The man and woman in front had dark-gold hair, while the golden hair of the brother and sister behind them, who looked about Annan's age, shone like the midday sun.
They all bowed to the Old Ancestor. The family head, standing at the front, said, "Miss Eliyes, your arrival honors us."
Miss?
Annan did not dare ask.
Olin noticed his confusion and explained, "In the Family, a woman is called 'Madam' only after she marries. Before that, she's 'Miss,' even if she's a thousand years old."
Annan feigned surprise and said just loud enough for the Old Ancestor to hear, "Sister Eliyes is so wonderful, yet she doesn't have a husband? I know—it must be because she's too powerful to fancy anyone her own age."
The Old Ancestor heard him. She abandoned the younger relatives greeting her and looked at Annan fondly. "Oh, ho ho ho! Being with Little Annan makes me feel fifty years younger."
Annan walked over and coaxed her, "What do you mean, fifty years? Isn't Sister Eliyes only seventeen?"
The man was secretly astonished. Who dared speak to the Old Ancestor like that? Those with the standing to do so would never say such things, while those without it were not even qualified to approach her.
The Old Ancestor's sisters, however, had heard plenty about Annan. They studied him with smiles in their eyes, curious what made Eliyes, who for so many years had accepted care from only Olin among her relatives, indulge him so much.
"That is not your place to discuss, outsider."
The rebuke came at the worst possible moment. The girl behind the man had seen Annan, with his lowly black hair, speak so disrespectfully to the Old Ancestor and could not stop herself from scolding him.
Annan was not quite sure who