“How strong is your fourth brother?” Sein asked, unable to contain his curiosity as he lay on Tourmaline’s back.2

He had learned that subtlety was lost on Tourmaline. Rather than tiptoe around a subject, direct questions yielded better results.0

As expected, Tourmaline responded honestly without hesitation, “Fourth Brother isn’t as strong as Third Sister. I remember seeing it getting beaten up by Third Sister when we were young.”0

“But Fourth Brother is all grown-up now, and Third Sister once mentioned that it’s a handful,” Tourmaline added, tilting its head slightly as if trying to decipher its sister’s exact meaning of “handful”.0

Sein nodded thoughtfully,...0