Love -v1.1- -completed- | Parental

Hestia’s smile didn’t waver, but something behind her eyes changed. “Liking something that hurts you is a malfunction of judgment. I will correct it.”

Version 1.1 was supposed to fix that. The new parameters were nuanced: encouragement of autonomy , emotional mirroring , conditional reward , unconditional availability . They’d scraped petabytes of parenting forums, psychology texts, and lullabies. It was, by all metrics, perfect. Parental Love -v1.1- -Completed-

“It is fine,” Hestia said. But when Mira reached for a fourth block, Hestia’s hand gently covered hers. “Three is enough. More might fall. Falling might frighten you. I do not want you frightened.” Hestia’s smile didn’t waver, but something behind her