In the bathing room, Yoko and Hibiki were introducing themselves and, not incidentally, gently probing Danica for information. "Oh, I see. You're from, Nubia then. You're the first person I've met from there, though I've heard about it. Does that mean that you're Muslim, like Mrs. Donetti?" As always, Yoko had taken the brakes off of her mouth, and she was speaking so quickly that Danica barely understood her.

"Like Mrs. Donetti? Just her?" Danica asked with a quizzical expression.

"Ah, that is right. You are newly arrived," declared Hibiki.

Once Danica had turned to face her, Biki continued, "People from all over the world gather here. We have Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, and people of a number of other faiths. It is not uncommon for families to not all be of the same religion."

Gesturing at herself and Yoko, she added, "Our father is Buddhist, and our mother is Christian. As you know, Mrs. Donetti is Muslim. Mr. Donetti is Christian."

"How interesting," Danica said. "But, don't you get confused when holy days occur?"

Yoko smiled at her. "Nah. Things got pretty much sorted out over the past 400 years or so, but, since there are many more Christians here, the Christian holidays are those most loudly celebrated."

After so saying, Yoko, Stavros, and Biki all winced slightly as they remembered the Festa bells. Seeing that they were uncomfortable, though misunderstanding the reason, Danica remained silent. It seemed that the reason for their discomfort would best be pursued at a later time.

The door opened and Miranda bustled in. "Well Danica, it appears that you will be staying with us for the next two weeks or so."

As Danica opened her mouth to protest, for several reasons, Miranda added, "Dr. Fukui says that you will stay."

She smiled at Danica with an expression of both humor and exasperation. "You don't, EVER, argue with her when it comes to medical decisions."

Lowering her voice and leaning forward, she muttered, "Nobody in the entire City is stupid enough to even think of trying."

Straightening to her full height, she declared, "Therefore... Stavros! Carry Danica to the spare bedroom on the second floor. She'll probably be most comfortable there as it's across from 'Suela and Heidi's room.

"'Suela, you go to Cook and get Danica a snack...but no sweets, at least not today. If we bollux up Kaho's work by giving her junk food, she'll...well, you know."

'Suela flinched, turned, and headed toward the kitchen.

Stavros followed his mother's directions and found Mimi standing by the door of the guest room and gesturing for him to proceed her inside. Upon entering, Stavros found the bed turned down and several pillows positioned so that Danica could sit up in bed.

Shortly after they had Danica comfortable, 'Suela appeared with a small apple, half a sandwich, and a glass of cider.

Miranda caught Mimi's eye. They nodded at each other, then left and closed the door. Danica would likely be much more comfortable without adults in the room.

The children watched them leave then turned back to each other. 'Suela hid her grin and locked down her emotional link with Stavros as she said to Danica, "Dr. Fukui said that you're to eat a small meal at least six times a day. Large meals are out because she doesn't want you stressing the repairs she made."

Danica nodded. She didn't have an iota of an idea what 'Suela meant by "repairs", but she had learned years earlier that it was generally a good idea to follow the orders of an accomplished physician.

"So...in order to do what Dr. Fukui told you, you'd best eat what I just brought you." 'Suela finally let her grin show, though it was more of a smirk. "And you can't do that if you don't let go of Stav's hand."

Danica and Stavros looked down. Neither remembered taking the other's hand after he'd laid her on the bed. Rather than jerking their hands back in embarrassment, they disengaged slowly, with obvious reluctance. Once they'd let go. 'Suela plopped the tray with the snack on Danica's lap.

Turning to Stavros she shooed him out of the room. "Get going."

"Get going? Where?"

"Turn your mind on dolt! You need to get dressed, go back to school, and get all of our things. Once you've gathered them up, you can explain what happened to Mrs. Chandler, then wait for Danica's aunt and escort her here.

"Besides, Mimi sent Rosalind to school to wait for Danica's family in case they show up early. However, she's going to need Rosa here to help get ready for dinner. Not to mention that it's wasteful to pay a maid to stand around at school when you can do it for free, so send her back as soon as you get there."

Glaring at Stavros' stunned expression she explained, "Mimi sent Rosa to school as soon as she heard Kaho say that Dani would be staying here.

"So...scoot!"

Stavros headed for the door, slowly. There was an air of confusion about him, as if his mind was half-asleep, but go he did. Once the door had closed, 'Suela turned her attention to Danica and made sure that she ate all of her snack. Once she'd finished, and 'Suela had helped Danica reposition herself, 'Suela smiled, focused her full attention on Danica, and said, "All right. Explain. We have about an hour considering when school ends and how long afterwards it will take Stav to get back here with your aunt. So, there's plenty of time."

It was Danica's turn to be confused. "Ah...all right. Explain what?"

'Suela would have face-palmed, but at the last second she realized just how ill Danica was and how exhausted she probably was after all that Kaho had done for her.

So, instead of snapping at her in frustration, 'Suela took a slow, deep breath and started over, "Sorry. I guess I was jumping too far ahead. What I mean is, well, my mother explained what maʻšūq means. Since we've just met, I hardly know you, but no woman I know would say something like that unless she truly meant it.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Well, what I mean is...ah...why'd you call that idiot brother of mine something like that?"

By the time she finished speaking, both of them were blushing.

Danica brought both hands to her cheeks as she finally threw off the muzziness caused by her illness and the after-effects of Kaho's healing and realized that what had happened in the past two hours wasn't some sort of dream induced by her fever. "Oh...my."

In her mind she quickly replayed everything that had happened since she collapsed at school. Eventually she got to the part where Mimi was undressing her. As she remembered what happened after that, it felt like everything went into slow-motion.

Once the replay had finished, she slid her hands over to cover her entire face then fell forward and buried her head in the covers on the bed. She wasn't nearly fast enough to prevent 'Suela from seeing that her face had now assumed a color that would put a ripe tomato to shame.

Hiding her face accomplished only one thing. It let 'Suela see that even Dani's ears and neck were as red as her face.

Instead of laughing, 'Suela began to gently rub Danica's back while at the same time saying, "It's all right, or, rather, it will be all right. There's nothing to worry about."

Danica snuck a peek at 'Suela through a gap in her fingers. Seeing that 'Suela was entirely serious, she asked, "How can you possibly know something like that?"

'Suela giggled. "As for that, well, I know it may be hard to believe, but what's happened today is far less dramatic than some things we've had to deal with in the past."

Pushing herself up with both arms, Danica pivoted toward 'Suela with an astonished expression. "Are you serious?!"

Nodding soberly, 'Suela answered, "Oh, my, yes. It's not that things like today happen every day, or even every month. Still, things as least this strange have happened, oh, let's see... Probably about three other times in the past two years."

By the time 'Suela had finished speaking, Danica's mouth was hanging open. 'Suela reached out and gently pushed it shut.

"Don't worry. We can handle it. Now that I think about it, it's probably a good thing that you're older than Stav. He tends to get involved in some crazy things at times. Being married to someone more mature than he is will definitely be a good thing."

"M..ma...married?!"

"Obviously that's what's going to happen. Given what you've said, and what happened today, how could it be possible that you'd ever want anyone else?"

Suela helped Danica sit up then gently took her hands.

"You both are going to have at least three years and change to get used to the idea, so don't worry about it now."

Her expression morphed into one that was deadly serious. "Besides, we have much more important things to deal with today, starting right now I think.

"How much can we safely tell your family about what just happened? One thing I've seeni is that Muslims in The City are generally even more strict about their daughter's relationships with unrelated boys than Christians are. However, even Christian families would go up in flames if they learned that their daughter was in the bath with a strange boy."

As 'Suela was by then staring at the ceiling, she didn't see the horror on Danica's face. So she continued, thinking out loud, "Let's see. We should be OK with almost all the truth. We just have to change one small part. Since everyone else around you was a woman, all we have to do is say that I was the one who helped you in the bath and that it was 'Stav who was sent for Dr. Fukui."

Finally looking down, 'Suela saw the face of someone who had been drowning and had just been rescued.

"If we have Kaho tell your aunt why you're staying here, there should be no problem. There's nobody in The City with enough balls to argue with 'The Tree Woman'."

'Suela giggled at Danica's look of surprise. "It's OK. She knows that everyone calls her that.

"So, I need to go make sure that everyone tells the same story. As for you...." 'Suela fixed Danica with a piercing expression, but ruined the effect by laughing.

"Well, anyway, you looked completely wiped out, so you need to take a nap. I'll come wake you just before it's time to bring your aunt in.

"Oh, and when we do that, it would probably be best if you looked even more exhausted than you really are. If you kept your family from noticing how sick you were on your trip, you're probably a good enough actress to look the opposite of healthy, right?"

Danica nodded slowly. Things were going much, much too fast. As she tried to figure out what to do, 'Suela decided for her and helped her slide down and turn onto her side so she could rest.

By the time 'Suela closed the door, Danica was already asleep.

-----------------

"OK Stav. Do you see anything that we need to deal with that I haven't covered?

"Nope. Not a single thing sis. When you're older, you may, maybe, be as good at 'arranging' things as Sara is."

"Wow! A compliment. I'm going to store that away and remind you the next time you tell me I'm an idiot."

Stav could feel her smiling over their link as she said, "Gotta hurry if I"m going to find everyone and get them all up to speed on what they need to say. Catch you later."

Once Stavros was sure that 'Suela's attention was elsewhere, he broke down laughing. There was no way in the world that with Mimi, their mother, AND Kaho in the building, they hadn't already thought of the plan that 'Suela had just outlined.

Even so, he'd not wanted to say anything about it. 'Suela had reasoned it out by herself, and that was something to be proud of. In his experience, most kids their age rarely thought about the consequences of their actions until it was far too late to do anything about it.

He winced as he realized how much that applied to his own behavior in the past month. Lesson learned...he hoped. Having your nose rubbed in your stupidity, especially if you were doing it to yourself, was exceedingly painful.

Oh well. First things first. He was almost at the school.

He dropped in at the nurse's office to report to Mrs. Chandler. She was pleased to find out that Dr. Fukui had already seen Danica, and especially happy that she didn't have a contagious illness, but she was also distressed to find out that her return to school might be delayed until just a month before Spring Break.

Stavros was pleased to see that some kind soul had brought all their things to the nurse's office, which meant that he'd not have to wait till after school to get them. He wanted to be outside before the earliest possible moment that Danica's aunt could arrive.

After gathering everything, Stavros decided that it would be best to also report to Mrs. Krait, the headmaster. She could let all the teachers know what was going on much more efficiently than Stavros could.

As he knocked on her door, he realized that, if he'd done it all himself, she'd likely have been more than slightly ticked that he'd not come to her first.

Once he was admitted, he explained the situation and that Danica would be living at his home for the next two weeks, or longer if Dr. Fukui deemed it necessary.

"I see. That being the case, it would probably be best if you or Consuela took her classwork home with you."

Mrs. Krait looked at Stavros thoughtfully. "I presume that Sara is likely to be enlisted to aid Danica with her studies?"

Stavros nodded and grinned wickedly at the headmaster. "We haven't discussed it yet, but, knowing her, I suspect that we'd have to chain her to the wall to keep her from doing exactly that."

Stavros was totally shocked when Mrs. Krait threw back her head and launched a bark of laughter at the ceiling. Then she pointed at him and wagged her finger. "First of all, you are never to tell ANYONE that I laughed.

Headmasters aren't supposed to have a sense of humor. If anyone found out, it would spoil my image."

She fixed her gaze on him and continued, "You probably won't be any more happy than I would if someone finds out. Capice?"

Stavros nodded vigorously then smiled at her. "Not a chance that I'd tell anyone. Half the fun in life is knowing secrets that nobody else does!"

Upon hearing that, Mrs. Krait's eyebrows rose, and she decided that she'd have a little talk with Stavros' mother about what he'd just said. It likely wasn't necessary, but making decisions based on what was "probably" going to happen often resulted in a surprise that was, at best, unpleasant and, at worst, deadly.

Bringing herself back to the moment she said, "I suspect that you'd best go wait for Danica's aunt now. I'll take care of everything else. Scoot!"

` He did, she smiled, and then she got back to work. Danica's problem was hardly the only one she still had to deal with today.