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She was halfway through the main course when Riithan came in. He was at her side with his head pressed to hers in three steps.
The thrumming in his chest was loud. “We missed you.”
She snorted. “You are interfering with my dinner.”
“It’s your breakfast. Do you always eat with your hands?”
“When no one is looking. Folks get upset.”
“Upset?”
“Families in the capitol and Aksalla don’t eat like this, as you know. My parents were teaching me to eat with only one hand when we were in the accident.”
He frowned. “That isn’t in your file.”
“My file?” She took a small piece of bread and used it to pick up a mouthful of stew.
“Yes, your file. Watching you eat, I think there is one more government I should have consulted.”
She swallowed. “Which one?”
“Mine.”
She blinked. “Wha?”
“What was your father’s name?”
She frowned. “It isn’t going to do you any good.”
“Why?”
“He was Graha.”
Riithan grinned. “That is an excellent place to start. Back in a few minutes.”
He left her, and she finished her meal.
* * * *
Riithan waited for the comparison scans with Sethir-Nin human staff that had gone missing between thirty and twenty-five years earlier. His father was watching over his shoulder as a result appeared on the screen.
A man and a woman in royal household uniforms were holding an infant, who clutched a bright necklace from around her mother’s neck.
“Reeva and Gelor Va-Cal. Their daughter was named Eylara. They went on a vacation with their daughter and never came home. News of the fatalities was filed, and there was no mention of the child. She was ours, and she was lost.” He stared at the picture of the three-year-old Ylara holding a desert kitten like it was a baby. She was adorable.
His father grunted. “She was too young for a com. Not good with family identifiers and in a strange country. Were there any relatives among our people?”
“No. Reeva and Gelor were the last of their families.” He tried to find more relatives and paused. “Our government looked for the parents and didn’t seek the child. Wait, no. They did, but the name didn’t come up.”
His mother stated, “Because she was a little girl and didn’t know how to spell her own name. You couldn’t spell yours until you were six.”
The Aksallan portal just showed that the Va-Cal family had entered the port for vacation. No details. It had been twenty-four years, and details were sketchy.
He exhaled. “Well, that explains something. She was born at the stronghold.”
His father sighed. “And we have her genetic history in our archives.”
Riithan looked at the necklace in the infant image and looked for mention of it. It had been returned with the bodies but was now stored as personal effects. He sent a requisition for it.
