Waymakers (Champions of the Crystal Book 9)

Chapter 6.1

The next morning, Sabrina woke alone. Checking in on Ford, she found that he was downstairs with Scotty and his children, having breakfast with them, Lily, and Seuréa. She didn't interrupt, since she could feel that his attention was entirely occupied between a story Scotty was telling him and making sure Lily and Annamarie did not feed Bennie, Trixie, and Snowball from the table.

After drinking the cup of cocoa Ford had left for her, she washed up and dressed quickly, eager to eat. On her way down the back stairs to the informal dining room, however, she stopped short, surprised to see a small figure hunched at the foot of the stairs.

"Hello?" Sabrina said uncertainly.

The girl looked up at her. She had Ford's bright blue eyes, a striking contrast to her raven-black hair, and her features reminded Sabrina strongly of Marie at that age. "You must be Shariara," Sabrina said. "Welcome to Bathir. I'm so pleased to finally meet you."

"Thank you. You must be Sabrina," Shariara said, getting to her feet.

Sabrina could see that her eyes were red and a little swollen. "Did your foster family not come with you?"

Shariara shook her head. "They said it would be best for me to get to know my birth family on my own, and they would come to see me after I have settled in. But I miss them. And I didn't know it would be so noisy here."

Sabrina chuckled. "With my brother and his children here, it is very noisy, it's true! Is that why you're sitting here all by yourself? Were you at breakfast until it got too noisy?"

Shariara nodded. "There are so many people here."

Sabrina wondered how the girl would cope with Dansestari, if Bathir seemed too crowded. But then her own experience of Allyria, the pastoral planet of telepaths where Shariara had been raised, told her how alien an environment this must be in comparison. "Would you like to have breakfast with just me? We can eat on the terrace if you like."

"Could we? Thank you." Shariara tried to smile, but her misery was written all over her posture.

"I know what it's like to be uprooted from your home and family," Sabrina said gently, going down the stairs and laying a hand on her shoulder. "It can be overwhelming at first. But you will get used to us, and we will get used to you. I especially hope you and your sister Seuréa can become friends. You're only two years apart, you know."

"I had hoped to spend time with my birth mother," Shariara said as they walked toward the kitchen. "But she had to leave."

"I know. She'll be back soon. In the meantime, we are very happy to have you to ourselves," Sabrina told her.

Shariara stopped, tilting her head a little as she looked at Sabrina. "You are, aren't you? You're not afraid of me."

"Of course I'm not. You're my cousin and sister-in-law. If you'd been able to stay here, I would have been a big part of your life, and you would have been a big part of mine. I'm sorry we've missed all these years together, but now we can make up for lost time."

"Time cannot be lost," Shariara said solemnly.

Sabrina smiled, shaking her head. "I suppose not." They reached the kitchen, and Sabrina nodded to the first person they encountered, an undercook. "Could you serve breakfast for two on the garden terrace, please?"

"Of course, your highness," she replied. "We'll bring everything out to you, if you'd like to wait. Unless you'd care to take a glass of milk with you?"

"Yes, please. For two," Sabrina said, after glancing at Shariara.

Once they had their glasses of milk, they went out the back of the palace to the terrace overlooking the sunken garden and claimed a small table. The sun was not yet high enough to shine directly on them, and the weather was pleasant.