Page 82 of Soros
Star seemed grateful and excited as well. Bold from her first recruitment, she asked Lios and Zobran. “Can I hire you two as well?”
Lios gave her a kind smile. “Had you asked me first, I would have agreed without hesitation and handed over my captain role to Nerix. But now that he’s your chief bodyguard, I’ll stick to being the captain. None of the others on the crew are ready to lead yet.”
Zobran looked tempted. “I’ll think about it. But for now, the crew needs me. If the captain can find another Thaddoinian to fill my role, then I would love to make double what I’m making now. Either way, I’ll always be your friend and you can count on me to help you keep Limak in check.”
“Thank you.” Reaching over the table, Star took Zobran’s hand. The golden rings around his irises glowed brighter for a second as he smiled widely.
After dinner Lios allowed me to use the equipment onboard theGreat Defenderto contact my mother and explain the situation to her. Zobran set it up and explained, “It’s impossible to do a hologram because she doesn’t have the technology.”
“Can we do a call where she can see me and meet Soros?”
Zobran played around a little, and then he muttered, “There’s very little I can’t do when it comes to technology. Alright, what you’re suggesting is a flat version, but I can still project the image of her and use the cameras from the hologram readers to show you and Soros to her. Let’s see.”
“Maybe you should stay out of the picture until I introduce you,” Tania suggested and kissed me quickly before I moved to the side.
When we finally called up Tania’s mom, I wasn’t prepared for the woman I met.
CHAPTER 31
Revealing Secrets
Tania
Seeing my mother’s torso and face projected up in front of me made me emotional. Zobran, Star, and Soros were on the bridge with me, but all the others had stayed away to give me some privacy with my mom.
With my decision to move to Eidron, there was a chance that I wouldn’t see her again for years, and with her drinking problem I always worried about her.
“Hey, sweetheart, it’s good to see you,” my mother said. “How come I haven’t heard from you in weeks?”
“Because lots has happened, Mom.”
“Are you okay, baby?” The concern in her voice made me miss her. No matter how sick my mom had been with her alcoholism, she had always been sweet to me.
“Mom, how are you doing? You look… good.” As I took in her appearance, I noticed that her eyes seemed clearer than usual, and her hair was cut in a cute style.
“I feel better than ever. I took that offer from the church.”
“The rehab?” My tone was full of surprise because for as long as I could remember my mom had been in denial about her drinking problem.
“Yes. I haven’t had a drink in nineteen days now.”
“That’s amazing.”
She beamed with pride. “Yes. I joined a support group, and my mentor says that it’s staying away from alcohol that’s the real challenge, so we’ll see, but I needed to do it.” She looked down. “I got fired again and I knew I needed to get control of myself.”
“Mom, I’m so proud of you.” I felt emotional because this had been a dream of mine for so long.
“For getting fired?” she asked with her sense of humor and even though the joke wasn’t that funny, I still chuckled with joy because it had been forever since I’d seen this happy and jovial version of my mom. Typically, she was drunk and feeling sorry for herself.
“I’m proud of you for getting sober. So proud.”
“Me too. I thought we should celebrate together. I could bake a cake and we could have a picnic in the park maybe. It doesn’t have to be fancy. I just really want to see you, sweetheart.”
“Mom.” I swallowed hard. “There’s something I have to tell you and someone I need to introduce you to.”
I reached out for Soros, who stood to the side, and he joined me. Giving my mom a friendly smile, he used the greeting he had learned while living on Earth with me. “Hi.”
“Hi.” My mother leaned a little closer.
