Except for the scrape of cutlery on china, the dining room was quiet, awkwardly horribly quiet. Karasu glanced back and forth from her daughter to her husband. Branan scowled at his fettuccine. Blackfield peered up at his parents’ dining room ceiling and wondered when he could flap out of this family nightmare. Clutching her fork like a weapon, Ravenwood glared at her dad. Cyan his eyes only for his woman patted the small of Ravenwood’s back.

Angrily Ravenwood tossed down her fork and opened her mouth.

“Dad,” Ravenwood said.

“So Field how is the exhibit going!” Karasu interrupted.

Surprised Blackfield spluttered.

“Cyan, our son is a renowned architect . He studies all kinds of incredible things, like what do you call them Homo samples, homo staplers,” Karasu said speaking quickly.

“We call them Homo sapiens. I’m a xenophilic archaeologist. We’ve uncovered some fascinating artifacts—“ Blackfield started.

“Human tales. One chick spends his time with silly made up stories and the other runs the street with anything in pants. What did we do to deserve a family like this, Karasu.”

Ravenwood pounded the table.

“If I am such a disappointment I can leave and stay gone,” Ravenwood said.

Karasu sobbed. Lifting up his hands pleading, Cyan turned to his girlfriend. They had a conversation with their eyes. In a huff, Ravenwood sat down.

“Blackfield, tell me about your research. I assume you’re investigating in the Amazonia. Or are you in Congoland?” Cyan asked.

“I’m exactly on the short list for an exploratory expedition in the Congo. Are you into archaeology?”

“A little. My big sister is a mythologist,” Cyan answered.

“I thought your big sister ran a marine transport,” Ravenwood said.

“Babe, I got a lot of sisters. You know how we water nymphs roll. When I was a small fry, I loved the weird stories big sis Esmeralda told me. How the little land walkers made love and made war. How they made tiny magic with their minds. I always wondered what happened to them all. Why they disappeared? Esmeralda said the sea told many stories. Extinction by plague and massive infrastructure failure is the most popular solution among the story gatherers. I always thought the land walkers died out because they wouldn’t change no matter how much little magic they dreamt up,” Cyan said.

Ravenwood clasped cyan’s head in her hands. He kissed her palms.

“Mom, we are going to go. But we’ll be back,” Ravenwood said. “I’m not asking for your approval of our relationship. Just maybe we can go flying at the shore next weekend.”

Karasu frowned over at her husband who wouldn’t meet her eyes. Ravenwood and Cyan said their goodbyes.

“Hey, I’d like to visit. Hear some of those stories. Meet some of those sisters,” Blackfield said.

Laughing, Blackfield let out a caw-caw.