First off, thank you so much to "Guest" for letting me know that Chapter Three was in Chapter Two's spot! I'm pretty sure that was me, late at night as I was fixing stuff, but geez that must have been confusing! I know I recently got some new followers around that time, so I would recommend you all look back to chapter two and make sure that you read that! It's not terribly important, but chapter three is pretty confusing without it. That being said, thanks for following even though it made little sense!

Secondly, thank you all for reviewing and letting me know what you thought of Amanda and the Orions! I know people always say this, but I really do take your opinions into consideration. I want my characters to be accessible. If there is something inherently wrong/unrealistic about their personalities, please let me know. :)

Special thanks to urelia23 and guest for messaging me and reminding me that maybe writing the next chapter would be good! (Feel free to do that if its been a week or so. I'm a tad bit scatterbrained)

Easter was, apparently, a very big deal. There were a large number of children there, and the offspring of the Shelley daughters (Lady Dora's maiden name, Sarek found out) had all been tasked with assisting in the decoration of the chicken eggs, whilst the Shelley's and their spouses drank coffee on the kitchen balcony. Sarek elected to watch in the doorway conjunct to the living room, after being assured that, while 'creepy,' the action would not result in an incident.

He first collected data, from both his memory and the sight in front of him. There were four Shelley daughters: Emily, Darcy, Elizabeth, Dora. Emily's husband was deceased, but the other spouses were, respectively: William, Pablo, Jeremy.

Emily had two children with her: Ty and Renee. Both were in their early 20s, and seemed to enjoy hanging their tongues from their mouths in the direction of the other, and laughing afterwards. Curious.

Darcy had two children with her: John and Jamie, who looked quite similar physically - they both possessed blonde hair and blue eyes. They did not interact at all. John and his wife Stacy, sat at the table with cups of the coffee in front of them, watching their two children dye their fingers various colors. They did not look pleased.

Elizabeth had three children with her: Dylan - whom was married to Eabr -, Ena, and Ruby. Neither Ena nor Ruby was in their twenties as of yet, but Sarek knew that Dylan was 25 Terran years of age - he had told Miss Grayson so in the kitchen earlier that day. Derek and Eabr had a daughter, Seeta, who did not participate in the chicken egg decorating because she lacked the mental development to grasp what the act consisted of yet. Everyone in Elizabeth's family had black hair.

Lady Dora had four children, Sarek knew this, but three with her (Attache Derek Grayson had died): Doris, Esther, and Amanda. They all appeared fluent in foreign languages - he had overheard them conversing in several different ones during the morning meal. Between the four siblings, they had six children - only Amanda Grayson had yet to reproduce.

Sarek resolved that the only way to avoid confusion in the area of names was to simply refer to them by their given names.

The chicken egg dying was a large undertaking. Loud, grating music was played for about 4.53 minutes until Ambassador Grayson shouted in the direction of the kitchen, and it was replaced by what is termed 'classical' music with dramatically illegible singing. The adults seemed to be having as much fun as the children, much to Sarek's surprise. The act was strange and pointless. Perhaps it was to encourage bonding between family members? That seemed a likely explanation.

A baby started crying at the same time that young Jarot Kal screamed, loudly, "DADDY!" and ran out of the kitchen. Miss Esther picked up her crying daughter and left the kitchen after him.

"Oh, no! Cover your eyes!" young Ena warned, slapping her hand over her eyes, but the others merely laughed. Sarek raised an eyebrow at their dismissal of her warning, and closed his eyes.

"He is ugly?" Ninyv questioned.

"Oh! She doesn't know the story!" Eabr exclaimed, sounding very upset.

"Ena, now look what you've done," Dori's voice chided. "Ambassador, dear, you can open your eyes. Ena was just joking around." Sarek opened his eyes and looked around. Nothing seemed amiss, but the Terrans were frowning at him.

"Vulcans do not joke," he informed them, and they frowned harder.

Ruby, the daughter of Elizabeth, snorted. "Sounds like a boring planet."

"Vulcans do not experience boredom." (he had searched the term after retiring to his room on the first night)

"Case in point," Ruby grinned, earning a few laughs. Sarek was confused, but the attention had turned back to Ninyv.

"We have to tell her the story," Renee insisted. She looked quite excited.

Many people offered to tell The Story, but it was eventually decided upon that Dylan would tell the story.

Eabr grabbed Sarek's arm and pulled him further into the kitchen. Katie waved a blue-dyed hand in his direction from her spot on Amanda's hip.

"Okay, so it was like this. Esther and Aovix fell in love, right?" Dylan started.

"And he creeped the hell out of us the first time we met him!" Dori chimed in.

"Aw, come on. The guy wasn't that bad," Ty insisted. He had a strange accent. Terran, yes. He called to mind the 'western' movies he had watched when first learning Terran culture.

"That's because we had already told him numerous times that reading people's minds was not socially acceptable!" Amanda laughed.

"Oh my gosh, remember that time - when we first met him - and he read Dad's mind and we all freaked out?" Dori asked her sister enthusiastically. Amanda screeched.

"Yes! Yes! Oh my gosh! That was terrible!"

"What? What happened?" Ruby asked, leaning forward on the counter, seeming not to notice that her forearms were now on spilled dye. Amanda and Dori exchanged looks.

"Mandi tells it better," Dori declared.

"I do," Amanda agreed. "Okay, so it was the day before Esther's birthday, and none of us were off-planet, so we were all sitting in the living room talking with him. This was the second time we had met Aovix, and Esther didn't tell us he was coming over. De - Derek and I had just come back from our run - um - Dori was still in her pajamas! It was awkward, to say the least. And, plus, he's...an acquired taste, if you know what I mean. So Esther and Mom were doing most of the talking, when suddenly - out of the blue! - A.K. just says to dad, 'I'm really sorry that my visit has interrupted your coitus. I thought Esther had asked your permission before inviting me over.' And Mom and Dad just go red!"

"Derek spit out his lemonade," Dori cut in with a grin that deflated around the edges after a few moments.

"And we started laughing," Amanda replied, bumping her sister's shoulder with her own.

"I think you were crying at some point!" The women giggled.

"What about Esther?" Renee asked.

Dori giggled again. "She was so embarrassed that she stormed from the house. A.K. was so confused."

"A.K.?" Eabr asked.

"Oh, that's just what we call him. Aovix is annoying to say repeatedly," Amanda explained.

"I don't understand the 'cover your eyes' joke," Ninyv cut in with a deep frown.

"Mm! Right!" Dylan said, standing up straighter. "So, it's like this: We all got the invitation, yeah? And everyone was - well, we were very happy for them. The invitation said that we didn't need to come in anything fancy, because traditional/ceremonial clothes would be provided, and we were all like, 'Cool.' So we get there and - she didn't even tell you guys, did she?" He directed the question to Amanda and Dori. They laughed and shook their heads. "Yeah, Esther didn't even tell her sisters. We all get there, and there isn't any traditional garb. The minister - a Betazoid guy - asks us all to take off our clothes. To Betazoid's, a marriage is a ceremony of love, or something, and apparently that means we don't need clothes. So here we are, on a beach, being asked to strip buck-naked in front of our siblings, aunts, uncles, grandmamas, friends...No one was happy."

Everyone in the kitchen laughed enthusiastically.

"That was the most embarrassing and hilarious moment of my life," Ruby said.

"Renee was crying," Jamie remembered.

"Was not!" Renee protested.

"I still can't believe Esther agreed to that in the first place," Jamie's wife, Stacy, said in a tone that indicated her disapproval.

"A.K. has always been very generous in making changes to fit our culture," Amanda told her, in a quiet, firm voice. "I think that was the only thing he ever asked her to change. It would have been inconsiderate for her to say 'no.' Marriage is based on compromise."

Sarek raised an eyebrow. Curious reasoning.

"Mandi, the philosopher," Ty said with a smile. Amanda grinned back at him.

"Look who's suddenly an expert on marriage," Stacy shot back. Eabr gasped, and wrapped an arm around Amanda's shoulders, although Amanda did not look upset by the comment.

"Stacy!" John admonished.

"Uncalled for!" Dylan frowned.

Footsteps and laughter approached, and a tall man walked into the kitchen. He was carrying Jarot on his hip, and holding Esther's hand. Sarek reasoned that this was Aovix. This was proven correct when Katie wriggled from Amanda's grasp and shouted, "A.K!" whilst running to him. He picked her up with the hand that had been entwined with Esther's hand.

"Hello, kiddo," he said, and kissed her cheek. Everyone else in the room expressed their 'welcome' and their happiness to see him. He smiled, but looked around the crowd with a concerned expression. Dori moved forward and hugged him tightly once he had put the children down.

"Ugh!" she exclaimed. "You go away for too long!"

Aovix chuckled, low and deep in his throat. "I am sorry." He released Dori and held his arms out. "Amanda." She smiled and hugged him tightly. "I am sorry for your pain," he whispered into her ear, and Sarek was certain no one else heard.

Amanda sniffed, and then laughed, stepping away. "If I missed you this much, I can't even imagine how poor Esther must feel!"

Esther smiled at her sister, and Aovix slipped his fingers between hers once more.

His eyes met Sarek's and he smiled politely. "I don't think we've met before. I'm Aovix."

"Sarek." He held up the ta'al, and Aovix returned it.

"Ambassador Sarek is working with Jeremy on some conference project. He's staying for a few weeks," Jamie told Aovix, and Sarek fought the urge to correct his approximation.

"Well, it is nice to meet you," Aovix told Sarek with a smile. Sarek inclined his head.

"A.K.! How are you?" Jeremy exclaimed upon exiting the balcony. "Still have your clothes on, I see."

Alrighty. Leave me a review, and PM me every once in a while to get my butt moving on this, yes?