However, as the child was leaving the room, her parent stopped her by saying, "Oh, Christiana, one more thing."

At this, she had no recourse but to turn towards the matriarch once again.

"Well, it is actually a few things," the older woman began.

It was all she could do not to grit her teeth in frustration. 'I am so tired,' she thought while doing her best not to show her genuine feelings on her face.

Then she responded with a polite, "Yes, Mother," after yet another deep bow.

"First, I think you should stop by Karen's house after your training session on Sat'day," the older woman said. She then paused a moment before explaining further. "You may be more open with her than you are with me. After all, you still don't refer to Sydney as secMother even though she has been serving as your secMother for months."

'She's right,' Christiana mentally agreed. 'I am a lot more comfortable and truthful with secMother Karen.'

"Second, I just received a call from Miss Harrison," the red-haired woman said. "She will be in this region for the next week to ten days on business. She said that would like to have dinner with you during her visit and wants you to call her tonight to arrange the date and time."

Upon hearing this information, Christiana's weariness evaporated as if it was a dream. "Really!" the girl squealed, unconsciously jumping up and down with a cute grin on her face. "I haven't seen Miss Harrison since last Spring," she continued after quickly calming down.

Miss Harrison was a youthful woman, about the same age as Ana-onee. She normally came to visit her every few months. Whenever she visited, they inevitably had a fun time visiting museums, going shopping, and eating out. She was consistently kind to Christiana, and she spoiled her by showering her with gifts and attention. While she did not know why Miss Harrison had taken a liking to her, it delighted the younger girl that she had. Besides, Haruhi-nee had a similar relationship with a young lady named Miss Kayajima, so she did not worry that her womb-mate would feel left out. Plus, she always remembered to pick up a gift or two for Johnathan-nii while she spent time in the company of Miss Harrison. Of course, the elder Sister did the same when she was out with Miss Kayajima.

However, her Mother did not appear thrilled at Christiana's response. For a moment, a look of loneliness flashed across the woman's face as she watched her daughter's excited reaction. This expression rapidly turned into a frown and into a full-fledged scowl in a matter of moments.

"Christiana," the redhead began, a hint of anger noticeable in her voice, "Please remember that Miss Harrison and her family are both extremely powerful and wealthy. Her clan has been an important benefactor of our matFam and House in ways that you can not yet comprehend."

Then, as the smile on her daughter's face gradually melted away, she continued, "So you must be on your best behavior when you are around Miss Harrison. The last thing we need is for her household to abandon our own."

She could sense the importance of what her Mother was saying from how the woman was speaking. This was something that her progenitor was serious about, and there was no sign of warmth, nor of her cool facade. She could not help but think that this was her Okaa-sama's business voice and face, the one she used to run the Washington family companies.

Frightened by this newly revealed aspect of her parent, she tried her utmost to hide a shiver as she responded, "Yes Mother, I will do my best." Then the child gave a deep bow to her progenitor, at which the older woman motioned for her to leave for the second time.

As she finally left her parent's chamber, Jessica, Lucy, and even Sara passed her, all heading inside with worried looks on their faces. Apparently, the matriarch had summoned the security members from both the inner and outer houses to discuss the matter of Mrs. Parker. Well, that and the possibility of a turncoat within the patFam. She merely nodded at the trio as she walked by, not wanting to delay them as they continued on their way to meet with her Okaa-sama.

—-

As tired as she was, Christiana still had the energy to call Miss Harrison before taking her bath and getting ready for bed. After letting her siblings know she had to make a call, she proceeded to the main sitting room. Once there, she asked the com' to dial Miss Harrison and waited for the call to connect.

It only took a moment before a feminine voice answered, "Hello, Harrison here."

"Hello, It's Christiana," she replied. "Why are you on voice only?"

"Oh, hi little one. I'm sorry, but I am indisposed at the moment. I hope you don't mind."

"It's okay, I'm just happy to talk to you," Christiana responded. "Mother said that I should call you because you wanted to have dinner with me. I'm really looking forward to it!"

"Ahh, yes I did say that. What day are you free this week?"

"I have practice every day but Sunday," Christiana said with some regret. That was quite a few days away and she wanted to see Miss Harrison as soon as possible.

However, the person on the other end of the line came to a different conclusion, apparently based on her tone. "So you're not liking practice much I take it?"

"That's not what I meant..." she began only to be cut off by Miss Harrison.

"Why don't you like the idea of becoming Johnathan's Keeper?" the older female asked.

"Well, uhh..." Christiana began only to be cut off once again.

"Look, why don't we discuss this when we meet on Sunday, since you are apparently trying to come up with an excuse and not the true reason. In the meantime, let me hazard a quick guess," Miss Harrison pressed.

"Okay..."

"Does it have something to do with your sister Haruhi?" the Miss Harrison asked.

"N-no," Christiana began, only to be cut off yet again.

"Then let me give you something to look into before our dinner. Is the following statement true? In the early colony, more than one member of a family could be Keepers for the same male."

"What!?" Christiana replied, stunned by Miss Harrison's statement. Had Miss Harrison guessed the reason she was so reluctant to become a Keeper? Namely, that she didn't want to be separated from Haruhi-nee? In addition, did Miss Harrison just give her a possible solution to her problem?

"Please look into this for me and we will discuss it at more length when we meet in person. Shall we say Sunday at seven P.M.? Now I really have to go since I am getting ready to step in the shower. See you then," Miss Harrison said just before she closed the com' connection.

Christiana didn't even notice her friend's slightly rude behavior since she was still mulling over the possible implications of what Miss Harrison had asked her to research.

Eventually, she could only think of one thing, a hot relaxing bath. Although she had taken a shower after training, she wanted some time to relax and reflect on her seemingly endless day before turning in. Otherwise, the girl knew she would lie in bed thinking until well into the night. "Even a quick soak would help me clear my mind," she muttered as she went to her bedroom to grab some pajamas.

Upon reaching her chamber, it surprised her that both Haruhi-nee and John-nii were not inside playing video games. 'She's probably in the bathroom,' the youngster thought as she dug out her favorite flower-covered fuzzy PJs from a drawer recessed into the bedchamber's walls.

However, when she entered the changing room outside of the bath, she did not see her oneechan's clothing in any of the baskets. 'I wonder where she is?' she asked herself as she stripped and placed her clothes in one of the small containers. She then grabbed a towel and washcloth before entering the enormous bathroom used by her and her siblings. After washing and conditioning her hair and showering her body, she could finally enter the tub.

This bathtub was large enough to hold all five of the Sisters at once, with a little room to spare. While it wasn't deep, it was still very long and wide. Back on Old Earth, in the West at least, they would have considered something this size a hot tub. Others would have deemed it a Jacuzzi. This was because filters cleaned and recycled the water. They did not empty the liquid after each use as a Western bathtub.

Upon landing on Cooper's World, the colonists had quickly revived the ancient Nipponese custom of bathing. After all, none of them could take a bath while on the starships, with showers being their only option to stay clean. Thus when they made it to the surface and learned the pleasure of immersing themselves in warm ponds, baths were the first "non-essential" structures that they constructed.

All of this flashed through her mind as she laid down in the steaming liquid. She was a big history buff after all, and they had recently talked about the powerful influences of Nipponese culture on the early colony in school. 'Thank goodness for Nippon,' she reflected, laying her head back into the water and her long hair floating around her youthful face. Another thought quickly followed: 'This is bliss.'

After a few minutes of this, she moved and leaned her back against the side of the tub while sitting partially immersed. 'I am so tired and this is so relaxing,' she thought, 'I only need to close my eyes for a moment.' Then, without meaning to, she fell into a deep sleep.

———

After what only seemed like a few moments, someone tickling her sides rudely awakened her. Even in her half-asleep state, she knew who the culprit was before she opened her eyelids. "Haruhi-nee, get back in your own bed," she called out, controlling her giggles as best as she could.

Christiana had been correct as to who the offender was, but she was wrong about the location. It took her a few moments to realize where she was. After all, loud sloshing sounds accompanied her instinctive thrashing around in response to being tickled.

'Oh right, I was taking a bath,' she thought hazily as she opened her eyes. In front of her, Haruhi-nee was reaching out and ticking her younger sister, both of the girls naked as the day they were born. Immediately following this, her womb-mate stopped the tickle torture.

"Wake up, sleepyhead!" the older girl said, a bright smile on her face. "You know you can get dizzy if you stay in the bath too long," she continued, reaching out her hand to help her Sister up.

"What time is it?" she asked as she grasped the offered appendage and got to her feet.

"It's after eleven," Haruhi-nee reported while steadying the younger girl who was suffering from a moment of vertigo. However, the dizziness was from standing too quickly rather than from being in the warm water for too long.

"It's so late," Christiana commented as she climbed out of the bath. "What are you doing up?"

"I came looking for you, silly," Haruhi-nee responded with a laugh. Then she proceeded in a more serious voice, "I got a little worried when you did not come to bed. So I looked around to see if you had fallen to sleep on a couch somewhere." Then her Sister continued, "When I didn't find you on a sofa I tried to think of where else you might have fallen asleep. In the end, I found you here."

"Wait," Christiana asked when the thought hit her, "you were in the bath with me... did you shower first?"

"Don't sweat the small stuff," Haruhi-nee responded, doing her best to change the subject, "Come on let's get you dried off and into bed. The bags under your eyes have bags of their own."

However, she wouldn't let things drop. "So you didn't wash off before going into the tub?" she asked, already knowing the answer, but wanting to verify it. While waiting for her Sister's reply, she picked up a big fluffy towel from the warmer and began drying herself off.

Haruhi-nee sighed as she grabbed a bath sheet of her own. "No, I did not," she admitted. Before Christiana could even respond, she continued, "But I showered and bathed not long after you went to see Mother. How could I get dirty lounging around the house for a few hours?"

"That's true," she responded as she toweled her hair dry. As tired as she was, she decided to just go to bed with it damp instead of using the hairdryer. It wasn't as if patMother Sydney was going to come checking on her this late and notice that her tresses were still semi-wet. After all, patMother Sydney had seemingly forgotten to check on the younger children since it was her responsibility to make sure that everyone was resting by a set time. If Sydney had checked, then she should have been the one searching for her and not her Sister.