My getting ready for lunch was simple. I got helped out of my tank with the lift Aggie brought in. It looked like the mini version of the cranes they had on the docks to lift cargo onto the boats. Then I donned a simple white cotton hospital gown.

It covered my top half well and sort of draped over part of my bottom half. Not that I had anything that was on display down there that need covering up. It was a tail. It wasn't like I was running around showing off my nethers for all the world to see. Still, having the gown drape across my lap made me feel a bit better and less like a dock hussy.

I was pushed by another anonymous attendant to a building up the hill. It was rough going since the gravel path wasn't forgiving on wheels. I felt like I would be shaken out of my bones. I was grateful for the help though since I wouldn't have been strong enough to propel myself up the hill.

I was parked in a lounge area inside another whitewashed building. Very clinical, even if it was a lounge. The same sort of chairs set up. The sort that weren't very comfortable so that people wouldn't be tempted to linger in the area for long. The table was a cheap affair. We'd had one ourselves at one point. There has been some effort into making the room a little less austier. A large painting of a field of sunflowers was placed on the wall between the windows.

"Painting. New," someone said behind me. A smile formed on my face at once. Maize wouldn't change. I turned and the smile slipped a bit I had to fight to keep it up. My Gods Maize had changed. She looked like a skeleton of herself. So thin and boney. It said something that the first thing I noticed was how small and thin she'd become. I mean, she had huge blue wings. They were folded flat against her back but anyone with eyes could see they were there.

"Fish," she said to me.

"I've been told it's closer to being a whale," I moved my tail a bit to show her.

She was silent for a while looking so sad.

"I think air may be the luckier ones," she whispered.

"What do you mean?"

Before she could answer the door opened again. A tall woman with nutty brown skin and a pair of extremely large breasts walked in. She also had a tree sprouting from the base of her back.

"Rille," she said and walked up to my chair. She bent down for a hug. Where was I supposed to put my hands? Around the tree? Between the tree and her body? I ended up moving my hands upward so that I was gripping her shoulders.

"Have you seen my Filmore? He's in the water area with you?"

"Filmore is in the water area?" I asked then shook my head. "To be honest, I haven't met any of the other water types. I've been told there are two males. One must be your Filmore."

"You haven't met the others?" Marcy turned and looked at Maize. "That seems odd."

"Only three," Maize pointed out.

"That is true there are far more of our type hanging about. Speaking of our type, Rille your mother is here. Did they tell you?"

"Yes they did, but they said I wouldn't be able to go to her because of the chair and for some reason she can't come to me."

"Hard to get a chair through the forest," said Maize.

"That's what they said," I told her.

"Have they told you um," Marcy paused and glanced at Maize. My stomach dropped to the floor as that look was shared. My mother. Something they hadn't told me about my mother.

A woman appeared with a wheeled cart with food piled on it. Marcy dropped the subject and sat down at the table. Maize followed.

"I'm to remind you of the time 00938. You need to be back in the water by..."

"I remember, thank you," I interrupted the woman.

The food was placed before us and we all talked about the weather and how lovely it was until the attendant left.

"Are the two of you followed around and watched like I am?" I asked.

"Hum?" Maize asked sipping her tea.

"What do you mean?" Marcy looked at me then glanced over her shoulder to where the attendant was talking to someone just outside the door.

"I mean," I lowered my voice a bit, "I am never really alone. There is always someone right outside the room. You were about to say something weren't you Marcy? Something bad right?"

Marcy exchanged another glance with Maize and nodded.

"Well, this is what I mean," I coughed a bit and then said in a louder voice. "Marcy you were about to say something?"

Marcy looked at me a second then said, "Yes, I mean have they talked to you about..."

"Oh, look here!" A new woman walked into the room waving at the attendant as they passed. "Are you all here to visit the babies today? It's not quite time but we can make some exceptions for friends and family." The woman beamed at us and held her hands clasped out in front of her.

"We will be seeing them, yes. Though, we were going to wait until after lunch," Marcy told the woman.

"Well, surely you want your friend to see the little ones?"

"I would love to meet the babies," I told Marcy with all sincerity. My anxiety over my mother hadn't abated but I really did want to see the twins and Marcy's daughter.

"Alright then. I'll bring them right along," the woman smiled at us and left the room.

"Hum," Maize said again with a different sort of emphasis.

"Are they always like that?" Marcy asked.

"I think so. I think they are watching me for signs of a mental breakdown. Any sort of bad news may trigger me into insanity. That sort of thing."

"Sane?" Asked Maize.

"I wouldn't blame her if she wasn't," snapped Marcy a bit harshly.

"I mean what is sanity really? I didn't mean that Rille was insane," Maize explained. Maized actually explained it to Marcy. When had Maize begun that? She'd always been short on her words but for the most part everyone knew what she meant.

"Philosophy isn't really what we need now," Marcy sighed.

"What do we need?" I asked her.

"Truth," muttered Maize under her breath over her teacup.

Marcy nodded, "There are things I think they haven't told you Rille, but I think Maize means more than that. Right?"

Maize nodded.

"Well tell me before the babies get here," I hissed into my sandwich.

"Do you ladies need anything?" The attendant was back.

"No, go away." Leave it to Maize to get to the point. The attendant frowned and motioned to me.

"You aren't feeling dry?"

"No," I told her.

"I can get you a damp towel."

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"Go away, we are trying to have a personal conversation," Maize looked at the attendant and glared at her.

The woman paled a bit then stuttered something inaudible. Then she nodded at us and left the room.

"Quick," Maize said nodding at Marcy.

"Rille there are different sort of earth types. I'm one, your mother is the other. She's rooted, Rille."

"Rooted?" What the hell was rooted and why did Marcy look so upset.

"Rille, they call them survivors because they lived through the plague, but they aren't, not really."

"What do you mean?" My mother didn't survive? They'd told me she did.

"Rooting is when you start your second phase of metamorphosis as an earth type. I grow a tree but the others become the tree. Do you understand? Maple is becoming a tree." Marcy glanced quickly at Maize then at the door. She took my hand and squeezed it.

"I think it's a different sort of death. I'm so sorry Rille, but even if they call them survivors they aren't. They aren't there anymore once the metamorphosis is over."

"Are you saying my mother is dying?" I suddenly felt ill and the tea I'd drunk sat heavy.

"Here they are! Wanting to see Mommy," The second woman came in pushing a bassinet with three babies in it. All three of the babies were crying. Marcy stood and picked up a tiny infant with a small branch budding from the base of her spine. Then right there she tucked the infant, branch and all, under her shirt. Little suckling sounds started and there was one less crying baby.

"Here you go, dear." Suddenly, a baby with pale green wings was plopped into my arms and a bottle was handed to me. I did what women for centuries had done when faced with a crying infant. I cuddled the tiny thing and gave it the bottle.

My mind had gone blank. I was staring down at the tiny creature not even sure which of the twins I held. It seemed rude to dislodge the diaper to check. I wouldn't want a stranger looking into my underpants to determine my identity.

My mother was dying. I felt a bit numb to it. I'd always taken it for granted that she would die before me. It was logical, the way things were. When I was younger, I'd worry that she'd be killed off for non-payment of gambling debts.

I'd begun to worry she'd had something terminal. She'd been getting sicker even before the plague hit. I'd been bracing myself for that revelation for weeks before I'd gotten sick. None of the healers knew what was wrong.

"When I was told she was here I was glad," I whispered. "She'd been sick for a long time so I just thought that perhaps her sickness was part of the plague. Now that it was over she'd be fine again, but none of us are fine, are we?" I looked down at the baby. It had wings. It was born with whatever this was that had changed us all. We didn't give birth to normal babies. "Are we even still human?"

I looked up at the three adults staring at me. Two of them were my friends and the other a stranger. The stranger had her lips pursed but seemed to come to a decision on her own.

"Dear, we have been studying everyone in order to figure this," she waved her hand at all of us, "out. Some of the best minds in the country are here working on this. But even with all these smart people running around the best they have been able to tell is, we don't know.

"Now, some people might consider this a negative. I on the other hand see it as a positive. As long as there isn't a definite answer there is hope. So don't lose faith." The woman patted my shoulder and left the room.

"I didn't think she had it in her. Makes me feel a bit better having her in charge of the nursery," Marcy commented.

"She didn't answer the question," I commented.

"Hope, she said that because we don't have answers we have hope. I hadn't thought of it that way to be honest."

"Do you think that they can fix this?" I waved my hand at my tail.

"No," Maize commented shifting her twin.

"Why do you say that?" Marcy asked.

"They probably can't fix us but they might be able to figure out how all this started and how to prevent it from happening again. I think that's all we can really hope for." Maize looked down at the baby in her arms. "What sort of life will they have?"

We were all silent for a while. Maize and Marcy thinking their own thoughts. Mine spiraling around thoughts of my mother's death. I'd lose her soon. Before that happened I needed to see her. I had to talk to her. What I'd say I didn't know.

"Hello," A soft languid voice came from the door. Janette stood in the doorway looking at us but somehow she gave the impression of not seeing us.

Her hair was piled messily on top of her head and it looked like there had been an attempt at curling it. Four large island flowers stuck out from her hair making her head look like a frizzy flower pot. How she managed to get her hair into such an impossible shape I didn't know.

Her eyes were dark rings from poor sleep. It didn't help that her face had thinned out so much you could see the hard points of her cheek bones. Her arms looked like twigs and had dark bruises in various stages of healing all over them.

"Janette!" Maize stood up and smiled.

"Maize, hello. My child, you have her." Janette stood there looking at the baby in Maize's arms. Then she turned her unfocused gaze in my direction. "Rille, you have him. You look wet. I don't like wet." She took two steps into the room and paused staring at the painting of the sunflowers.

"Is she always like this," I whispered to Marcy.

"I don't know, this is the first time I've seen her. We've been in contact through the healer but we haven't actually seen each other. She's fire you know." Marcy turned and looked at me.

Fire, well shit. I thought perhaps they had her doped up to the eyeballs on V.

A large rust colored lizard, comparable to a medium sized dog, slinked around the door frame. It glanced around then walked up to Janette and began to rub itself against her like a cat.

"Prudence, these are my friends and babies." Janette reached down and stroked the top of the lizard's head. The lizard turned and looked at us.

"Oh, 24432. I wasn't expecting you today," the healer rushed up to Janette.

"Who?" Janette asked her.

"Do your handlers know you've come to visit dear?" The healer asked. I noticed she made certain to keep a bit of distance between her and the lizard.

"My babies," Janette pointed at the children then looked at the table. "Tea."

"Would you like to join your friends for tea?" The healer asked.

"That would be lovely," Janette glance back at the painting again and stared at it instead of sitting down.

"Right, why don't you take a seat right over here." The healer gestured to a chair on the far side of the table.

Janette looked at the woman a long time then moved slowly towards the table. As she got closer I could feel a very slight rise in the temperature.

"Hello," Janette said again as she sat down.

"Hello Janette. How are you feeling?" Marcy asked her.

"Quiet, I am feeling quiet and yellow. I feel yellow today." Well, there was the old Janette's odd emphasis on words. Her speech had slowed and she honestly seemed like she was impaired. My assessment that they had her drugged probably was partly true. Though, I wasn't sure if that accounted for the amount of vagueness.

"You look different," Janette looked at me, Marcy, then Maize. "Are you my friends?"

It was true that we all looked rather different. I'd lost weight but my top was pretty much the same. Marcy's skin had gone brown but other than the tree her overall appearance was similar. Maize was the most changed from what she used to be. Janette though, she didn't look at all altered in any way.

"We went through the plague and it changed us," Marcy commented slowly. "You are changed too, right?"

"Changed?"

"Yes, changed. You're different now."

"I'm changed. Don't touch the babies. Don't touch at all."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Janette smiled and reached out for the teapot. In seconds, there was hot steam coming from the spout and an odd sound was heard. The teapot had cracked along its side.

Even with the teapot leaking from the crack and steaming from the spout Janette poured herself a cup. The tea water was boiling even as it fell into the tea cup. I was honestly surprised the cup didn't shatter.

Janette put the pot down and sipped at the still boiling water as if it was just lukewarm.

She sighed and looked at the tea placing it back down.

"So wet. Not hot enough."

Maize, Marcy, and I exchanged looks.

"Janette, about the twins," Maize began.

"Gregory saw them yesterday. Said they looked like potatoes. I don't think they look like vegetables at all."

"No, he may be mistaking them for some of the other infants in the nursery. They certainly do look like potatoes," Maize commented. Babies that looked like potatoes? Surely not.

"They are beautiful, Janette. You should be so proud," I told her.

"They don't seem real. I can't touch them, hold them. Do they know I'm their mother? No, Marcy is mother now."

I glanced at Marcy.

"I think she means that I sometimes feed them. I have more milk than Paisley needs and I feel like breast milk is better than this powdered milk."

"Maize is mother now," Janette sighed. "Don't let them get my babies? You won't right Maize? You won't let those people get my babies."

"Your grandparents? No, they won't get the twins. I'll stake my name on that," commented Marcy. She placed a harsh emphasis on name. It was obvious that she meant the Cooperwrite name. It was harder to pressure peers of the kingdom. Maize didn't have a name so having Marcy's backing was paramount.

"Good," Janette sipped her tea and turned to look at the painting again. "Sunflowers should be hot."

She moved her hand towards Maize as if to touch the baby. When she got too close Maize surreptitiously passed the child to Marcy. Marcy finished feeding Paisley and adjusted herself so that she held them both.

I began to burp the infant I held. We sat in silence until he gave a large belch. I got some milk spit up on my shirt but I dapped it away with a napkin. I was new to this baby thing. If I'd been thinking I would have placed the napkin over my shoulder like Marcy was doing. She had one baby in her lap and the other she had tossed over her shoulder.

"I'll help in what small way I can," I offered Janette.

"Yes, yes," she dipped her finger in her tea and swirled it around until the water was steaming again then sipped. "There may be trouble. Trouble. With the estate. They want the money not the babies." She looked at me with her eyes looking a little less glassy.

"It's all they ever really wanted was the money. The twins will be well off, if you can keep those creatures away from the money. But if it comes down to it give them the money. NOT the twins but the money. My babies will be safe. Safe. Maize will promise."

"Promise," Maize agreed.

"I promise too, dear." Marcy smiled at Janette.

"Me too. I'm not much for mothering but if it's a home they need they will have it," I promised Janette. I was thinking about the large farm house on the hill. The entire upstairs would be free, not like I could use it. I might have to give up the idea of staying there entirely. In that case, the house might as well be used by two growing children.

Two children who would be raised without their parents. Never knowing their touch but hopefully understanding that they'd been loved deeply. There was something wrong with Janette but even still you could understand the strength it had taken to come to the conclusion that she'd never be able to raise her own children.

My soul wept for us all.