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I arrange the triplets as best I can, so everyone feels like they’re being held. The lavender girl’s head is practically in my armpit, but that’ll have to do for now.
“There we are.” I use the sleeve of my shirt to clean the tears and snot off my new friends’ faces. Turns out, Kiphian kids have as many boogers as human ones. That shouldn’t be oddly comforting, but it is.
“Now, can you tell me your names?” I ask, hoping they can. I’d guess they’re just under two years old, but the Kiphians are bigger than humans, so they could be younger.
All three regard me with big eyes.
“I’ll go first,” I say. I introduced myself once, but they probably didn’t hear it over their crying. “My name is Liara. What’s yours?”
“Lee-ra,” repeats the pale green child, her voice sudden and startlingly clear.
“Li-a-ra,” I say again, more slowly. “How about your name?”
“Velli.” The little girl wiggles on my knee. “My name Velli.”
“Velli! What a beautiful name!” I’m thrilled, already excited to not have to think of them as the ‘green one’ or the ‘blue one’ anymore. “Hello, Velli!”
“Parik,” proclaims the boy. “Parik.” He pokes himself in the chest, and I smother a laugh.
“Well, hello to you too, Parik.” I smile at him. “Another wonderful name!”
“I am Reena,” announces the third child, tucked under my arm. I’m startled by her complete sentence, in comparison to the other two. Is this a personality thing, or are Kiphian children a lot more complicated than I realized?
“Nice to meet you, Reena. You have a very pretty name, too.” I squeeze all three of them. “I’m so happy to learn all of your names!”
The triplets nestle into me, their small bodies soft and warm. Almost against my will, I’m utterly charmed. They settled down remarkably fast and are clearly hungry for affection.
I wonder silently what happened to their parents. Kravath said they were the children of his late brother, but nothing more than that. Did he even know their names?
I let out a soft sigh. I trust that someone else will take care of my students back in the human quarter. For now, I have to do my best for these little people. It’s not their fault they were stuck with King Kravath the Brutish and Rude.
A voice in my head says he might be a brute, but there’s something else about him... Something compelling. I try to ignore it, but I can’t shake that first image of him, sitting on the throne.
Magnetic. Intriguing.
Trouble.
