Her brow ruffled and she huffed. Luckily the edge of the nket got her attention. She pulled at the tight knitting and watched it pop back into ce. ying with the nket distracted her.


    “I like that,” Kein said.


    My men agreed, but I was confused. There was some internal conversation that had them all happy and satisfied. I looked quizzically at Christof and he grinned at me.


    “We are yours, we like that,” he said softly into my ear.


    “Better not tell Nu-reeh,” I whispered to him and he chuckled.


    My men were assigned to the sorting room again. They walked me back to our apartments first.


    “Be careful walking around,” Damien said pacing. “You know where the tutors are, stay away from that ce. There are ces in the caves where the vertical shafts meet the tunnels, they aren’t marked at all. We aren’t sure you know where all those are…”


    “She shouldn’t be allowed to go without us,” Evan groused. “Ciara has no sense for danger.”


    I put Hannah down on a chair and touched Evan’s chest. “I wasn’t supposed to walk until a littleter and I will be very careful. I promise not to go anywhere you all thought was dangerous.”


    Evan hugged me tight andkissedmy face. “We will see you at the midday meal,” he said. “Perhaps she will let us take you…”


    Ikissedthem all good bye and then turned to Hannah. She was a little cranky. I rocked her gently and she dropped off to sleep in my arms. For some reason I wasn’t tired anymore, so Iid her in the bed alone.


    The apartment was messy, so I cleaned and swept. I was about to start on the bathroom when I was interrupted. An earth shattering wail brought me back to the bedroom.


    Hannah was wet and hungry. As I fed her, I realized she was a little stinky. I wondered if they had anything here likebaby wipes. For all the fantastic things they did have that still seemed doubtful.


    “Come on,” I told her once she had drained me. “Let’s give you a bath.”


    In the bathroom I pulled off all of our coverings and let water flow into the tub. We wouldn’t need much, so I only let it cover the bottom of the pit in a fewinchesof water. I sat Hannah on her bottom in the water and had a startling surprise.


    She looked up at me and smiled. My day old daughter was holding her head up, which I knew was not normal for a human baby. When I tentatively released my grip on her, she continued to sit up on her own. Hannah was perfectly stable.


    “Water,Mama,” she told me sshing it around.


    Well, maybe not perfectly stable, she surprised herself when water hit her face and she tipped back. I caught her and proceeded to wash her tiny body.


    Hannah fascinated me. I noted her tiny fingers had dark nails. In the future those would be talons I imagined. Her wings were just two fleshy masses now, but I saw the hint of tips at each sharp curve. She would be fierce, just like she was supposed to be. I praised her in the water.


    After her bath I wrapped her up in a warm nket and tried to put her in the bed.


    That was boring, Hannah informed me. She didn’t want to sleep. Instead of sleeping we explored things my men had in the apartment. For some reason, we ended up in the men’s closet pulling out bags and boxes.


    Hannah liked the shiny stones my men had collected and kept there. She rubbed them and clicked them together for a few moments. I pulled out anything she might like to look at.


    “Ore!” Hannah said.


    She was right. Hidden away were many small pieces of the ore. It had been buried in a corner beneath several boxes.


    “Men should no have ore,Mama, they know,” Hannah told me seriously.


    I corrected her wording gently as I tried to put the ore back. They’d never shared this stash with me. It wasn’t clear why they had it.


    “It’s theirs,” I shrugged, “who knows why they have it.”


    “Myfather,” Hannah used theEnglishword, “once, wanted to run away.”


    “They really were miserable,” I said touching the hard shiny metal, “but how do you know that?”


    “When he thought of the ore he always thought of what he had. He tried hard to get more.”


    Suddenly, I felt a pang of fear. “I wonder if they had nned to take me with them?”


    “Yes,Mama,” Hannah said pulling the ore back out.


    “Sweet men,” I said smiling.


    The rest of Hannah’s morning we spent on the floor in the closet. She finally let me put the ore away. As we sat, she yed with the stones, cards, and pieces of my ornamentation. I noted her hand eye coordination getting markedly better as did her speech.


    I encouraged her to do things repeatedly until she was able. Her learning curve was incredibly rapid. Teaching her was engrossing.


    “What are you doing?” Christof asked standing in the doorway of the closet.


    Hannah and I were using the t stones to build with, like Lego blocks. I had not heard theme in.


    “ying,” I said as I looked up and grinned at them.


    Kein was crouching down and peering into the little room.


    “We used to have blocks we would build with,” he said, “remember, Brothers?”


    “Stones are probably too slick,” Damien said and Evan agreed with him.


    Later, as a group we went to the eating area. Six chairs were sitting around the table we normally sat at. Christof motioned for me to sit, which I did.


    “I like to hold you,” he said in a low voice, “but my Brothers are afraid I will inadvertently touch the child.”


    “Kneeling would be more eptable to the other men,” I advised very quietly.


    “We don’t really care what is eptable to them,” Christof smiled. “You are family and our family sits to eat together.”


    A hair raising howl alerted us that Hannah was ready for lunch. Pulling out a breast I brought her mouth to it as she screamed.


    “Eat, Baby,” I soothed. “You don’t have to be so loud.”


    Hannahtched on, sucking and watching me. Again, she was calm and content. As long as my attention was on her, she seemed happy. I stroked her as she fed and watched her expressive little eyes.


    Damien made it back with Evan and the food.Belonging ? N?velDram/a.Org.