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Ra’as held perfectly still, observing.
The intense rain had washed away some of the topsoil, leaving parts of the garden looking a bit like a mud puddle.
Dyrk knelt in front of a tiny plant, his body slightly slumped. The dark forelock of too-long hair covered even more of his face now that it was wet. The boy’s ears were down to the sides, his tail wrapped around himself.
Ra’as felt like he was looking at a physical embodiment of the word sadness.
He stepped closer to comfort the boy and recognized the plant.
It was his mother’s azulaflower.
“Dyrk.”
The child’s name was ripped out of Ra’as, it felt like it was taking his heart along with it.
Dyrk looked up in surprise.
Ra’as ran to him and knelt in the mud beside him, pulling him into his arms for a fierce hug.
“Mimi thought you were in the woods,” he murmured into the boy’s ear. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“I would never run into the woods when it was getting dark, especially in a storm,” Dyrk said incredulously.
“I’m glad,” Ra’as told him.
“I’m sorry I got in a fight at school today,” Dyrk mumbled into his father’s neck. “Don’t be mad at Emilia.”
Ra’as felt a pang of sympathy in his chest for the boy, already so sad and scared, but wanting to protect his nanny.
“Why did you get in a fight?” Ra’as asked softly, inwardly thanking the sun gods for giving him this opportunity to be gentle, and for not making him carry a small, lifeless body out of the trees. His family had dealt with too much loss already.
“It was the gadabout,” Dyrk said after a moment.
“What about it?” Ra’as asked, completely confused. He had given Emilia his very best gadabout to drive the child in.
“One day Emilia drove me to school in that really ugly craft, and then the next day she drove me in yours,” Dyrk admitted. “The boys at school started calling her a trashy Terran gold digger. And I didn’t like it.”
“So, you got in a fight standing up for her?” Ra’as asked, feeling suddenly like a veil had been dropped from his eyes.
“It wasn’t right for them to say that,” Dyrk said. “About her, or about you. I didn’t like it.”
Ra’as thought more carefully about Dyrk’s outburst at dinner.
Emilia was not teaching the boy to indulge in his whims and be a delinquent. Under her care, he was learning to have integrity and stand up for the things he believed in, for his family, and for himself.
“Next time, we’ll find a way to handle a bad situation without resorting to a fight,” Ra’as said carefully. “But I’m proud of you for standing up for yourself.”
“That’s what Emilia says,” Dyrk said, leaning back to look into Ra’as eyes. “She says sometimes we have to stand up for ourselves and the people we love.”
“She’s one hundred percent right,” Ra’as declared.
And she’s out in those woods right now, risking her life to find this boy.
“Dyrk,” Ra’as said, feeling the Kotenka spirit rising inside him, begging to be unleashed. “I need you to go inside and call Grandma and ask her to come over right away. Then make a snack for you and Mimi, okay?”
“Is something wrong?” Dyrk asked.
“I have to go find Emilia,” Ra’as told him, restraining his animal nature. “I will be back with her as soon as I can.”
