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Fiera stepped outside the door and rang the bell, calling her household in from the fields. The klaxon could be heard out in the distant fields as well as the closer ones. The children looked up from where they were playing inside. “Loud,” Laoise commented.

“It always is, Lao,” Fiera said. “Time to wash up before your da comes in from the field.”

“Mine coming too?” Pascal asked, putting his puzzle to the side.

“They usually do, Pascal,” Fiera said. “Come on. Let’s get you cleaned up too.”

Fiera took the three older children upstairs and got them washed up and installed in their special chairs. Then she cleaned up Gael and tucked her into her highchair. She gave them all their spill-proof cups full of water.

The front door opened and Kuen walked in. He kissed her before walking upstairs to sluice off after spending the day in the fields. Just as he came back down Gaspare and Phelix arrived. They went upstairs and cleaned up before joining the family at the dinner table.

Fiera smiled contentedly as she filled plates and helped spoon soup into Gael’s mouth so Gaspare could wolf down his dinner. It had been five years since her wedding and their little family was growing by leaps and bounds.

Phelix and Gaspare had come to Fiera with a request after the twins had been born and             asked for her help in producing a child for them to raise. Fiera gave up some of her eggs and Gaspare’s sperm was collected. Pascal was carried by a surrogate – Fiera and Phelix’s younger sister Muirne – and while she cared for him for the first three months of his life, after he was old enough to take the supplemental formula easily, he was given over to his fathers. He was now four years old. They’d done the same thing with another one of the donated eggs and now had an eighteen-month-old daughter named Gael. They were also talking about adopting a pair of three-year-old twins, so the house full of children Fiera had always dreamed of was becoming a reality.

It wouldn’t be through her that she got it though, unless she and Kuen also adopted. That was the bittersweet side to all of this. After Laoise and Nafisa were born, Fiera had started hemorrhaging so badly they’d had to remove her uterus to save her life. She still had her ovaries, which was why she still had eggs to give her brother, but unless she wanted to go the surrogate route there would be no more biological children for her and Kuen.

Kuen already told her he was willing to go through a surrogate if she wanted to. Fiera was unsure if she wanted to ask someone to carry their child. Especially since she knew that would put whoever they chose in Michi Nakano’s sights. The past five years had been quiet, but Fiera didn’t trust it to stay that way.

“Fury, eat,” Kuen said. “You’re ignoring your dinner to feed Gael. Gaspare’s done. Let him take over.”

Fiera passed the spoon to Gaspare. “Sorry, I was just thinking.” She started eating.

“You’re getting better at this recipe, Fury,” Phelix said. “The seasoning actually tastes right tonight.”

“Ma talked me through it over the comm and told me what I was doing wrong,” Fiera said. “I figured since she’s the one who taught me to make it in the first place I’d call and ask what I needed to fix to get it to taste right.”

This was another change, made without consciously thinking about it. They all still spoke with the casualness found in the Colonies but with the clarity of the Core. The children still heard the clipped speech patterns of the Colonies from others, but at home clarity was considered more important. Even Phelix was managing to have an easier time being understood these days.

His speech was also much better than it had been. He still slurred some words but after his jaw got tuned a couple times by a medic who actually knew what they were doing it improved his ability to be understood immensely. He wasn’t back to his pre-war chatterbox self, but he was less self-conscious about talking.

His arm was still paralyzed though and none of them trusted the prosthetics available to    those in the Colonies. In spite of how peaceful things seemed to be, Fiera and the others still lived in fear that the Indentured Servant Retrieval Service would appear on their doorstep to claim a child from each of them for some planetary debt they didn’t know about. It was a fear that plagued every parent in the Colonies.

“Fury, if you don’t eat,” Kuen said, glaring at her.

“Sorry, sorry,” Fiera said, resuming her meal. “My mind is going everywhere tonight.”

“You’re brooding again,” Kuen said. “Quit it.”

“Hard to do,” Fiera muttered.

“What has you on edge?” Kuen asked.

“Not in front of the littles,” Fiera said, glancing at the children.

“All right,” Kuen said.

“Are you thinking about the Nakano ketch again?” Phelix asked in twinspeak, knowing none of the children would understand him.

“Among other things,” Fiera answered in the same language.

“You think she’s going to find some way to take the girls?” Phelix asked.

“Possibly. It’s why I won’t do a surrogate. It’s too dangerous,” Fiera said.

“Understandable, but I think you’d better talk to him tonight. He’s getting worried,” Phelix pointed out.

“I will,” Fiera said. “I need someone to tell me if my fears are unfounded or not, and he’s the best one to do it.”

“Will you two quit that?” Gaspare asked in exasperation. “You’re giving the littles ideas.”

“Oh, Lao and Nafi already have their own twinspeak,” Kuen said with a laugh. “I don’t understand even half of what they say.”

“Neither do I,” Fiera said. “That’s the nature of twinspeak. Unless you’re one of the twins using it, you won’t know what’s being said.”

“You can’t teach people your version of twinspeak either,” Phelix said. “Remember how we tried to teach ma and the other Roughlings our language?”

“We couldn’t because it’s something about being a twin that makes it understandable to us,” Fiera said. “If you’re not the twin of the person using the twinspeak you can’t understand it no matter how hard you try. There was an Arpathi who once explained it to us as being a kind of connection between twin souls and only those two souls would understand the speech first developed in the womb. She went into great detail on how that works, and it was fascinating if a little confusing.”

“I’ve yet to get a chance to talk to the Arpathi,” Kuen said. “I’ve seen a few of them here on Sorus but they always seem to be engaged in business and I don’t wish to interrupt them.”

“The CAF wants to keep it that way. Core Worlders have been trying to find ways of driving the Arpathi and the Kwarron off our Colony worlds almost since the beginning,” Phelix said. “They can’t though because we won’t let them. It’s one of the few rights we still have. Our worlds were settled under some rather strict treaties with those races, and we won’t violate them. The Assembly is trying to find a way around that but they’re not having much luck.”

“Core Worlders are bad?” Pascal asked.

“Not all of them are,” Phelix said. “But some are mean bullies.”

“I’ll give the girls their baths if you’ll take care of the dishes, Kuen,” Fiera said, slurping up the last of her soup.

“I’ll do the dishes. If both of you each take one of the girls it’ll go faster,” Gaspare said.

“Not really. I just drop them in the bath together,” Fiera said with a shrug.

“Fury, he’s giving you time with Kuen. Quit arguing,” Phelix said in twinspeak. His teal eyes sparkled. “I plan on setting my two up in the play area and helping him with the dishes.”

Fiera sighed and shook her head. “All right, Kuen. You grab Nafi. I’ll take Lao.”

“No, no bath,” Laoise said. As soon as her mother picked her up, she tried to squirm out of her grasp. Fiera simply slung her over her shoulder and carried the now giggling child up the stairs to the bathroom.

Kuen tickled the girls, keeping them distracted while Fiera drew the bath and soon both girls were angrily splashing in the water. They were talking in their twinspeak and glaring at their parents. “They sound unhappy,” Kuen said with a grin.

“Of course they’re unhappy. They didn’t want to take their bath,” Fiera said. “They’ve reached that stage where baths aren’t fun anymore because they know they have to go to bed right after.”

“Don’t want to go to bed,” Nafisa said.

“Want to stay up,” Laoise added.

“Nafi, you know it’s bedtime after dinner,” Fiera said. They had dinner later in the day just to make it easier to get the children into bed.

“Sing?” Laoise asked, looking up at Fiera.

“You want me to sing to you after your bath?” Fiera asked.

“Yes please,” Laoise said.

“Okay, if you quit grumping and finish your bath I’ll sing for you,” Fiera said.

“Okay.” The girls brightened up immediately and let their parents wash their hair.

After they were finished with the bath, Kuen and Fiera carried the girls into their room and tucked them into bed. “Which song did you want tonight?” Fiera asked.

“The phoenix song,” Laoise said.

“Please,” Nafisa added.

Fiera smiled. They loved the songs that she wrote best, and their favorite was the one she’d written for Kuen while he was locked in the detention center while the CAF was trying to make him and Gaspare disappear. Fiera sang and the girls listened, wide eyed, as their mother sang of her gratitude for her husband. When she finished, they clapped happily.

“Now, go to sleep,” Fiera said with a grin. She kissed each of their foreheads and left the room. Kuen kissed his daughters and followed hard on her heels. The twinspeak conversation started up almost before the door closed. Fiera laughed softly and left them to talk themselves to sleep. She knew it wouldn’t take long. It never did.

Kuen caught her arm. “You and I need to talk now,” he said. She let him drag her into their room. “What is bothering you so much that you’re forgetting to eat?”

“I’m worried, Kuen. I don’t trust the Nakano ketch as far as I can throw her, and I’m strong enough to heave her a fair distance. That mess with the Devas where she tried to kill me and Gaspare can’t have been her final push against us,” Fiera said. “The Assembly has been too quiet lately. The CAF is too peaceful. Something feels wrong about all of this, and I know I’m being paranoid, but I can’t help it.”

“No, you’re not being paranoid,” Kuen said. “Or if you are, I share the paranoia.” He ran his hand through his cropped hair. “I don’t trust that woman any more than you do. She’s had five years to plan something truly nasty. Look how long she’s feuded with your father. She doesn’t give up when she feels she’s been slighted.” He started pacing. “As for the Assembly and the CAF, the military doesn’t move without the Assembly’s direct order. So if the Assembly is silent the military will be too. However, I don’t trust them either. I have a bad feeling that they’re planning something. Gaspare and I have lost most of our contacts in the Core due to various reasons and we won’t have much warning – if any – when they do act.”

“Do you think she’s responsible for you losing your agents?” Fiera asked.

“It’s possible, but it’s more likely that since we can’t pay them, they’ve gone on to other employers,” Kuen said. “Remember, agents need a reason to stay loyal and most of ours were bought rather than personally attached.”

“They worked for you so long as the paychecks kept coming,” Fiera said. For some reason that made her feel a little better. “Those that you still have, they were loyal to you two personally?”

“They’re our business contacts, and you know we’re still managing our businesses,” Kuen said.

“I know. It’s the only reason we saved the farm last year,” Fiera said grimly. A pestilence in the form of a nasty insect that devoured their crops attacked the farms on Sorus the previous year. Several families were put in a bad position, including both Rezouac farms. Alena sold her wedding ring and was able to pull through. Kuen and Gaspare tapped into the money they’d been saving from their business ventures and saved not only their own farm but kept a few of their neighbors from having to indenture their children.

Those same neighbors had pitched in and helped build the additions to the house that Fiera had wanted for some time, so now the children all had their own rooms instead of sharing one large room together like they had been. Gael even had her own room.

“I think Gaspare feels the same way we do,” Kuen said, pulling Fiera back to the conversation at hand. “I don’t know if Phelix does.”

“He doesn’t have the experience with Michi Nakano that the three of us do, but I think he’s willing to accept we’re concerned for a reason,” Fiera said.

Kuen wrapped his arms around Fiera, and she leaned against him. “There is a reason I had Keo enhance our security to the highest we can legally have, Fury. I don’t trust that woman and I know how skilled the Devas are. If I go any higher, we risk incarceration in the DC.”

“If we do that, we risk the twins and the boys’ children being rehomed somewhere we couldn’t get them back because of how full my ma’s house is,” Fiera said. She grinned at the thought. Keoni and Thea were now up to six children, and Thea had told Keoni she was done. Keoni accepted her decision and Thea went and had herself fixed. Marc married the girl he’d been pursuing when Fiera returned home, and they now had three children. Neven had adopted twins orphaned when their mother died during childbirth – their father already being dead – and now was a very proud father of a pair of adorable sons.

Muirne was surrogate to Phelix and Gaspare’s children, but somewhere in there she’d also managed to have one of her own after finding out that Nial had left his sperm on file with the medics. It was something many young men did before they went off to war, just in case. Nial hadn’t gone to fight but had left his genetic signature behind anyway. Now Muirne had a daughter from her husband to raise, something that made her feel she still had a piece of him with her.

Teigue had come home with a wife and three children – two boys and a girl – and was now working with Neven at the local clinic while his wife helped on the farm. Their children ran in a pack with the rest of the younger Rezouacs. Siobhan was married with one on the way now, but she no longer lived on the home farm. She’d moved in with her husband’s family. They were there for every celebration though.

Herry was still too young to form a contract, but he was already weighing his options with a couple of girls in his class. Both were very appreciative of Herry’s obvious charms and Alena found it hard to keep him from experimenting with the girls. More than once she’d caught him in compromising positions until he was now chaperoned by one of the older Rezouac children or Alena herself when his girlfriends were over at the house.

Joanna had seemed like she was going to be like Neven, but she surprised everyone by bringing home a boyfriend and declared that she was moving in with him. She lived with him for a year and then moved on to another boyfriend. That one didn’t work out either. She was now dating a third young man, and the two were discussing setting up a marriage contract and starting their own business in town.

Alena was still waiting for word on where Callie was. They knew for certain she’d been purchased by one of the Pleasure Houses on Bouarus. Which one they weren’t entirely sure of, but it was hoped that she was still alive and well. Callie was easily as smart as Fiera. It was hoped that she would be able to buy herself free like Fiera had and that she could keep herself out of trouble long enough to earn the money to return home.

“She might not want to come back though, Alena,” Gaspare had cautioned the Rezouac matriarch the last time the whole family had been together and the topic came up. “If she discovers a taste for the life of a Pleasure Seeker, she may decide to stay on Bouarus. I’m not saying she will, but even Fiera can tell you it’s a seductive life.”

“I can say it’s a comfortable life, Ma,” Fiera had agreed reluctantly. “If Callie decides it’s the kind of life she wants to lead, she may choose to stay. But when she buys herself free, I don’t doubt she’ll at least call home to tell us she’s done that. They can’t stop her. It’ll be in her contract she gets to call home.”

“At least I’ve got that hope,” Alena said with a sigh.

“Even if she doesn’t want to stay it’ll be a few years before she earns enough to buy a ticket to Sorus,” Fiera said. “We just have to be patient.”

“I’m bein’ patient, Fury. I want t’know my girl’s safe,” Alena said.

“I’m working on it, Alena,” Gaspare said. “As soon as I know I’ll tell you.”

“I know you will, Gaspare. If you don’t find out, I won’t hold it against you. It’s hard t’get news from the Core unless it’s bad these days,” Alena said.

Fiera felt a tug on her arm. “You’re not focused on our conversation again,” Kuen said, drawing her back to the present.

“Sorry, I was thinking about Callie and how we still don’t know where she is,” Fiera said. “Ma’s worried and no matter how many times she tells us she’s not focusing on it, I know her thoughts are always going to be on Callie when they’re not on farm business.”

Kuen wrapped his arms around her. “Fury, Gaspare found out a few days ago who holds her contract. We haven’t told your mother yet because we wanted to tell you first.”

Fiera tensed. “Who has her?”

“The House of the Midnight Song,” Kuen said.

Fiera sucked her breath in through her teeth. “Iacchus Santorini.”

Kuen rubbed her back. “She looks a lot like you, Fury. He would just need a gene scan to confirm she’s your sister.”

“He’s got my genetics on file. It’s a requirement for Pleasure Seekers,” Fiera said.

“He could be using her like he did you, but with tighter restrictions so she doesn’t disappear like his Blue Butterfly did,” Kuen said.

“I’ll call him tomorrow. I want to confirm she is at least alive and well,” Fiera said. “He most likely won’t tell me anything about her debt but as long as I can tell ma she’s in decent health she’ll be happier.”

“Then let’s go to bed,” Kuen said.

“Okay,” Fiera said.

Kuen dragged her down onto their bed and kept her awake for a little longer with his actions, but Fiera didn’t mind. She drifted into a deep sleep that was broken by nightmares. The next morning, she did her usual morning routine, made sure all the children were secured in their play area, and then went to the comm. The men were already out in the fields. This was going to be a private call.

She put in the code for the Pleasure House that had been her home on Bouarus and waited for someone to answer. Intira was the one who answered. Her eyes narrowed. “Our Blue Butterfly seems to have some business with us,” she said.

“I want to talk to Iacchus,” Fiera said.

“Will he want to talk to you?” Intira asked. “He was most displeased when you disappeared.”

“I know you acquired a Pleasure Seeker with similar features to me, Intira. I want to discuss her with him,” Fiera said.

Intira raised an eyebrow. “How did you find out about that?”

Fiera smiled a familiar mysterious half quirk of the lips Intira would recognize. “I have my ways,” she said.

“I will see if he is willing to speak with you,” Intira said. She disappeared.

A few minutes later, Iacchus Santorini sat down in front of the comm. “Intira tells me you’re interested in one of my recent acquisitions, Blue Butterfly,” he began.

“Cut the drek, Iacchus. We both you know have my younger sister Callie. I want to know if she’s alive, well, and if it’s possible for you to tell me how far in debt she is,” Fiera said.

“You always were my favorite, Fiera,” Iacchus said, smiling coldly. “Direct and to the point. You despised taking the circular route on anything, even when it meant annoying a client.” He ran his fingers through his graying hair. “All right. Since you did make me quite a lot of money while you were here, I’ll humor you and answer those questions. Yes, she is here. She is in remarkably good health considering she has a similar problem to the one you did with jealous competition. Very few scars though in spite of being attacked more than once. She’s very good at getting out of fights. She isn’t happy being here, but then again, neither were you. As for her debt, she is currently sitting at forty thousand owed. She was up to sixty thousand as of five years ago, so you can see that her debt is going down at a steady rate.”

“That’s good to hear,” Fiera said. “Now if you could stop putting her in a position where it goes up it would be better. However, I do know you can’t always control the actions of the other Pleasure Seekers.”

“No, I do not, but Callie – we call her our Calypso – has a remarkable talent for never being without enough witnesses to make it horrifically uncomfortable for them if they do try to attack her,” Iacchus said.

“I’m pleased to hear my sister is doing well,” Fiera said.

“You know, you have some credits that were never transferred over to you,” Iacchus said. “For a twenty five percent fee I’ll transfer them towards your sister’s debt. It won’t be a significant reduction, but it will help.”

“Do it,” Fiera said. “I’m not going to argue with you. How soon do you think she’ll buy herself free?”

“Would you perhaps like to speak with her?” Iacchus asked.

“Only if you don’t increase her debt for it,” Fiera said.

“We’ll consider this part of my transfer fee,” Iacchus said.

“All right. This will give me something to tell our mother,” Fiera said.

“A moment,” Iacchus said. He spoke to someone, probably Intira, off to the side. A short while later Callie was placed in front of the comm.

“Fury?” Her eyes went wide. “How did you know I was here?”

“My boys still have some friends, Callie,” Fiera said. “You doing all right?”

“Surviving. It’s not fun being a Pleasure Seeker, but I know I could have ended up in a lot worse places,” Callie said.

“You could have also ended up in a worse House,” Fiera said. “Iacchus is a slimy bastard but he’s a good House master. I should know. You’re in the same House I was in when I was on Bouarus.”

“Really? So you know what it’s like here?” Callie asked.

“Very well, Callie. Keep yourself out of trouble as much as you can, try not to refuse too many assignments – though don’t let him fool you, you do have the right to refuse occasionally – and keep your head held high. You’ve got the spirit to take being a Pleasure Seeker and make it your own livelihood just like I did,” Fiera said.

“I get penalized for refusing assignments,” Callie said.

“I know. I did too. But if there is one client who you absolutely cannot stand, refuse him. Or her. Take the penalty and move on. Just don’t do it too often so your debt doesn’t go up a lot,” Fiera said.

“There’s only one I don’t ever want to go out with again,” Callie said, shuddering. “He’s horrible, Fury.”

“Then refuse his contracts,” Fiera said. “I know Iacchus is listening in. He wouldn’t leave you to talk to me alone. He knows I know the rules well, since I used them to my benefit more than once. Be strong, Cal.”

“I will, Fury,” Callie said. She looked to the side and nodded.

 Iacchus sat back down. “You know, I should charge you extra for that piece of advice you gave your sister,” he grumbled.

“If you’re not going to tell her she has a right to protect herself from terrible clients, I will,” Fiera said. “She says there’s only the one she isn’t willing to deal with. Like me, Callie has a very high tolerance for what she’ll put up with. So don’t discount her when she says they’re awful. There is something going on that makes her want to avoid him. You should find out what.”

“You think it’s serious enough to ban him from my House?” Iacchus asked.

“I don’t know. This is why you should always talk to your Pleasure Seekers about why they refuse contracts rather than just penalizing them,” Fiera said. “Then again, if I’d had the chance to run my own Pleasure House like I intended, that was going to be something I did.”

“You are a strange woman, Fiera,” Iacchus said. “I find I almost miss you.”

“I’m sure you miss the credits I brought in even more,” Fiera said.

“Well, yes, there is that. However, you were quite the force of personality in my House and it’s not the same without you here,” Iacchus said. “I will do as you ask though, as a favor to my favorite Pleasure Seeker. If it is a valid reason for her not liking him, I’ll forego the penalty.”

“Much appreciated, Iacchus,” Fiera said. “Thank you for letting me speak with her. I can allay a lot of my mother’s fears this way.”

“I wish you well, my Blue Butterfly,” Iacchus said, and he ended the call.

Fiera called the main farm. Herry answered and immediately called his mother to the comm. “Fury, somethin’ wrong?” Alena asked.

“No, everything here is going fine,” Fiera said. “Ma, I’ve got news on Callie.”

“You do?” Alena asked.

“She’s in the same House I was. The man who bought my debt back at the start of all this mess bought hers too. I called him this morning and after a bit of verbal fencing, he let me talk to her with a guarantee of no penalty towards Callie,” Fiera said.

“How is she?” Alena asked, leaning forward.

“Unhappy but alive and as well as can be expected, given she’s a Pleasure Seeker in the Core,” Fiera said. “Her debt’s sitting at forty thousand right now, Ma. It’s going to take a while for her to pay it down. I gave her a bit of advice on how to handle the job and it seemed to make her a lot happier.”

“Thank you, Fury. This eases my mind a lot,” Alena said, her expression showing her relief as plain as words.

“I figured it would. It’s why I called,” Fiera said. There was a screech behind her. “I guess I’d better go see what my Roughlings are up to.”

Alena grinned. “If you need a break, let me know. I’ll find a way to get out there for a day,” she said. “I will, Ma. Talk to you soon.” Fiera ended the call and turned around. Pascal was holding Nafisa’s favorite doll and Nafisa was throwing a fit over him having it. Fiera sighed and walked over. She took the toy and put it on the “time out” shelf. “If you can’t play nice with it in there, you can do without it for half an hour,” she said over the screeching of both children. She went to the kitchen area and started making a batch of cookies. Perhaps a sweet treat would sweeten the disposition of the children. Gael gurgled happily in her swing while the other two wound down from their tantrum and resumed playing with Laoise.