Nora withdrew from her meditative state, in front of her were twenty-something children ranging from four years old to about ten years. She oversaw the late afternoon meditation sessions for the week. For the most part that meant infusing her aura into the magic circle etched on the ground and making sure that nobody disturbed everybody else’s meditation. Children and meditation didn’t mix particularly well. All seven four-year-olds were sprawled on the ground fast asleep. Same for the five-year-olds. The six- to eight-year-olds had a few standouts valiantly battling the urge. Her little sister and Nolan’s kid were in that group. The nine- and ten-year-olds were a bit more varied.

A few of them sat straight, giving off an ‘I’m amazing’ aura. Most of those easily had close to a thousand celestial connections, at least. The sun was still up so those of them here were mostly there to brag to their lessers in the second group. Those in the second group were those with thirty to a hundred connections, possibly even fewer. With such a few connections at that age, it’d be an understatement to say they don’t have the talent for it. Yet most of them were here to try and eke out even one more connection, and one more after that. Connections were harder to form in the daytime, so she didn’t see the point, especially with their talent. Though the sun did help to strengthen connections. Fewer didn’t necessarily mean they’d be weak, but their potential would be lower unless they formed better connections. Quantity is much easier to compare than quality though, especially for dumb kids. Those in the third group were somewhere between the two, from what she knew most of them were struggling to form a new connection every couple of weeks, which is a very long time if your attention span lasts a few minutes at best. They were content with the number of connections they had thus many of them were considering starting their celestial weave. They were probably here to try and round up the number of connections they had to a hundred. The village had their best weaves at those numbers, and many weaves to choose from.

“That’s it for now. You can come back for the night session if you want.” She watched as a few kids got up, mostly the older ones, the rest too asleep to hear her. They helped her wake up the rest. She took her little sister, who was still a bit drowsy, by the hand and gathered the rest. Jace automatically went to her side. The village was currently moving so she had to take each kid home lest they go where they aren’t allowed and get hurt. The number of kids following her decreased until only Jace and Lora, who she was now carrying in her arms, were left. The sun had already set by the time she walked home, which was only a few houses down from her last stop.

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Reaching her house, she knocked on the door a few times before opening the door slightly and sticking her head in. “Hey, Dale.” She greeted the vampire who was making tonight’s supper.

“Hey grandpa,” greeted Jace once he was through the door. Lora shifted a bit in Nora’s arms until she found a slightly more comfortable position.

“You mean Uncle Dale,” he didn’t lift his head from the weird meat he was cooking, “Good evening to you too Jace.”

Nora looked at the meat for a moment, “You’re experimenting with new meats? Again.”

“Not just meat,” that got him excited, “I left a few herbs I picked up with Cara, she’s supposed to figure out if they can be added to food. I picked up various meats and herbs and fruits when the chief sent me to scout for a new position to place the village.” He pointed to the meat he was cutting into small slices, “This is the flesh of a tentacle creature, horribly impractical on land. There’s a lot of them where we’re going, just a few kilometres away from the chosen spot, they’re a bit varied and, again, terrestrial tentacle creatures are easy to kill...”

“Usually.”

“Yes usually,” it was a lesson the adults tried to ingrain in the younger generation, so he didn’t mind the interjection. “We’re going to be eating them for the next few months…”

“If we don’t have to move early.” She interjected again, this time he did mind making him scowl at her.

“As I was saying, they should land on the dinner table quite a few times so I’m trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t.” There was a pep in his voice that she didn’t like. She knew it too well.

She looked at Jace who was already purple, “How about you help your grandpa out while I go set Lora down? You’re still young so you should familiarise yourself with a few new flavours. It might even help you to figure out what to avoid if you’re out in the wild and it should train up your immune system.”

She was already going up the stairs at that point. She held no delusions that she could avoid being a taster. She only had to decrease the amount of tasting she had to do. At the corner of her eye, she saw a slice land in the hot oil and burn with a ghostly green light.

She went up to the attic/third floor which serve as storage and bedroom for kids about five feet or shorter. She used to share it with Nolan when she was young, but Lora had it to herself unless Jace was staying over. She set her down on her bed, which was a few leathers stacked on one another. There were a few other leathers stacked on the side which were supposed to act as blankets. But she left them there since it wasn’t cold, and Rana should come wake her up in about an hour.

She left the attic and went to her room which was located at the end of the second floor. She didn’t have anything specific to do but she had to eke out a minute before going down.