Page 66 of Unfinished

Oh, how she’d grown to love the feel of scales against skin. She rubbed her face against him before she could stop herself, and then she smiled. Why should she stop? From the way he was looking at her, R’kash certainly didn’t mind.

“You continually surprise me, Sienna—in the best ways.” He lowered his hand and nodded towards the presents on the table. “Here, I will show you,” he said, and then he proceeded to do just that.

When Sienna put the first few presents for Veesha and R’kash beneath their tree, she was only half convinced that her Xithlene writing was legible, but she figured it’d be clear enough that they’d be able to tell them apart if she forgot whose was whose.

“What are you doing?”

Sienna glanced up from where she knelt on the floor. Villith was stirring a cup of chocolate he’d just taken from the dispenser on the counter, and he watched her with obvious confusion.

“We exchange gifts on Christmas day, and in my family, we put the presents out under our Christmas tree beforehand. I guess because it looks pretty and as kids we always wanted to guess what we might be getting. It was just part of the fun. Maybe it’s silly since none of it means anything to all of you, but I wanted to give Veesha all of the excitement and magic I remember as a kid.”

Villith walked over and stroked the side of one of the green and gold finials. “I don’t find it silly at all. You’ve brought much happiness to Evathi.” He looked at her and bowed his head. “It was a blessed day when you chose R’kash.”

Sienna bowed her head in return and finished arranging the presents. The next morning, when she and R’kash entered the dining hall, Veesha jumped up from her chair.

“Go look! The tree! There are more presents.”

Veesha ran into the kitchen before she could even respond. “I guess we should go look,” Sienna said with a quick glance towards R’kash, but she couldn’t read anything in his expression.

Veesha’s wings were extended and flapping lightly as she bounced on her toes in front of the tree. Beside the three gifts Sienna had put down the day before were two more packages, but these were wrapped up in luxurious fabric and tied closed with gold braid.

“Who are they for?” she asked.

R’kash knelt down and turned over the little corn husk tags. “Veesha and Sienna,” he read.

“Are they from you?”

R’kash smiled. “No. They’re not from me. You’ll just have to wait until your Christmas to find out.”

When Sienna turned around to head back to the dining hall, she saw Villith and Jesthi were both standing in the archway watching. She raised her eyebrow and looked at Villith, but he didn’t respond, keeping his feathers perfectly still. Sienna laughed.

“We’ll find out soon enough. Only three more days to go,” she said.

They all sat down and shared breakfast together, and the day passed just a quickly as the others had before it. They were back in the same room, finishing the evening meal, when R’kash stood up and tightened his hands around the back of his chair. His gaze darted towards her and then over to Jesthi before he opened his mouth to speak and then closed it again. Sienna’s brow wrinkled as she watched. Something was up, but she couldn’t say yet whether he had bad news to deliver or was just agitated.

“Is something the matter?” she finally asked when he still hadn’t sat back down.

R’kash hissed and his feathers flicked up and down before he took a deep breath and visibly settled himself. “I have a gift for you,” he told her. “It’s not one I could hide in a package, and it’s not Christmas yet, but I think you will like it. May I show it to you?”

Sienna bit her lip and pushed back her chair. “Yes. I’d love to see it.” She wasn’t sure why she was nervous, but R’kash was acting so mysterious that it was hard not to let it affect her.

“Good,” he replied, sounding a bit breathless.

He walked over to her seat and offered his arm. Sienna moved into place next to him and looked around at the others, but no one else made any effort to follow. “Is it just for us?” she asked.

“For tonight, yes. The others will come later. Are you ready?”

“Yes. I can’t wait,” she replied.

She was familiar enough with the temple now that it soon became clear they could only be going towards the courtyard. Whether the gift was waiting for her there or outside, she couldn’t guess. When she glanced up at R’kash’s face, he seemed determined not to meet her eyes, maybe because he was worried he’d give away the secret.

She squeezed his hand as they approached the archway to the courtyard, surprised to see the door was closed.

“May I cover your eyes?” he asked.

“Sure.”

Sienna closed her eyes right before he set his palm over her face. “Just let me guide you,” he said softly before she heard the quiet rasp of the door swinging open.

---