returned the smile before going to the bathroom to cool down by sprinkling cold water over her head. It took her five minutes to dry her fur before she entered the dining room again and sat down on the table to eat cake with the guests and drink tea.

The rest of the evening was rather fun. Maia slowly got used to the presence of the boys and men around her and listened to their conversation. She did not say much herself and concentrated on her tea and the cake to avoid looking into the eyes of the boys. Mr. Riley was a co-worker of Patrick at the sawmill. From what Maia could combinate from the discussion, they were both wood cutters as well as carpenters. They helped to get the wood from the forest, but they also helped at building houses and other stuff. At the moment, both of them had vacation for the rest of the year, even though they had to be available in a case of an emergency, like a storm causing damage to a house in the area. Maia found this fascinating. She had never seen a sawmill and that they were actually not only dong one job but two sounded like a lot of work.

"No, no! Don't worry miss." Said Mr. Riley, when Maia found the courage to ask this question with a very silent voice. "We only harvest the wood from spring to fall and there also is not that much carpenter work for us to do here. We take care of the villages 30 Milo around here and fortunately there has not been any storm or other problem that needed our attention. In the last year we only had to do 10 maintenances, two new buildings and a few minor damage repairs, right Patrick?" the older wolf grinned. "For you that is. You were not here when they had the twister at peek village in the summer. I think it was 20 houses that needed new roofs or so." Both men laughed. "You are right. I forgot those. It was when I went to visit my mother at the sea. You got all the fun for yourself." For Maia their conversation sounded like work was just fun for them, but she always thought it was hard work to cut trees and build houses. Her aunt seemed to notice her confusion. "Don't let them confuse you dear." She chuckled. "Even if they joke about it now, I remember how exhausted your uncle was every evening when he came home for two weeks. But they are hopeless in love with their work." She gave her husband a pat on his head and he leaned back to lick the hand in affection. Maia got flustered again and looked back at her cake until she was sure they were finished with sharing their affection. Her uncle and her aunt were so different than her own parents. The most she had seen them do was holding hands, when she was 9. She had found this gross, because they were going through a shopping center and everyone could see it. She remembered, that she had stayed a few meters behind the whole time until her parents stopped holding hands and waited for her.

Maia did not pay much attention, lost in her embarrassment, to the conversation of Mr. and Mrs. Stripes. She only understood so much, that Mr. Stripes worked for a bank in the city and drove there five times a week and only took this week off. Both, the Stripe's and the Rileys, stayed for an hour before they went home again. Maia felt a bit less nervous after they were gone, but she went to bed early this day and fell asleep fast.