They can all fit on the floor, they'll just be very cuddly. Iomedae is used to this and she bets Alfirin is too. "I was never mad your Mummy. I mad the government sometimes."

Alfirin is used to being cuddly with siblings and pretend-siblings are an okay substitute. She's about as prickly about snuggles as a very tired rabbit.

Being mad at the government sounds complicated and Lily doesn't really know what Iomedae means. She's too tired to ask, and sleeping piled up on the floor with TWO big girls right there is the safest she's maybe ever felt in this house. Possibly ever. 

She falls asleep. And, for once, is even going to sleep in until nearly 7 am. 

Iomedae is also tired - emotionally more than physically - and will sleep until Lily wakes her.

Alfirin wakes a little earlier but doesn't get up, since that might wake Lily and Lily probably needs the sleep.

"Good morning Lily" she whispers when the younger girl opens her eyes.

"G'munning!" Yawn. Lily is in a vastly better mood. Everyone is friends again, except for the government, but that's okay because the government does not live in Mummy's house. "Pa'cakes?" 

Evelyn is, for once, actually up already and downstairs with coffee. She's happy to let Iomedae or Alfirin take the lead on pancake-making if they seem to want to, though. 

Alfirin doesn't know how to make pancakes and does have a question for Evelyn. "Why do you drink soup every morning?"

"Hmm? - Oh, this is called coffee. It helps me feel more awake." 

Iomedae knows how to make pancakes mostly and is happy to do that. 

"Thank you." she says, and goes to watch Iomedae make pancakes so she'll know how tomorrow.

And they can have a pleasant non-stressful morning, and get Lily out the door on time to her bus. They'll have about 90 minutes to do more English worksheets and vocabulary practice before they have to head out to the doctor's office. 

Do Iomedae or Alfirin have particular vocabulary questions for Evelyn? 

"No vocabulary but Emily say the doctors can make me - no a woman, no able have babies - if you allow it. Can I have this?"

EMILY

...This is fine. It's a pretty reasonable conversation for girls to have with each other, it's useful information for Iomedae to know, and she probably doesn't mean that she's decided she's trans??? And is just trying to convey the concept of birth control in her limited English?? Evelyn is less clear on why Iomedae would want birth control so badly, but - oh, maybe it makes perfect sense actually. She's from a poorer underdeveloped country that's probably a lot worse on women's rights, and she recently experienced attempted rape. That fits, and probably she doesn't need to go hunting for further explanation in the form of Iomedae having a secret boyfriend. It seems incredibly unlikely that Iomedae has a secret boyfriend. 

Evelyn will smile so normally. "That's a good question! Of course I would be fine with it, but I do want to make sure you understand what it means. It doesn't make you - not a woman - or at least that's not how we think about it here. And it doesn't have to be forever, you can decide to stop using it later if you do change your mind and want babies when you're older. It doesn't always work but it almost always works, if you use it right. Some of the kinds can make some people feel sick, or sad all the time, but in that case you can just say so, there are other kinds to try. Does all of that make sense?" 

"Oh, it is good that you can decide later to stop using it. It no good for me because I am holy warrior and holy warrior girl no marry, but good many other people."

It is literally never helpful to tell teenagers that they might change their mind about some strongly-held opinion when they're older. And Iomedae...seems less likely than most to change her mind, Evelyn thinks. She just nods and smiles and goes back to helping them with worksheets. 

Aroden might renounce her and if that happens she will have to pursue different life plans but it's still very hard to imagine them involving children. She argued it endlessly with her mother, when she was a child.

"If I'd gone off to be a holy warrior," her mother had said, "none of you would exist, and instead I raised three noble and good sons who will serve Aroden, and that's three times the effect any man can have, no matter how great. If you are unusually suited to His service, so will your sons be; character breeds true."

"If Aroden foresees that will be better I guess He won't pick me," says Iomedae, though of course if that were all there were to it she would be indifferent and she isn't. 

The fundamental thing is that she does not want a child. It is wronging a child if her mother goes off to die on a cross or invade the Abyss. Having a child feels something like a promise not to do that, and that isn't a promise she could ever really imagine it would be worth making. 

They'll leave for the doctor at 9:30, just to make sure they arrive definitely on time. Evelyn is trying very hard not to feel pre-emptively exhausted. It's going to be fine. It might end up being a surreal bizarre experience for everyone but all of them are capable of surviving awkward interactions.

Initial checkups for kids brought into foster care are long, even when the kids in question have accessed medical care before. It's particularly important to look for and document any signs of abuse and neglect, to make and start on a plan to get kids caught up on their vaccinations, and to provide basic education about healthy habits which many of them have never had. The appointments are a couple hours long each and will run in parallel so they're not there all day. The receptionist knows Evelyn, and waves her in. "It's good to see you! And these must be the kids! I have, uh, a Yomeday and a Allison?" 

(She had assumed Yomeday was a black name, honestly. It just sounds kind of like it would be? Neither of the foster kids are black, though.)

The other people in the waiting room are harrassed-looking parents with toddlers. "This a special doctor for childs?"

Evelyn nods to Iomedae. "Yes, exactly."

She smiles at the receptionist. "Lovely to see you again! And, yep, these are the kids. It's pronounced Iomedae," well, more or less, Evelyn is still not sure she's getting it perfectly. "And Al-fir-in, I think I must've mangled that one when I was calling about the appointment yesterday. Really grateful you could fit us in on such short notice!" 

"Of course! I'll call your names in just a moment."

When she does, she calls Yomeday and Allison.

Iomedae has a feeling she is going to dislike the special child doctor. 

"Right, Allison will be in room 3 here, and Yomeday will be in room 4 here! That way mom can pop back and forth between you both as needed and no one's waiting for ages, okay?"