Chapter 156

"Here," I told Hannah, "put it in your mouth and suck on it. The cold with help the ache some."

Kein lingered to watch what we were doing. He made a show of using the bathroom and getting a drink. It was obvious to me what he was up to, though. Most likely Christof was curious and it was bleeding through to Kein.

Hannah sucked on the stalk and the strain on her face eased some.

"It feels better, Mama," she told me grinning, "and I like the taste."

"Good, just keep sucking," I instructed.

"I don't understand," Kein finally said, as Hannah sat with the cool against her gums.

"Growing teeth hurt," I explained.

Kein tilted his head to look at me. "I grow my teeth all the time and they don't hurt."

"Hannah's part human," I shrugged, "we experience pain when our teeth grow in the first time."

Hannah removed the stalk from her mouth to complain, "They usually grow in one at a time, right, Mama? Not all once, it hurts more all at once.