"MOTHER, ISN'T IT TIME for the Rituals?"
Ursula Romanov turned from her night reading when she heard her son's voice. She threw back as she glanced over to the antique brass clock, "is it morning already?"
"0400 Hours, ma'am. It ain't like you to be tardy."
Mikhail dropped his voice conspiratorially low to add, "unlike some."
"Oh!" His mother chuckled—just as the some he spoke of came barging in: his sisters. Yukima, his direct elder was the first to ask, "what were you telling me just now, you vain boy?" Ursula's third-born, Mariposa interjected: "Can't be nothin' good, I tell ya." Of all in the large household of the Legata, Mariposa's Roan accent came a close second in beating Dash's at the harshest intonation.
"Mik!" Ursula closed her book and uncrossed long legs in her swivel chair.