Tilly, after giving Emi and I a hug, returns to the ground floor and her room. Emi and I enter my chambers where we return the table next to the wall, getting it out of the middle of the floor. After lighting a candle from the one on the balcony Emi leads me to my bed chamber. We straightened up the room which is still messy from being used as a bath. I want my bath house. Emi removes the chamber pot which is full of water from the basins, taking it somewhere. I need to ask her where she dumps it. While she is gone, I return the extra pitchers to the kitchen. Returning to my rooms, I undress, putting the skirt and blouse back in the wardrobe as they were only worn a couple of hours and the anklets in the basket. Sitting on the floor beside the bed, folding myself into the lotus position, hands on knees, back straight, taking slow deep breathes. There has been so much stress today.

While I sit de-stressing, Emi returns, seeing me sitting there decides to join me. She removes her clothes, placing them on the chest at the foot of the bed, then attempts to imitate me. She can't quite do it so sits cross legged, breathing slowly. After a while she asks,"Is this one of those things that used to be a martial art?"

"No, love, this is a meditation pose, used to help center and relax the mind. T'ai Chi has roots in meditation, in that it rests the mind while exercising the body, both were developed by the same group of men, Buddhist monks. The state the mind is in affects the body which in turn affects the mind; by relaxing the mind, the body too relaxes. Tonight when that man attacked Helen you were ready to attack him yourself, were you not? Helen was attempting to flee. Your body, when in danger, changes, preparing to fight or flee. Being in that state for too long is not good for the body or mind. Meditation helps recover from those changes."

"Ah." is the only reply. She becomes quiet, breathing in slow deep breathes.

After a while I shake myself, preparing to get up. I undo the frog at the front of my bra, tossing it in the wardrobe. Unfolding, I stand, reaching over I place my hand on Emi's cheek, caressing it. She sighs, smiling at me, catching hold of my hand pulls herself up. I undo her bra which she shrugs off causing it to fall to the floor. We embrace, kissing, before collapsing on the bed to cuddle and touch each other. Much caressing and rubbing later we are both sweaty and sated. We snuggle together, drifting into sleep.

Late in the night, I feel a chill so draw the sheet over myself, never really waking.

Awakening early, I find I am alone and apparently have been for a while, the bed beside me is cold to the touch. Where is Emi? When did she leave? I smell a musky scent but can't place it. After lighting a candle I do my morning toilet. I notice her clothes are still here. Donning the clothes I had worn the evening before I go down to Emi's room. She is not there either. I'm starting to worry. Entering the kitchen greet Tilly.

"Good morning, Tilly. Have you seen Emi? She seems to have disappeared. The bed was cold so she has been gone awhile."

"Ah, it is about time for that. Did you smell anything when you woke?"

"Yes, there was a musky scent."

"It is that then. Emi has entered estrus. She usually has more warning of the onset, so she can be confined, but it appears she has had a sudden onset."

Oh, she was pretty affectionate last night, but not much more than usual. I sit there wondering where she would go, when it comes to me. There is a male that can scratch the itch that Emi has. I sigh in relief.

"She is most likely with Mark then." Tilly smiles, as do I.

Leaving the kitchen I wander up to Sophia's rooms to check on Helen and Sophia. When I knock, Sophia answers the door, letting me in.

"How was night?" I enquire.

"She had a few bad dreams, which I helped her recover from. After I helped her purge her boogeyman she slept much better."

"Is she awake yet?"

Sophia's eyes close, she stiffens then relaxes, reopening her eyes, "She is wake and will be out soon. Is everything alright with you dear one? You seem worried about something."

"Emi disappeared in the night. After speaking with Tilly, we have concluded that she has entered estrus and is most likely with Mark."

Again her eyes close and she stiffens then relaxes, smiling as her eyes open,"She is asleep, fully sated and no longer in estus, apparently Mark and she are fully compatible." This makes me both happy and sad. Happy that Emi's wish had been partially fulfilled and sad at she could leave me.

Sophia noticing my mood hugs me, "It will work out dear one." I still break into tears.

The bed chamber door opens allowing Helen to enter the sitting room. Noticing my tears she joins us in the hug, asking," What wrong?"

Sophia explains, much better than I could. Helen just hugs me tighter and starts crying too. "Hey, what are you crying for?" I asked her.

She replied, "I know what it's like to loss one you love."

"Oh, honey. I haven't lost her yet. I'll probably need to share her though and Mark seems to be a nice guy. And just think, we'll have a little one to love and spoil."

Helen gets a look, imagining a little Emi running around, "That could be fun. I do miss my brothers and sisters."

"How many brothers and sisters do you have?" I ask her.

"I'm third after a brother and a sister followed by a three sisters and four brothers." Helen get a wistful look on her face.

"Do you write to them?"

She gets a sad look."I don't know where to write to them anymore, the last letter I sent was returned as undeliverable, addressee unknown. Papa was bad at holding a job, I remember us moving quite a few times." She was tearing up again.

"Hey, no more crying." Hugging her some more, I was get teary again, too.

"Let's go do T'ai Chi, maybe Emi will show up soon. And we can tease her for sneaking out in the middle of the night," says Sophia.

"She snuck out in the middle of the night?" asks Helen, not believing that.

"I remember getting cold and pulling the sheet over me in the night but fell back to sleep before I noticed anything else. The bed was cold when I woke this morning. So I'm assuming she was gone very early or very late as the case may be." I was saying this as we go to the garden to do T'ai Chi. "Tilly, do you want to come do T'ai Chi this morning?" I say as we passed the kitchen.

"Be right with you, your majesty."

We told Tilly what Sophia had said about Emi, "Good for her," was her reply.

We shed our footwear and assumed vertical centering, after a minute of that I lead them in the dozen forms Tilly and Sophia knew. After that I had them watch as I lead Helen in the four more forms she knew, then we all did those again slowly a couple more times. I asked if they wanted to do them again, and they yes, please, so I started over. I only had a make a couple of corrections. We finish by going back into vertical centering again for a minute.

After we put our footwear back on I asked,"Tilly, do you know how to make pancakes?"

"Yes, but my starter is low as I have just made bread."

"Would you like to experiment then?" I asked.

"Sure, you come up with some interesting ways of doing things."

"Alright. Ladies lets make some pancakes. Oh, is there any maple syrup?"

"Maple syrup?" coming from three mouths. Sophia doesn't know maple syrup?

"OH GOODY, a product that is totally new, we can make bunches off that, if we don't eat it all ourselves."

They look at me like I have gone nuts. "Ladies, maple syrup is a tasty sweet nectar of the gods, the reduced sap of the maple tree, which on earth is put over pancakes or waffles. Waffles, waffle irons, damn need cast iron for them, darn. No, there are other castable metals, can't forget that, waffle brasses, doesn't have the ring to it but it makes waffles who cares."

At this point of my rambling rant Tilly smacks the back of my head. "Calm down girl, you aren't making sense. First what are waffles, waffle irons and cast iron?"

"Waffles are like a pancake, except they are made on a mold which is called a waffle iron because it is made of iron and makes waffles and cast iron is the type of iron that a waffle iron is made of. Cast iron is iron that is melted to liquid form then poured into molds to make things, it can't be hammered to shape it, it is too hard and brittle, it just breaks. But we can't make it yet, we need hotter fires, a tiny amount is made in the current bloomeries but not enough to be useful."

I see Tilly's hand move toward the back of my head again when I take a breath to keep talking so clamp my mouth shut.

"Sophia, am I broken?" I ask. "I didn't to do that on earth, why am I doing it here. It's like my brain and mouth are directly wired together without a control filter. STOP, Stop talking. arg."

Sophia takes hold of my head staring into my eyes, I stare back, shortly that is all I see, pretty golden eyes, with fire visible in the pupil, a golden fire, looking into my brain. I blink. "What was I doing?" I ask. The others are staring at me. "What?"

"How long will that last?" Helen says.

"The confusion or the not doing data dumps? The confusion won't last long but the data dumps should be over unless she wills it."

What are they talking about now, data dumps? What data dumps? Oh, I remember I get to talking and I can't shut up. Was there something wrong in my head? Must have been. Sophia did something to fix it, I think. "What did you do, Sophia? And what was wrong?"

"When I put you in Rufina some of the connections weren't solid, every once in a while you would start talking and one thing would trigger a topic which would trigger a new one, etc. Unless you were interrupted you just kept talking. I went in and reconnected things."

"Oh, I bet that is why I kept going down rabbit holes, Emi or Aden would have to poke me to get to come out of it."

"Rabbit holes, Ha ha ha. It's a good one. I'll have to remember that. Lewis Carol, right?"

"Yep, I'm late, I'm late for a very important date." which breaks us up, while the other two look on in confusion.

"Alright, what is so funny?" this comes from Aden who is standing in the door way.

"Cultural references." both Sophia and I say in unison. Which breaks us up again.

"Rufina was having a problem which Sophia fixed, then they started laughing." Tilly said.

"Pancakes, I remember we were going to make pancakes. Egg, flour, milk and baking powder, we have no baking powder so whisk some egg white to peak and gently fold them in to the batter. No leavening agent pancakes." I says in a rush.

"Egg, flour and milk, alright. Egg whites whisked I get but to peak?"

"When you pull the white up after whisking they form a peak like a mountain."

"Oh! I get it. Starter puts air in bread so whisking the egg white trap air which rises the dough." She does have it, good job Tilly.

As Tilly makes pancake batter, the rest of us tell Aden about Emi. He knows where Mark is staying so will go get her when breakfast is over. But that plan is aborted when Mark arrives, alone.

"Good morning, Your majesty. Have you by chance lost someone?" he quips.

"Ah, yes we have, my good sir, a certain young lady has vanished. You wouldn't know of her location would you? Wink, Wink, nudge, nudge." This causes Sophia to break out in laughter again. Good old Monty Python.

"Yes, I would. Said lady came to me in the night demanding that I satisfy her, immediately. The males of my species have learned that when our females make that demand it is best to comply, so I did, repeatedly. The problem is that the lady in question arrived in the bare minimum of clothing, emphasis on bare. So I have come to retrieve a modest ensemble for her so that she may return home with decorum."

I smile at this exchange, I have learned something of the mating habits of the catkin. Learning is good. "Aden, please entertain Mark while I fetch our wayward companion some attire. Tilly is there a bag or small basket available?" Tilly points to a shelf be as she is in the midst of making pancakes. I find the bag she is referring to and goto my rooms where I place Emi's clothing from last night in the bag, after carefully folding it up. I can't find her panties or her slippers so she must have worn them. Mark had said she was in the minimum of clothing.

As I hand him the bag I ask, "Are you prepared to be a father, Mark?" This startled him, I don't think he had thought about it until that second. He sat back down heavily, a bit shocked. I nudge him,"Go get Emi and hurry back, we are having pancakes this morning, if you hurry you can have some." He is off like a flash, running down the hill toward town.