When their faces finally lit up with welcoming smiles, Nova relaxed.
“Nova,” Risor said. Warik had been quick to name all the children while they’d been decanting them to help keep everyone straight. At first, they’d labeled the shirts they’d put on all the children. Now each bed had a shiny plaque with the child's name in Hissa and under that repeated in Space Standard.
Risor was one of the first children they’d decanted, and she bet she was the one who’d tried to get out of bed to find her.
“Hi sweetheart!” she said, letting go of Miran’s hand so she could run around to crouch next to Risor’s bed. “I missed you.”
Tears welled in the little girl's eyes. “You left.”
What was that sound? Oh yeah, that was her heart cracking in two.
“Only for a little while, but I’m back now,” Nova said. She patted her hand on Risor’s blanket-covered leg. Risor was quick to grab Nova’s hand in both of her little ones, holding on tight.
Miran stood next to her, and Risor looked up at him.
“Mir’n,” she said with a little frown. “Why you here?”
“I wanted to say sorry,” he murmured, crouching down next to Nova. “It’s my fault Nova hasn’t been to visit. We had a few things to accomplish, but that's done now.”
“Done?” Risor said. She sounded suspicious.
“Yes,” Miran said with a solemn nod. “We won’t ever stay away so long again.”
Before Nova could point out that she would’ve come back sooner if the Hissa hadn't kept her away, Miran cast her anapologetic look. “I’m sorry, Nova. We should’ve brought you back sooner.”
“You guys need to listen to me more, period,” she grumbled, but couldn’t stay mad. She was too happy to be here and more confident in her relationship with Miran.
“We could move you and Risor to the soft corner,” a Hissa she hadn’t met yet said, stepping up to stand on Risor’s other side.
“Soft corner?” Nova asked. The Hissa pointed to a corner. She looked over to see a corner of the grow room where there was a large, plush yellow rug, and piles of soft pillows against the walls.
She chuckled. “Yes, that looks like a very nice, soft corner.”
“Sof’, sof’!” Risor said with excitement. “Sof corner bes’!”
“The children see spending time in the soft corner as a treat,” the Hissa explained.
“Me too!” said Wilon, who was in the bed next to Risor. Several other voices repeated the same phrase.
The Hissa frowned a little before speaking to Nova. “We usually don’t put more than four children in the soft corner at one time. Are you comfortable with that many?”
Nova nodded. “I can stay for as long as it takes to have all the kids visit me in the corner.”
The Hissa beamed at her. “That would be perfect. My name is Nakin. If you go to the corner, I’ll bring the children to you.”
Nova nodded and tried to stand up, but Risor didn’t let go of her hand. The little girl looked both worried and stubborn. She wasn’t going to let Nova disappear again.
“I’ll take you with me,” Nova murmured, tugging her hand free of Risor before tucking the blankets around her and picking her up with ease.
Both Hissa made distressed sounds, but Nova ignored them. She knew her own strength and easily carried the little girl to the corner. After sitting down with the girl on her lap, Nova lookedup at the men. They looked unflatteringly relieved that she’d made it without incident.
Other children called to be next. While Miran sat down next to her, Nakin turned to address the children and explained how visits to the soft corner would be organized.
There were other warriors moving around the beds, reading the monitors on the beds, testing the children's comprehension, or checking on their physical coordination. Nova was impressed at how gentle, patient, and kind all the warriors were with the children. It was the missing piece she needed to see for the last of her doubt to leave her.
Nisha and Warik weren’t here, so Nisha must’ve fixed whatever issue they were having with the monitoring tech.
“Story,” Risor demanded.
