“Not at all! I had to keep up or get left behind,” I clarify. For some reason, it’s important that Tai doesn’t view me as some weak spoiled human.
“Really? I assumed they would all favor their little sister.”
“They did. I mean…they do. In their own weird Mitchell family way.”
“How’s that?” he asks.
I’m surprised by the follow-up questions. We might even be approaching something resembling a conversation at this point. I proudly sit a little taller on Daisy’s back. I managed to draw Tai out of his one-word answers!
“Well, we believe you’ve got to be strong and think fast to survive. No one is going to take it easy on you. When I grew up and started doing well in school, things changed a bit, I guess.”
A memory flashes in my mind of my family sitting around the dinner table passing around the yuriOS with my latest grades. The look of pride on their faces brings a tear to my eye.
Wow. I’m damn near crying. All of this repressed homesickness must be finally catching up with me.
I pull up the hood, choosing the smell over the sweltering sun and the vulnerability written all over my face.
“That explains why you’re so tough,” Tai says, slowing Brutus down and coming up next to me.
“You think I’m tough? Tai, that was verging on a compliment.” I smile over at him behind my hood. Sarcasm shrinks the lump in my throat a tiny bit.
“I didn’t mean to verge,” he says.
“Oh okay, fine,” I reply swiftly with a playful tease.
“What I meant to say, if you would let me finish, it wasn’t a verge. I meant it as an actual compliment.”
The lump is back. Bigger than ever. I gulp at air to try and diffuse it. It doesn’t work.
“You haven’t complained once, not about the unbearable heat, or the endless sand, or the weird brethren. You have every right to whine endlessly, but you haven’t once. You have proved me wrong time and time again.”
Oh shit. The lump is still growing and moving north to my mouth. I bite my lip to try and keep back the tears welling up in my eyes. I didn’t realize how much a few kind words would affect me.
“Never let it be said I didn’t rise to the occasion.” I try to lighten the mood. His sincerity is making me uncomfortable. Tai has so many facets. He is more observant than I ever realized.
“Do me a favor and tell that to my brothers when you meet them,” I say absentmindedly. Come to think of it, I don’t know when he would ever meet them face-to-face.
“Where are your brothers now?” Tai asks, watching me intently.
“Let’s see. They are all still on Earth. Nate and Jamison work for a mineral extraction company. Hollis is probably charming some rich old widow at the luxury hotel he works at. And my mom, Talia, is a housekeeper at the same hotel.”
What I don’t mention is that all four of them are working extra shifts to fund my trip. I wonder if they’ve heard the news about j’Tilak and the station I was evacuated from. I hope they haven’t. Who knows what lengths they would go to if they thought I needed to be saved?
“And your dad?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. He took off when I was little.” From time to time, I’ve wondered what happened, where he went. Anytime I would raise the topic, my family would shut it down immediately. My brothers especially didn’t like discussing it.
Tai lets out a noncommittal hum.
We’re back to grunting. Conversation must be over. But I’m not done talking. “How about you? Where’s your family?”
I’m prying into his past, something I know he struggles to be open about, but I do it anyway. What’s he going to do? Take off on Brutus and leave me and Daisy here in the desert? He’s stuck with me for the time being.
“I grew up in the system,” is all he says. For how messy my family is, my heart sinks at the thought of not having them. I know what ’the system’ means. It’s one of those phrases that crosses boundaries and planets. It’s what happens to kids who don’t have anyone, ones who are left to survive on their own.
“Oh, I’m sorr?—”
“Don’t be. It’s fine. Everything worked out.” Tai fiddles with his bionic wrist and grimaces.
