Page 45 of Star Bright
Maybe he should suggest an annex to this outpost: the Intergalactic Therapy Agency. Hearts that healed were hearts that could love again.
Love.
Even as his beast flexed its talent talons to grab hold of the word, he veered away from it. Dating, yes. Healing, yes. Mating, hopefully. But love? That wasn’t merely flying into a storm. That was summoning a lightning bolt to the heart.
+ + +
The next morning, he breakfasted with the children—and without Darcy again. The snow had continued through the night and drifted into fantastical shapes beyond the lobby windows, occasionally gusting into wild plumes like frantic drakling wings. Even without the IDA’s reclusive technologies, an entire marauding fleet of extraterrestrial invaders might’ve landed without anyone the wiser.
Of course Atsu wanted to go play outside.
When Vash rejected the idea, the little boy countered with, “Then we should decorate because tonight is Christmas Eve.”
“Christmas is not our holiday,” Vash said.
“But it could be, while we’re here,” Atsu noted with the blithe assurance that kept drakling fledglings in constant mortal danger.
Vash couldn’t very well say no to that when it was just his feelings at risk. Most of the facilities had finished the cleaning cycle and been unlocked, so with Kong’s access codes they were able to find a storage room of various party supplies.
“I once did a school report on holidays across the galaxy,” Yadira commented. “Some of these I don’t know.”
Keeping busy so he didn’t think about Darcy was all Vash cared about, so he just heaved various boxes onto the small hover cart and led them all back to the lobby.
Draklings loved treasure, whether their own or anyone else’s, and going through boxes of decorations and ornaments and streamers and party favors was everything a young drakling desire. Even Yadira looked happy again, despite their last conversation about her worries, and she asked the outpost sound system to play more of the Christmas carols, and she sang along this time. His bright, beautiful fledglings, making their little moment in the universe brighter and more beautiful yet.
“Shanya,” he whispered to himself. “You would be so proud of them. You would love who they are becoming.”
By the time they were mostly done, the selection of songs had repeated, and now Atsu was singing along, which very much did sound like a yowling larf. But Yadira just rolled her eyes and sang a little louder rather than shushing him. They took a break for lunch, making their own meal in the kitchen rather than dragging everything back to the lobby.
“Susu has eaten most of the dessert,” Yadira reported. “But there are enough supplies that we could make our own. The outpost system has a cookbook for the cooking classes they offer.”
“Christmas cookies!” Atsu yelled. “Santa Claus needs Christmas cookies.
So the afternoon was spent peacefully enough with something called royal icing and more kinds of sprinkles than just chocolate. They took their dessert back to the lobby where Atsu fussed over the correct placement of the platter to best tempt Santa Claus. Yadira eyed the towering pile. “I don’t know if an elf needs this many cookies,” she remarked.
“If he’s flying all over this planet in a night, he needs all the energy he can get,” Atsu argued, reasonably enough. But then he too eyed the pile. “Maybe one less wouldn’t hurt.” He set the top one carefully aside. “That will be for Darcy. When is she coming?”
Both fledglings looked expectantly at Vash, who managed to twitch only a little. ““She told me that sometimes holidays are complicated for Earthers, so—”
“Good thing we’re here then,” Atsu said. “She doesn’t have to do anything except come be excited about Christmas.”
Vash was not going to explain to his littlest offspring that sometimes knowing a thing would end made it harder to enjoy the time.
Instead half reluctantly, half defiantly, he tapped out an invitation on his datpad. “Just remember, with the outpost ship returning, she might have work to do.”
A short time later, she sent back a terse reply that there’d been an issue with snow accumulation on the gymnasium and it was taking longer to resolve than expected.
He relayed the message to the disappointed Atsu, replied to her asking if there was anything he could do, received a more clipped rejection in reply, and let it go. So when she appeared in the lobby doorway not too much later, he looked at her in surprise. “I thought you’d be too busy to come.”
Her gaze skittered past him, going to the windows beyond. “You sent a message saying that there might be a snow issue here too?”
He grunted a confused noise. “No.”
“Thereisa lot of snow,” Atsu said in an insufficiently innocent voice.
Yadira looked at him. “Were you playing on Addah’s datpad again?”
The little drakling scowled at his sister. “I just thought Darcy might want to see our party place.” Spinning on his heel, he ran to Darcy and threw his arms around her legs. “Merry Christmas Eve, Darcy.”
