"My birthday," Katherine replied. "Most count by their turning, but I would rather count all together, from my birthday."

Leila nodded. "That makes sense. How old were you when you were turned?"

"Nineteen," Katherine said softly. "It was a bad spring, that year."

"Do you regret it?" That was a legitimate question, after all. And she wanted to know.

"That depends on what I might regret," Katherine replied. "Do I regret that spring? Personally, I don't. I had done nothing wrong, and therefore had nothing to regret doing. Do I regret leaving? All the time. I had to leave behind something precious. But I think you're asking if I regret my turning." She sighed slightly. "Occasionally. But not often."

Leila nodded. "Well, it could be worse," she said cautiously. Because it definitely sounded like things could have been worse for Katherine.

"It could be," Katherine agreed. "I could have been hunted down long before now. Or I could have not been turned."

Leila nodded. "Yeah. Well, I'm glad you're still around."

"As am I," Katherine replied. "It's not such a bad thing, being turned. You get used to it after a while."

Leila nodded. "Yeah. Well, it looks like this part of it isn't so bad. The whole extended family bit. Or what I've seen of it, anyway."

"Most of the family is tolerable," Katherine said. "There are so many that I think only Uncle has ever met all of them. I know the several in my line, from my sire and the brothers and sisters he gave me. I'm sure there are several nieces and nephews I haven't met yet."

"Does anyone keep track of the numbers?" Because it would be interesting to find out. And Leila had to admit she was curious.

"There's a general estimate," Katherine said. "The number of fledgelings fluctuates far more than the number of savants, but the numbers to tend to change."

Leila nodded. That was good enough for the moment. She settled back into her seat, thinking that over.

"So what all else exists?"

"Well, you've seen the loup-garou," Katherine said. "They're werewolves. But there are also magi out there. Magic-users. But they're rare."

Leila nodded again. "Alright. So vamps, weres, and mages. And I assume no one gets along with anyone else, not really."

"The magi keep to themselves, really," Katherine replied thoughtfully after a moment. "But no, the loup-garou don't get along with us, for the most part."

"Yeah, I got that." Leila shook her head briefly. "Well, humans don't get along either, so I guess it's just kind of normal."

"Right," Katherine said. She shrugged. "It's something we're used to." She grinned a bit. "Although some of us seem to have adopted the 'fish are friends not food' mentality regarding humans."

Leila giggled. "Hey, sometimes we're better when we're not being sucked on." And she almost wished Carlos was there for that, because she still hadn't entirely forgiven him for that.

Katherine couldn't quite hold back some giggles at that.

"This is true," she replied.

Leila grinned. "Now we just have to indoctrinate Carlos into this way of thinking and we'll be good." Because she wasn't fond of the thought of him trying to eat her, or anyone else, again.

Katherine snickered for a moment.

"Just be careful, I did tell you that getting into the habit of eating animals was bad."

"True. But you've proven you don't have to eat animals. So there." Leila grinned, clearly pleased with her new reasoning.

"If we don't eat animals, then we have to eat people," Katherine pointed out gently. "It's one or the other, and animals aren't really... good enough."