Healing the Broken: A Kindred Christmas Tale Read online

  Sophie’s pretty green eyes softened a little.

  “I’ll take the clothes and make sure they get to the constant care house. But why don’t you give Tsandor the toys yourself?”

  “Oh…well, if you think that would be all right,” Sarah faltered.

  “Of course it will be all right. Look, he’s right over here, painting a Christmas tree with the others.”

  She took the bag from Sarah and gestured to a little boy with curly, golden blond hair who was bent studiously over a surprisingly good painting of a Christmas tree.

  Feeling awkward, Sarah tucked the toys she’d bought under one arm and approached the little boy. He was taller than the rest and looked nothing at all like Commander Sazar in coloring, although his finely molded features were very like his father’s.

  What gorgeous blond hair—he must take after his mother, Sarah thought. She watched quietly for a moment as he worked with fierce concentration, the tip of his tongue poking out from the corner of his mouth. She couldn’t help noticing all the other children were painting green Christmas trees but Tsandor’s was a defiant teal color with purple and yellow ornaments.

  “Hello, Tsandor,” she began in a soft, low voice.

  “Hi.” He dabbed a final blob of purple paint on his turquoise Christmas tree and then turned his face up to hers. His beautiful crystal blue eyes widened as he took her in.

  Sarah thought he must be afraid because she was a stranger.

  “Hi Tsandor,” she said again. “Your father sent me. I’m Sarah and—”

  “Sarah! Sarah!” To her surprise, he dropped his paintbrush and rushed into her arms, grabbing her around the waist and pressing his face eagerly to her midsection.

  “Oh!” gasped Sarah. He was quite big for his age—no doubt he got his size from his father—and he nearly bowled her over.

  “I was waiting for you to come!” He looked up at her with shining eyes. “Shad said it wouldn’t be long. He said the Goddess told him so—she talks to him sometimes. Isn’t that nice?”

  “I…I guess…yes, it certainly is,” Sarah said, uncertain what else to say. “But…how do you know me?”

  “Shad told me all about you,” he said impatiently. “He said you’d be coming to be with me and my daddy now that my mommy is with the Goddess.”

  Sarah looked helplessly at Kat and Sophie who were watching with wide eyes.

  “Shad…told you?” she asked.

  “Shad is my little boy,” Kat said, nodding at a child with white-blond hair and big dark eyes. He was watching as Tsandor hugged her with a strangely knowing expression on his young face. “He…knows things sometimes.”

  “The prophesy,” Sarah heard Sophie whisper to Kat. “Remember what Dani told us the Goddess told her in the Sacred Grove?”

  “How could I forget?” Kat murmured back.

  Sarah wanted to ask what they were talking about but she still had an armful of eager four-almost-five-year-old and found she couldn’t easily extricate herself. Not that she wanted too—the excited, hopeful expression on Tsandor’s sweet face tugged at her heart. She’d always liked children and there was something about this little boy that seemed to call to her.

  “Hey,” she said and gently hugged him back. “I’m really glad to meet you, Tsandor.”

  “I’m so glad you’re finally here.” He nuzzled against her, leaving a smear of paint on her new suit jacket but Sarah found she didn’t even care. “I dreamed about you, you know. I’ve been waiting for so long to meet you.”

  “Well…I’ve been waiting to meet you too,” Sarah said, smiling at him. “I brought you some new clothes—and some toys. Would you like to see them?”

  “Sure!” He eased his grip on her and Sarah was able to crouch down beside him, to get on his level.

  “Well, let’s see,” she said, pulling out the first toy. “How do you like this? It’s a model of the Mother Ship—I thought it was really neat when I saw it.”

  “Cool!” Tsandor’s eyes shone as he carefully took the tiny scale model from her. It was the size of a Matchbox car—about as long as his hand. “Look, you can see the docking bay and everything,” he exclaimed, pointing at the toy. “Thanks!”

  “You’re welcome—thank you for your good manners,” Sarah said, smiling. “I do have one more thing but, well, I’m not sure if you’ll like it or not.”

  “What is it?” He slipped the scale model of the Mother Ship carefully into his front pocket. “Can I see?”

  “It’s this.” Sarah pulled out a small stuffed elephant and showed it to him. “I had a stuffed animal like this when I was little—I called him Mr. Nosey.”

  Tsandor started at the stuffed animal in obvious confusion.

  “What is it?”

  “It’s an elephant,” Sarah said, rather surprised. “Haven’t you ever seen an elephant? Maybe at the zoo or in a video?”

  Tsandor shook his blond curls.

  “Uh-uh. Is it an Earth animal? My daddy and I came from Tranq Prime—we didn’t have any ef… efulumps there.”

  “Elephants,” Sarah corrected gently. “This one is small but the real ones are huge. Bigger than your daddy.”

  His crystal blue eyes widened.

  “Wow—really? Is it as big as a vranna?”

  It was Sarah’s turn to frown in confusion.

  “What’s a vranna?”

  “Um…it’s kinda hard to explain.” His face brightened. “I made one out of clay the other day—it should be dry by now. Wanna see?”

  “Well, sure.” Bemused, Sarah allowed him to take her hand and lead her into a small structure where the art supplies were stored. There was a shelf which he could reach by standing on tiptoes which contained several “sculptures” made of Play-Doh.

  Carefully, Tsandor brought his down—a turquoise and purple collection of lumps which looked a little like an animal. At least, it had a body, a head, and four long appendages.

  “See?” he said proudly. “I made it for my daddy. Do you want to bring it to him?”

  “I’ll be happy to.” Sarah took the lumpy sculpture from him carefully. “This is great—I’m sure he’ll love it.”

  “I wish I could give it to him myself, though.” Tsandor’s big eyes were suddenly wistful. “Are you going to take me away with you now?” he asked hopefully. “So I can live with you and daddy?”

  “Well…I’m afraid I’m not here to take you away,” Sarah said as gently as she could. And added, “Not yet, anyway,” because she couldn’t stand to see the broken hope on his little face. “First your daddy and I have to go on a, uh, top secret mission to another planet. Okay?”

  He sighed. “Okay. But you’ll be back soon, right? And then we’ll all live together?”

  “Um, well…maybe so,” Sarah said cautiously. She still had no idea how long the diplomatic mission to Alquon Ultrea would last and she didn’t want to give the little boy false hope.

  False hope? exclaimed a little voice in her head sarcastically. What do you think you’re doing by letting him think he’s going to live with you and Commander Sazar? As if the three of you would be some kind of a family?

  The idea was laughable. The big, handsome Kindred commander would never want anything to do with dowdy, plus-sized Sarah. He might be willing to take her as an assistant and drink her blood every so often (once a week, as specified by the contract, she reminded herself,) but that didn’t mean he would ever want any kind of romantic attachment with her.

  She tried to push away the shiver she felt at the idea of romance with her new boss.

  Your boss, that’s all he is, she reminded herself. And that’s the way it’s going to stay, no matter what strange ideas Tsandor has somehow cooked up in that funny little head of his.

  “So tell me more about vrannas,” she said, trying to change the subject.

  “Okay.” The tousled blond head nodded. “If you’ll tell me more about efulumps.”

  Sarah wound up staying at the day care center for hours—talkin