"First, union leader. A union is a group of men that negotiate their work together; they pay to belong to the group, and the union helps represent them. As for the other word... yes. Mobsters would be... more correct."

"'Mobster' is a word that's usually used by those who don't really understand our business. I've always called myself a businesswoman. But I suppose those words aren't entirely the same. Look at it this way... we all have rules we need to follow? But very few people always follow every rule. Some people break the rules to help themselves or their families- or because they consider the rules unfair- and these people are sometimes called "mobsters" if they work together to break these laws."

"Other people who aren't strong enough or talented enough to break these rules- or other people who see us as a threat- could sometimes try to hurt us. And we have Linval, Kassandra, and Neil to help protect us. But my hope is that we'll never need them to."

Aurora sits for a long moment, chewing on a very large mouthful of chicken, clearly processing everything she was just told.  Finally swallowing she asked,  "So... both unions and mobsters are groups of people who deal in business."

The wheels behind her amber eyes seemed to spin.  This new information was creating connections and thoughts, perhaps deeper and slightly more mature than she'd had before. One could almost see perceptions moving to accept new bits of reality, challenging and changing her perception of the world she was living in and the people all around her.

"Both groups have people work together so they get their money and stay safe, right?  So, they are a little the same?"

She poked at her chicken.  

"When you were little, did you know you wanted to do business like this when you grew up?  Dad says you lived in a forest and that your dad was a bad man, but he said you read lots of books.  So, did you know you and my dad would leave Canada and come to live in Philidelphia to do business when you grew up?"

"When I was your age... well, I was mostly thinking about our father, who was a bad man as your dad mentioned. He made things very difficult for us, so I was mostly worried just making it through the day and spending as much time with my mother as possible. It wasn't until after my mother had died and I started reading different kind of books that I thought about 'making our fortune' down here in the States."

"Living with a mean dad must have been horrible.  I love my dad.  I can't imagine hating him like dad hates your dad."

She put a bit of chicken into her mouth and chewed it mostly up before continuing,  "But important stuff is hard, like we said, and you and dad will always be there for each other cause of the hard stuff.  Do you think living with a bad dad make it easier to deal with mean men in your businesses now?  I mean, like, is that why dad's so tough and you're so smart?  Cause he learned how to fight bad men and you learned how to be smarter than them?"

Aurora swallowed and smiled.  "That makes you a good team, I think.

She stabbed her chicken again, "I sometimes wish I had a twin too."

"Living with a mean dad must have been horrible.  I love my dad.  I can't imagine hating him like dad hates your dad."

"I think this is one of the most important things to your dad, actually."

"As for your other questions... you might be right. I had to learn a lot about planning, strategy, and anticipation to make it through my day, just like your father had to learn about training and guns and all sorts of things. But I do agree that we're a good team."

She smirked.

"Still, don't go looking for mean men to learn from. You're already smart as a whip without them."

And in our life, you'll probably be forced to toughen up before too long. Hopefully that can be delayed for as long as possible.

"I've got Dad to make me tough."  She admitted.  "You to make me smart and Mom to teach me about important life stuff.  I figure when I'm old enough to be in the business with all of you I'll be the best in the world because no one started little like me, right?"

She smirked proudly.

"If only I had a brother like you do.  Then he could be the smart one and I could focus on just how to fight good like Dad." She sighed.  "But I gotta study hard cause no one will keep track of the money for me.  So I gotta be good at all the things.  And I will.  Mom says it's in my blood."

She drank from her water glass again and wiped her mouth with her sleeve.

"Do you know anyone who sells fireworks?"

Tara smirked.

"Brothers can be... a handful. But you'd be lucky to have a brother like Gav- your father."

She frowned for a moment and reached across to table to tilt up Aurora's chin and look directly into her eyes. Her voice was serious as she spoke.

"Listen to me. Now. This is important... you don't need to be good at anything, never mind all things. You do your best- and that's it. You shouldn't put all that pressure on yourself. Be yourself and you'll be wonderful. But if you try to be everything, you'll wind up grinding yourself down to nothing. Do you understand?"

She let her hand fall and smiled.

"Now what's this about fireworks?"

Aurora smiled.  "I was hoping maybe we could do fireworks on my birthday.  Mom said they had fireworks at her wedding party and they were really pretty.  I know we sometimes see fireworks over the bay on Independence Day but not any other time... but I was thinking, since you guys got them for mom on her wedding, maybe we could get them again - this time for my birthday?"

She smiled.  "I mean, I'm only seven once, right?"

Tara grinned. 

"We can absolutely do that. In fact... why don't we plan out the biggest party you've ever seen? It can be a surprise for your parents. We'll have concerts, fireworks, a giant cake..."

"REALLY!?!" She bounced in her seat and then jumped down, dashing over to Tara and hugging her speaking into her shoulder, "I love you so much, Aunt Tara."

When the little girl finally let go of her death-grip hug she went back to her seat.  

"We can invite everyone then?  All your friends, my friends, the people from the market, John and even that no-good Gus?  Maybe if he comes to my party he won't be so much of a grump no more.  The cake can be chocolate, right?  And the ice cream has to be the three color kind.  That's our family's bestest ice cream... three colors for the three of us!  Mom and dad love ice cream.  We can have dancing and balloons?  Oh!!!!"

She clapped.

"Games where people can win stuff and jugglers and face painting and clowns too?  Maybe even some ponies and bunnies to pet?  Can you imagine!  And the bands will play on a stage and there will be dancing - fast and slow romantic kinds so my mom and dad can dance cheek to cheek.  Everyone will have the best night ever!"

The hug of a child... "I love you so much..."

For a moment, she imagine a boy or girl around the age of 4 or so. Stubborn as hell, with a strong jaw... but a deep, abiding goodness to go with their strength. Her son. Her daughter.

"... Aunt Tara."

Tara pulled Aurora in quickly, largely so she didn't see the emotion in Tara's eyes. Aurora would be her child, and that was that. It would have to be enough. 

"We'll invite everyone. Chocolate cake. Ice cream. Dancing. Balloons. Maybe we can rent horses or something for rides..."

Maybe an elephant?

"Clowns, sure. Jugglers. Games. Whatever you want."

She grinned.

"Why don't we have dessert, then go home and start writing up some plans?"

Aurora smiled brightly.  "Absolutely!  This is going to be the biggest, best birthday party Philadelphia has ever seen in the whole history of the world!"

She giggled, smirking like Gavin walking into a room full of novice poker players with deep pockets and nothing but time on his hands to beat them all.