Page 66 of Fumiko and the Finicky Nestmate
“It’s a chronicle?” she whispered. “Truly?”
“Far from traditional. But I have little doubt that the facts are all here.”
Akira raised a hand. “Are you talking about Fumiko’s family tree?”
“That’s me.” Zuzu pulled the young man into their huddle. “I’m the tree.”
“Do you receive progeny reports?” Juuyu asked. “Official documents regarding your children’s children, throughout their generations.”
“Diva might know.”
Zuzu backed her up. “We love people, not papers.”
“Do your people ever visit?”
Fumiko looked away, looked back, looked down. “Sometimes. At the end.”
With a soft trill, he gathered them closer. “That is the way of things in groves. At such a time, it is only natural to seek comfort from the one who carried and kept them close.”
“They want their mother,” agreed Zuzu.
Juuyu inclined his head. “Or the one who raised them.”
Akira wriggled his way more firmly into the hug. “Hey, Juuyu? For Suuzu, that person is you. But who’s your person?”
Juuyu’s expression softened. “Do you remember Letik?”
“Sure. He hung around a lot while I was visiting.”
“Naturally, since he is the tree among whose branches my small house is hidden. Letik is the one I clung to when I was small.”
Fumiko let herself relax against Juuyu’s side. He did understand. Not only had he been raised in a grove, he’d lived in a tree.
Akira’s eyes widened. “Hang on a sec. Your dad was a tree? Does that mean Suuzu’s dad is a tree?”
“Our father is twinned to a tree,” Juuyu corrected. “Did Suuzu not tell you?”
“I had no idea.”
“Perhaps it is my place to tell. Our father Liiri was born with Letik’s seed in his hand. Our mother is Baala, and many do say that Suuzu and I resemble her.”
Akira shook his head. “I didn’t meet your mom. Both times.”
“Female phoenixes are somewhat rare and therefore precious to the colony. Baala was in seclusion. She will not leave an egg for any reason.”
“Your mom was expecting a baby?”
“In a sense. Chick would be somewhat more accurate. Mother is very traditional when it comes to ….”
Fumiko watched them with a growing sense of relief. Juuyu was overly serious, but he was patient. The hand at her back kept her close, and he gave Zuzu the same courtesy. Someone who could welcome both of them? That was beyond rare in Fumiko’s experience. If only he would stay.
Wait. Sorting her things would take a while.
If she let him, didn’t that mean he’d stay longer?
“… because during your first visit, Viiri’s egg was newly laid. And your second visit was three years later, just before he cracked shell.”
“It takes three years for a phoenix egg to hatch?”
