ANNANI
Ogidu came in with the tea tray and set it on the coffee table between Annani and Alena.
"Should I pour, Clan Mother?"
"No, thank you. I will pour it myself."
He bowed and retreated.
Alena reached for one of the cookies. "The Odus are all becoming more like Okidu."
"Do you mean more sentient?"
Alena chuckled. "No, more theatrical. They all act as if they are playing a part in a British drama about aristocrats. It's entertaining, but sometimes it gets annoying."
"I like it." Annani reached for the teapot. "Some old-world manners that have gone extinct but are still endearing." She poured a cup for Alena and handed it to her.
"I wouldn't call it endearing." Alena lifted the cup to her lips. "Creepy, is what you mean." She took a small sip and closedher eyes. "The tea is excellent. There is something to be said for biomechanical precision."
"Indeed." Annani sipped the tea. "Is Orion taking E.T. to Geraldine?"
"Of course. He's still afraid to be alone with the baby even though E.T. is almost ten months old. Geraldine loves having him over, so I don't say anything."
"Smart."
Alena smiled. "I don't know about that. She spoils him. The last time Orion took him there, she let E.T. eat an entire piece of chocolate cheesecake. He came home nearly comatose."
Annani frowned. "I thought that sugar made babies hyperactive."
"Not E.T." Alena took another sip and put her teacup down. "It affects him the opposite way. He turns sleepy."
"Interesting. Did any of your other children react that way?"
Alena shook her head. "As amazing as it sounds, each child was different. Is different. It proved reincarnation to me long before I met David and learned the whole story about you and him meeting in one of his previous lives. The proof was that no child arrived as a clean page. They all came with a history. They couldn't remember it, of course, but it shaped the kind of people they were."
Annani smiled. "I wonder who Evander Tellesious was in his previous life."
"A philosopher," Alena said. "I'm sure of that. Or a sloth. But since cross-species transmigration is not a thing, he's the first one."
"I do not appreciate my grandson being called a sloth even if he likes to nap a lot."
"I'm not complaining." Alena reached for the teapot and refilled her cup. "He's my easiest baby. He still takes two naps during the day, and he sleeps twelve hours every night."
"Kian was my easiest," Annani said. "By the way, he is stopping here on his way home. He has updates for me about the extraction mission."
Alena's hand paused with the cup a few inches from her mouth. "When?"
"Do you mean Kian coming over or the timing of the mission?"
"Both."
Annani looked out the window at the setting sun. "Kian will be here soon, and as for the mission, I assume that is what he is going to tell me."
Alena nodded. "It's about time. You've been waiting long enough."
"The last few weeks have been difficult. Every time I thought Khiann was about to return to me, something else went wrong."
Alena set her cup down.
