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YASMINE
Yasmine watched the staff take the dishes away after their dinner.
Ba’sh’s plate was untouched, and she wondered if he would get to eat anything at all tonight. The look on his face as he stomped away told her that something was very wrong.
The children had been hushed for the rest of the meal.
It put her fear of unexpected comms in perspective. Interrupting comms for her could mean a personal tragedy.
But for Pia and Jax’s father, comm interruptions might mean a world-level emergency.
Though of course she understood that he couldn’t necessarily let them know what was going on, she wished the pall hadn’t fallen over their meal. His stress was the children’s stress, whether he meant for it to be or not.
“I have an idea,” she said to them conspiratorially. “Do you guys want to have our dessert outside?”
Jax shrugged, still probably mourning the loss of his hologram game. She had been hoping that keeping him otherwise occupied might reduce the sting.
“Okay,” Pia said.
“I was hoping we could eat some ice cream and then explore the gardens a little,” Yasmine said. “I’ve never seen anything like this place. It’s so beautiful.”
“Daddy paid for it,” Pia said suddenly.
“What?” Yasmine asked.
“She means our dad paid for the construction of the palace,” Jax put in. “He doesn’t like the idea of Ulfgard having to pay for our fancy new house.”
That was interesting.
“Why not?” she asked.
Jax shrugged.
“Not everyone has what we have,” Pia said, as if by rote. “It’s not fair to expect Ulfgard to pay.”
“People here don’t trust us,” Jax said. “They were super mad when Dad said he wanted to live out here.”
“But they elected him,” Yasmine heard herself say. “They must love him.”
She was pretty sure this was a conversation she shouldn’t be having with the kids, but it was impossible not to get engaged in it. Maybe it would help her solve a little bit of the mystery that was Ba’shir Kreed.
“May we offer you some dessert?” one of the kitchen staff asked, bowing low to the children.
“We would love to have some ice cream,” Yasmine said. “But we’d like to take it outside to eat. Can you help us with that?”
The man blinked in surprise but recovered quickly.
“Of course,” he said. “I’ll have someone bring out frozen confectionary bars, if that suits?”
“It does,” she agreed.
Pia began wiggling with delight in the seat next to hers and Yasmine smiled down at her.
The staff member swiped and tapped his bracelet. A minute later, another worker scurried out with a cell of frozen treats.
This really was a life Yasmine could never have imagined back home.
The kids each chose one, and Yasmine took the remaining treat. They were all on wooden sticks and hers was pink and shaped like a feather-berry. Pia had chosen chocolate and Jax picked a pale milk-caramel.
