Sorooth sat across from her and touched her forearm.He smiled, and then his smile faded as his eyes began to flick.
His mind felt like cool mint across her thoughts, and he saw it all.When the contraction hit, his eyes went wide.
Keska was at his side but not touching him.“What was that?”
Diena grinned.“Contraction.Gotcha.”
He chuckled weakly and ran the information to the end of her memories.
He finished and sighed.“Wow.You are thorough.”
Diena shrugged.“Well, Crimson and some of the other breeders got away.”
Keska asked, “What was he doing?”
“Trying to make an all-active population with a Hyreno genetic base to add to their being all-terrain capable.Adding genetics from colder and warmer areas with Hyreno as a base was his brilliant idea.”
Sorooth said, “And you know who he was.”
“Yup.King Juro’s uncle.Maro.He couldn’t have his underwater kingdom, so he was going to take over everything else.”She smiled.“He was very impressive as an attacking psychic and a convincer, but I don’t play that, and I certainly didn’t play that while freshly pregnant.”
Keska put a hand on her own belly.“How could you do that?”
Diena smiled as the next round of food arrived.“It wasn’t my baby.I had a need to activate my maternal side, and she’s a bit of a psychotic bear.I didn’t do it for this baby.I did it because the world had to be safer for any child I had in the future, and now it is.Yes, you can tell the Sethir, and they can move into the vacuum if they can get through the barrier, but no minerals can leave that soil without me.I have bound them all down.Technically, by right of battle, I am the Lorn empress.”
Alody got up and hugged her.“You are my big, brave girl.How close are they?”
“They sped up.”
“Yeah, psychic interference does a number on labour.”
Sorooth backed up, his hands back.“I am so sorry.I didn’t know that.”
Keska smiled.“I suspected, but you arrived when I was nearly to the finish line, so it didn’t mess with me too much.”
Diena rubbed her back.“Right.I am gonna walk.”
Keska got up and got the food that no one had answered.The drone flew up and away.
Diena smiled and paced back and forth in her living room.
She started talking.“Keska, we have gotten some great feedback on the climbing wall, but I think we need a second for the clients who have already passed the close-together grips.Our demographic is leaning toward children who are four to six-foot tall.”
Keska started to make notes.
“The food court is going great, but we need more nugget-style foods for kids with a max of five dipping sauces.I think that Ithal and Kessie could taste test.”
Keska smiled.“I think she would love that.”
Alody nodded.“Vaken would probably be in on that.He’s fussy.His uncle is Klauz.”
The kids came thundering back in, covered with grass, and Kessie had a frog in her hands.
Sorooth grinned and took it.“No, you can’t keep it.Yes, we will negotiate a pet; it will probably not be an amphibian.”
Kessie sighed and walked back outside with Ithal watching over her.Sorooth followed them and watched his daughter return her would-be pet to the wild.
They came back in, and Sorooth supervised both of them washing their hands.
