“Mom, why did you let Ael use my room? She never puts anything away!" Lelia complained to her somewhat distracted mother. Lily looked up. "Oh, this whole house has turned into ceremony headquarters, your room was the only quiet place left, she needed to finish a project," she explained. "What's wrong with her room?" Lelia protested. "Sys commandeered it for manufacturing last minute items," Lily explained. "Why can't she work at the Institute, she's always there anyway," Lelia didn't give up. "Never mind about your sister," Lily remembered. "Did you practice your ceremony steps?"

"Yes! Dad made me go over them a million times!" Lelia frowned, annoyed.”

“Don't tell me we have to redo all of these! This is the seventh time!" sister Mary-Francis cried out over the sea of lavender gauze that refused to drape itself as planned. "The pleats should fold in the other direction and the folds are two small, try to imagine this in the actual setting," Lily pointed out the objectionable items on the punch list. "You said six inches wide, they are six inches wide!" the sister protested. "I know, sister, I'm sorry, I was wrong! Why don't you ask Sys to fix these real quick, you don't have to do them by hand," Lily compromised. "A piece of information I could have used during the last three changes," Mary-Francis pointed out the obvious.

“You didn't find any other place for this?" sister Jove asked the group of children who had dropped a basket of cookies on her desk and were getting ready to leave. "Oh, no, sister Jove, these are for you!" a cheerful seven year old clarified, grinning from ear to ear to reveal the gap that took the place of her front upper teeth. She had lost her baby teeth the week before and she was brimming with pride about it. She couldn't stop touching the gums with her tongue, trying to feel the jagged edge of their permanent replacements. "You baked me cookies?" sister Jove asked, touched. "No," the seven year old answered, matter of fact. "I brought them to you because you need to wrap them, Ms. Lily said.”

“How can you not care about this, it's our daughter's greatest life event, don't tell me not to be worried!" Lily paced, tense. "Everything is going to be fine, why are you so agitated? All the preparations are well on their way, and even if they weren't, it's not like we can't change them if need be. Stop fretting, you're upsetting Lelia," Humon made an attempt to pacify her, but he knew his wife too well to get his hopes up. She kept pacing, nervously, so he sat back in the chair and waited for the emotional maelstrom to subside. "Ael's dress is not finished. The heat makes the lilac scent too strong, sister Abigail already complained about it. Like I haven't enough to worry about with people being too close to the Fusion Cloud!" She continued pacing, then remembered her quiet companion was sitting at her desk and turned all her intensity towards him. "How about you? Are your tasks finished? Did you talk to Lelia? I wish I could do it myself, but I don't have the knowledge," she let out in one breath.

“Have you finished writing your letter, dear?" sister Therese showed up on Roberta's doorstep, at the end of a long door to door pilgrimage during which none of the sisters were forgotten. Therese already had a stack of letters in her hand, which proved her dedication to encouraging the others to complete their writing. Sister Novis had whispered to Roberta through the interlink that Therese sat her down and didn't leave her house until the letter was completed, proofed and signed.”

“The approved list for the flower arrangements reads as follows: lilacs, French lavender, and water lilies," Lily announced, excited. "Aren't we lucky Sys can make this stuff up at the last minute? Who asks for lilacs in an equatorial climate?" sister Novis mumbled, slightly annoyed. "They fit into the lavender theme," Lily tried to explain. "Yes, I got that from the draping, the light show and the purple bunnies sister Joseph is breeding," sister Novis acknowledged, completely unimpressed. "Kittens, they are kittens!" Lily snapped. "Whatever," sister Novis said. "When we're done spinning lilacs out of thin air, where do you want them?”

“Where are the feeding schedules for the dragons?" sister Joseph boomed through the interlink. "I thought you were going to draw them up, you said you didn't trust us to do them properly," sister Felix defended herself. "What do we need you for, then, if I have to do everything myself?" sister Joseph said. "Sister, please tone it down," Seth intervened. "At least I can do my job!" sister Joseph snapped back. "Since when is putting together the feeding schedule for the dragons my job?" sister Felix protested at the unreasonable expectation. "Since you've been assigned to the logistics team," sister Joseph replied.”

“What are you doing?" Seth asked Sarah, startling her. "Recording the atmospheric readings," the redhead replied, without turning her head. "Really?" Seth asked, and Sarah could feel the smile that came with the question, without seeing it. "Why is this surprising? You know I always record the atmospheric readings at this time of day?" Sarah asked, finally turning around. "I don't know, I thought you'd have delegated this to one of your students by now. Besides, nobody had a moment's peace since the preparations for the blessed event started, I'm just so relieved to see someone live a normal life for a change," Seth replied. "Define normal life, what's normal about being here? We move time-space slices across the universe!”