Three days later, Dove takes a call from home and returns looking surprisingly sheepish.

'So - you guys are invited to dinner, if you want,' he tells us.

We look up. 'Invited by who?' Cardin asks in surprise.

'My mum.' He looks incredibly embarrassed. Sky is starting to grin. 'She rang and wanted to know why I hadn't come home. I told her I was hanging out with you guys, since you were all here for the break. So… you're all invited to dinner tonight.'

'That's nice of her,' Sky says.

'No pressure,' Dove adds.

'What, do you not want us to meet your family?' I say, raising an eyebrow.

'Well, you haven't done anything to piss me off lately, so I'd feel kind of bad inflicting them on you,' Dove says with a grin. I can tell he's not entirely kidding though.

'What's wrong with your family?' Cardin asks, startled.

'Nothing's wrong with his family,' Sky says firmly.

'Yeah, except there's six of us and I'm the oldest,' Dove says, rolling his eyes. 'So, yeah, you guys want to hang out with a bunch of kids, you're totally welcome.

''Don't listen to him, he loves them to death,' Sky says to us.

'Good choice of words,' Dove says grimly.

'If your mum invited us, it can't be that bad,' I say cautiously.

'I'll put that on your tombstone,' Dove says morosely.

'Don't be an idiot,' Sky says. 'They'll be fine.'

'Ok, fine!' He throws his hands up in the air. 'I told her if she doesn't hear from me we're all coming. So… dinner tonight.'

'Should we bring something?' I ask doubtfully. I don't get invited to dinner very much, as a rule.

'Nah, she'll have tonnes of food,' Dove says.

'Wine?' I ask, racking my memory.

'Flowers,' Cardin suggests. 'We can pick those up on the way in.'

'She'll love that,' Dove says with a grin.

'Your mum is a shopkeeper, isn't she?' I ask.

'Yep. She runs a clothing store on the main strip. Super expensive, but women still buy them, so…' Dove shrugs.

'I think the people who run the armour shops probably think the same,' I say. Cardin told me how much his armour cost once, and I almost choked. The scholarship I'm on doesn't include a huge amount of spending money, but what Cardin paid for one suit of armour was still almost double that.

'Armouries,' Cardin says, rolling his eyes.

'Whatever,' I say. 'It's still more trouble than it's worth.

''It protects you in battle,' Cardin says.

Dove and Sky exchange exasperated looks. This is not the first time we've all had this discussion.

'If you're using your Aura right you shouldn't need it,' I persist. 'It's heavy and noisy and if you're burning Aura to carry it, then what's the point?'

'It allows you to focus on your weapon,' Dove says.

'And everyone without armour still manages to focus on their weapon and their Aura,' I say.

'It's not heavy if you're used to it, and it's double the protection,' Cardin says. 'I took a direct hit from an Ursa in my armour and I was fine.'

'I don't get hit because I'm not slowed down by armour,' I say smugly.

'Yeah, but we don't need to cartwheel to get enough weight for a good impact,' Dove says.

'So we can agree it's a matter of fighting style,' Sky says, sick to death of the entire thing. 'Russel's style is minimal durability, maximal speed that leads to maximal power. Ours is maximal durability for maximal power and minimal speed.'

He's right. I'm not really very strong, but I'm quick on my feet, and I have good stamina - I can outlast almost anyone. But if I get hit directly it can be a serious problem for me. And without the weight of armour, I do need a lot of momentum to equal any real amount of force, but that's why I use blades, and keep them sharp enough to cut a falling feather from the air. I'm also hell to actually land a hit on. My defence can be as shit as I like, it doesn't mean anything if I don't get hit.

'I still say I've got the right idea,' I say, leaning back.

'Yeah, until someone knocks all your teeth out,' Dove comments.

~o0o~

The city is surprisingly alive at night: people fill the restaurants, shoppers have claimed the footpath as their own and police are prowling around glaring at people like they're looking for some sort of hostility award.

'Should I be worried about all the cops?' I ask Dove quietly.

'You know about the Dust robberies, don't you?' Dove asks, startled. 'Cops have been camping out for weeks.'

'Have they caught anyone?' Cardin asks.

'Nope.'

I don't really feel reassured by this. This might be my paranoia talking, but I can't help but think that police who are publicly failing to catch criminals might want to strive to publicly catch a criminal, or even publicly pull in someone who looks like they might be contemplating a criminal act at some point in their life, and unfortunately my hair has a tendency to slot me into that category. Still, Dove, Sky and Cardin are strolling along like they own the joint, so I just keep up with them and don't make eye contact.

Dove leads us off the main strip and down a narrow lane, then rings a doorbell beside a door halfway down the lane. I flinch as a bell clangs loudly overhead. 'Holy hell.'

Dove grins at me. 'You ain't seen nothin' yet…'

For a moment I wonder if I'm hearing thunder, then I realise it's feet - two, no, three pairs, thudding down some stairs behind the door. They fall silent, and a young voice calls, 'Who is it?'

'Dove,' Dove calls.

'Ew, I don't want to let you in.'

Sky laughs. 'What about me, Olive? Do I get to come in?'

'Sky! Sky, Sky, Sky!' The door clicks open and a girl throws herself out at Sky, wrapping herself around his leg. Dove rolls his eyes and shoves his way past. Sky grins and stomps inside with Olive still stuck to him.

We follow them in to find ourselves in a narrow little hallway. To one side is a flight of dark wooden stairs. The hallways stretches down to a door that I imagine leads into the shop itself. There are two other children: a boy of about twelve and one of about ten. They're both talking to Dove at the same time Olive is talking at Sky. Now that she's in the light I can see that Olive is a girl, maybe seven years old.

'Ok, ok!' Dove yells, cutting over the noise. 'Come on, guys, let's go up!'

Sky scoops Olive up and begins to climb the stairs, holding her upside down. We follow them. I'm already relaxing, despite Olive's ear-splitting shrieks of glee: this place feels like some of the better foster-homes I've been in. Cardin, on the other hand, is looking thoroughly disconcerted.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

We come onto the landing. It's open-plan, and surprisingly large: to the right is an area corralled in by couches, next to it is a dining room that's identifiable mainly by a huge table, and straight ahead of us is the kitchen. To the right is a hallway that must lead to bedrooms.

A woman steps out of the kitchen and I almost do a double-take. She looks like Dove in a wig. They share the exact same features and colouring, but the strangest part is that she doesn't look masculine at all, and Dove doesn't look feminine. Somehow their faces have transcended gender.'

Hello!' she says, hurrying forwards and giving Dove a hug. 'There you are! And Sky!' She gives him a hug too, then turns to me and Cardin. 'Now, you must be Cardin, I think?' she says to him. 'You look just like your father. And you must be Russel.'

'Nice to meet you,' I say.

'What a wonderful accent!' she says. 'You're from Vacuo, aren't you, Dove told me all about you-' I shoot Dove a narrow look, but he's shaking his head behind her back - 'and how do you like Vale?'

'It's a lot colder than I'm used to,' I say. 'Beacon is a great school, though.'

'Hey!' Olive says, detaching herself from Sky long enough to tug on my pants. 'How'd you get your hair to do that?'

'Training,' I tell her. She's too young to understand the concept of hair-care products, and, from the looks of things, the concept of a brush.

'You sound funny!'

'Olive!' her mother said sternly. 'Now, Cardin, Russel, you two call me Poppy. Have a seat, have a seat! Dinner is almost ready. Do you want anything to drink, water, coffee, tea?'

We politely refuse and seat ourselves on the couches. Olive has decided that Sky is still her favourite, and is telling him some convoluted story about a pony and how she got to ride it. She's got competition, though, the twelve-year-old and the ten-year-old also want to talk to Sky.

'They really like him,' I comment to Dove.

'Yeah, well, he doesn't have to live with them,' Dove says, leaning back. 'That's Pax, that's Crane, Serena, Harmonia, and you've met Olive.

''How old are they?' I ask.

'We're standing right here,' an irritated voice says behind me.

'You mean right behind me where I can't see you and didn't hear you coming?' I ask without thinking.

Someone else laughs, and two more girls move into view around the arm of the couch. Despite myself, I can't help but be impressed. Dove's sisters are hot.

'I'm Serena,' the older one says. 'I'm sixteen. That's Harmonia, she's fifteen.'

They're both tall, and curvy. They've got muscles on them, though, and without even having to check their hands I can guess they're Huntresses in training. They've got long caramel-coloured hair and huge dark eyes. They're total babes.

'So who are you?' Harmonia asks. She's the one who spoke to me before. Her voice is full of challenge.

'This is Russel and that's Cardinal,' Dove says. 'Hey guys.'

Serena settles herself on the couch beside Cardin and smiles at him. 'Pax is the ten-year-old. Crane is the twelve-year-old. Olive is seven-'

'Almost eight!' Olive yells.

'Almost eight,' Serena agrees.

'So what's been going on?' Dove asks.

'School work,' Serena says with a shrug. 'The usual.'

'Where do you study?' Cardin asks.

'We're at Marker,' Harmonia says. 'Studying to get into Beacon. We're Huntresses.'

'What do you use?' I ask with interest.

'Grave Moon,' Harmonia says, leaning forward, her eyes lighting up. 'I can show you-'

'No weapons inside, remember?' Serena says to her. Harmonia looks like her candy's been taken away.

' Fine,' she sighs, turning back to me. 'It's a variant ballistic bow- bolas. So a long-bow, but with barrels built into the shaft. They only fire one shot before I have to reload and their range isn't great, but nobody sees them coming. I can also separate the arms of the bow at the centre of the arms and use them as a grappling hook, or I can use the entire thing as a staff.'

'You don't run out of arrows?' I ask, fascinated.

She grins. 'Wires linked to the base of each shaft. I can discard them after firing or I can use them to increase my manoeuvrability. Plus, I carry, like, a million. I've got melee, short-range and long-range capabilities.'

' Nice,' I say, impressed. 'Bows are rare.'

'Bows with ballistic capabilities are even rarer,' she says smugly, clearly delighted I recognised what it meant that she had one.

'Hey!' someone suddenly yells in my ear. I flinch back, realising that Olive has crawled along the back of the couch to bypass Dove and get to Cardin and me. 'Are you guys in my brother's team?'

'Yes, we are,' I say.

'Are you his boyfriends too?'

'Nope,' I say, noticing the look of panic on Cardin's face. He's not used to small children.

'Are you each other's boyfriends?' she asks, putting a hand on my shoulder and sliding down on the cushion between us.

Normally I'd make a joke about how I'm too good for Cardin, but I know the almost-eight-year-old won't understand it. 'Nope,' I say. 'Do you have a boyfriend?'

'Yeah,' Olive says confidently. 'He's at school, though. Wanna be my boyfriend?'

'Nope,' I say again.

'Ok.' She accepts it better than most girls would. 'Hey, do you have weapons?'

'Yep.' I catch Dove's eye. 'Show your sister Polaris and Octantis?'

Dove grimaces. 'I'd rather you didn't. She'll try and recreate them with steak knives.'

'Ah, good call.' I look back down at her. 'Maybe Cardin will show you his, if you ask nicely.'

She wriggles around and grabs Cardin's arm. 'Hey, will you show me your weapon?'

I smirk, despite myself. Cardin frowns down at her. 'Uh…'

'No more weapons talk,' Poppy called from the kitchen. 'Dinner is ready.'

We seat ourselves around the table. In the scramble, Poppy winds up at the head of the table, with Dove on one side, Cardin on the other, Sky next to Dove, Serena next to Cardin, me next to Serena and Harmonia across from me.

'Now,' Poppy says, as she, Dove and Sky begin to serve everyone. 'Dove told me there wasn't anything you boys didn't eat, so we haveroast beef, we have some vegetables, and there're a few other things. You help yourselves if you want more of anything.'

'I'm going to want more of everything,' Cardin says. 'This all smells amazing.'

He's not wrong. Food at Beacon is good, but this is barely food. It's art. I dig in enthusiastically.

'So Russel, do you have family in Vale?' Poppy asks. 'I know Cardin and Sky both do.'

'No, I don't,' I say. 'Beacon is a great school, though.'

I see Dove's face and realise he hasn't told his mother everything. Sure enough, her next question is, 'So your family are all in Vacuo, then?'

'My parents both died when I was very young,' I say. I've been trying for almost sixteen years and there's no way to say that that comes out sounding good. Business-like, you sound like a bastard, emotional, the conversation ends up getting dragged in a million directions away from the one you wanted. Sometimes if I move on quickly enough they get the message, though. 'They were both from Vacuo, and I was raised in Vacuo. Beacon is a far better school, though, and travelling has been really interesting.'

'We just can't get him to shake the accent,' Dove says with a grin.

'You know, nobody cares about the accent but you,' I tell him.

'I like your accent,' Harmonia says.

'Have you ever been to Vacuo?' I ask Poppy.

'Oh yes, I was an external technician on the CCT,' Poppy said cheerfully.

I blink. 'Wow. Really?' It's hard to imagine this fluffy woman doing what's been described as the runner-up to the title of "most dangerous job in the world."

'Oh yes. I became internal once I had Dove, and then I decided I wanted to open a boutique instead once I had a few more,' Poppy said cheerfully.

I am seriously impressed. External technicians are those who leave civilisation to maintain the Cross Continental Transmit system. They're heavily-armed, usually travel in armoured vehicles, and have a casualty rate second only to Hunters. They're also usually exceptionally intelligent. Internal technicians are just as smart. I do not give anyone in Dove's family enough credit.

'Yet another thing my sisters ruined,' Dove comments.

'Speak for yourself. We call him the first pancake,' Serena says to me and Cardin - mostly Cardin, in fact. Hmm. 'You know, the one that never turns out right, because you're really just using it to check if the pan is hot.'

'I let them think that,' Dove says loftily. 'I can't bear to tell them that Mum only kept having kids because she didn't want Serena to be alone in being second-best.'

'Alright, that's enough,' Poppy says firmly. Dove and Serena subside quickly. I am deeply, deeply impressed by this woman.

'Would you like some more bread?' Harmonia asked me.

'Sure, thank you.'

Harmonia picks up the platter next to her and leans across the table to pass it to me… leans, in fact, far further than she has to. I blink and quickly glance away from her cleavage - easier said than done - to focus on selecting the best piece of bread from among the three pieces left.

I don't look up until she's settled back. I'm in time to see Sky grinning, Dove rolling his eyes, and Poppy frowning at her daughter. Oh god. I'm bright red, I know.

'So how has business been?' Sky asks. I resolve to do something very nice for him very soon. 'Have the robberies been putting anyone off?'

'Oh no,' Poppy says comfortably. As they fall into conversation, I feel something stroke my foot under the table. Harmonia's eyes are on her plate, but I know it's her. I can feel her bare toes through my pants. Trying not to be a jerk about it, I move my feet under my chair. She gives me a disappointed look and seems to get the message: I can finish the rest of dinner in peace.

Once the plates are clean, Poppy produces a pie and ice cream, as well as tea. Serena and Harmonia take over pouring for her as she doles out pieces of pie. 'Here you go,' Harmonia says, putting a cup down beside me and brushing my arm with her hip. 'Would you like some sugar?'

'Uh…' I begin, my mouth falling open. She did not just say that in front of her mother.

'For your tea,' she says, giving me a grin that would have gotten her locked in jail for public indecency if she had done it in public. 'Sugar? Milk?'

'No! Thank you,' I blurt. Cardin is red-faced from trying not to laugh. Sky isn't much better. Serena actually lets out a snort that she quickly turns into a cough. I thought she was the nice one!

Poppy takes pity on me and lets me eat my pie in peace as she peppers Cardin with questions. By the time she's done, Cardin has stopped laughing and is looking like he's been through an intense interrogation, and it's time for us to head off.

'This was lovely,' Poppy declared. 'You boys come any time.' She pecks Dove and Sky on the cheeks, then does the same to me and Cardin before we realise what she's aiming for. Some combat reflexes we have. 'Safe walk home!'

We leave in silence. I think Cardin and I are shell-shocked. 'That was- really nice,' I say after a moment, surprised to realise it was true. The food had been great and the atmosphere had been even better.

'Yeah, I noticed you enjoying yourself,' Dove says accusingly.

'That wasn't me !' I yelp.

Dove, Sky and Cardin all burst out laughing. 'I know, man, I know. You looked like you wanted to bolt,' Dove says, wiping a tear away. 'Though, if you did want to go out with her-'

'I don't!'

'Whatever, she could choose worse.'

'I'm not going to date your sister! Although,' I add, realising what he just said, 'Thanks for the compliment.'

'Harmonia might be upset, though,' Dove says thoughtfully. 'I kind of thought she might like you too.'

Sky howls with laughter. I realise what Dove's getting at and grind my teeth. 'Oh, haha. Besides, I was only Olive's first pick, not her favourite. She was bugging Cardin all night, trying to get him to let her handle his weapon.'

'That's sick,' Cardin says. 'She's eight, you perverts!'

' Almost eight, cradle-robber,' I say, elbowing him.

Before he has a chance to respond, Sky stops dead. 'Explosions,' he says, his head turning like a hunting dog's. 'At the docks.'We break into a sprint.