Christiana kept looking at the chronometer on her com'. Every time she did, only a couple of minutes had passed.

When she got to the teachers' room and found out that Mrs. Parker had yet to arrive, she hadn't known what to do. She had never met with her science teacher before school, so she had no idea when the instructor usually showed up. That was why she had gone to the office as soon as the van dropped her and Haruhi-nee off.

The dark-haired girl had wanted to tag along with her, but she had told her Sister to play with the other kids in the gym. There was no reason for the older child to be bored out of her mind while waiting for Christiana's meeting to end. "I'm really glad she didn't come now," she reflected as she looked at her com' yet again.

Since she did not know what to do until Mrs. Parker came in, she had waited for her there at the teacher's desk. However, she had only been idling there for about five minutes when the vice principal approached and asked the child why she was there. Upon learning the reason, the administrator had guided her to a small meeting room and had Christiana sit and wait there.

"At least I have a chair now," she realized as she glanced at her com' once again. "I need to look on the bright side of things."

Normally, waiting for such a short amount of time would not have bothered the girl. However, the thought that she could be playing with her Sister and their friends instead of sitting in a little room kept nagging at her. Of course, Christiana's body hurt so much from practice that she couldn't join in even if she had the chance. It was the principal of the matter that was bugging her so badly.

"I really don't want to talk to her," she realized. "In fact, I'd prefer to forget all about the problems she caused with my training. It also upsets me that one of my own patMothers is probably behind it all."

Like most upper-class families, her House's Marriage had a smaller female to male proportion than was common. Since males only made up thirteen percent of the population, the mathematical mean suggested that there should be roughly nine Wives per Husband.

However, things rarely worked out that way. Members of the upper-class typically possessed a lesser ratio, while the lower-class had a higher proportion than average would dictate. Christiana had heard whispers of fourteen women to each man in the working-class. She also knew that Senators and Presidents were usually part of four females to one male Marriages.

The Washington's House consisted of six Wives and their Husband. Two of those spouses, patMother Sydney and SecMother Karen, were both young and thus had tiny matFams of their own. In fact, patMother Sydney currently had no children while secMother Karen only had a single child. Her Mother, being senior Wife, had already produced her required number of offspring while the others all had mid-sized matFams.

These patMothers were named Patricia, Karla, and Morgana. PatMother Patricia was the eldest of the trio and had four girls and a son. Meanwhile, patMother Karla had birthed quadruple daughters and patMother Morgana had three.

"One of them has to be behind all of this," Christiana thought. "Knowing this makes me very upset because I get along with all of them really well.."

With her broad knowledge of history, she knew that the family positions of patMother and patSister were roughly equivalent to Old Earth's "aunts" and "cousins." She and her siblings visited their patSisters and their patMothers regularly. The other members of the House would also come to visit at their dwelling as well. Then, while the children played together, their Mothers would usually retreat to their own chambers to do whatever adults do when in private.

While Christiana had less contact with her patMothers than her patSisters, she enjoyed the encounters she had with them. For instance, patMother Karla liked to bake and decorate cakes for the children all by herself. Then she would eat the cake with the kids. She always had a big grin on her face as she watched the youngsters enjoy her creations.

Meanwhile, patMother Morgana grew up in a House that really valued physical fitness. Unfortunately, two of her three offspring were too young to run around outside with masks on. Because all the members of Christiana's matFam were older than her own, their patMother used it to her advantage. She would engage in games like ball and tag with her patDaughters whenever they visited. The youngster loved the fact that her patMother would take the time to play with her since her own Okaa-sama would not.

PatMother Patricia was very different. While she was more standoffish than the other two, she had a very special memory of her. A few colonial Years ago she and her womb-mate were playing with patMother Patricia's daughters Rei-mouto, Hina-mouto, and Mina-mouto. Meanwhile, their brown-haired patMother was sitting on the other side of the large parlor and talking with Christiana's older siblings and her daughter, Sakura-oneechan. Hina-imouto, who was always a prankster, suddenly snatched Haruhi-nee's doll away from her and ran off with it. The black-haired youngster had hopped up and chased after her, only to trip over her own feet.

Unfortunately, she slammed her knee into the edge of a nearby table and scraped it badly. Surprised by her sudden injury, she let out a loud yelp before falling face-first onto the carpeted floor.

Even before the other girls could react, the brown-haired woman had sprinted over to check on the injured youngster. With a worried countenance much paler than Haruhi-onee's own, she talked gently to the child while checking her over quickly. As soon as she noticed the bleeding scrape, she ordered a maid to get their medkit. Then she yelled to the security members waiting just outside the chamber to notify their Mother about the girl's injury.

All the while, the matriarch of the home never left Haruhi-nee's side. Instead, she talked quietly and calmly to the girl. She asked the injured youngster about how badly her knee hurt and if she could move it without pain. Upon hearing that the child could flex her joint with little trouble, a look of relief washed over the patMother's face. Then, after the servant finally brought the first aid kit, she disinfected and bandaged the black-haired child's wounds herself.

Christiana would never forget how tenderly the typically distant woman had taken care of her womb-mate on that day. In fact, it was this event that taught her that adults sometimes mask their genuine feelings. After all, the normally standoffish patMother had looked very, very anxious when Haruhi-nee injured herself.

"She must really cherish her patDaughters," she thought.