“Who is in charge of the hors d'oeuvres?" Seth asked. "Sister Abigail," Roberta replied, focused on a delicate piece of machinery that needed soldering under the microscope. "You're not serious!" Seth yelled, making Roberta's hand shake for a second. The pen slid over the board, covering it with a slobber of molten metal. "Thanks!" Roberta snapped, snatched the slide from the microscope and threw it on the growing pile of similar slides in the trash can, proof that the sister had kept very busy the whole morning. "Who in their right mind would put sister Abigail in charge of cooking anything?" Seth continued, like a slow growing storm, ready to strike at any moment. "Do you realize that I've been working on that board for the last six hours and I finally got it right?" sister Roberta growled at Seth. "That means your next one will be even better. Who put sister Abigail in charge of the hors d'oeuvres?" Seth asked, deadly calm.”

"What exactly are you doing?" sister Roberta asked Sarah, who was fumbling with a knotted bunch of ribbons, growing more frustrated by the minute.

"I can't believe I'm wasting my time with this! Where is Sys? Why can't we just remake this?" the redhead abandoned the struggle, her cheeks flushed and her eyes gleaming furiously. "Can you take this to your lab and bring me back a fresh spool of non-knotted ribbon? You have no idea how many things I have to do right now, all at the same time!"

"I think I beat you in that department, my dear. I haven't even started the staging for the light show, so if you'll excuse me..." Roberta left before Sarah had a chance to pass on to her the ribbon unknotting challenge.

"What. For. Use. Ribbon." Purple inserted their unavoidable wisdom. "Wisp. Think. Matter. Worthless. Anyway."

Vlor Consular Mission in Airydew, Terra Two, July 2nd, 3245

Beloved Lelia,

My eyes well up with joy seeing you all grown up and ready to set out on your own path. Many centuries passed me by, they brought me challenges and successes, knowledge, wisdom and occasional silliness, and they opened my eyes to the universe, this strange and wonderfully complex, multi-layered reality I could never have dreamed existed.

Of all the precious gifts this unbelievable dream ever gave me, you are the greatest, my child, for I can’t even fathom what you are, or how you fit into our limited understanding of existence, half real, half thought and gifted with the perception of a lot more dimensions than us humans can grasp.

"My Principal Progenitors have always had a flair for the dramatic," Humon reflected out loud after reading Tagas Cloud's letter, in the same even tone of voice Lily had become accustomed to.

"What do they mean, Humon? What does all of this mean?" Lily started tentatively, her voice overcome by an instinctive indescribable panic. Humon didn't answer, he just waved, annoyed, trying to chase away the aggravation with the brusque gesture one would use to shoo away a fly.

"Procedure," he uttered eventually. "I swear, if our world really ran according to procedure we'd all be long gone by now. It took them seven planetary rotations to answer my request, seven! And now they expect me to rush to attention in less than ten gyrations! Good grief, my progenitors really know how to dish administrative bulk three layers thick! Do your parents push your buttons too?"

The day after the Night of the Mothers, for the second time, grandmother asked Aifa.

“Did you enjoy the ceremony, granddaughter?”

And again, Aifa responded.

“It was beautiful, Doyenne, I just thought I’d feel different after that, is all.”

Atthe end of November, nature had finally settled into its cold season slumber. There was a chill in the air, a chill whose fingers got colder every morning, and which was embroidering lacy frost on the ground and on the windows, the icy breath of the earth made manifest.

The Twins seemed unsettled. Aifa could see them look out to the horizon, towards the sea, as if waiting for somebody, or seeing something that was revealed only to them in the frigid mist.

“Are you coming, granddaughter?” grandmother asked, somewhat impatient. Aifa was still fiddling with her garment and time was growing short. “We have to go right now, otherwise we’ll be late.”

“Late for what, doyenne?” Aifa asked, heading towards the door.

“Our trip, dear. No, don’t take that, we are not going to need it,” she said, when Aifa tried to pick up a lamp for the return trip. Sunset was about an hour away, and the shadows of dusk had already started concealing the farther surroundings.

Aifa looked out the window, a little worried about a couple of leaden clouds that had started gathering over the horizon. The feast of the Victory of Good over Evil was mostly celebrated outdoors, and she didn’t want the rain to ruin her delicate silk garments or wash off the intricate body painting that several of her relatives had worked so hard to finish the day before.

The dances had already started in the streets, and people were slowly gathering in the Market Square, where preparations were being made to set evil on fire.