Christiana did her best to suppress a frown. She had walked right into a verbal trap. 'That was mean of her!' she thought as she drank a mouthful from her all but empty glass.

Here the other girl grinned brightly. Then in a teasing voice, she said, "Unless, of course, lack of confidence has nothing to do with your reluctance to become a contestant."

"Look, Christiana, I'm sorry for pressing the issue so much, but you aren't telling me the truth, and I need to know why you are acting this way. I can't help you solve your issues if you don't tell me the cause of them."

"You want to help me?"

"Yes. I do. That's why I am being such a pest about this."

"Why is this so important to you? I asked this earlier, but you didn't answer."

"Look, there aren't many ways for someone your age to display their level of responsibility. I want you to show people you can act responsibly by taking care of your Brother. Believe it or not, becoming a Keeper will have a tremendous impact on your future, whatever path you eventually decide to take."

"Now would you please tell me the real reason for your hesitation?"

Christiana sighed. She knew that no matter how embarrassing it was to admit the true source of her reluctance, she couldn't hide it anymore. Plus, since her friend wanted to help her, she might find a way out of the mess looming in front of her. The problem that had been plaguing her thoughts night and day for months.

Being too embarrassed to look her companion in the face, she kept her gaze on her empty glass in front of her. "I don't want to make the choice," she finally admitted.

"You do not want to make what choice?" Miss Harrison asked, her concern clear in her voice.

"I don't want to decide who I will go to school with every day. If I win the competition and become John-nii's Keeper, then I won't be able to see Haruhi-nee until I arrive home in the evenings. If I lose, then I will get to spend the school day with oneechan, but I won't get to meet with Johnathan-nii until later in the evening. Either way, one of them will be lonely and upset with me. I do not want that to happen!"

It was only when she paused that Christiana realized she had tears coming out of her eyes. The frustration that she had been suppressing all of this time had finally boiled over and she had begun crying without knowing.

"I wish I hadn't been put in this stupid predicament!" she exclaimed in a shaky voice, all the while looking down at the table. "Why was I the one they chose to participate, anyway? Why didn't they choose Haruhi-nee? At least I wouldn't have to be torn between the two most important people in my life!"

Miss Harrison reached out and took the child's hand in her own. "Would you like it if your Sister had to go through the pain you are feeling right now?" she asked gently.

"No, of course not!" she replied, finally looking into the older adolescent's eyes. "I do not want to hurt either of them! That's the problem."

Using her cloth napkin, Miss Harrison tenderly wiped away the distraught child's tears. "I'm afraid that everyone has to face times like these as they grow up. It's not fun, but it is part of life."

"Well, I don't like it!" Christiana replied.

"No-one does," Miss Harrison said.

The two sat in silence for a little while until she got her emotions under control and her teardrops finally stopped.

"Feeling better now?" Miss Harrison asked in a gentle tone.

"Yes," Christiana said after a moment's thought.

"Sometimes crying helps," Miss Harrison said gently.

"But women aren't supposed to cry. We have to be strong for our men," came Christiana's prompt reply.

"Nonsense! It's okay to cry if you have a reason to do so," Miss Harrison interjected. "It doesn't matter if you are a man or a woman, pain is pain."

"No-one has ever told me that before," Christiana admitted between sniffles.

"That's because of all this toxic femininity that is rampant in today's society." After producing a clutch from seemingly out of nowhere, she withdrew a small pack of facial tissues and gave them to Christiana.

"Thank you," she said upon receiving the package. Then, after blowing her nose, she continued, "I am sorry for being such a crybaby."

"You are fine. Everyone gets upset from time to time," Miss Harrison said matter-of-factly. "Now then I have to tell you the answer to your earlier question."

"What question?" Christiana asked, genuinely confused.

"You asked why they chose you to compete instead of Haruhi," Miss Harrison clarified.

"I assumed it was because I was slightly better at sports," Christiana replied.

"Nope, everybody knows you are both equally gifted at both athletics and academics," Miss Harrison replied.

"Then why?" Christiana asked.

"In case you haven't noticed, your family is one of a handful of Houses who treat their male members with more respect and freedom than all the others, right?" Miss Harrison pointed out gently.

"Oh yeah, I have seen that a lot over the past few days," Christiana conceded.

"You also understand that your House is the most liberal of all those families, right?" Miss Harrison asked.

"Yes, my secMother mentioned that yesterday."

"Then I'm sure you know that all these clans give their males some input in who they marry," Miss Harrison queried.

"Yes," Christiana replied as she nodded in agreement.

"If they offer their Sons a choice of wives, what do you think the Mothers do for their Son's Keepers?"

This revelation truly stunned Christiana. To be honest, she had never imagined that Johnathan-nii was the one who picked her over Haruhi-nee. The three of them were a trio after all, so it made sense that he wanted one of his matSisters to be his guard over his patSisters.

"Why would he do what?" came Christiana's unexpected response. Still lost in her thoughts, she absentmindedly asked, "Why would he choose me over oneechan?"

"As well as you know him, it seems that you do not truly understand his heart."

"What do you mean?"

"You will figure it out eventually, little one. I was pretty oblivious about such things when I was your age too."

She could only look at her friend and wonder what she meant. After a minute of silence, Miss Harrison said, "Come on, let's go wash your face and freshen up, okay?"

After the two returned to their table, they motioned the waitress back over.

"I feel like celebrating. What are your finest dishes?" Miss Harrison asked.

"Currently we have Kobe Steak style bio-beef with truffles and simulated foie gras pâté. Next, we have farm-grown Bluefin Tuna steak with rice and vegetables. Finally, we have Grilled Marinated Rabbit with Lemon and Rosemary."

"Is that genuine rabbit or is it bio-meat?"

"It is the real thing, Miss. Only the best for our guests."

"Wait, is she talking about flesh from an actual farm raised bunny?" Christiana asked.

"She sure is!" Miss Harrison said with glee.

The younger girl shuddered. Rabbits were the only non-aquatic animal reared on the planet. They had been carefully raised and maintained on the starships over the twenty-four Terran year long voyages for experiments and as a potential food source.

"But....."

"Look, you eat fish, right?"

"Well, of course, everyone eats fish."

"Fish are animals, right?"

"Yes."

"What's the difference?"

"Ummm...." While the girl couldn't refute Miss Harrison's argument, she still had a nagging feeling that there was something different between a hare and seafood. However, the other young woman was correct in that they were both living creatures. In both cases, they were taking the life of another organism to keep surviving.

"Think of it this way, the rabbit on the menu would not even have been born if it hadn't been intended to be used as food. Raising that creature took up valuable colony resources that could have been utilized differently. Therefore, it owes its very life to the eventual goal of becoming someone's dinner. A very expensive dinner at that."

"That is also true."

"So would you like to try it? Trust me, it's a lot better than bio-meat because it is much more varied in taste and consistency. I guarantee you will love it."

"Okay..." she agreed with some reluctance. While she wasn't too keen on the idea, her friend had never steered her wrong in the past. Every time her Miss Harrison had given her personal guarantee on something, she had always been right. That was why Christiana was willing to give in so easily on this matter. Her friend's recommendations had a perfect track record.

"Good!"

Then turning to the waitress, she said, "We will both take the Grilled Rabbit. In the meantime, we'll have the house salad. Also, please bring my companion a glass of sweetened iced tea with a lemon wedge. Finally, I would like a refill of my juice."

"Right away, miss," the server answered with a bow before leaving with their order.

"You remembered my favorite drink!" Christiana pointed out with a smile.

"Of course. You ask for it every time we come here. Just don't get mad if you stay up half the night due to the caffeine."

"I won't."

"So while we wait for our salads, shall we continue where we left off?" the Miss Harrison suggested.

"I'm not too sure," she replied, having genuinely lost her earlier train of thought.

"I believe we were attempting to brainstorm a solution for your problem."

"I have no idea how we are going to do that," she said dispiritedly. "I have been trying to think of a way to fix this mess for a long time."

"Well, let's try looking at it from a fresh perspective. First, we need to define the issue, then we will come up with an acceptable resolution. Finally, we'll figure out a plan to bring about that outcome. Does that sound like a suitable method of problem-solving?"

"I guess," she replied, her glum mood evident in both her gloomy expression and listless tone.

"So you don't want to have to decide which sibling you spend your schoolday with. Does that sum up the issue?"

She simply nodded in response.

"Then the acceptable conclusion would be to find an alternative where you do not have to make that decision. Is that also correct?"

"Yes, it is."

"So now we need to come up with a way that you will not have to choose one or the other. So how about this..."

Christiana just sat and waited for her to continue.

The older girl's expression changed into an enormous grin. "Why not both?"