Her forehead was cool as a spring breeze; his kiss upon it was the place where sun-warmed branches reached into the sky. Kaala smiled at the familiar display of affection, reckoning back (a long way back) to their childhood, and less complicated times. Not that she minded complexity. When you are untethered, the picture of flexibility and ease, all the trials of adulthood feel far less daunting.
“I am glad you intend to stay,” she replied airily, squeezing his shoulder. She was glad, though the surprise of his reappearance may have warranted more exuberance. “Shaman has not been the same without you.” If there was a layer of judgment beneath her words, for the children he’d (perhaps unknowingly) left behind, it was impossible to tell. Kaala was not about to call him out for it. Rhea was safe and happy and cared-for, after all – if a parent wanted to shirk their offspring onto relatives while they wandered the universe, who was she to criticize?
Besides, her niece was helpful around the house. And Archie liked her.
Speaking of familiars, her brother’s had emerged all of a sudden, falling to the floor with a skittery “plop!” Kaala laughed lightly, squatted down to scratch the Fennec between the ears. Her diaphanous dress swirled around her, caught in the currents she created when she moved.
“Little Neith, you seem bigger…I’m sure you have nothing to fear on Osi’s wild adventures, a wily fox such as yourself.” She booped the fox on the nose gently, winked, then straightened with her hands on her hips. Her brother led her through a doorway and into his living quarters, which Archimedes noticed were much cleaner and better organized than Kaala’s. He twittered in approval. “Oolong would be lovely. With a touch of honey, if you don’t mind.” She smiled demurely, turned a circle in the middle of the room, taking it all in. The details she absorbed were all trivial to the average person, of course. Once her assessment was completed, she draped herself across a comfortable-looking chair, her knees up over the armrest, feet swinging. “Oh, you know. Healing the sick, tending the wounded, gathering what I need from the monster-infested wilderness, the usual.” Her eyes crinkled with her smile, recounting what was at once an exciting and uneventful existence, while she watched him move in the kitchen. He found the kettle immediately, she noticed – and wondered how anyone managed it. “Your garden is magnificent, brother. Archie is beside himself with jealousy. I cannot manage any cultivation, myself.”
“Understatement of the year,” the hummingbird muttered from his perch in a nearby potted plant. Kaala ignored him, swinging her feet contentedly.
“Are you going to tell me more about these scary, dangerous places you’ve visited, or are you going to leave me in suspense?”
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