"This is it... where I grew up, what I used to associate with 'home'... and honestly, being right here again..."
Shaking her head slightly and looking up at the simple house right in front of us, Rhefia let out a sigh before unlocking the gate, removing the heavy chain and pushing the gate open so that she could step onto the property that had been returned to her.
A stone half wall went around the entire property with a set of iron bars resting atop of them, keeping the property well defined and 'contained' whilst also still allowing for visibility everywhere, albeit only whenever the hedges weren't pressed right against those fences.
There was maybe a twenty by fifteen rectangular patch of grass in front of the house, with long strips of grass heading around back on either side, being maybe four feet wide in total... the property was small yet cozy, and as we stepped onto it I was looking around rather curiously.
It looked like a two story house with potentially an attic up top, built on a nice stone brick foundation and making use of thick, dark red wooden boards to construct the shell of the house, ensuring it retained heat well while the large windows offered good airflow.
It was a small place, being twenty feet wide - perfectly matching the grass, which had likely gone in after the construction - and I don't know how long since I wasn't seeing around the sides, but going up the four steps to get onto the porch gave me a look through the window.
"It's not much, really. Dama told me she had bought it when she finally decided to stop living in the barracks, which was apparently not that long after she met my Mother. Dama wasn't that... 'good' of a soldier yet, and my Mother apparently just worked at one of the nearby bakeries, so they had little money.
Managed to get this place though, and after making sure it was entirely theirs I just so happened to come along. I... always felt bad, because Dama always talked about this place like it wasn't hers; she always made it seem like it was my Mother's, but I never got to meet her since she died giving birth to me."
Rhefia spoke with an unbothered, still tone that made it clear to me she was holding her emotions back, but before I could even reach for her she unlocked the door and pushed it open, revealing the small space to us.
"Kitchen on the left, living room on the right. Stairs on the right as well, with a small dining room in that corner there, while this 'hallway' leads out back too. Cozy, and the fireplace used to turn this place into an oven on some of the warmer Spring nights..."
Placing the box onto the table carefully, Rhefia looked around before nodding to herself as she stepped into the living room, taking in the chairs set up around the fireplace as well as the cluttered shelves.
"Little trinkets from friends, deployments, things they found interesting... This here is the charm that they wanted us to make at the Academy when I was still a kid. I was horrible at most of the artsy stuff, but my Dama said it looked nice..."
A piece of wood crudely carved with a few... 'somethings' was held in place by some thick red threads, while a long, fluffy tassel hung off of the bottom; it wasn't the prettiest thing in the world, but it had that charm that came from a child's attempt to create something.
Renna and I exchanged glances as we tried to come up with something to say, but after a moment it just seemed better to let Rhefia reminisce as she slowly walked us around the place, showing off the small space that had been her home.
"Not much down here, really, and since I was always outside and she was always at work we rarely used this space. Upstairs though..."
Heading up the creaky stairs, Rhefia brought us to another hallway that had three doors, and when she pushed open the first one we got to see the largest room of the three, which was her Dama's bedroom.
"As you can see we were wonderful decorators too..."
The room was pretty much empty, with a bed, dresser, mirror and washbasin taking up most of the space, and the only thing that gave it any sort of life was the rug laying beneath the bed and the tapestry on the wall, which was just a simple green sheet of fabric that had a yellow sun sewn into the middle.
"Dama never seemed to care about decorations, and I kinda took after it too. Seemed like a waste of money, never had a desire to get the sort of things that would take up space... We both just believed this was a place to eat and sleep, nothing more."
For the first time she looked back at me, smiling as she added "Now though I do think it is a little... bland. It feels lifeless, but I guess we weren't really looking to live much of a colorful life, so..." before shrugging.
Heading back into the hallway, she opened the next door and showed us a small bathroom, which had a wooden tub, mirror and another washbasin, though this one was built into a countertop the held up the mirror.
"We rarely bathed here, but it was nice to have room to get ready and occasionally wash off."
It didn't get much attention since Rhefia seemed determined to get to the last room, which was hers; opening the door and revealing a very similar situation to the master bedroom, the Deerkin stepped inside and took a seat on her bed, looking at the shelf on the wall beside her bed and smiling softly.
"Just enough space for me, even now. Might be a bit of a tighter fit with these as grown as they are, but it'd still work... probably."
She gestured loosely at her antlers before waving for us to come in, and after I sat down beside her while Renna moved to look out the small window at the foot of her bed, the Deerkin's smile turned warm as she gazed at us both.
"Definitely the sexiest women I ever had in my room~!"
I raised a brow at that, and since she seemed to be enjoying this I decided to listen without interrupting as she said "I had a few girls over when I was growing up, as any healthy futanari does, but they certainly~ weren't as beautiful or as busty as you two are~!"