Cassie! You’re okay! We didn’t know what had happened to you.My family has been trying to help me look for you since we left the IA facility.
She smudged a tear away from her eyes with the corner of her sleeve before replying to Swift.I’m okay. Everyone here hasbeen kind. It’s been good for me, really. I promise. The quiet is good. Have you spoken with Rhea?
I have! Rhea and Piper sent me a holovid the other day. I think their new families know each other and they get to visit.
That’s really good, Swift. I’m so happy for all of you.
What about you, Cassie? Do you have a new family?
I’m an adult. I didn’t get placed with a family.
Why not? Everyone should have a family. They’re great. My parents took me and my new sister to an aquarium last week. Did you know they have whole glass cases just to look at big fish?His characteristic grin split from one side of his face to the other. Cassie tucked away another slice of hurt. She didn’t want him to see her upset. She didn’t want him to worry about her when he was enjoying his new life so much. Swift was the youngest of her voicelocked fledglings—only twelve standard years when they had been rescued. He’d just been fitted for his voicelock before the IA liberated the Aviary.
This time to talk was a gift. She didn’t want to waste it on her tears.I didn’t know they put fish in glass cases like that. You’ll have to show me one day.
I will! You should come to Oscilla Dor to visit me. I’ll show you all the best places for sweets. We can go to the laser volleys arena. You can meet my mom.
Cassie let him tell her all about having his own room in the big communal family nest and how he’d learned to sing new songs with his adopted sister. She’d never realized it was possible to feel so fulfilled and so destroyed all at once. When they ran out of time on their holovid and the connection fizzled, Cassie said her farewells, promising she’d find a way to talk to him again soon. She didn’t know when soon was.
Alone in the holocall booth, she finally let herself cry. It was a long cry. Probably too long. She had reading lessons to get to. Cassie wiped her eyes and the dusty grit that had blown into herface while she’d been sitting there. A few steadying breaths, and she could go on smiling like nothing had happened.
Cassie walked over to the schoolhouse where some of the younglings were lingering outside the front steps playing a game of Galactic Conquerors. Grumm and Wyk sat with their cards in hand while younger Grora peered behind her brother to see what he was doing.
Grora poked at a card while Grumm made an irritated puff of his throat. “You don’t even know how to play.” He whisked his cards away from her, and Grora stumbled, making a sad thrum. “You’re so annoying.”
“Teach me!” Grora insisted.
“Go away.” Grumm turned his attention back to his hand while Wyk threw a card out.
“How can I play if you won’t teach me?” Grora hopped from one foot to the other. Grumm puffed his throat again, reached into his pocket, and tossed a pack of cards at her. “Figure it out yourself.”
“But I…”
“Shut up and let me focus on the game, or I’ll throw your dolls in the canal.”
Cassie, who had been watching quietly, finally approached and grabbed the spare set of cards off the ground, out of the dust. She gestured for Grora to sit. Galactic Conquerors had been a favorite pastime in the Aviary, even if they never had anything of value to use as a wager.
“Would you like to try again?” Cassie asked. Grora sat across from her.
“You know how to play Galactic Conquerors, big sister Cassie?”
Cassie nodded and dealt two sample hands. The blue and silver cards were bent in the corners. She showed Grora how toassemble her army and how to pick a general.Like this, Cassie signed even though she knew Grora wouldn’t understand.
It was harder without language, but Galactic Conquerors was a visual game, so she caught on quickly enough. After they played an open-hand sample round, where Grora beat her handily, Cassie glanced up to notice Örim was standing behind her, watching. Her face went red. She’d been so distracted by the game she’d completely forgotten the reading lesson.
Gently, Cassie directed Grora back to where her brother and Wyk were still playing. The urtazi youngling clung to her arm in a hug until finally releasing her and hopping back to rejoin the others. She turned back to Örim.
“I am so sorry! Let me try again.”
“You don’t have to apologize. I find it fascinating to watch your communication style. The younglings like you. I don’t think I have the same affinity with them.” He offered her a hand to help her to her feet. Cassie frowned at the unexpected gesture but accepted anyway. His hand felt like someone had taken glass and turned it to something harder, something more enduring.
She followed him back inside the schoolhouse, where his datapad was sitting on his workbench, already open to the writing program. Cassie pulled up a chair next to him with her own, much less sleek datapad. He was close enough to touch now, his leg just a whisper away from hers as she practiced writing out some short sentences.
“I know your voicelock is programmed to talk about calligraphy and laser volleys, but maybe you can write out what you actually like to do instead?” Örim tapped her interface, his fingers brushing past hers as he did. Cassie frowned. What she actually liked to do? She thought about a response for a long moment before responding honestly.
I-D-O-N-T-N-O-W-U-T-I-L-I-K-Y-E-T. S-T-I-L-L-U-R-N-I-N-G.
“I see. You probably don’t even know what laser volleys is,” he mused. Cassie shook her head. She’d seen holos of the game but had never actually played herself.
