Raimundo!"

Rai shouted as his six brothers and four sisters slammed into him, shouting greetings at him. Kimiko, Clay and Omi were a little scared to move and could only watch Rai struggle to break free from their grasp. He couldn't hide the huge grin on his face though.

"Yeah, hi guys, great to see you too!" he shouted, batting one of his older brother's hands away. "Antoine, stop messing up my hair! Ow! Maria, you're on my foot! Sim, sim, Rico, I'll pick you up in a sec! By gosh, you guys got so big!"

A loud whistle froze the siblings; the monks looked around them to see two women standing nearby, one with graying auburn hair and the other with the same chestnut mane as Raimundo. They had their hair in single plaits that cascaded down their backs. The older woman had Raimundo's forest green eyes while the younger one had hazel. They wore similar dresses of bright colors and large jewelry. The younger one shooed the kids away and wrapped her arms around Rai's neck; by the way he returned it the monks could tell this was his mother.

"I missed you, Raimundo," Ms. Pedrosa hummed as Rai squeezed his eyes shut and kissed her hand.

"I missed you too, Mãe."

Rai wiped his eyes as his grandma came up and smiled at him, speaking something in Portuguese. Rai nodded and turned to his friends, beckoning for them to come closer. They did so tentatively.

"Guys, this is my family," he said; after a deep breath he indicated each sibling and said their names: "Maria, Rico, Weston, Selina, Garcia, Rosa, Zephyr, Anita, Seth, and Antoine. And then this is my Mãe, Andrea, and my granma, Serina."

"It is so nice to meet you all," Andrea said over the children's chatter. The monks bowed politely. "Raimundo has told us so much about you."

"Are you his girlfriend?" Maria asked Kimiko as she ran up to her. "Whoa, your eyes really are like sapphires!"

Raimundo's face turned scorch red as Kimiko gave him a bemused glance. Rico came up and tugged on Omi's sleeve.

"Can you really stand on your head?" he asked.

"Oh yes," Omi said, puffing up with pride. "I have mastered this technique. I can even do it in my sleep!"

"Yeah but by the way Rai-Rai talks your slang sucks," Antoine said, deflating Omi's ego.

"Uh, 'Rai-Rai'?" Clay questioned.

"It's Ant's nickname for Raimundo," Rosa explained, giving the cowboy a flirty smile. She was fifteen and pretty, and took to using her mother's blue eyes and deep brown hair to her advantage. "So what's it like in Texas? I here the boys there are real men."

"Rosa, stop playing Clay!" Rai barked as his teammate turned red. "Maria, Kim doesn't have to hold all the-hey! Antoine put Omi down!"

Andrea and Serina watched the children interact with smiles. They were gaining the attention of everyone else in the airport, but this didn't phase them. Andrea noticed that her third oldest, Zephyr was on the outskirts of the circle, trying to get Rai's attention but failing miserably. He saw his mother was looking at him and shrunk, slinking over to her. His grandmother stiffened at his presence.

"He'll be here a week, Zephyr," Andrea told him, fixing one of his caramel dreadlocks. "You don't have to tell him now."

"I know," Zephyr mumbled. "I just wanted to get it over with."

"If you had a backbone you would have," Serina growled.

Zephyr cringed.

"Sorry, Granma."

Serina sniffed and walked past him, softening only when she reached Raimundo. She spoke quietly to him, then led the children to the exit. Andrea touched Zephyr's arm before following them. Raimundo looked back and saw her, then paused when he caught Zephyr's eye. Zephyr quickly turned his eyes to the ground and Rai whipped back around, looping his arm around Kimiko as if nothing had happened.