Ketvia got used to hearing voices without seeing the mouths attached sooner than she'd thought, but by the time she'd gotten used to three voices, there were suddenly five. Then, by the time she'd gotten used to five, there were eight. The numbers just kept growing, and she was known to mutter about it now and then, usually when more than one of the eggs were trying to talk to her at once.

Chiya, however, didn't mind a bit. More children meant more to do to keep them happy, more "good nights" to whisper, more calls of "Mommy!" whenever one needed or wanted her for something, and an ever-increasing sense of happiness that bubbled up from her chest and made her smile, all the time. Her only concern, as new "voices" were added to the collection, was that she couldn't possibly keep them all: whatever house they could afford back on Avengaea, it would never house eight, nine, or more children. And that wasn't even contemplating how they would possibly feed them all, much less provide anything else for them. Not even with help from her mother-- not that she would ever ask, not with her father gone and finances tight-- and from Ketvia's parents would they be able to afford to feed nine or more, plus themselves.

But... she wanted to keep them all: she knew each little mind, now, and loved each one. The thought of leaving them all behind, or sending them to an orphanage, actually hurt. She didn't know what Doctor Schroeder was thinking, creating so many....

When she brought up her feelings to Ketvia, the day they brought the number of eggs up to eight, she got her answer.

"Ketvia, what are we going to do>?" she asked quietly. It was late, after she'd said her last "goodnight" to the eight of them and tucked Callidei into bed in her own little room, and they'd retired to their little cabin rather than staying the night in the Alpha Bay-- for the first time in a week.

"Do?" Ketvia repeated sleepily.

"About all of them!" Chiya clarified in a nearly-frightened little whisper.

"What are you talking about?" Ketvia propped herself up on one elbow in their double bed, rubbing at her eyes.

"We can't possible raise eight-- nine with Callidei!"

"But we don't have to," Ketvia told her, sounding vaguely surprised. "I told you that, didn't I? Didn't Aedelian tell you that?"

"Tell me what?" Chiya asked, confused.

"About the way things work here. We give them our blood, they use it to make a whole bunch of kits, and different people who want to try raising kits, or bonding them, or whatever, they come and adopt 'em. We've only gotta take however many we want."

Chiya was torn between relief-- which made her feel very guilty-- and horror. "You mean-- we're giving away our children to strangers?"

"That's the way it's done here," Ketvia repeated, a little uncertainly. "And they're not strangers. Not exactly, anyway. Schroeder's careful, he's not about to let our kits get handed off to people who aren't gonna take care of 'em. He screens people, you know?"

That made it a little better. But only a little. "But... but they're our babies...."

"Then you can stay in touch with 'em all, if you want," Ketvia sighed, resting her cheek on her fist. "Aedelian does; he's got emails... or phone numbers... or whatever... for all of 'em." Chiya didn't know what exactly emails or phone numbers were, but the thought that she didn't have to lose her children entirely helped a little more.

"Will they-- will they be mad at us?" she asked her friend in a small voice. "Will they think we don't want them?"

"Chiya," Ketvia chuckled, "not one of those kits could possibly think you don't want them. You dote on them. It's disgusting how much you dote on them. You sing them songs and tell them stories and-- and dote on them. If a single one of those kits has any doubts as to how much you care about them and want to keep them forever, I'll eat my tail-tuft."

"But--" Chiya said weakly.

"But nothing. They all know, already, what's going to happen to them in the future, and they get to chose what they want. The ones who want to stay with you and be coddled and mothered until they can't take it anymore will pick us. The rest probably already know who they want to go off with, or just don't care."

"But--"

"Hush." Ketvia kissed her forehead. "You worry too much. Everything will be fine. Go to sleep, all right? I want to actually enjoy sleeping in a bed rather than on the floor, for once."

With that, Ketvia put two fingers on Chiya's eyes and ended the discussion by closing her eyelids for her. Chiya couldn't help a little giggle, and made a point of keeping them shut so that Ketvia could sleep. That didn't shut off her mind, however, and she lay awake thinking for a long time after Ketvia had settled into quiet snores.

The next morning, Chiya brought a somewhat sleepy, pre-breakfast Callidei into the Alpha Bay with her, wanting to have all her children in one place just long enough to talk to them all, at once. Ketvia hung out just inside, by the doorway, waiting to cart Callidei off for the morning meal once Chiya had said what she wanted to say.

"Good morning," she said and sent, simultaneously. She received a chorus of "good morning"s back, and one sleepy "what's good about it?" She smiled and gave that particular egg a fond stroke with her fingertips. Its occupant gave a little mumble of irritable sending but reluctantly added a vague sense of affection, anyway.

"Is everyone awake?" Again, she got a chorus of answers at once which took a moment to sort out. The only one who said "no" was Callidei, who yawned from her perch on Chiya's forepaw. Chiya chuckled at that, and bent down to kiss her forehead lightly before focusing on the group at large. "You've been told that most of you are likely going away, when you hatch... haven't you?"

"Yeah," Callidei blinked owlishly up at her.

::Uh-huh.::

::Yup!::

::Grampa 'splained it.::

::But some of us get t'go with you, right?::

"Oh, I wish I could take all of you home with me," Chiya sighed. "None of you mind, do you? If any of you are unhappy, please, please tell me."

::Why would we be unhappy?::

::You're a nice Mommy!::

::And I wanna meet my bond, anyway!::

::And some of us get to stay with you, too.::

"But there are so many of you, and Ketvia and I can only raise a couple of you...."

::That's okay.::

::I'm gonna bond!::

::Not me, I'm not bondin' nobody.::

::Well, more for me, then!::

::Me, too!::

::Why would I be unhappy about that?::

"Don' be sad, Mommy," Callidei added, stroking her foreleg with one little hand. "Is okay."

Chiya smiled, hiding a little sniffle, and nuzzled each egg and her first-hatched in turn, feeling a little better. She was still sad at the thought of losing so many wonderful children, and she was certain that she'd cry at their hatching, but at least she knew that none of her children would hate her for what she had to do. That made it all bearable.

Abstract Destiny

Chapter Seven

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