Page 38 of Thalen

Several moments later, the shuttle touched down, and the door opened. I spotted Vrann immediately and started forward, as did Thalen. Jason beat us to him.

“Are you Vrann? I’m Jason!”

The young Dragonii nodded, and Jason took him by the hand. “I’ve always wanted my own brother. Some of the kids in the home had brothers and sisters, but I didn’t. But now I do! Do you like space ships? I told our dads you probably did, and we got a couple space ship pictures for your room and a toy shuttle and flitter. I’ve got a toy flitter too!”

Vrann eyed us nervously, his small form a lovely shade of baby blue, with slightly darker scales. His eyes were a deep blue as well, as were his horn buds, which were barely visible against his shock of pale blond hair.

Thalen knelt down. “Hi, Vrann. I was really sorry to hear about your parents, but we hope you’ll feel a real part of our own family.”

“I’m adopted too,” Jason told him. “I lived in a home for kids with no parents before that, back on Earth. And now I have two new dads, and they are the best in the whole universe, and they’re yours now too.” He pointed at Thalen. “That’s Pata,” his finger moved towards me, and that’s Dad.”

“I don’t remember my parents,” Vrann told Jason. “I was just born.”

“So, you never really had a mom or dad you knew,” Jason said. “Me neither. I was too little when I became a foster kid.”

“I have stories about your father I can tell you,” Thalen said.

“Okay.”

Jason led him towards where our flitter awaited. “Wait ‘til you see our farm! We’ve got two dogs and a bunch of cats; only three live inside though.”

Vrann stopped, looking over his shoulder to wave at the man who’d brought him.

“Thank you,” I called out, and he chuckled. “You bet! It was a pleasure!” he called back as another human male came out with three children and a golden retriever in tow.

“Looks like the older two are around our boys’ ages,” I observed.

“Living the next farm over, I’m sure we’ll be seeing them often,” Thalen commented.

“I better keep lots of snacks on hand.”

“There’s always the replicator.”

“True.”

“And if you throw the frisbee, Duke will jump a little bit into the air and catch it, but he’s awful about bringing it back!” Jason was saying as we continued out. He laughed. “And Benny, he’s a lot littler, and he tries to jump too, but Duke’s so big he gets it first. So I give him an extra treat because he tries so hard.”

We reached our flitter and Thalen and I went to help the boys on. Vrann hugged my waist for a moment before letting me help him up.

“Aww, did you see that?” I asked Thalen softly. “He hugged me.”

“Look, I’ll show you on my tablet. Pata got you one too; it’s in your room waiting for you.”

Childish giggles erupted from the back as I settled into my seat.

“We should replicate another frisbee,” Vrann suggested to Jason.

“Yeah! Let’s do that when we get home.”

“I don’t think he’s going to have much of a problem settling in,” Thalen said softly as he started the flitter.

I chuckled. “Jason won’t let him have a chance to have a problem, I think. They’ve made fast friends already.”

“They were meant to be brothers. His grandmother will be happy to hear this.”

“While they play frisbee, we can give her a call, then he can speak to her while I make supper.”

He nodded in agreement, turning us towards home.