As she moved a short distance away with Quillon and Raider, Kira noticed several of the children watching them surreptitiously.
Smart little tykes.
They’d let the eldest test the water to see how things went.
Kira wouldn’t be surprised if Elodie and the team saw a difference in their behavior going forward.
“Kira,” Raider growled, shooting her a look out of the corner of his eye.
“Hush.”
Raider reacted like a cat whose tail had just been stepped on.“Just who do you think you’re hushing?”
“A big, dumb idiot.”
“If I’m an idiot, what does that make you?”
The queen of idiots.
“Don’t you think we should talk about this?”Raider demanded.
What a dumb question.Obviously, she didn’t.Otherwise, they’d be discussing it already.
“How did she even know?”Raider hissed.
“Quillon already explained that.She’s telepathic or empathic or whatever.”
While they were talking, one of the children broke away from the pack.The youngest.A girl with unruly blonde hair, wide set eyes and a pixie chin.
She came right up to Kira and placed a stone in her hand.
Kira squatted to bring herself to eye level and smiled gently at the girl.“What’s this?”
To her shock, she realized she was holding a yellow sapphire that someone had gone to a lot of trouble to shape and polish into the amazing specimen that it was.For a moment, Kira was transfixed by its sparkle.The shimmering light and glittering depths.
The girl gave Kira a closed mouth smile, pointing to the sapphire and then herself.
“Your name?This represents your name?”Kira asked.
The girl dipped her chin in a yes.
Kira looked from the stone back to the girl.“Sapphire?”
The girl pouted.
“I take it that face means no.”
Kira considered the sapphire, running through several options.Yellow didn’t feel right.
Maybe Goldie?
No.That wasn’t it either.
A moment later, it came to Kira.“Gem.”
The wide smile that lit Gem’s face told Kira she’d guessed right.
Kira dropped the sapphire back into the girl’s waiting hand.“Gem, it is.”
