Large blue eyes blinked, looking around the never-ending grounds. The building standing before the child was enormous, and she nervously stuck a knuckle into her mouth to chew. An older man, past his prime but yet to be completely gone, chuckled, giving her hand a tug. "Come along, Ada. You'll have all the time you need to explore later, but we need to get you settled in right now."

Ada nodded slowly, stumbling a bit to keep up as they started walking towards the building. She continued staring around the massive yard. There were several older children outside, taking advantage of the weather to play or study beneath the trees. "Who're they?"

"Those are the last of the Colors," the man said, slowing his gait so Ada could keep in step. "You probably won't get to know many of them. Their program has ended, and most of them will be leaving the House within the next few months."

The girl nodded, resuming her knuckle-chewing. "Where're we going?"

"We need to meet with Roger and get you into a room. Come on, now; the sooner we've finished, the sooner you can have a look around."

~*~*~

Ten minutes later, Ada sat wriggling on a plastic chair. Roger, a man clearly younger than the one who'd brought her in but still quite ancient in her eyes, was sitting behind a desk, looking through some papers the other man had brought in with her. He glanced at Ada for a moment before turning to the other man. "Well, Quillsh, everything appears to be in order here. We should have no trouble getting her settled in." He straightened the papers out, setting them in the upper left corner of the desk, and turned to Ada. "You are One now. That is the name you shall answer to, and how you will introduce yourself to others. Ada was the girl you used to be, but you are not her any longer." Turning back to Quillsh, he said, "There are plenty of empty rooms in the east wing. Take her to pick one out, and let me know where she chooses to stay."

"The east wing, Roger? Are you quite sure that's best?" Quillsh asked.

Roger looked back at Quillsh for a moment, seeming rather puzzled. "Why wouldn't it be? There's room for more Numbers to stay when they arrive, and there are a few Colors still there, so she won't be alone."

"Teal stays in the east wing, Roger. Do you really want to have a child this young stay near her?"

"Teal will be leaving the House in a couple of months, and she isn't dangerous. I highly doubt anything too horrid will come of One seeing her for such a small amount of time. Besides, I'm sure they would see each other around the grounds, anyway," Roger responded, writing on a fresh piece of paper. "Now go help her get settled in, won't you?"

Quillsh nodded. "All right. Follow me, One," he said, lifting the girl's small suitcase from the floor.

"Oh, Quillsh?" The older man paused, glancing back into the room. "Don't forget you owe me dinner for helping you sort out the Numbers."

"You'll be working here before you know it, my friend," Quillsh said back with a slight smirk. Roger sighed, shaking his head and shooing the other two from the room.

After a few minutes of walking, One looked up curiously at Quillsh. "Who's Teal?" she asked, fingers finally dropped from her mouth.

Quillsh was quiet for a moment before answering. "You remember the children you saw outside earlier?" She nodded. "Well, Teal is one of them. She's a Color."

"Which one was she?"

The older man chuckled briefly. "I rather doubt you saw her. Teal doesn't think much of the outdoors. She prefers to stay inside, trying to spook the other children." At the look of worry on One's face, he smiled. "She is nicer to the younger children. I was just being a bit worrisome earlier. Don't bother yourself about it. Now, here we are," he said happily, gesturing to the rather long hallway they'd turned into. "You can pick any room you like, except for these two right here," he pointed to the closest doors, "and that one, fourth down on the left."

One quickly scampered down the hall, opening doors and peeking in before slamming them shut. After looking in each one, she sat down on the floor to think, humming quietly to herself. "I want this one," she said after a bit, opening the third door on the right from Quillsh. The girl happily ran into the room, jumping onto the bed and giggling at how squishy-comfy the mattress was.

Quillsh walked in after her, setting her suitcase down on top of a short dresser. "I'll help you unpack and get settled in," he said, opening the case. "Then you'll be free to explore until dinner. I've asked Red to show you around and keep you from getting lost. He should be here before long."

"Okay," One said, now bouncing on the bed. "Make sure my socks are on the left side of the top drawer, and my pajamas are on the right side. Shirts go in the middle drawer, and pants hang up in the closet. Leave the bottom drawer empty."

Quillsh chuckled again. "All right," he said, making sure to follow her instructions. A knock at the doorway caught his attention, and he turned to see a boy of around fifteen leaning against the wall. "Ah, hello Red. This is One," he said, motioning to the bouncing girl. One jumped off the bed, scampering over to look at the new arrival to her room.

"Your hair's really bright!" she said, staring at the crimson locks.

Red laughed. "That it is. A lot of us Colors decided to dye our hair when the program ended, so we wouldn't forget who we used to be after we leave. There's practically a rainbow living in the House right now. Would you like to see?" One nodded frantically, and Red laughed again, taking her hand. "Come on, then. We've only a couple hours left before dinner, so if you want to see much of anything, we'd best get started."

Quillsh smiled to himself as the two left the room. It was usually fairly easy to tell whether a child would be happy at Wammy's or not, and things were looking quite good for One thus far.

~*~*~

"The bathroom's through that door at the end of the hall. You're probably still young enough that somebody on staff'll give you baths. How old are you, anyway?" Red asked. One shyly held up a single hand, all five fingers outstretched. "Damn, and you're getting your own room already? They must really trust you to be a big girl, huh?"

"'Course I'm a big girl," One stated proudly. "Mummy said I was at my birthday, and that was a whole two months ago."

"Oh, really? So you just came here straight from home, huh?" the boy asked, and immediately wanted to smack himself. Asking the new arrivals about their pre-Wammy's lives was a sure thing to ruin a day.

But One just shook her head, still taking in her surroundings. "No. I been staying with my aunt for almost two whole weeks. I don't think she really liked me staying there too much, but she said I had to anyway. Mummy's been sick for a while, and she had to go away a couple weeks ago to get better. My aunt said she would be back soon, so I guess I'm just staying here 'til she comes back. Donno why I need a new name just to stay here for a while, though."

Ah. So she hadn't been told what had happened. Red supposed it did make some sense. If she was this young and she hadn't actually seen her parents go, the Powers That Be of the House would probably do what they could to try and keep her innocence intact a little longer. "Well, I'm sure you'll like it here, One. Do you like horses?"

The girl's eyes opened wide, and she stared up at Red. "Yeah. Do you got picture books of 'em? That's what I always had at home."

Red grinned. "Oh, I think I can do one better than books."

~*~*~

Out back, behind the House, One stared in wonder. A massive pen stretched across much of the yard, and there were horses everywhere inside it. Brown ones, black ones, spotted and speckled and absolutely everything she'd ever wanted in her short life. "They're so pretty," she whispered as Red set her on the fence. A large yellowish one came over, sniffing at the girl's face.

"I think she likes you," Red commented as the girl in his arms laughed.

"She matches my hair!" One squealed happily, rubbing the creature's nose. "What's her name?"

Red thought for a moment. "I'm not sure. The House just got some new ones, and I don't know that she has a name yet."

"It's Victoria."

One and Red both turned in the direction the voice had come from, and saw a rather pale girl walking towards them with a wicker basket filled with apples dangling from one hand. A long blond ponytail bounced on her back; the bottom three inches or so dyed a blueish color. She tossed one of the apples to Red, giving him a toothy grin. "She's a pretty good horse, I must say. Much better than the rest. Who's the kid?" she asked, pulling another apple from her basket and biting into it.

"This is One," Red answered, handing the apple to her so she could feed Victoria. "She just arrived earlier today."

"Well, hi there, One," the girl said, hopping up to sit on the fence. "I'm Teal." She then sat her basket down just inside the fence, and swung to hang from her knees. Red blushed furiously as the girl's shirt dropped down, just barely stopping before revealing her breasts. "Oh, what, Red? Still haven't seen a nice pair of tits?" Teal asked without even looking at the boy. "They're just flesh and fat, you know."

"Don't talk like that in front of a kid," Red hissed as his face continued trying to blend in with his hair.

Teal giggled, placing her hands in the grass and flipping into the horses' pen. "Fiiine," she sighed, running a hand down Victoria's neck. "Ryu doesn't care how I talk, y'know."

Red growled. "Ryu doesn't exist, Teal. Honestly; you're seventeen and you've still got an imaginary friend. That really isn't normal, you know."

The girl giggled again, leaning against the fence. "Well, maybe if some of the others around here would give me the time of day, I wouldn't need Ryu anymore."

"If you were a little less creepy, maybe someone would," Red barked, lifting One back to the ground. "C'mon, One. Let's go have a look around somewhere with less crazy."

"Okay," she murmured, staring back at the horses longingly. Glancing at Teal's basket, she realized Victoria must've been really hungry, because it was already empty. "Where'd she get all those apples from?"

"Probably nicked 'em from an orchard down the road. She does that from time to time. The cooks had to start locking the kitchen doors from how many she goes through. The horses are the only thing Teal ever comes outside for, and she feeds them all the time," Red answered. "What else would you like to see before dinner?"

One thought for a moment, pressing a rather chubby finger against her chin. "D'you have a library? I like reading to Mummy, so if I could find a new book for when I see her again, that'd be really great."

"We do indeed. I bet it's the biggest library in the world."

The girl squealed excitedly, and suddenly grabbed onto Red's shirt, pulling herself up onto his shoulders. "Let's go! I wanna see, I wanna see!"

Red laughed, hooking his arms under the girl's legs. "All right; here we go!" he cried, taking off at a run across the grounds.