Quills: the Rise of the Northern Matriarch-Chapter 109: Good News

"This tastes so bitter. I prefer the florets of the other two. Ugh." Cerez said as he spat the new vegetable that Nora had crossbred. Nora watched the Brussels sprout roll across the table as she laughed. She added a little butter to the pot and some salt.

"Maybe you'd like it with a sauce?" Nora said. Cerez grimaced, prompting Nora to laugh more.

"There's no way you can make that taste better." Cerez questioned Nora. Nora stuck her tongue out at Cerez, she knew he was teasing her due to the taste of his smoothies.

"It is no spinach, apple, pear smoothie your highness?" Nora teased. "The fact you said they were so good during my pregnancy, I do not trust your palette." Nora said.

"Anyway, they can grow into the winter so it opens up a swath of arable land in the north to grow food. They are nutritious and great for your health. Now try it." Nora said as she fed a performative, reluctant Cerez, another Brussels sprout.

"Better." Cerez said as he chewed and swallowed. Vida had fallen in love with the new greens already and had sent him a few tolerable recipes which he would attempt later. In his youth, it was customary to eat more plant-based meals with beans being the hero. He saw the promise in the very adaptive vegetables. The addition of cold weather crops that she was developing would indeed open up more arable land for farming to add alongside their other harvests. Being her taste tester was hit or miss. Cerez liked healthy food, but the new vegetables required special treatment for cooking. The children were much more appreciative in trying the new plant species.

"Hello Talan," Nora said and dropped what she was doing. Talan had a rough few weeks. She had also learned the full story of his upbringing from him. It was horrifying. She assured him that it did not change how she thought about him, she was a victim of assault herself. "The new vegetables are in." Nora said in a sing-song voice. Rex grunted and flailed his arms in the chest carrier. A little palm swatted Talan's face.

"Uh, Uh." Rex grunted. Cerez looked over at Talan, concerned. He had been very quiet since Lara and Edem's death and had gone into more counseling sessions after the deaths and arrests. Talan had been solemn. Talan did not know how to grieve for the loss of his parents. He felt relieved more than anything when he received the news. He felt terrible for his brothers. Even his older brothers. They had all been so damaged and they were all helpless. Especially the youngest of them having consanguinity issues and developmental issues. He was thankful to the paternal families that took them in. He did not know how to react to Solina Setton or her spousal group when they visited.

"Tea?" Nora asked. Talan nodded and wiped the accumulated sleep from his eyes. He sat down and embraced the bundle tiredly. Rex's hand pushed upwards into his mouth. Talan smiled and looked into the infant's violet eyes. Nora slid a tea, made the way he liked it in front of him. He felt her soft front press against his back as his good mood flourished. His life was infinitely better now, but he had become quite exhausted due to the ordeal and the years of accumulated stress. He had a lot to look forward to and had received multiple pieces of good news and updates. The Setton Clan were now in custody of three of his brothers and now knew the conditions in which he grew up with, what abuse they had suffered and the parentage of those children. He was fortunate to not be one of those children's fathers. He felt like he could see her pity in her eyes, and the others. Cerez cleared his throat and Nora looked over to Talan. Nora turned off the heat on the food she was working on.

"My Love, are you okay?" Nora said as she embraced him from behind. She gave Talan her attention. Talan started to weep. Nora approached him to give him a hug. He felt so loved.

"Yeah," Talan said. "I just checked the communications, Nora. They have approved us." Talan said in a trembling voice. His lips hooked in a huge smile as the tears rained down his face. Nora squealed in delight as Cerez cheered.

"This is the first time in months that you have smiled. I am so glad, Talan. This is such great news. When will they release it to everyone?" Nora asked cheerfully.

"We need to get all the backend equipment in place and hire staff, but we could be ready in less than two cycles?" Talan said.

"I have staff that I trust from Hudai that I would like to hire. They have requested employment. I do not know where to start," Talan said giddily. He felt a good kind of anxiety. They got away with sabotaging the Hudai Tech system purely on the reluctance of the current minds behind the most recent iterations of the interface, because they no longer feared the Hudai. It was lucky that the administrative and matriarch tools were the first systems hit. It was a critical hit. They were very lucky.

"Of course. We are both free to help you. I can help you hire management staff. Nora is done with the first yield of her new crops so we both have time," Cerez said, excusing himself from tasting the leaf vegetables raw. They did not look appealing in his opinion. He did not care how good 'Kale' was for him. Kadir and Kai had just come in to see the scene in the kitchen. A puzzled look crept across Kai's face, he speared a brussels sprout and ate it. His face contorted.

"It is not that good, Nora," Kai admitted. This would be a failure. "It obviously has not stopped growing yet, that is why it is so gross," Kai said as he finished chewing.

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"It is not about the vegetables." Nora stopped and eyed Kai defensively.

"The Interface has been approved," Talan said happily. A look of shock crawled across Kadir's face. He expected that another set of tools on the Hudai Tech interface would have to stop working in order to get the government to approve the new interface. They would have to start by setting up the backend hardware to support billions of users. Luckily, they had the foresight to order the hardware and additional hardware. But everything was not put together. To get everything up and running would take a lot of personnel. Liem had just started a medical leave of absence for stress-based fatigue. But Nora could be involved for the first couple of days until they hired the staffing they needed to get it up and running.

"I will call a meeting with my staff tomorrow to see if they are willing to help with setting up the offices, hardware and to see if they have staffing recommendations and help you work with the main office to test and interview workers as Liem is on medical leave now." Kadir said.

"What is wrong with Liem?" Nora paused and started to worry. Liem had not taken a break for the past two years as they started working in Quill Industries himself. As Nora worried, he walked in the door looking exhausted. Nora looked into Talan's eyes worriedly and gave him a quick peck on the lips and loosened her hug. She went to see Liem and gave him a hug as he sat down.

"What is wrong?" Nora said.

"Monil forced Janel to make me take a vacation again." Liem said, feeling the exhaustion cast over him. The truth was he needed the excuse, he was stressed out. He did not know how he fit in anymore. She never sought comfort from him, his daughter was not attached to him, he had been trying.

"Oh, how terrible," Nora teased. "We have some good news," Nora said.

"You are not pregnant again are you?" Liem asked worriedly, opening an old wound from an argument they had last week. Nora felt hurt by his seeming annoyed tone. Talan felt her become stiff in his arms and buried her face in his chest. Nora disengaged her hug and left the kitchen in a huff.

"Good guess, Allari. You know she has been taking precautions like we asked. Do you think she would lie to us about something like that?" Cerez said as he pelted Liem in the head with a vegetable. The round green bud hit him accurately in the forehead. It was a light punishment compared to the fist to head he very much deserved.

"The new interface was approved." Kadir said, letting out a large heaving sigh as he heard the door slide open and closed to the Playroom as Nora went to cool down. He narrowed his eyes at Liem, annoyed.