“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.”