Page 24 of Star Bright
Vash swallowed a groan.
Darcy slanted a look at him. “I take it you don’t have siblings of your own?” Amusement lightened her voice.
“Not anymore, I suppose.”
Her humor vanished. “Vash…”
“That was unnecessary of me, I apologize.” He let out a short breath. “I was a surprise late hatch, so my siblings were mucholder than me. If anything, they were even more kind and indulgent than my parents.” He gazed at his two. “They were not always so…troublesome.” He glanced at Darcy. “That too is my failing. They loved Shanya and sought always to bask in her approval.”
“I’m sure they love you too,” she said.
“But not the same.”
She followed his gaze to where Atsu and Ug were frolicking in the water, and past them to Yadira, determinedly not frolicking. “Just because it isn’t the same doesn’t mean it isn’t good and nurturing and worth basking in,” she said quietly. “That’s basically one of the guiding tenets of the Intergalactic Dating Agency, right?”
“Maybe that is one reason I chose to do this,” he mused. “After a meeting with their therapist, I remember thinking if I could show the fledglings that the family would continue, that there were others who would care for us, love us…” He winced a little at the desperation and selfishness in his words. “That we could find a way to go on, to share the love we had still, even with Shanya gone.”
“Just because you all aren’t quite ready now doesn’t mean you’ll never be. Maybe give yourselves some more patience and grace.”
In the pool, Atsu jumped from the edge, spreading his arms and legs wide into a horrendous bellyflop, and Ug made a crowing noise of approval.
“Or you can skip the grace part,” Darcy drawled. Her gaze angled past the pool to Yadira, still brooding on the lounge chair. “You keep an eye on your son.” She took a step around the pool.
“Darcy.” Vash was going to caution her about his own daughter? That seemed wrong.
So he just watched with a faint twinge of concern as Darcy approached the fledgling. Yadira seemed not to notice, notmoving even when it was clear that Darcy was speaking to her. While Yadira owed no one her friendship, he might have at least hoped for courtesy. Then, to his surprise and gratification, Yadira straightened, pointing at the artificial cliff wall rising on the other end of the gym. Darcy shifted from foot to foot, then nodded, somewhat hesitantly, it seemed to him. They went over to the wall, and a holographic display flickered around them with some sort of explanation, demonstration, and safety review.
The two donned head protection and a harness around their bodies. Then Yadira began to climb. Drowning or falling, these were their choices? Watching his fledglings’ “diversions” was going to kill him.
If Yadira’s beast had risen, he’d have no worries at all. But he only bit his tongue in helpless worry as she scaled the fake cliff. She was a drakling child, he reminded himself, and she and her friends had been clambering around their cliffside aeries from before they were Atsu’s size. And still, every muscle in his body strained twice as hard as Yadira’s as she maneuvered from handhold to foothold, ever higher. He could see how the safety device kept a careful tension on the rope that would prevent any fatal fall.
At the top of the wall, Yadira clanged a large bell, and Darcy’s cheer was almost lost in the victory chime.
Yadira descended on a different path, her earlier slack insolence gone in the pure joy of movement and the challenge of her strength. Pride swelled in him though he held back the cheer of his own, knowing she wouldn’t appreciate it.
Still a ways from the bottom, she pushed away from the wall in an agile backward leap, and he choked down the yelp of fear the same way he’d done the cheer. She landed lightly, rising with all the elegance her brother had ignored. For a heartbeat, Vashalmost saw an outline of wings around her. He blinked and let out a calming breath.
Yadira gestured for Darcy to approach the wall. After only a moment’s hesitation, Darcy stepped up, hooking her harness into the safety apparatus. Although the device did most of the work, he saw how the interaction was meant to build rapport and trust as the partners spotted each other’s ascent.
Darcy did not have a drakling fledgling’s innate fearlessness and strength, but she tackled an easier section with what seemed like enthusiasm. Yadira watched from the ground, and though Vash couldn’t hear what she said, her commanding finger was clear enough, gesturing Darcy back to the more demanding route.
For a moment, Darcy dangled from one hand, her own gestures vigorous enough that Vash wanted to call a reminder to focus on her task. It might be just a game, but as Darcy herself had noted, everything had risks.
But she seemed eager to push her limits and started her traverse across the wall toward the harder route.
As she changed direction, slack appeared in the rope. Vash frowned. While he’d never seen this sort of wall climbing, the rope was obviously meant to sustain enough tension that any harms would be mitigated.
Just as he was rising to his feet, she fell.
Chapter 10
Well, shit. Darcy had half a second to grasp at the wall before the handhelds were clearly out of reach and she was plummeting.
This was why videogames were better.
The rope went taut, jolting an oof out of her, and she swung in a short arc, coming to rest beneath the easy route she should have stuck with.
Not that she’d been trying to show off or anything.
