Meanwhile, she looked around at her surroundings with her nose filled with the mask-filtered smell of the surrounding evergreen trees. The family had planted this copse in order to shelter those people in the household who might wait to catch a ride at the bus stop. While the woods yielded little protection from the rain, they provided badly needed shade on hot Maindays. The plants also gave some surcease from the wind, the cedars blocking all but the strongest gusts.

"Come on, Ana-onee," Christiana muttered to herself. While she knew intellectually that she was safe this close to home, the girl still felt a bit spooked for several reasons. First off, she was only fifteen, an amount that sounded more impressive than it actually was. After all, that number reflected her age in Cooper's World's Colonial Years, which were much shorter than Terran years. Back on Old Earth, she would have just turned twelve. As a result, she was quite young to be waiting by herself during Alterday. Especially when the dim light of a-cent-a made the shifting shadows cast by the trees' foliage seem sinister.

The second reason that it spooked her was that she was alone. Until they chose her for this training, she had been inseparable from her womb-mate Haruhi-nee. While the Sisters were genetically unrelated, both of them got along very well. Of course, that's not to say that the two girls were in complete harmony, and there had been many occasions where they argued with one another. However, they quickly made up and thereafter acted as if the fight had never happened.

While both siblings were strong-willed, they had learned to depend on each other at a young age. If she became frightened, then Haruhi-nee would act strong in order to support her Sister. Later on, she would do the same for Haruhi-nee when she wasn't at her best. Thus, the two children had a mutually beneficial relationship.

"I wish you were here, Haruhi-nee," she murmured as she looked at her surroundings in discomfort. Of course, while having her older (by eleven minutes) Sister around would comfort her, Haruhi-nee had a hobby that sometimes rattled her younger sibling. Namely, Haruhi-nee liked to read books and stories about the many myths and legends that had cropped up since the Founding.

Late in the evening, Haruhi-nee would often sneak from her bed and snuggle up to her in Christiana's bunk. This action would always wake her, even if she was in a deep sleep. Then the dark-haired young lady would tell her imouto all about the legend that had kept her up that night. Following this, the duo would talk about the myth until they fell asleep together.

She would have thought the elder girl was silly for getting scared by such ridiculous stories under normal circumstances. Now that she was outside and alone in the middle of Alterday, she couldn't help but become a little frightened by her memories of Haruhi-nee's outlandish tales.

The legend that unsettled her the most was about individuals who roamed Cooper's World's outback during Alterday and Nights. These mythical characters neither wore masks nor did they need them. Instead, they would approach people who were in isolated parts of the wilderness and start up a conversation with them, slowly approaching closer and closer to the lone woman. While initially disturbed, the person in question would soon let their guards down, feeling attracted to the approaching stranger. Some legends even spoke about an irresistible feeling of desire for the visitors, an unexplainable, all-consuming, and unrestrainable longing. In those cases, a person would embrace the unknown individual, their minds filled with uncontrollable lust.

Hours later, the victims (for victims they were) would return to their senses, often with disheveled clothes and having a sense of incredible satisfaction. It was only when the women began straightening their clothing that they realized the most disturbing part of their encounters. Namely, they would find a deep cut or scratch that was still bleeding somewhere on their bodies. In addition, these wounds always appeared to have been sucked upon, judging from the bruises of love bites surrounding them.

During the brilliant light of Mainday, Christiana found this story to be as unbelievable as the legend that every government building had an arsenal of advanced weaponry hidden inside. Supposedly, these weapons caches were placed in the structures to prepare for a possible alien invasion. However, standing all alone in the dim sunlight of Alterday, she found these tall tales to be quite disturbing.

'I wonder if any of those fables have a bit of truth to them,' she considered as she examined her surroundings. As she stood there in isolation, she began wishing more and more that Ana-onee would soon arrive to pick her up. After all, most of the legends that scared Haruhi-nee were laughable.

Who in their right mind would believe the myth that the crews of the star-ships Hope and Destiny were immortal? Or that the Coopers who captained Hope during the First and Second Waves were the same Commander Cooper that Cooper's World had been named after? After all, the Second Wave had arrived at the planet just over a Terran century after the planet's discovery. Thus a person would have to be barmy to believe that the three Coopers in question were all the same woman.

There was also a tale that seemed to dovetail well with the legend of the 'blood-drinking strangers.' This tale cited reliable sources that showed that a small portion of hemoglobin from blood banks all over the planet was being transferred each week to Cooper's Landing.

However, a memo released decades ago by Congress had disproved that anything nefarious was going on. The letter stated that plasma from more rural locations was indeed being shipped to the capital, but the city's high population density was the reason. They stockpiled the excess lifeblood from the rural banks there in case of a natural disaster or another emergency. They did this to ensure that the vital fluid could be distributed quickly to the affected locations.

Ultimately, even this memorandum was not enough to squash the story that the lifesaving liquid was being used for hidden purposes. Paradoxically, the release was adopted by believers as proof that their theories were true.

Christiana believed the government's explanation. After all, how could there be villainous intentions behind stockpiling disaster supplies? Now, however, with thoughts of the 'blood-drinking strangers' swirling in her mind, she was no longer as sure.

Just then, the girl was pulled out of her reverie by the honking of a car horn. She had been so busy watching the surrounding trees and thinking about dark legends that she had not heard her elder Sister pull up. In response, she quickly approached the minivan's front passenger entryway.

Through the windows, in the emerald-lit compartment, she could observe Anastasia-onee putting on her mask and checking its seals before hitting the switch to open the passenger door. As the portal opened, the interior illumination momentarily changed to yellow before turning a much brighter red. Over the sound of outward rushing air, she could hear a calm, recorded female voice saying, "Warning! Cabin see-ohh-too levels are above acceptable limits. Please secure your masks until the indicator lights return to green."

In response, the girl slipped into the front passenger seat before the ingress was completely open. She immediately hit the door button, and it came to a close before the recording finished repeating. The sound of fans then followed, some blowing in see-oh-too free air while others vented the unfiltered atmosphere into the outside. This process lasted for three minutes, during which the din of the fans drowned out any attempts to converse. Meanwhile, the interior lights changed to yellow and then to a much dimmer green. This time the voice said, "Cabin see-ohh-too levels are within acceptable parameters. It is now safe to remove your masks."

Upon hearing this, both females loosened the straps on their filters, letting them hang from their necks while allowing them to don them at a moment's notice. After all, minivans with air exchange capabilities had only been on the market for the past decade. Before then, these mechanisms were only available on larger vehicles such as passenger vans and train carriages. Even now, automobiles with atmospheric filtering systems were marketed as luxury models. Most people still had to wear masks the entire time they traveled.

Before Christiana could say hello, Anastasia-onee began the conversation by saying, "Mrs. Parker held you after class again, didn't she?"

She sheepishly replied, "Yes, she did." She couldn't help but be taken aback by the look of anger on Ana-onee's light mocha features.

"Sydney was right! That bitch is getting bribed by one of our patMothers to mess up your training!" Ana-onee said, her irritation clear from how she slammed the minivan into drive.

—-

As soon as the van pulled off, a figure emerged from the shadows as if by magic.

The dark, hard-to-see figure pulled what appeared to be a com' from its pocket.

Suddenly a young-sounding female voice said, "Princess one has entered the coop and is on the way to the nest."

"Good job out there. I will send a car to pick you up as soon as the coast is clear," a similar female voice responded.

"Can you hurry it up, it's really spooky out here."

"And you call yourself a yokai?"

"Just hurry it up okay?"

"Roger that. Out,"

"Bloody kyūketsuki!" the figure muttered as it melded with the darkness once again.

Unbeknownst to her, the person on the other end of the conversation was muttering a curse of their own.

"Weakling tanuki!"

—-

'I've never seen Ana-onee this angry before,' Christiana thought. Being the eldest sibling, Anastasia-onee served as the role model for the younger children. This was a position that Ana-onee took seriously, and thus she showed none of her negative emotions in front of her siblings. Of course, Anastasia-onee was only twenty-three Colonial Years old and in her last Year of high school. Therefore, she was barely considered an adult in the minds of society. Taking this into account, it surprised her that Ana-onee maintained such a firm grip on her emotions at such a young age.

Momentarily shifting her gaze off the dirt road, Ana-onee turned to look at her younger Sister. Then she asked, "Just to be sure, were you the only one that she held back?"

"Yes," Christiana responded, glancing up at her sibling. Then, after noting the flash of wrath in her eldest Sister's dark brown eyes, she continued, "But this time, the reason was the upcoming recognition ceremony. She wanted to ensure that someone from our matFam will be present at the event to help Haruhi-nee and I bring home our awards. So on this occasion, it seemed like she had a good excuse for holding me late."

"What about the last time she held you behind and the time before that?" Ana-onee asked, tossing her long, straight black tresses out of her face while keeping her focus on the road. However, Christiana knew her oneechan was still very irritated despite her calm voice. Flipping her hair was one of the subconscious ways that Ana-onee showed her anger, an action that all of her siblings were well aware of.

"Um, not really..." she reluctantly replied, praying that her Sister did not ask her to reveal everything to their Okaa-sama. That was something that the youngster had been attempting to avoid because she knew how their matriarch could be.

"Look, I know you want to handle things yourself, but you need to report this to Mother. This affects the entire House and not just you," Anastasia-onee said carefully. As always, Ana-onee was trying to be diplomatic about family matters while still getting her views conveyed to her youngers.

After a deep sigh, she fidgeted in her seat for a minute before responding. "You are right, neechan. This may be something that I cannot take care of on my own." Then, after a few moments of thinking, she asked, "What did patMother Sydney have to say about the matter?"

PatMother Sydney was their Father's youngest wife, and she was technically Anastasia-onee and Christiana's new secMother.

There were two major issues concerning patMother Sydney within their maternalFamily. The initial issue was that Sydney was a Colonial Year younger than Ana-onee and a grade below her in the same high school. As a result, the eldest Daughter Ana-onee and patMother Sydney considered each other equals inside of the matFam and therefore were on a first-name basis. If they hadn't been friends and schoolmates before the Marriage, then Ana-onee would have referred to the young woman as 'secMother Sydney.'

The younger girl did not think of Sydney as her secMother. In her inexperienced eyes, the youngster would only have a single secMother, namely secMother Karen. This woman had served their matFam as a Junior Wife until one Colonial Year ago. During the five Years that she spent working off her Dowry Debt, Karen became exactly what a secMother should be. In Christiana's heart, she literally turned into her second mother. Therefore, the child refused to use the term secMother when referring to Sydney.

Instead, she used patMother, or paternalMother, when talking about her. While technically correct, society considered this term to be far too formal for someone to employ for their own maternalFamily's actively serving Junior Wife. However, in the girl's eyes, Sydney was just another one of her Father's Wives, and therefore the title patMother fitted her perfectly. In fact, she had been so stubborn about this that the other members of the matFam had given up on trying to change her mind about it.

Ana-onee spoke carefully once again. "First, remember that Sydney moved here from Planetfall because she wanted to escape the political intrigue of her own House. Power struggles and scheming happened daily in both her matFam and patFam, so Sydney learned how to spot these things to survive in that environment."

"I remember," Christiana replied, "That is part of the reason her Dowry Debt was so high even though she came from a distinguished family."

When Sydney moved to Simmon's Town, she had only had the creds she had saved from her allowance. While the amount had been substantial enough to live off for a decade, it wasn't enough to buy into a respectable Marriage.

Sydney had been lucky that their matriarch still had fairly young children and had been looking for another secMother to help raise her offspring. That was why their Mother had been willing to pay off most of Sydney's Dowry to the House in exchange for the adolescent's five Colonial Years of service.

Their Okaa-sama got a youthful helper, and she could also add a well-known name to her own House. Thus, despite costing her a few hundred thousand creds', it was a win-win for their busy parent.

"Because of her experience with such matters, Sydney could spot what was going on as soon as I told her you were coming home late from practice once again." Anastasia-onee explained as she drove, "Her exact words were 'Someone is bribing Christiana's teacher to keep her after class. They probably want to upset the martial arts instructor enough to make her quit.'"

At this, Ana-onee flipped her hair once more. After a moment's thought she proceeded, "In Sydney's old House, such maneuvers were common between the patWives to get their children into better positions within the patFam."

"But why would they do something like that when it could backfire and anger the House matriarch?" Christiana asked innocently.

Anastasia-onee sighed and said, "You are too inexperienced to realize how influential our matFam is." Then the older girl sat in silence for a moment. "Look, even if someone only wins the position of Keeper and does not properly complete the assignment, Mother will still pay that young lady more than adequate creds' for a substantial Dowry. In fact, she'll probably have sufficient creds' left over to buy a dwelling for a large matFam. Plus, if the person properly completes the appointment, they'll also receive a prominent spot within Okaa-sama's company. Either of those prizes is ample reason to make one of our patMothers take a chance at making the family Matriarch angry if it leads to their Daughter winning."

This time it was Christiana who sighed as she turned to look out of the passenger side window. "I still don't see what the big deal is about a task that basically amounts to glorified guard duty," she said in a disinterested tone of voice. "The only thing good about becoming a Keeper is the spiffy black clothes."

"You will understand when you get a little older," Ana-onee replied as she brought the minivan to a halt. Then she pushed the button to open the wrought-iron gate to their home. Embedded in the bars of the massive entrance were a pair of ornately shaped words: The Washingtons.