"Huh?" she replied, unsure of what Miss Harrison meant.

"What if you could go to school with both of them at the same time?"

"How would that even be possible?" she countered. "Johnathan-nii will be going to a facility for males and their Keepers. There's no way that Haruhi-nee could attend if she wanted to."

"What if she were a Keeper herself?"

"Well, if she were Johnathan's Keeper then that means that I wouldn't be and then I couldn't go to that academy."

"You're making an assumption there."

"What assumption?"

"You assume that a boy can only have one Keeper."

"But everyone knows that each male only has a single guard. That's the way it has always been. In fact, national law..."

"Federal law," her friend injected, "states that all school-aged males must have a sentry from their House accompany them at all times when outside of their matFam dwelling. It does not state the number of sentries."

"But, I have never heard of anybody having anything other than one Keeper."

"Just because it hasn't been done in recent memory doesn't mean that it's not possible. Didn't you find this out while researching the question I gave to you?"

Yes I did," Christiana admitted, "By reading journals from the time period I found that in the early colony, more than one member of a family could be Keepers for the same male."

"Exactly! Not long after the Uprising, families in the West would send anyone available within their House to act as their males' Keepers. Back then it was common for a single female from a House to accompany all of their boys to school at once. The idea of one Keeper per male developed later."

"But haven't the regulations changed since then?"

"While they have added rules over the years, the original law still stands. The new legislation states that Keepers must pass tests, proving that they are physically and mentally fit to perform their duties. However, the statute does not indicate what those assessments should be. They also say that there has to be at least one Keeper accompanying each boy."

"Does it state that a certain Keeper has to be assigned to a single male? If that's the case..."

Her friend cut her off again. "Nope, in fact, the laws are quite vague on these matters. A certified Keeper may accompany any of their House's males. The idea of assigning a specific sentinel to a particular boy has only come about in the past century."

"But what about the tournaments and the age ranges of who can take part in them?"

"All of those things are traditions and are not codified in the laws. While widespread in today's society, they do not require these competitions. It only takes a letter from the head Wife saying a testing process was used to determine suitability for a Keeper to be certified. The rest is just based on the customs of that family."

"But everyone selects Keepers the same way!" she protested.

"People tend to lack originality. Few dare to be different for fear of being considered 'weird.' Back in the Sol system they called this 'herd mentality' and many on Old Earth suffered from it. Unfortunately, the same can be said of the individuals on this planet."

"So Haruhi-nee would not need to take part in the contest as long as Mother wrote a letter to approve her?"

"Exactly."

"Even if what you say in the case, wouldn't there be push back from the academy and the government?"

Miss Harrison grinned in response, although her eyes weren't smiling. If anything, the girl felt slightly threatened by her friend's smirk. "Oh, don't worry. I will take care of all of that when the time comes," Miss Harrison said in a soft and quiet voice. If Christiana had known about the Old Earth term, she would have realized that the other person purred those words.

For the second time that evening, the youngster shuddered. 'I never want to cross her,' she thought. It was the first occasion that she had seen her good friend act in this manner, and it was extremely unsettling.

"Of course, before that can even happen, you have to do your part. To put it simply, you will have to win the tournament. Then I'll ask Holly to approve your matSister as a second Keeper for Johnathan. Simple, right?"

"You make it sound that way. It's not going to be that easy. I'll be facing Sakura-nee after all. She's older and has already competed in another competition. Winning won't be so straightforward."

"I am confident that you'll win," her friend said with a radiant smile. "Remember who your geneMother is."

"You make a good point," Christiana responded just as their salads arrived.

----

It was the middle of the night, but Christiana was awake. She had initially fallen asleep easily after her bath and catching up with Haruhi-nee. However, she had gotten up to use the restroom due to all the juice and iced tea she had consumed at dinner. Now she was having trouble going back to sleep.

As she lay there, the girl couldn't help but think of all the exciting things that had happened that evening. Everything from the delicious meal to learning that her friend was her geneSister to finding a solution to her seemingly insurmountable problem swirled inside her mind. The fact that the painkillers had mostly worn off, leaving her wrist aching, didn't ease matters.

'At this rate, I'm never going to get back to sleep,' she thought as she tossed and turned in her bed, trying to find a more comfortable position. She tried to shift around quietly out of fear of waking her Sister in the next bed, and those worries simply added to her racing thoughts.

'I guess I had too much caffeine after all,' she realized as she lay there. Miss Harrison had warned her that it would keep her awake if she drank a lot of iced tea. Unfortunately, she had lost track of the amount of the cold beverage she had consumed while chatting and eating.

She kept thinking back to what they had discussed at dinner. She couldn't help but wonder why the older girl had asked her to treat the idea of Haruhi-nee becoming a second Keeper a secret. While it was okay for her to talk to her Mother about it, Miss Harrison had sworn the child to absolute secrecy when it came to her Sister.

'Does she want it to be a surprise?' she wondered. It was true that Christiana rarely surprised her sibling because they were so open with one another. 'Surprising Haruhi-nee might be a fun thing to do once in a while.'

She speculated how the black-haired girl would react if she were to surprise her with such an important piece of information. She knew how lonely they both were when they were parted. Therefore, she imagined that her favorite Sister would be overjoyed upon learning that they could go to school together along with Johnathan-nii. 'I bet that she will be really happy,' she realized with a smile. Just thinking about making her womb-mate joyous was enough to make it all worthwhile.

While considering these pleasant thoughts, she finally began to feel drowsy. While snuggling with her fluffy blanket, she slowly drifted off to sleep with a grin on her face.