Page 58 of Dark Destiny: The Turning Of The Loom

Tomek burst through the doorway like something shot from a sling. He was wearing a T-shirt that she had relegated to the pile of messy play because it had two big stains that wouldn't come out, and a pair of pants from the same pile. He had no shoes on, and both of his feet were wrapped in white bandages that were no longer all that white.

"Mama!"

He hit the side of the bed and tried to climb on it, one little bandaged foot scrabbling at the rail. Sullha's arms moved before her brain caught up. The tube in her hand tugged, the wire under her gown pulled, and the beeping machine let out a squawk.

"Careful." Yaaf hoisted Tomek up. "Mama is all tied up, little man. Look. Tubes and wires. You'll pull something loose."

Tomek stopped struggling and frowned at the tube taped to her hand. "Does it hurt?"

"No, sweetheart."

"It's just water going in," Yaaf said. "So your mama won't be thirsty."

She was thirsty anyway, but what she wanted to know was why Tomek's feet were bandaged.

"What happened to your feet?"

"He ran to get me," Yaaf said. "He didn't stop to put shoes on."

She looked back at her son's small feet, bandaged and dangling in the air, and had to press her lips together to keep a sob from escaping.

Instead, she swallowed.

"I had to get Yaaf." Tomek shrugged, as if that were enough of an explanation. "It only hurt a little. Bardov cleaned my feet and put on the bandages. He said I was a good soldier."

"You are," Yaaf said. "Coming to get me was the right thing to do, and you didn't hesitate even for a second before running out."

Tomek's feet were still dangling in front of her. "I want to hug you," he said.

"I want to hug you too."

Yaaf solved it by shifting his grip on Tomek and tilting his body, head down and feet up, so her son could kiss her.

Tomek put his hands on her cheeks and kissed her forehead with a loud smack. She kissed him back, on his forehead, his nose, and the flattened hair above his ear, breathing in his scent, chocolate milk and soap.

"Your lips are dry." He rubbed his fingers over her lips.

"I know. I'm very thirsty."

"All right," Julian said from the doorway. "I'm glad to see you're awake, Sullha." He shifted his gaze to Yaaf. "One at a time, remember?"

"The boy wanted to see his mother as soon as she woke up."

"Sullha can't have too many at once."

"He's not many," Tomek said from midair. "He's one."

"He's a big one." Julian smiled at him. "And he's holding another one. Both of you need to step out so Gertrude and I can check that everything is going the way it should."

Yaaf hesitated, indecision in his eyes, then lifted Tomek and held him like a little monkey, one hand under his bottom and the other propping his little chest.

"We'll be out in the waiting room." He carried Tomek out.

The nurse came in. "Hello, Sullha. Welcome back."

"Hi."

"You're doing great, Sullha," Julian said. "Not everyone makes it through the first stretch this fast and this cleanly. Part of it is your youth, and the other is being close to the source. We will find out how close during the ceremony."