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“No, not at all, Father.”
It was as if Sarah wasn’t even there. Kael didn’t spare her a glance.
Kael nodded ever so slightly at his daughter before heading swiftly down the stairs.
Suki wasted no time in showing Sarah around, just like her father. “This will be your room. The bathroom is attached.” She gestured toward a giant bedroom. Sarah noticed her bags were already on the oversized bed.
The layout was similar to the downstairs. Dark, gothic, and haunting … a place that had once clearly been loved that was now in decline. Not that it wasn’t clean. It was spotless. But the walls were bare, the decoration plain.
The only difference between the two floors was the library which stood between Sarah and Suki’s rooms. It was beautiful. Sarah wanted to linger, but Suki ushered her out before she could even trail her finger along the spines of any of the love-worn books.
Once all of the rooms were shown, Suki paused near Sarah’s door. “I’ll let you put some things away, and then we can go downstairs to finish business with Father.”
Suki moved to leave Sarah in the doorway, but Sarah stopped her with a light hand on her shoulder. She wanted to see if she could get her to open up even a little bit with her while the Captain wasn’t around.
Sarah was curious if the aloofness was a front for her strict military father or just Suki’s own nature. Sarah knew how it was to act more put together than you really were at that age. Especially to help out others.
“Wait, uh, I would like to visit a little bit with you, if that's all right?”
There was no emotion to tell Sarah what Suki thought of the request. The young Drakonian girl’s face was unreadable. After a moment, the nine-year-old came back over and stood at attention by the door.
“Please, come in. I just want to get to know you a little better since we’re going to be spending some time together,” Sarah insisted.
Suki seemed suspicious but entered further, taking a seat at the large vanity. She seemed so much older than nine. There was no childlike humor or curiosity of any kind. Sarah tried not to seem more awkward than she already felt since her encounter with Kael.
“So, you’re nine, right?” Sarah asked finally, sitting across from Suki on the edge of the bed.
“Yes.”
Silence.
“Are you in school?”
“Yes.”
More silence.
Sarah realized that if she didn’t ask questions with real depth, she may never get a full sentence from the distrustful child.
“So, Suki. How do you feel about having a nanny?”
Suki didn’t answer right away. She looked like she was trying to think of a calculated answer. After a moment, she spoke. “Feel?”
“Oh, do you have a different word for that here?”
“I don’t understand what that means.”
Sarah was at a loss for how to explain that. “It’s, well, it’s … it’s when you have an emotion like sadness, happiness, or anger about something. That’s called a feeling.”
“Oh, I see. We don’t really consider feelings, especially when doing something deemed necessary.”
“Okay … well, I understand it may be necessary, but I would like to know how you feel about having a nanny all the same.”
“I feel like it’ll be good.”
Sarah smiled encouragingly, willing more words from the hesitant girl. She was determined to hold out until Suki spoke.
“It will be nice to have another female in the house. Someone to look over my work and help Father with things.”
