Page 40 of Purring, Presents, and Parties

“Can I bring both my multi-techs?”

With a smile, she knelt down in front of the seven-year-old. “Of course you can! I bet there’ll be tons of stuff that needs to be measured. What if one of the tables isn’t strong enough to hold all the food we’re going to eat? It’ll be your tool that tells us!”

Royal beamed. “You’re right! And I can lend Tamsin my newer one so she can help me check.”

“I know Tamsin would love to help,” Rain agreed, picturing the two children running around measuring the density of each table.

“I have a surprise for you!” Hes said, rushing into the room with an excited rattle.

Rain gave Royal a quick kiss on the forehead before standing up. “I know, and if we can get Cherish out of my room, we can head over to the tents to see it.”

Hes’s rattle of excitement changed to a rumble of confusion. “My surprise isn’t in the tents.”

Now it was Rain’s turn to be confused. “Isn’t that where we’re supposed to go for the mysterious event you guys have been setting up all day?”

Hes started up a loud purr. “That’s a surprise for all the humans, but I’ve arranged a special gift for you and your siblings specifically. It’s at the compound office, and we need to hurry.”

Rain was torn between leaving Cherish behind or suffering the aggravation of trying to hurry her up again. To her relief, Cherish’s twin, Wind, walked through the front door with his typical easy-going smile.

“Can you go talk to Cherish?” Rain asked. “We need to leave now.”

Wind’s smile changed to a grimace. “She’s still getting ready? I walked over with her hours ago!”

“Perfection takes time!” Cherish announced as she emerged from Rain’s bedroom. Rain was forced to bite her lip to keep from laughing. The black wrap she was wearing was startling due to its rarity. Talins didn’t like dressing humans in black; they said the dark color was far too stark. Somehow Cherish got hold of one, but what really caught Rain’s attention was how Cherish had decorated her skin.

The teenager’s face was covered in sparkly powder, and she’d drawn adorable patterns all over her forearms and the backs of her hands. It was actually impressive that the patterns on her right side were as good as the left.

“You look very nice,” Hes said.

“I do!” Cherish agreed with a little bounce. “Salin, Missy, Jas, and I all agreed this is going to be the latest fashion.”

Wind frowned. “A bunch of teenage girls get to—"

“We all must go,” Hes said, interrupting whatever Wind was about to say. “My gift to all of you is waiting in the compound office and our window to use it is closing.”

Curiosity kept Cherish from arguing, and soon they were all rushing across the compound to the empty office with Hes carrying Royal. The building started lighting up as soon as they walked in. Hes ushered them into one of the meeting rooms where a large wall display was already lit up with Talin script flowing across it.

“Does that saymessaging in waiting?” Wind asked. Unlike the rest of them, he’d been studying Talin script.

“Very close,” Hes said with an affirmative rumble. “It says messaging in queue.”

Setting Royal down, Hes unclipped his Ident, tapped it a few times, looked up to the new script flashing on the screen, then tapped one more time. The writing disappeared, the display remained black for a few submarks, then a familiar face appeared.

“Auntie!” Rain cried, delighted to see the woman who’d been a second mother to her.

“Is it really Aunt Georgia or only a recording?” Cherish asked Hes.

“I’m really real,” Georgia responded with a wide grin. “It’s good to see all your faces! Royal, I think you’ve doubled in size!”

Royal stood tall. “Hi, Auntie! I’m much bigger now!”

“I can tell,” Georgia agreed, then looked back at Rain. “I’d hoped to visit before now, but I’ve got to tell you, I’m having an awfully good time out here!”

“What’ve you seen?” Wind asked, stepping up so he could stand shoulder to shoulder with Rain.

“Tor said my message package would be transferred as we talk,” Georgia said. “It’s full of images and vids of all kinds of amazing things. The guys got me a capture so I could record anything I wanted. I’m also collecting some things for all of you, but they’ll be slow getting all the way back to Talarian.”

“I’m so happy for you.” Rain felt tears burn the back of her eyes. She was ecstatic to see Georgia living the life she’d only ever dreamed of. “Don’t come back until you’ve had all the adventures. See the universe and bring it back to us with your stories.”

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