Sunlight filtered through the curtains as they gently swept up on the tides of the wind. Outside, the day burned into life, flickering great spears of citrine and tangerine across the white fluffy clouds like pillars into the heavens. Hanako woke slowly, her eyes slowly blinking at the luminosity before the world around her fell into place. Beside her legs, Chewy slept, his great lumbering snore pushed his body up and down in a rhythmical motion. It was akin to a small, tiny, fluffy engine in both sound and sight. Her face softened into a smile. Things were good, peaceful even.
Hanako sat up, the covers slid down her body exposing her to the room's temperature. The difference wasn't much, but it was enough to provide an initial shock. She checked the table chronometer, the hour hand pecked slowly across the 7. Good, she thought, plenty of time to wake up slowly and prepare herself with grace before housekeeping would come by her inn-room with breakfast. Hanako slid carefully out of bed, guiding her legs from the covers that surrounded Chewy with a practiced precision as to not awake him just yet. It wouldn't be a problem if she did wake him up, Chewy seemed to be also very slow to wake, but his cuteness gave him immunity to Hanako's routine and thus he was always left to drift until the last possible minute. Hanako quietly moved over to the table by the window, opening her adventuring back and taking out her journal and an ink and quill. Her handwriting had gotten better over time, and with all the stories she had told. She had grown to feel rather proud of it.
Outside the window was the great skyline of Kugane, towering houses and establishments, broken only twice by the two long rivers that intersected the city and led to the docks. It was strange to be a tourist in what she considered her home town. It was a mixed feeling, with wistful longing and aching nostalgia, but also a feeling of growth and optimism. Together this emotional concoction felt, indescribably hopeful, like a change had begun in the world itself. Something to actually look forward to. Hana hoped that this feeling, whatever it truly was, would last forever. It was like a beautiful dream, now that she had the gil to not worry, and now she had the power to protect herself and others. For once, Hanako felt like she belonged. She belonged to herself, and the space between her, Chewy, and the fates of life, that would be her home.
And that was enough.