Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
We enter the market, and one look from Katur stops them in their tracks from swarming us with their goods. I do stop and buy the toy that Fate reaches for as we pass it. There’s no denying her when she looks up at me with her lips beginning to drop into the saddest little frown.
After leaving the market, it’s another few minutes before we reach the new houses. They’re beautiful. Some are one level, but others are two, built for the women who came here with children.
Halun had fears about the human children who disembarked from the ship, wondering if the ideals they had been taught, The New Order ideals, would try and cling to them, if the Hallan children and the way they were trained to fight from a young age would make them too rough with their human counterparts, but the moment we took a stroll by the river and found the human and Hallan children playing Hide and Seek, even though they had different names for the game, quelled those fears. The human children seemed to take their cues from their mothers, accepting the Hallans and enjoying everything this new planet had to offer. And the Hallan children were clearly excited to have more friends to play with all day.
There are humans and Hallans over all the grounds here today, moving into their new homes, some just here to happily assist in that, most of the children not helping at all, but instead running along the river or climbing trees. Just watching how high they climb makes my heart beat faster, but I can remember a time when I was that age and my mother would keep watch while I played dangerous games, so I could have my brief and rare moments of freedom, whatever that word meant on Earth.
“It’s all so beautiful,” I say, then look over at Katur, “Which house is yours?”
“Right there.” He points to a stone house with the door more to the right to allow for the row of windows that wrap around the front and side of the house. “The only thing she asked for was a lot of light. Through her memories, I’ve seen that the house she grew up in was constantly dark.”
My smile drops with memories of the way things were on Earth. “Yes, they didn’t want anyone enjoying the sun too much. They might actually smile, then. Who knows what sort of sinfulness women smiling too much could have led to?”
“Yes, it was quite strange to see her memories and learn of the extent of the restrictions on Earth, but I make sure Jessica knows this planet and all that’s in it are at her feet now.”
“Good.” I nod. “Go ahead and see if she’s home yet. Bo and Selina are waiting over there for me.”
He looks off in the distance and when he spots them, he bows and takes quick strides towards his home. I bend over to let Fate down from where she’s quietly been on my lap, playing with her new toy.
“Do you wanna go see your parents?” I ask.
There she goes understanding perfectly again. Her head whips around, alert eyes moving back and forth until she finds her father crouched down, smiling at her and with arms open for his daughter. I hold her hand as she tries to run to him. She says father in both English and Hallan as she rushes towards him. I’m sure her weight doesn’t actually topple her father over, but when she collides with his chest, he falls backwards, laughing as he plays with Fate in the grass.
“Was she good?” he asks.
“Of course,” I answer. “Perfect the entire time.”
“Oh, I know that’s not true. She can get up to quite a bit of trouble when she puts her mind to it.”
I shrug. “No more than I or, I suspect, you did.”
He smiles as he sits up. “I see Halun’s been showing you memories.”
I chuckle. “He has.”
Selina wraps her arms around me from the side, pulling my attention to her.
“Thank you for watching her,” she says.
“Anytime. How was your time away?”
“It was exactly what we needed.” Her eyes discreetly cut to Bothaki before she murmurs. “Especially Bo.”
He was still trying to find his way through his grief, I know. Just like Halun. But by the way he’s smiling at his daughter and mate, I think his and Selina’s time away did him a lot of good.
“I’m glad. We all have to grieve in our ways, in our own time.”
“That’s what I’m realizing. My mother is right over there, moving into her house.”
“You couldn’t bribe her to stay with you guys huh?” I ask as I look to where one of the Hallans is carrying a crate that Zarah directs him to move into a small house.
“I even tried to use Fate to try and get her to stay, but she said she wanted some time to herself. I think she wants something that’s her own for once, too. She’s never had her own house, or things that my father didn’t make her pay for in other ways.”