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As part of our daily routine, we were all sitting in the galley drinking tlash tea, talking about what we needed to do that rotation. The humans had finished their first meal of the day, and Jasper Junior had fallen asleep on Narmuna’s lap after enthusiastically squishing food all over his face while we’d encouraged him to eat.

Opal and Cleo assured us this was a normal part of growing up. I knew Narmuna and Lexarit didn’t mind the mess, but we were all worried about him getting enough nutrients. I might need to talk to Narmuna and Lexarit about sending a message to Healer Grifforum for advice.

“I’ve been going over our finances,” Cleo said when there was a lull in the conversation.

Cleo was excellent with wealth, numbers, and investments, so she’d taken over that side of our business. Mieshorum had been ecstatic to give her control, and after showing her all the programs and numbers, he begged her not to make him do it ever again. She’d laughed and promised he was free.

I hadn’t realized he’d hated it so much until that day.

In the last forty rotations, we’d successfully fulfilled our first two contracts since returning to work. Those contracts provided more compensation than we’d normally make in an entire solar.

“Finances?” Opal repeated, her expression going from relaxed to nearly panicked in a micromark. “Is there something wrong? We could sell some of the gifts we got while staying on Ortheema Station. There are still boxes we haven’t even opened. We probably wouldn’t get much for the clothes secondhand, but it’s still something. Or maybe we could contact Iris and Damascus for a loan. I’m sure they’d be willing to help us.”

Cleo held up her hands. “Opal, calm down, we’re fine!”

“Sorry,” Opal muttered. Despite all my assurances, Opal sometimes still had flashbacks to when she and Cleo were barely surviving. I only wished we’d found them sooner.

I took Opal’s half full mug of tea out of her hands, set it on the table, then lifted her onto my lap. She snuggled into my embrace with a sigh.

“My fault,” Cleo said. “I should’ve led with our finances are fine. I'm sorry if I alarmed you.”

“I'm too sensitive," Opal said.

“Not sensitive, traumatized,” Cleo murmured. The two women exchanged a look that clearly spoke volumes I couldn't hear. After they were done, Opal smiled and Cleo nodded her head.

“What do you want to talk about?” Narmuna asked, slowly swaying in his seat. I noticed we all tended to do that when holding Jasper Junior.

No, he was JJ. Cleo and Opal had begun insisting we use the nickname instead of his full name until he was older. It was hard to remember sometimes, but we were all trying.

“We're accumulating wealth quickly,” Cleo explained. “If we keep getting these lucrative contracts, we'll be able to buy a bigger ship or a second ship soon. I thought we should talk about it now.”

Opal shook her head. “Really?”

“Really,” Cleo said with a grin.

“A bigger ship would mean we could refuel more stations and outposts before having to visit a refinery to reload,” Lexarit said.

“That’s true, but two ships mean double the profits,” Cleo said. “I ran the numbers, and that is the option that creates more wealth.”

“No.”

We all looked at the door to see Sloane walking in with Mieshorum right behind her. Usually they joined us for the last meal of the day, but almost never for the first meal.

Opal sat up and gave her a cheerful wave. “Sloane! Come sit. Are you hungry?”

“No,” Sloane said as she and Mieshorum joined us at the table.

“Is no your favorite word?” Opal teased.

“No,” Sloane said with a hint of a smile, making Opal and Cleo chuckle. “You were talking about buying a second ship. We can't do that.”

“Why?” Mieshorum asked gently as he sounded a soothing rumble.

“Because we shouldn't separate,” she explained. “We're family and should stay together.”

Although her words were calm and firm, I could hear a hint of fear. The way Cleo and Opal reacted told me they heard it too.

“You're right,” Cleo said. “We should get a bigger ship instead of a second one. JJ needs all his aunties and uncles to be close while he's growing up.”