Heart Journey (12 page)

The next day he’d seen Del with T’Ash, the jeweler and blacksmith, walking in a local park and having a lively discussion. About what? What could she have in common with the tough and brooding T’Ash . . . unless it had something to do with the rehabilitation of the area that used to be the old Downwind slums. He’d overheard T’Ash say “landscape.” Then the man had become aware of him and scowled. Del had laughed and winked at Raz but had diverted T’Ash’s attention. Even more intriguing.

Midweek matinee went well, though not as well as the previous evening performances, and he looked forward to dining with his parents and working on the new model spaceships with his father.

He actually smiled at the thought of seeing his Family. Progress. On all their parts. They’d moved beyond disapproving of each other this last year and he hadn’t realized it. He wondered if anyone had except his crafty mother. She’d gently made the change happen. The rest of them—he, his father, and his younger sister, the Heir—had been too stubborn to make the first move.

His mother had asked for tickets to the play he was in at the time to entertain business associates. Apparently the associates were impressed with Raz’s acting. Their Family reconciled.

An easy action, but beyond his father or sister to take.

His Family ate early, so Raz picked up flower bouquets from a local shop for his mother and sister, then put the box with his broken models under his arm and stepped into the small square area in his mainspace marked off as a teleportation area. His glider wasn’t back from being repaired. Raz was grateful that his Cherry was getting the best treatment and being paid for by the Spindles, but if he’d had it taken to the Family shop, it would have been done by now. He had dreaded breaking the news of Cherry’s harm to his Family, but they had learned it from the newssheets the morning after the attack.

So dinner might be a little touchy, but nothing they hadn’t negotiated through before, and he had the virtuous feeling of being the one to call his father last week.

He thought of home, simply home, and was there on the private teleportation pad of the Residence playroom. The scent was the same—brandied cherries—and the atmosphere wrapped around him like an old and familiar childhood blanket he’d outgrown.

His mother was there, smiling, arms open. He bent down and kissed her cheek. She and his sister were small. He’d gotten his height from his father, who was built on heavier lines.

“Mother, I love you. Here.” He offered her the bouquet of cottage-garden flowers. She refused to cut any of her own, preferring to see the pretty blooms outside her windows.

She squeezed him, stepped back, buried her face in the delicate blooms and lacy greens. “Gorgeous. Thank you.”

His sister strode into the room, dressed in business clothes, moving rapidly as usual. Raz wasn’t the only one who’d gotten a dash of charisma Flair. Seratina exuded Presence.

She was frowning. “Your glider still not fixed?”

She’d refused to call his glider Cherry. He smiled and offered her flowers. “What can I say? The Elders are slower than your shop. But I didn’t pull folk away from work on your transports to repair my vehicle.”

“True,” she said. Taking the mixed colored roses, she went straight to a vase and put the blooms in it, said a Word to keep them fresh until she’d get the proper nutrient-laden water for them. His sister liked things done right and in a proper order.

There came a tiny sniff, followed by a tiny mental voice.
Is this the male littermate?

Raz stared down, openmouthed, as a small white kitten tumbled into the room.

“Yes!” Seratina said and swept up the young cat to cuddle next to her cheek, suddenly looking six years old.

He kissed her cheek again. “Lovely woman, my sis.”

She blinked at him. “Thank you.”

I am pretty, too,
said the kitten and Raz knew it was female.

He studied her. “Very pretty.” He gave her a lopsided smile. “A superior cat for a superior woman.”

A loud purr revved.
I am a Fam. My sire is Zanth. My Dam is Drina, the Blackthorn Fam.
She lifted a pink nose and gave him a little pointy-toothed smile, then curled her tongue in the way cats had of using their additional sense, as if tasting his exhalations, the atmosphere around him.

Raz wanted a Fam. Now. Wanted the companionship. Wanted the caring, the love. No one in the theater had a Fam, not one of his friends. Actors were not high on the list of people to be matched with sentient animals.

The door off the hallway opened and his father’s voice boomed out from his ResidenceDen. “Good doing business with you.” He was respectful and sounded as if he was bowing.

“Here.” Seratina thrust the kitten at him and he took her, settled her along one arm and petted her with his fingers. Yes, he’d love a Fam. He thought of the fox. A fox wasn’t for him, nor was a puppy. A Fam who would amuse with its poses, its pride—a cat.

He lifted the little one to his eye level, saw that her own eyes were a pale yellow shading into a pale green. Her little round stomach was cute. “Beautiful,” he crooned. She shut her eyes, her tiny tongue came out and swiped her whiskers, then she cracked her eyelids and said,
I could have a treat. Just for being Me and beautiful
.

He laughed.

“You want a kitten desperately, don’t you?” asked his sister, plucking the thought from his head as she could often do.

He raised his brows, but before he could say anything, his father strode into the room.

Followed by Del Elecampane.

His mother swept up to him, smiled at him, then Del.

“GrandLady Helena D’Elecampane, my wife, Emilia D’Cherry.”

Del shook his mother’s hand and Raz could tell his mother had given the woman a limp hand. Both appeared a little surprised.

“Del has skinned us on some maps of an additional pass through the Hard Rock Mountains.” Since he was rubbing his hands, Raz didn’t think his father was too upset at Del’s prices.

She chuckled. “I think that I got the worst of that deal, T’Cherry.”

Seratina hurried to the pair, a gleam in her eyes. “We got the maps.”

“Yes,” his father said.

His sister beamed, turned to Del, tried and failed to look solemn. “You really think the pass can be widened for regular airship traffic?”

Del nodded. “With current and upcoming technology, yes.”

“We need to get the right-of-way, better yet, the land,” his sister said.

His father’s hand came down on his sister’s shoulder. “Already did, sweetheart, bought it when you left to greet your brother.” He gestured to Raz. “My son, Cerasus Cherry, the master actor.”

Del smiled at him. “We’ve met. I admire his work.”

Since Raz had wondered whether he’d imagined how strong the spark between them was, he gave his sister her kitten then held out both hands to Del.

She looked surprised but put hers in them. When he closed his fingers over hers, the warmth, the desire was there, zipping between them. He was pleased to see a slight glaze come to her eyes, pink edge her cheeks under the golden tan of her skin.

His mother made a small humming noise. Raz smiled and Del drew her hands away.

His father’s bushy auburn brows lowered. He stared at Raz, at Del, a corner of his mouth quirked. “Stay for dinner.”

Shaking her head, Del said, “No. It’s obviously a Family get-together and I won’t intrude.”

“You’re not—” his father said, but his mother had made a soft exclamation.

“I’m so sorry for your loss, D’Elecampane.”

Del swallowed. “Thank you.” After an exhalation, her expression relaxed and she spoke to his father again. “Excellent doing business with you.”

He nodded. “Anytime.”

Del slipped her hands into a bulging pocket of her trous. “A little something extra.” She handed a round glass ball full of clear fluid with a standing-ring on the bottom to Seratina.

“Wonderful,” Seratina said.

Her kitten opened her eyes, sniffed at the globe.
I know these. These are fun toys.

“Yes,” his sister said.

“What is it?” asked his mother.

“The result of my creative gift,” Del said, looking much more comfortable now that they weren’t talking about whatever loss she’d suffered, something Raz would ask his mother.

Del rocked back on her heels, a half smile on her face. “I call them landscape globes.” She brought another one out and gave it to his mother. Del frowned at the bits and pieces floating around in the liquid. “Though I don’t know that either of you ladies would need them.” She turned her springreen gaze on Raz. “The items inside will arrange and build to show an image of one’s ideal home.” She shared a smile with all of them. “I’m sure it will reveal this lovely Residence.” She met his father’s gaze. “Certainly if I gave one to you, it would.”

His father dipped his head, though his gaze was on the globe in his mother’s hand. “Surely.”

“I’ve heard of these. Each one is different.” Seratina compared her globe to their mother’s. Neither had any of the same contents.

“Of course,” Del said, her fingers twitched as if she wanted to shove her hands in her trous pockets. She wasn’t wearing a gown with sleeve pockets, not the sort of woman who would customarily wear tunics with oversized sleeves.

Raz stared at the globe. He’d heard of these just this week. One of the women in his breakfast club had bought a going-away gift for Trillia, one of these landscape globes, and Raz had contributed to the purchase. He’d heard she’d loved it.

“T’Ash sells them,” his mother said, shaking the thing and watching a tiny fern swirl around.

So that’s what Raz had heard earlier.

Del was smiling; her stance had shifted to easy hip-shot. “Lucky on my part. They’re selling well.”

Raz met his father’s gaze, and he became aware again of the box tucked under his arm. He moved to grasp it with both hands. His chest hurt from the contrast between the broken bits of metal inside that had been perfectly crafted models and the whole, pristine landscape globes his mother and sister held.

His father’s mouth went grim as he met Raz’s eyes, neither of them happy that their work had been violently destroyed.

“Are you sure you won’t stay for dinner?” Raz’s mother said and Del shook her head, started moving.

“No, Family only.” Her eyes were a little sad. “Blessings and be thankful for what you have.” She walked back to the ResidenceDen and left quiet behind her.

“What happened to her?” asked Raz’s father.

“All the Elecampanes except a babe died nine months ago in a fire at Yule,” his mother whispered.

Raz’s stomach tightened.

His father stepped up and put an arm around his shoulders and drew his wife and daughter close. “Family Blessing,” he said, and for the first time other than holidays they prayed together to the Lady and Lord.

The kitten sniffed.
You can all be thankful for Me.

Raz was.

Dinner passed in cheerful conversation and Raz was relieved. Finally, finally he could talk to his Family about the theater and his friends and his craft.

After the meal, Raz walked with his father into his workshop. “Maps from D’Elecampane?”

His father’s grin was wide. “She contacted us first this time, not the Eryngos.” The Eryngos were rivals for the southern transport trade.

With a puffed-out chest and a lifted chin, his father said, “But we’ve edged them out in business over the last year. They’re a little shaky. The Heir didn’t want the job, so old Eryngo is looking for a good husband for his Daughter’sDaughter that might want to take over.”

Heat flushed through Raz. Sounded like his own circumstances. His father had wanted him as the Heir, but his sister was so much better suited. He wondered if another argument was shooting his way.

His father continued to his workbench, turned with an outstretched hand for the box, then his eyes widened as he saw Raz hadn’t kept pace.

“M’apologies,” the older man rumbled, glanced away. “You’re a fine actor, Raz.” He cleared his throat. “And that’s what you should be doing. Your sister is an excellent Heir to my business.” He shook his head that only had a few strands of gray. “Sometimes ancient instincts rise up and bite you on the ass. You being male made me want you as my Heir, when I knew all the time your sister could handle the job, would like the job better.” His lips compressed, he shrugged hefty shoulders, then met Raz’s eyes. “You gonna show me what’s in that box, son?”

Raz lowered his chin in a slow nod. “It’s pretty pitiful.” He took the few steps that had him meeting his father and offered the box.

His father nodded, too, opened the box and winced, sucked a breath in through his teeth. “Nasty.”

Swallowing, Raz said, “Yes.”