Niephling

Excitingly, by the time we arrive for Christmas, the newest niephling, who's due in about a week courtesy of my other sister, will also be there.

Oh, and one important difference with the zoo’s kid freebies is that the cutoff is 11 years old. So no tweens here, please. On the upside, parents can now inform their eager 12-year-olds that they are “too grown up” to be considered kids. I know a few of my niephlings would dig that.

"I am," she said reluctantly. Did she look pregnant, somehow, already? It was probably just some magical fae thing, but it made her self-conscious anyway. Two people in one day figuring out her secret didn't bode well. "Congratulations on your future uncle-ship." Rakken blinked. "Indeed." He blinked again. "A half-human niephling."

Eparch Aranha, who seemed to Lanie no less piercingly watchful than Tan, was nevertheless easier to steer clear of, for they only occasionally attended Rainday culture nights with their niephling Lir, and that was for the sole purpose—so they proclaimed—of enjoying the sublime music of the erophains.