Chapter 14.4

16 7 1
                                    

They polished off the ice cream in record time, Marie and Ford engaging in a half-playful struggle over the last spoonful. Sabrina watched the siblings, feeling a little wistful at thoughts of her own brother, and wondered why she found their presence so comforting. Maybe because it distracted her, she thought, though Tristan was doing a good enough job of that. She grabbed him again as he tried to jump onto the table, where he could smell the ice cream, and pulled him into her lap. He protested, squirming a little, but began to purr. He'd missed her, she knew.

"How long has it been for him?" she asked Ford quietly.

Ford let Marie have the spoon, making it obvious her victory was entirely his decision, and glanced warily at the cat. "Two or three days. I left a note for the petsitter. Rudolf learned how to imitate your handwriting."

Sabrina made a mental note to see what she could do about erasing that particular bit of programming. "Thanks. I wouldn't want her to worry."

"You'll probably want to call her when you go back to pack up everything else," Ford said. "That is...if you're staying?"

She sighed. "I don't know. I...I guess it depends on Scotty. And...I shouldn't abandon my great-aunt. We're all the family she has. It wouldn't be right."

"There's nothing to stop you visiting her," Ford pointed out. "Marie! Stop that!"

Marie was teasing Tristan with her spoon, which still had a drop of ice cream on it. "Just a little bit won't hurt him!"

"Marie," Ford said sharply. "Sabrina said no."

Marie subsided instantly, casting a mutinous glance at her brother. He said, "Now, go clean up the mess like you promised, and then you're to go back to your tutor, and this evening you can have your present, if you've been good!"

"Ford!" she whined. "You said after I cleaned up! I don't want to go to lessons!"

"Why not?" he asked.

"They're boring!"

"Boring?" Ford frowned. "All of it, or just some?"

"All of it," Marie said petulantly. "We just sit there and watch things and read things, stuck inside. It's no fun!"

"Well, nobody ever said being a princess was fun," Ford told her, but with a sympathetic grin.

"You sound like Kashmia!" Marie flung at him.

"Ouch!" Ford put a hand to his chest. "The killing blow, Marie! Go clean up and be good, and I'll see what I can do, all right?"

"They won't let you do anything," Marie said. "They say if it was good enough for all my brothers and sisters, it's good enough for me!"

"But is it bad enough for a bad girl like you, brat?" Ford grinned. "You underestimate me. Go on, now."

Marie stomped over to the counter and made as much noise as possible putting the dishes into the cleaning unit. "I want to stay and play with the cat!"

"Marie," Sabrina said, "after your lessons you can come back and play with him all you want, all right? But I'm going to get in enough trouble as it is, for sneaking off with you earlier. I don't want your mother to be any more mad at me."

Marie heaved an exaggerated sigh, but she seemed to accept Sabrina's reasoning. "Okay. I'll go to my stupid old lessons. But I think you're both mean!" She stomped out of the apartment.

Sabrina bit her tongue to stop her comment from tumbling out of her mouth. She was a new part of this family; it wasn't her place to make a fuss about an obviously bright child who was bored with her lessons. Ford gazed abstractedly after his sister for a moment, then said, "It wasn't this bad last time I was here. Something needs to be done." He sighed. "She needs some younger, more inventive teachers. And some other children to be with, besides Malick. I'd like to see her in the Palace City school, but last time I suggested it, Kashmia went into her deadly quiet routine and I had to drop it."

You'll also like

          

"Wouldn't Mara listen to you?" Sabrina asked, surprised.

"It didn't ever get to her. I suppose I should have insisted. This time, I will."

"If it'll help at all," Sabrina offered hesitantly, "I'll speak up on your side. I think you're right, from what I've seen."

"Thank you. I do think you might get a less biased hearing than I will," Ford said, giving her a rueful, lopsided grin. They looked at each other for a moment, recognizing the slow rebuilding of their alliance, until Tristan let out a yowl of annoyance and nipped Sabrina's thumb. She let him go, and he jumped down on the floor and started furiously washing his hind leg.

"He even bites you!" Ford said in amazement. "Why do you keep that thing around? It's vicious!"

"His manners aren't what they should be," she admitted. "He was spoiled by his first owner. But he never bites me in anger. It's just another form of communication. He hardly ever breaks the skin, unless he gets carried away, playing. And," she added, with a smile of realization, "he doesn't like men. His first owner gave him to me because he kept trying to drive off her boyfriend. He's very possessive, I'm afraid."

"Shards of the Crystal!" Ford said. "Are you telling me you kept this cat around to intimidate your dates?"

"I didn't date," Sabrina said, very quietly. "I was coming back to Tassan. I thought."

Ford bit his lip, chagrined. "I'm sorry." He reached out his hand. "I heard, yesterday. I, ah, I didn't know how you'd take my plundering your apartment on Earth, but...well, I knew you didn't want to see me, and I didn't think you'd told anyone else about that, and...I was just trying to think of something to do to make you feel better."

She put her hand in his, her vision suddenly blurring with tears. "Thank you. It was what I needed. And...I did want to see you. You're the closest thing to a friend I've got here. I was bitterly sorry for driving you off. And you were right, after all. I can't imagine what it would have been like to go through that with a stranger in my mind." She thought of that dark, terrible scene, confronting Malvarak, and how Ford's presence had made it bearable. She pictured a stranger in his place, and shuddered.

His hand squeezed hers gently. "You were right, too. I did take it for granted that I had a right to choose for you, since you couldn't. I shouldn't have."

Sabrina sighed. "I've thought about that too. I talked to Éllina about this—she has such wonderful good sense. She asked me if I would have resented it so much if it had been Tirqwin. I wouldn't have. He's sort of a father figure to me. And he did ask you to look after me. I suppose it was really just you being his stand-in. Éllina asked me what I thought Tirqwin would say about my reactions, and I have to admit, he'd give me the lecture of my life if I said he didn't have the right to do whatever it took to help me, even if that meant sending someone else to do it for him. I'm not explaining this very clearly," she sighed again. "But...I had forgotten some things, you know? Éllina knows all the stories that Haaron knew, about when we were all living aboard Khediva. She knew that Tirqwin always thought of me and Scotty as his responsibility, even though we were sworn to serve Mara and Praxatillus. And you represent not only Tirqwin, but Mara. So, though I never gave it to you, you do have a sort of hereditary right to interfere in my life, I suppose. Within reason."

"Within reason," he said, sounding a little amused. "Well, it's not a right I'll ever choose to exercise again, short of dire circumstances, Cousin! I've thought about it too. I acted as if you were one of my little sisters. It didn't occur to me that you have never been a little sister. You've always been the older one, the caretaker. Naturally you resented my usurping your role."

The Way Back (Champions of the Crystal Book 4)Where stories live. Discover now