Ava sighed before replying, “Good evening to you too, little girl. I slept peacefully.” The cook muttered a contradiction but was ignored. “It’s a bit rude to not look at someone when they’re talking to you, especially when you’re expecting them to answer a question for you.”

“Is it?” Lora doubted it.

“It’s a bit complicated, looking at someone is good for the conversation but depending on the context it might be necessary or excusable.” Nora responded.

“As for your question…” Ava turned to look at Rana, “You two seemed to have chatted a bit already, so fill me in before I answer.”

“Me and Lora had planned to start our celestial weaves at about the same time, we were also planning to do the same celestial weave. But I now must start mine after the new moon. I have about three hundred more connections than her and she can’t make any more, so we can’t have the same weave. She’s still thinking about starting at the same time as me though. I think that’s dumb since the quality of her connections can still grow.”

“I get Lora but how does the bookworm not know this?”

“Know what?”

“We generally keep the information away from impressionable kids.”

“It’s Rana.”

“Maybe her parents missed this specific information, neither of them qualified when they were young so chances were their kid wouldn’t be that talented.”

“The number one little genius to appear in four hundred years,” Nora pointed out.

“The details about the last guy are sketchy as hell. So, we might as well give Rana the title of number little genius to ever appear in the village.” Dale interjected while distributing more meat.

“Right, so back to Rana and Lora.” She looked at Rana, “During the new moon the village will ask the stars for a new weave, your parents told you about this?” seeing Rana nod she continued, “How exactly did they put it when they told you?”

“Two months ago, they told me that the village would ask for a weave which requires at least three thousand strands to use, so they told me that I have to get three thousand connections so that I would be the first to use it.”

“The as-” Dale and Ava glared at her so Nora shut her mouth.

“That’s somewhat correct I guess.” Dale thought before he continued, “Basically the village has this rule for the little geniuses that says human and half-blood kids who form at least two thousand three hundred connections and vampire kids who form at least two thousand five hundred connections will receive a personalized weave from the stars.”

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Ava looked at Lora, “You have two thousand six hundred and seventy-one connections. That’s your limit, probably-”

“Probably?”

“We thought two thousand six hundred and forty-six was her limit a couple months ago, but we were obviously wrong.”

“How can you count the number of connections I have? Also, does that mean I could reach three thousand if given the time?”

“Being able to count the number of connections others have is one of the benefits of a weave. And no, you can’t. As much as I can’t say that you won’t be able to form a few new connections, it’s pretty unlikely though, but you definitely won’t form three hundred more. You’re already pretty close to your limit as things are.”

“What if I go past my limit?”

“Not sure but according to the larger settlements, your body would collapse.”

“What does that mean?”

“No clue.”

“Probably means you die.”

“Anyway,” Ava interjected, “Both of you qualify for a personalized weave. So even if you could reach three thousand you wouldn’t have the same weave.”

“For one thing,” Dale started, “Rana’s connections are more or less of the same quality, except for about a hundred, let me guess those were from your last push?” She nodded, “The new moon is in five days, spend some time consolidating them.”

“I can’t, I’ve been trying for a few days now, they didn’t improve in the slightest.”

Dale looked at Ava who shook her head to indicate she also didn’t know.

“I guess you have five days to practice how to effectively control your strands.”

“Five days she’ll spend rereading her parents scrolls.”

“Or I could just go to the library.”

“As for Lora’s connections-” Dale spent a moment trying to think about how best to put it but just sighed in the end.

“They’re a mess.” Ava helped. He didn’t completely agree but he nodded.

“Are they tangled in some way or?” Nora’s weave had yet to reach the level where she could reliably sense such things.

“No. They aren’t tangled. That’s Impossible.” Ava gave her a look normally reserved for the village coot. “It’s just that the range of quality is wide. Most are around the same quality as Rana’s, quite a few are either really good or look as if they’ll snap at the slightest breeze. And then there’s that thing.”

“It’s a bit too much.”

Nora sighed and looked at her little sister, “Lora, do you know what they are talking about?”

“Yes, one of my connections is really strong.”

“That can’t be enough to justify the reaction.”

“It’s almost half that of the connection she has with the moon.”

Nora choked on the meat she was eating. Rana gave her best friend/minion a high five followed by a hug. While Lora and Jace just looked confused, but Lora welcomed the hug. The adults had had a lot more time to wrap their heads around the fact, so the surprise and speechlessness was mostly gone, leaving only confusion.

The noise of a horn being blown sounded out.

“The meditation session is about to start.” Rana quickly ate all the food still on her plate and moved behind Lora once she was done. Lora moved her head sideways to make it easier for her friend and Rana bit down. Lora winced, she really couldn’t get used to the pain, at least she no longer instinctively tried to move away.

“Thanks,” Rana returned to her seat once she was done. “Now hurry up so we can go.”

“The problem with having such varying connections is that it makes it harder to weave. If Rana’s weave would be nice and neat yours would be…” he thought for glad. “Be glad we’re having the stars think of something.”