The two sisters blushed and burst out laughing. “We are not on the menu this morning. There is plenty of other wonderful stuff though. I don’t know what everything is. The cooks in these Houses’ of yours are awesome.” Jo said waving a hand towards the table.
“River, I found some disks in the bedroom. Jazin was able to decipher them. Would it be permissible with you if we were to watch them?” Torak asked gently. He did not want River to think he was trying to go behind her back or upset her.
“You did! Oh Torak, I love you!” River said as she threw her arms around his neck giving him a big kiss.
“Jo, Star, I had forgotten all about them. Walter made me some home movies of the three of us from when we first met until you guys left two years ago. I was going to surprise you with a copy of them but didn’t have a chance to make them. I found them again the other day in my bag and was going to ask Kev or Torak if they could somehow convert them. Thanks, Jazin for doing it.” River said ignore the way Torak growled when she said his Captain of the Guards’ first name.
“What is on them?” Manota asked sitting down next to Jo with a plate overflowing with food.
“Just wait, you’ll see!” River replied with a mischievous grin.
She settled back against Torak’s legs on the floor. All the men sat back with plates piled high with food. Star let out a groan when Jazin pulled her between his legs. Jo just gave Manota a look that said ‘don’t even try it’ before sitting between him and Ajaska. Jazin gave the computer the command to start the vidcom it had uploaded from the disks.
“Oh. My. God.” Jo groaned as she buried her face into Manota’s shoulder. “I didn’t think you meant from the very first time.”
On the screen appeared three very young girls. River was five, Star was seven, and Jo was eight. They were all dressed in ballerina costumes and were chasing each other around on a huge net several feet off the ground.
“Hey, Walter.” Yelled five year old River. “This is Jo and Star. They are going to be my new sisters!” River giggled as Jo started tickling her. Star was prancing around waving at the camera.
“Oh. My. God.” River said as tears spilled down her cheeks. “There are my parents with yours.” She whispered to Star and Jo leaning forward. “Look how young they were.”
The four men had forgotten all about eating as they watched the vidcom. Walter, whom Torak had heard River talk about several times, was a male approximately three feet tall if he was an inch who wore a red costume and a hat half as tall as he was. As the videos continued he saw a young River slowly growing up. The video had plenty of shots of her, Jo, and Star together but also of each one with different people, unusual people. When the video showed a man named Kid Cozack, a man of about thirty to River’s eight, teaching her how to swallow a sword he cringed at first; then, his eyes grew wide with sudden understanding. If she could swallow a sword then she wouldn’t have any problems swallowing…he gulped.
“So that’s how you know how to do that.” He murmured in disbelief.
“Know how to do what?” Manota asked glancing over to Torak who had an expression of awe on his face before looking at River’s face which was a bright, bright red.
Torak looked at Jo. “Do you know how to do that?” He asked with a grin.
“Of course, Kid taught all three of us how to do it. Why?” Jo asked puzzled looking at Torak. It wasn’t until she looked at River’s face that she understood what else could be swallowed. Jo turned as bright red as River and shot Torak a look that spoke of severe pain should he say anything else on the subject.
Torak grinned really big before replying, “I only hope you find out one day, brother. Both of you. It is a most incredible thing.”
Manota and Jazin looked at each other puzzled before shrugging their shoulders. River, Star, and Jo looked like they would like to do nothing better than crawl under the couch. River might have attempted to escape if Torak hadn’t put his food down and drawn her onto his lap. She suspected it was to cover the very large bulge that was protruding from it.
All of them watched the vidcom for the next two hours pausing it at times when the men needed clarification about some of the things they had seen. When Marcus the Magnificant cut River in two for hiding all of his rabbits Torak had been overflowing with questions as to if it hurt, why would a man do such a thing, how could she have survived it, and what did she mean, he did it more than once. Jazin and Manota both had to be told numerous times to loosen their holds on Jo and Star when they watched them flying through the air, walking on the tight ropes, or falling through fire. None of them could understand the clowns were just men and women in makeup doing outrageous things.