(Before meeting Istevi and his former girlfriends she would've found this kind of situation unnecessarily dramatic, given how it might have affected national security, but her sense have been re-calibrated since.)

She is happy that Dasi is being so understanding. They have hopes that the situation will be more manageable one day. But caution is absolutely necessary for now.

Zofin, has mostly doing background work, the sort of thing necessary for research that isn't innovative but is necessary for any scientific project. She goes to the meetings, but has yet to strike the level of familiarity the other three already achieved. Oddly enough, she feels closer to Istevi and his mother now than to them.

It felt very odd for the coins to think that the meeting between Zofin and the purple couple would go well, but they struck a chord.

(Or maybe she is confident because the blessings said it would all be fine, she has been reading research on that, done on fake divinatory methods.)

Revealing the truth to them was a mood breaker and still a major shock.

But Zofin eventually manages to reassure them. They have a lot of questions, and Zofin is surprised that she manages to answer them all. By they end of it they are actually happy, and the mother hugs her.

Luckily, her husband has worked with security conscious Blues before, so all it takes to convince him not to ask is the word 'confidential'. Of course, it might not be so easy, if he notices anything odd of his own accord. 

The plan is to keep any obvious magic to the innermost section of the village, the original buildings and walls are long gone, but it was easier to work with the existing layout, making it easy to isolate the area, which is why they picked the location in the first place.

It's pretty late in summer for pregnancies so there's hurry. They scheduled several parents of gray twins to get Gemini magic. It's the caste that most benefits from basics, even if the individual powers don't turn out good. Besides, sex workers turn out to be the profession with the most likelyhood of late pregnancies. Who knew.

The twins, Parik and Ita, are born healthy and helped contributing with the magical scientific endeavor by showing at what point the magic considers one to count as born enough to leap into an unborn twin pair. They then did some experiments to figure out range. The triplets do have a larger range (about two feet), which appears to be related to age.

That the range is growing is... a little concerning. Unless the range starts reaching beyond the island, though, they should be okay. 

Eventually, the time comes for Liarae's twins to be born, as well. It's a harder labour than is usual, but nothing the doctors can't handle. Soon enough, she has two beautiful babies, itty bitty Alesin, with a tuft of soft blue hair, and small, wonderful Mika, with the lightest dusting of pale grey. 

Her choices for picking blessings are the same - Patiri and Zofin, and Isteri, of course - though also present are her brother and his girlfriends, and Isteri is more than welcome to bring along Natanen and the triplets. 

Patiri surprises her with a set of brass bowl and blessing coins (etched by laser), in celebration of the twins' birth.

Zofin had an idea. Which she approached Adon about before hand.

Zofin draws two blessings. One of which she hands over to Adon and whispering in his ear. And other she holds up and proclaims "Mika got Change."

Isteri and her family do come along, and she draws... "Talent for Alesin." before handing over the other coin.

Patiri draws the blessing, but looks over and picks one to announce. "Mika got Luck."

Adon is delighted by this chance to be involved! He takes the coin from Zofin, and once the others have made their announcements, he reads off his:

"Honesty, for my delightful niece!" He proclaims quietly, mindful of the baby in question sleeping in his arms.

Asara took Patiri's, and reads out the blessing next, smiling softly.

"Resolve, for Alesin."

And Ibrae completes the circle, taking the coin from Isteri with obvious amusement, at all this ceremony. 

"Joy," she announces, "for Mika."

"Resolve, Honesty, and Talent, for my little stormcloud," Lia recounts, pleased, "Talented and honest, and never backing down, just like mama." 

She smiles down at Mika, "And for you, my precious moonbeam, Joy, Change, and Luck. You'll be keeping us on our toes, won't you?" He waves a little fist in the air, making her melt against her pillows from the cute and snuggle him close.

"They are going to be delightful and only get more so." Patiri says petting Mika's soft hair.

Mika wiggles a bit, making a little squeaking noise. 

So cute!!!!

It's just a few days later when it's Zofin's turn. Not surprising, giving how large her belly has been. Triplets are tricky pregnancies and deliveries, but after an exhaustive day they welcome Lakini, Migah and Aden to the world. The girls with tiny tufts of pale green hair and the boy with a few dark-green strands.

Istevi is literally driven to tears by how wonderful they are. So small, so soft. Between himself, Zofin and his own mother there is no shortage of arms to hold the triplets, but one might think Istevi is a single dad by the way he won't stop holding two babies at a time.

They perform another draw "ceremony" with their friends. And the final tally is.

Lakini gets Joy, Kindness and Hope.

Migah gets Health, Endurance and Power.

Aden gets Serenity, Contentment and Beauty.

They... are a little worried about that Endurance, the closes blessing there is for "bad luck". But they love their little Migah just the same.

Istevi loves them all just the same, which is to say: lots.

Even the ones that have yet to be born.

Even...

Even the ones with more complications attached.

Mura is not stupid, she knows that the only reason why they were so nice to her was the assumption that her kids had unique potential. And the potential is even less unique now, so she will just... keep all her emotions inside.

Her therapist (they assigned her one once they found a trustworthy one) says this is not a good habit. Her therapist says a lot of things.

There isn't much that can be done, except soldier on and focus on the small blessings.

(the coin blessings she has draw lately often feature Patience and Endurance, she does not pretend she just drew Luck.)

She delivers at home, too risky to got to a hospital, and she has a full day with just her little babies. And she hugs them and forces herself to stay awake, fearing that they will take them in her sleep.

They don't take the babies when she sleeps. Istevi and his mother go there and stay for an entire whole another day... but it's not actually in his hands to decide when they have to take the babies. He makes sure she is awake, but he is not sure it's very merciful.

There is not much he could've done, even if he still could walk around without a wheelchair...

Ovali has almost-white hair and his blessings are Grace, Luck and Beauty. Tani got dark-green curls and her blessings are Time, Patience and Endurance. Mura picked the names and drew the blessings all by herself, Istevi doesn't context this.

When the screams of his babies are not the cause why he is awake at night.... Mura's screams are.

Patiri has a perfectly normal and drama free delivery, as far those go. And her beautiful Tepam is by herself the reason why the universe has light and beauty in Patiri's objective opinion.

Tepam's blessing are Luck, Travel and Power, which only reinforces Patiri's opinion on the matter.