The Line of the Sol Empress

Chapter 13.1

The wise understand the balance of patience, knowing the time to act and the time to wait.

- Writings of the Sol Empress, Words of Faith

[Celeste]

Per the established schedule, the little ones should wake to empty stomachs now. Celeste crept into the bedroom and brightened the lights, then peeked into the crib.

One... Two... Where is the third?

She called out. "Sai, Gabriel has wandered off again. Do you know where he is?"

Sai responded over the speaker, "Yes, Priestess. He is on the bridge."

Celeste huffed as she dashed out, entering the bridge to find Gabriel had pulled himself up at the center control panel to poke at the colored lights. The little boy turned and put on a wide open-mouthed grin clearly meant to melt his mother's heart. It worked.

She scooped him up in her arms, kissing his cheek. "Oh, you little boy. I forgive you this time, but your charm will not always get you out of trouble."

Sai said over the speaker, "Don't worry, Priestess. I monitored his activities and disabled the controls. Otherwise, he would have shutdown a fusion reactor."

Celeste tilted her eyes up. "Sai, please let us know when he goes on one of his adventures."

"Yes, Priestess. A baby's exploration of his environment is an important part of the learning process. And with you and Captain Moon so intimately engaged, I did not want to interrupt."

A flash of color came to her cheeks. The engagement was indeed quite intimate. And immensely pleasurable. Sai continued to struggle with the concept of discretion, but Celeste would rather be interrupted on matters of the children. She sighed. "Yes, well regardless, please inform us immediately next time."

"Yes, Priestess."

The little ones continued to differentiate themselves from each other. Gabriel was the adventurer and accomplished escape artist. As a result, he started crawling at the unusually young age of six months and never looked back. With wavy brown hair, green-speckled hazel eyes, and a mischievous grin, he learned to execute a distracting type of charm.

Faith was the smallest and quietest of the three. Her amber eyes wandered constantly, taking in her surroundings, and she loved to interact with others. She had just as engaging a smile as her brother, but it appeared less manipulative.

Hope had darker features, with thick black hair and deep earthy-brown eyes. The most vocal of the three, everyone would know if she was unhappy. But when happy, she had the broadest range of vocalizations and had already begun to mimic babbles from her parents. Objects within her reach fascinated her, especially if they made a noise when shaken.

Celeste smiled. All three had trained their father to respond to their whims and they each looked forward to individual time with Moon when he took them to explore the ship. A warmness spread through Celeste. He is a good father.

Gabriel squirmed in Celeste's arms and smiled at her again. She said, "Are you ready to eat, little one?"

Celeste sighed. Who am I fooling, they have trained me too.

Faith and Hope already occupied two of the baby chairs in the galley, fabricated of gray plas-steel. Celeste placed Gabriel in the third and fastened down the tray. Within the last week, Celeste introduced the babies to pureed foods to supplement the milk, which received mixed reviews. Hope was the pickiest, forcefully ejecting anything she did not like and making a mess.