The daylamps high above slowly turned pink and orange as the day came to an end, dimming to a pale cool glow that Lorelei now recognized was meant to emulate moonlight. Light began to come to life on the outsides of buildings, signifying the arrival of night. In the park, glowing vennlights in different colors illuminated the areas where the crèche-sisters were camped to help them see as they cooked, sang songs, or simply just lay back and relaxed as they waited for the cooking to get done.

  Lorelei had been put in charge of making the ice-cream. It was a rather annoying—she'd much rather be frying something—but she acknowledged that being the one whose magic could make things cold meant that having her do the ice-cream was far more efficient. By now, her spell to make an ice-cream maker construct was well-iterated enough it could be automated by her buddy Domain. All she needed to do was provide the magic, then carefully add the ingredients. Milk, cream, bloodsugar, unleaded leadberry fruit puree, and eggs into a vennplate canister, all being agitated by vennplate panels, all of which were actively siphoning heat from the materials they were in contact with.

  This gave Lorelei plenty of time to double check her plans for tomorrow and the days after they released the message bottle into the Void. There was the civil service exam, which she felt she'd thoroughly studied for; her driving test, which she'd be attending with Reiko and Tomoko; her inter-continental flying certification, which she'd be attending with nearly everyone; and her scheduled training with the Ranger reserves, so that she'd know her assignment in the event of world-ending existential crisis.

  They hadn't had any in the almost five hundred years the Kaedekin had colonized the planet, but given what Lorelei now knew from Kaede's memories, that was actually very disturbing. According to Kaede's memories, there was a world-ending existential crisis at least once a year. No wonder the underground portions of the town were constantly being expanded to house more and more mecha, and were actively patrolled to make sure no infiltrators managed to subvert those mecha. Lorelei had helped delivered lunches and snacks to big sisters down there, and every time she—and the food—had been thoroughly checked for nanobots, mind-controlling brain slugs, nanobots, shapeshifted demons, nanobots, shapeshifted kitsune, nanobots, shapeshifted fae folk, nanobots, little girl vampires, nanobots, robot impersonators, nanobots, spiritual possession, nanobots, disguised ninja, nanobots, incarnated eldritch abominations, and nanobots.

  Kaede had been very paranoid about nanobots, and given the sorts of nanobots she had encountered the Kaedekin had maintained that paranoia, a paranoia Lorelei now had the context to understand.

  —Kaede let out an aggrieved sigh. "Stupid nanobots…"—

  Lorelei pushed through the flashback as she glanced at the ice-cream maker to check its progress, then manifested a spoon made from yellow vennplate and briefly opened a hole in the construct to test the consistency of the ice-cream. Hmm, a little bit more…

  She turned back to Domain's screen, showing her appointments for the coming days, slotting in a reminder to send Chisame an apology and ask her if she had time for a discussion. Context did change things. Lorelei's original plan had been to enter the town bureaucracy and work her way into the Administration branch so she could eventually apply for the position of mayor. Her plans had changed, and her appointments with them as she retracted her administration intern application—she sighed as Domain reminded her to send an apology for the cancellation—and sent an application to join the Training branch. She had once considered applying to the branch because Training was one of the few branches were active field members—trainers, instructors, teachers and their immediate administrators—got priority for resource allocations like replacement clothes, fresh produce, parts replacements, machine shop priority, and even real sugar.

  Lorelei had thought that been a good position to have, and wondered why the Training branch was always trying to recruit new teachers.

  Then she'd actually begun attending school.

  Three days later, she understood perfectly why not many sisters applied to be teachers despite the benefits.

  …

  So why was she sending this application, then?

  …

  Because it was the best place to help as many sisters as possible. And even though they could sometimes be very annoying… they were still her sisters. Besides, it was common to transfer to the Administrative branch from the other branches. Her original plan was still viable, even with some alteration to the initial steps.

  She sent her application.

  Forty-five seconds later, a reply came back acknowledging receipt and asking her if she was sending her application to the correct branch, as this was Training.

  A bemused Lorelei replied that yes, she was sure.

  Twenty seconds later, a reply came back asking if she'd recently received a head injury or had accidentally consumed a significant amount of food-grade ethanol.

  More bemused now, Lorelei replied in the negative to both inquires. She hadn't even known there was such a thing as food-grade ethanol! Wouldn't that poison you?

  It was a full fifteen minutes before she finally got a reply, acknowledging receipt of the application and asking when she would like start. That confused Lorelei, and she sent back that she had not yet even attended her civil service exam, much less passed it. Granted, the civil service exam was known to be pretty easy, but it was not unknown for a sister to not pass, although they usually managed the second time.

  Domain reminded her to check the ice-cream.

  "Here you go," Mitsuki said, handing the new mask she had made to Jane. While shaped similarly to the other mask—a simple spade shape that covered the whole face—the lower part slid down to reveal an opening for the mouth.

  "Thank you!" Jane said, sliding the mouthpiece up and down. "Oh, it moves so smoothly!" Turning away for a moment, Jane removed her mask and replaced it with the one Mitsuki had given her. "Ah! It's more comfy! Easier to talk in, too."

  "I put in a little more padding, and put them where your face doesn't move much," Mitsuki said. "That way you can eat with the mask on."

  Jane tilted her head, and they saw her jaw moving. "Oh! You're right! This is great, thanks Mitsuki."

  "Don't mention it, what are sisters for? Thanks for the dumplings!"

  "Thanks for the pasta!"

  They waved goodbye to Jane as she went back to the tent she shared with Hanako, Alice, Erika, Dakine and Maruko to share the pasta. Other groups of sisters were also trading food, passing around spaghetti, pancit canton, ramen, palabok, yakisoba, various dishes made from spiced ham, various potato dishes, and chicken nuggets, which were always warm and juicy when you were trading for them, but always seem to dry up by the time you actually ate them.

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  Lorelei hid the ice-cream. They were getting the first taste of that!

  They were in the middle of eating dinner—spaghetti aglio e olio with ham and bacon that had been cooked to perfection by Reiko—when Lorelei heard someone yell, "Look!"

  As this wasn't very specific or helpful, Lorelei heard someone call out, "Look at what?"

  "Up there! Look at the skylight!"

  Now provided with a direction and wondering what all the fuss was about, Lorelei tilted back her head and looked up, wondering what was—

  She stared. The sky had changed, though she couldn't quite point out how. The texture of the constant darkness was different, though she couldn't put her finger on what. And she could see small lights, like little vennlights seem from a distance—

  —Kaede stared up at the sky, taking in the shining stars. Away from the lights of Waipahu, they numbered in the hundreds. She turned her head, looking for Maui's fishhook—

  Lorelei blinked as she forced down the memories. Oh. That was what stars looked like.

  Conversation died down and people stared—or fell into star-induced flashbacks—as the already dim daylamps deactivated and people hurried snuffed out vennlights as big sisters began to step out of buildings near the park. Windows began to open in the hospital and cloning crèche as those who couldn't leave their posts stuck their head out to see the rare sight. Lorelei knew that the shroud sometimes parted, but she had never seen it happen herself…

  There was the sound of hands coming together to clap twice, and she heard Rain's voice say, "Thank you for this wonderful sight, Yamiryuusei-sama."

  At the reminder, other crèche-sisters began to do the same, giving their own thanks and praise to the pervasive spirit whose darkness cloaked all of Surcease. The being didn't really need nor ask for the pseudo-worship, but as neighbors the Kaedekin had long decided it was only polite and considerate to the maybe-spirit, maybe-god, maybe-ghost the size of a planet to thank them when they did things that were appreciated. Lorelei clapped twice, not looking away from the stars as she said, "Thank you for this rare sight."

  Lorelei leaned back and stared at the naked stars, wondering if Earth's sun was among them. They were in about the same arm of the galaxy, but she didn't know if it was the right time of year for Surcease to be facing it at night.

  …

  Looking at stars was actually really boring. Lorelei went back to eating her pasta.

  When Lorelei woke up the next morning, it took her a few moments to remember she was Lorelei and not Kaede. Her dreams had been full of Kaede's memories, although they'd come in no logical order.

  …dreams of Kaede forming the Court of the Falling Sky with fellow mahou shoujo (and shounen) Black Reaper, Red Ace, Red Alice, and Black Knave came before encountering the Knight Queen and defeating her malfunctioning buddy, Steward Augment. Rescuing the captured Mortal and Nightmare from the alien Kyperiels who were invading the Earth, interspersed with doing battle with the Shokoy who had rebelled against their king to keep them from flooding the world by melting the ice caps. Cooking for the swordswoman Bloody Mary after losing a bet…

  Staring up at the ceiling of their tent, Lorelei wondered how long this would continue to happen.

  There was much less socializing this morning. Lorelei knew she wasn't the only one who had scheduled appointments and tests for the day directly after their decanting day, because everyone wanted to finally do adult things. Crèche-sisters hurried home to stow their bags and get new clothes before meeting up at the public baths to discuss where they were meeting for lunch (Chloe's house, she would make them burgers). Once they were all dressed in their usual clothes, everyone went their separate ways.

  Of course, Lorelei wasn't the only one taking the civil service exam. She exchanged nods with Tatiana, Jennifer, and Gin when they entered the little room where the exam was to be held. There were also older sisters in attendance that Lorelei didn't know, which was hardly surprising.

  The exam required they desynchronize with their buddies for the duration, who also took the exam independently, with the attendants being given tablets for the test. It was as easy as Lorelei had been told, although the many essay questions took time to answer. There were questions that tested one's ability for reading comprehension, data analysis, logical reasoning, pattern recognition, ethics, knowledge of current events, familiarity with the branches of government, problem solving hypothetical situations…

  It was exhausting.

  Fortunately, her driving test was scheduled in the afternoon, so Lorelei was able to rest and have lunch before having to tackle it. Urban and suburban low speed driving were simple enough, and fortunately her time at the firing range the day before helped her in the high-speed driving test when she had to pursue another vehicle while trying to disable it with her magic, as well as the defensive test where she had to escape from a highspeed pursuit while protecting her vehicle from attacks. The rural driving tests had required doing so off-road, as it was not unknown for the local animals to try to follow or attack cars moving between towns.

  Lorelei passed, although she had received a note that she should pay more attention for aerial attacks.

  Finally, Lorelei took her inter-continental flying certification. The written part was easy, testing her on map reading, recognizing ground-based navigational markings, flight protocol, and identifying aerial predators and their common behavioral patterns. The practical exam required that they could sustain a flight speed of 100kph for twenty minutes while traveling in a straight line, a navigation test, and a passenger test where they carried another person safely for another twenty-minute period at speed. That last was for emergency extractions in case of accidents in the wastelands. After all, you were never supposed to go out in the wastelands alone.

  By the end of the day, Lorelei was tired, and so was everyone else. Tomoko met them on the way back driving one of the town's communal cars, the chair as high up as it would go, her buddy slotted into the steering wheel.

  "Hey girls," she said cheerfully. "Do you want a ride?"

  For some reason, Chloe started snickering.

  Jane was a little weird, but so was Chloe. Not that she had any right to talk. After all, she thought as differently as they did.

  She and Rain were the ones dropped off last, since they lived next to each other. The two of them bid Tomoko farewell as she drove away to bring the car back to one of the communal motorpools, Mitsuki in the shooter's seat with her to give Tomoko a lift home.

  Lorelei turned and began walking towards her front door. Through the front windows, she saw one of her mo—big sisters looking up from something and smiling widely at seeing them, raising her hand to wave. Tiredly, Lorelei did the same, while Rain answered with more enthusiasm.

  "Do you want to come in for a snack?" Lorelei asked, the question mechanical and rote as they reached the door.

  Rain shook her head, her pixie cut hair waving back and forth. "Thanks, but I have to pass. I need to do laundry for tomorrow. Have you written your letter yet?"

  She had, but… "I will be rewriting it."

  Rain nodded. "Good night, Lor'," she said, leaning forward and wrapping both hands around her in a hug. Lorelei, too tired for the usual niceties, patted her back in response. Rain would understand. She always did.

  Lorelei stepped inside as Rain turned to go to where she lived next door. Inside, Lorelei took off her boots and put on her house slippers. "Okaa—" ugh, stupid memories. "Big sis Megumi? Big sis Tanya? I'm home." She could hear someone cooking in the kitchen, and smell notrice on the boil. Out of habit, she sniffed the air again for any metallic scents and found none.

  "In here, dear," she heard big sis Tanya call from the living room. "How are you feeling?" They'd been there on the night Lorelei and the others had set up camp, but had needed to leave before morning. Big sis Megumi worked in the fields, and there had been a harvest scheduled for that day that had required all hands, and big sis Tanya was in the space service and had needed to help parse through the large numbers of communications that the Cooperative and the Hegemony were producing now that they seemed to be ceasing hostilities.

  Lorelei entered the room, and big sis Tanya patted the spot on the sofa next to her. "Hey. How's my little adult?"

  "Annoyed her dreams make no chronological sense," Lorelei said as she took of her rain coat and draped it over the arm of the sofa before accepting the invitation and letting herself lean back onto the cushions.

  Big sis Tanya chuckled. "Of course that's what bothers you," she said fondly. "Happy decanting day."

  "Thank you," Lorelei said.

  "We got you a present," big sis Tanya continued. "And sent the ones you picked out for your friends to their houses. And of course you got a bunch of loot too. Megumi's been in the kitchen all afternoon with the metal detector making all your favorites. I was told to keep out or else." Big sis Megumi could be very territorial in the kitchen.

  Lorelei nodded, looking at big sis Tanya thoughtfully. She was dressed down for the night, most of her distinctive outdoor clothes shed in favor of a comfortable shirt and soft pants. "Big sis?"

  "Yeah?"

  "Can I call you 'mom' from now on?"

  The squeal that followed was very loud.