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At last Ari sat the girl down, a broad smile on his face.
“Jalli, it’s good to see you!”
“It’s good to see you too.” She grinned up at him. “I thought I heard your voice! But what are you doing back?”
Ari’s face grew serious.
“Father summoned me.”
“He did?” She frowned, looking confused. “But isn’t it still in the middle of the school year back in the human world? Why would he call for you now?”
“Because…” Ari reached for me. Taking my hand, he brought me forward to meet the new girl. “May I present, my L’lorna, Kaitlyn.”
“Your L’lorna? Goddess above, Ari—you found your L’lorna?” Her dark eyes grew wide and the girl looked at me with something like awe.
Ari nodded. “Dios, Jalli—don’t act so shocked. Kaitlyn,” he said, turning to me, “This is my little sister, Jalissa.”
His little sister? I breathed an inward sigh of relief and smiled a bit awkwardly at the girl as I held out my hand.
“It’s nice to meet you.”
She looked at my hand uncertainly as though she wasn’t sure what to do with it.
“It’s all right,” Ari told her. “It’s a human gesture called ‘shaking hands.’ You put out your hand and clasp the hand of the other person and the two of you shake your hands up and down a few times together.”
“Oh, okay.” His little sister shrugged and reached for me. When she started to touch me though, Mr. Seahorse—who had gone back behind my hair—flew out again, chiming angrily at her.
“Goddess above!” Jalli gasped again. She jumped back—or tried to—but something made her stumble and she started to fall. She would have hit the marble floor pretty hard but Ari was there to catch her—just as he always caught me. Lifting her lightly, he set her back on her feet.
“Be more careful, Jalli! It’s only a chimeling.”
“Only a chimeling?” she exclaimed, staring at Mr. Seahorse who was still chiming warningly. “Ari, you know how rare they are! Some people don’t even believe they exist at all!”
“Well, they do exist and this one has adopted my Kaitlyn,” Ari said, smiling proudly. “He’s just a little protective of her, that’s all.”
“Hey now, Mr. Seahorse,” I chided my little pet as I got him to perch on my finger. “It’s all right. You don’t have to get all defensive every time someone tries to touch me. This is Ari’s little sister—she’s all right.”
“He’s beautiful!” Jalli breathed, staring with awe-struck eyes at the delicate little creature sitting on my finger.
“Thanks,” I said, smiling. “He is pretty adorable.”
“Where did you get him at?” she wanted to know, still staring. It was as though I had brought home a unicorn, I thought, or some other mythical, magical creature that beggared belief. In a land where dragons were real, that was something.
“I saved him from a spider as big as my head,” I told her. “He got tangled up in its web and I couldn’t stand by and watch the little guy get eaten.”
“Well of course not! Chimelings are so rare!” Jalli exclaimed. “And such good luck—it’s wonderful that you brought one into the palace. All the old abuelas are going to say what a blessing it is. Que lindo! Buena suerte!” she added, in a croaky old lady voice that made us all laugh while Mr. Seahorse chimed indignantly.
Clearly Jalli had a sense of humor and, as yet, she hadn’t said a thing about how unfit I was to be with her brother. That made her a keeper in my book.
“Does he do any tricks?” she wanted to know, once we stopped laughing at Mr. Seahorse who was preening his golden wings with great care and doing his best to look dignified.
“He can breathe fire,” I said, doubtful if that counted or not in a land where half the population could say the same thing. “Um…if you have any insects around, he likes to roast them before he eats them.”
“We don’t have any in the palace but I know where we can find some!” Jalli exclaimed. “Come on—let’s go to the Scented Gardens!” She beckoned to me and started off with an odd, limping gait but Ari shook his head.
“Jalli, no! Father sent us to get cleaned up before I introduce Kaitlyn to Mother,” he exclaimed. “We don’t have time for Kaitlyn’s chimeling to roast bugs for you—the servants were about to bring us to the cleansing pools.”
“Oh, I can bring you there,” Jalli said quickly, doing an about-face and hobbling back to me. I wondered if she had twisted her ankle somehow. If so, she didn’t seem to show any pain. “Please let me,” she begged. “We don’t need any servants—I’ll take you to my private bathing chamber so you don’t have to be naked in front of everyone else at court,” she added.
Well, this decided me pretty quickly. Even if I hadn’t been scarred all over from The Fire, I most certainly would not have wanted to be naked in front of a bunch of strangers.
