Shadow of the giant

there was a story about Bean. He not
only let them go up unannounced, but also insisted on carrying their bags.
    "You two, and three babies, this all the luggage you
have?"
    "We hardly ever wear clothes," said Petra, as if
this were the most sensible thing in the world.
    They were halfway up in the elevator before the doorman
laughed and said, "You joking!"
    Bean smiled and tipped him a hundred-dollar coin. The
doorman flipped it in the air and pocketed it with a smile. "Good thing he
give me! If Petra Arkanian give, my wife never let me spend!"
    After the elevator doors closed, Bean said, "From now
on, in Armenia you tip."
    "They'd keep the tip either way, Bean. It's not like
they give it back to us."
    "Oh, eh."
    Petra's mother could have been standing at the door, she
opened it so quickly. Maybe she was.
    There were hugs and kisses and a torrent of words in
Armenian and Common. Unlike the cabdriver and doorman, Petra's parents were
fluent in Common. So was Stefan, who had cut his high school classes today. And
young David was obviously being raised with Common as his first language, since
that's what he was chattering in almost continuously from the moment Petra
entered the flat.
    There was a meal, of course, and neighbors invited in,
because it might be the big city, but it was still Armenia. But in only a
couple of hours, it was just the nine of them.
    "Nine of us," said Petra. "Our five and the
four of you. I've missed you."
    "Already you have as many children as we did,"
said Father.
    "The laws have changed," said Bean. "Also, we
didn't exactly plan to have ours all at once."
    "Sometimes I think," said Mother to Petra,
"that you're still in Battle School. I have to remind myself, no, she came
home, she got married, she has babies. Now we finally get to see the babies.
But so small!"
    "They have a genetic condition," said Bean.
    "Of course, we know that," said Father. "But
it's still a surprise, how small they are. And yet so ... mature."
    "The really little ones take after their father,"
said Petra, with a wry smile.
    "And the normal one takes after his mother," said
Bean.
    "Thank you for letting us use your flat for the
unofficial meeting tonight," said Bean.
    "It's not a secure site," said Father.
    "The meeting is unofficial, not secret. We expect
Turkish and Azerbaijani observers to make their reports."
    "Are you sure they won't try to assassinate you?"
asked Stefan.
    "Actually, Stefan, they brainwashed you at an early
age," said Bean. "When the trigger word is said, you spring into
action and kill everybody at the meeting."
    "No, I'm going to a movie," said Stefan.
    "That's a terrible thing to say," said Petra.
"Even as a joke."
    "Alai isn't Achilles," said Bean to Stefan.
"We're friends, and he won't let Muslim agents assassinate us."
    "You're friends with your enemy," said Stefan, as
if it were too incredible.
    "It happens in some wars," said Father.
    "There is no war yet," Mother reminded them.
    They took the hint, stopped talking about current problems,
and reminisced instead. Though since Petra had been sent to Battle School so
young, it's not as if she had that much to reminisce about. It was more like
they were briefing her about her new identity before an undercover mission.
This is what you should remember from your childhood, if you'd had one.
    And then the Prime Minister, the President, and the Foreign
Minister showed up. Mother took the babies into her bedroom, while Stefan took
David out to see a movie. Father, being Deputy Foreign Minister, was allowed to
stay, though he would not speak.
    The conversation was complex but friendly. The Foreign
Minister explained how eager Armenia was to join the FPE, and then the
President echoed everything he had said, and then the Prime Minister began
another repetition.
    Bean held up a hand. "Let's stop hiding from the truth.
Armenia is a landlocked country, with Turks and Azerbaijanis almost completely
surrounding you. With Georgia refusing to join the FPE at present, you worry
that we couldn't even supply you, let alone defend you against the inevitable
attack."
    They were obviously relieved that Bean understood.
    "You just want to be left alone," he said.
    They nodded.
    "But here's the truth: If we don't defeat Caliph Alai
and break up this strange and sudden union of Muslim nations, then Caliph Alai
will eventually conquer all the surrounding nations. Not because Alai himself
wants to, but because he can't remain Caliph for long if he isn't