Grandfather sits reading a newspaper in his favorite chair, tendrils of vines creeping up the upholstery. A few months ago, if I’d come in at this time of day, I would have found him wrist deep in soil instead of looking so weary. He definitely looks sick. Worse than before I left for my trip.

“Good morning, mi reinita,” he says when he sees me approaching.

“Hi, Grandfather.” I kiss his cheek, then sit next to him on a cushioned stool and grasp his leathery hand. His bones are so light. His eyes twinkle, and his crepey skin wrinkles as he smiles. He’s thinner, gaunter, less vibrant. He seems to be… wilting.

“Something is troubling you.”

“Just your health, Grandfather.”

“My health? Don’t fuss over me, or I’ll feel my age.”

What am I supposed to say to that? Ask him if he’s dying?

“Your mother tells me that you may be leaving for university sooner than we expected. Are you excited?”

It’s hard for me to care about Genesis or anything to do with the Families after what I’ve just learned. “I’m not so sure,” I say.

“Why not?”

“I don’t know if I’m cut out for the program.”

“Nonsense. My granddaughter?” He boops my nose. “In this family, we know how to fight our way to the top and become exactly who we are meant to be.”

Despite what I’m used to from everyone else, Grandfather has always had unwavering confidence in me.

I smile weakly, not wanting to disappoint him with my own, less-flattering assessment of myself.

“Your mother was also unsure of herself when she was your age,” Grandfather says.

“Really?” Unsure is the last way I’d describe my laser-focused mother.

“Oh yes, she agonized for months before deciding to go to business school.”

“How did she decide?”

He chuckles. “I believe she chose whatever was the most different from anything me or your grandmother did.” I can’t tell if he’s joking.

We are connected to the order through my grandmother’s side of the family, and it was extremely important to my grandmother that her daughter be an active member of the Inner Chamber. But I’d always had the impression that’s what Mom wanted too.