<em>- Bo, better late than never -</em><br/><br/>Bo's sandals made a loud clap against the stone floor as he took the last two steps in one jump, then dulled to a soft clip-clip-clip as he strolled down the hallway toward the dining room.  His step was light.  He was excited about the day ahead and happy to have slept the night in peace, without any unpleasant dreams.  The scents of morning food wafting down the passageway caused his stomach to protest his slow pace with a needful rumble.  The sensation reminded him of how hungry he was, both for food and for company.  As he broke the threshold into the room where the others had already gathered, the morning light through the far window cast the room in a bright glow, reflecting off the polished wood surface of the table and sparkling across the fine setting.  The centerpiece, however, were the four glowing faces of his new family members.<br/><br/>Bo smiled to the others -- Mila, Mari, Marcus, Nicci --  three M's and one which followed, though ordered differently in his heart.  The margin between them in the order slim to be sure, and narrowing by the moment.  "Good morning all," he said brightly, with a nod of his head.  Then his eyes took in the food and his stomach followed.  Fuel.  It seemed that his body required a steady supply.  After shoveling some fresh cut fruits onto a plate, he poured himself a glass of orange juice and grabbed a bottled water from a bowl of ice, then turned to sit at the table.  He realized suddenly that the urgings of his stomach must have momentarily overrode his keen observation skills as he had entered the room.  He had missed something, apparently.  Everyone seemed focused, conspiratorially so, on some matter.  It wasn't obvious.  They weren't all staring his way with mouths agape, nor huddled in a circle sending him furtive glances.  But something was definitely up.<br/><br/>Setting his armload on the table, he looked around at the others and said, "So, what's going on?"