AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Syar smiled. “Come on. Time for dinner.”
She was seated to his left, and Reynaldo was on his right. The platters all contained either fish or fruit. She identified one piece of fish that wasn’t in a spiced sauce, but Syar took the whole thing and set it on his plate. Right. He picked first.
She went for some of the fruit she was familiar with and tried a bit of each of the fish dishes while Syar and Reynaldo discussed local events while they were gone.
When she had satisfied her hunger, she put her hands on her lap. She could eat more, but nothing appealed to her. It must have been the travel. It could have been the new environment. She filled her belly with water and waited. The first days in a new place were always rough. She pretended that this was a new foster home. It was temporary, people didn’t like her, and the food was strange. She had done it before; she could manage it now. There was just one thing. It didn’t seem that Syar needed her here. She felt tricked.
“So, Venetia, what do you think of the residence?” Reynaldo looked at her.
“It’s nice, pretty, lots of people. Surprisingly cool.”
Syar blinked. “That’s all?”
“Um. I don’t know what I am supposed to say. I can find my way back to my room. Should I go?”
Syar smiled. “What did you see on your tour?”
She paused. “Tour? Uh, I found the kitchen by smell, saw the entry hall, and then I sat in the big room and meditated.”
“That’s it?”
“Yes.”
“I thought Grecca said she brought you to the gallery.”
She frowned. “Who is Grecca?”
“Your guide. She says she showed you the residence.”
“I don’t know who she showed around, but it wasn’t me. Myele is the first person to speak to me.”
Syar growled. “What?”
Reynaldo looked at her. “You expected this.”
“I have been the stranger in a populated place several times in my life. It is always the same.”
Syar frowned. “Like where?”
“Foster homes. This is the same. Everyone protects their own position and the position of those they feel deserve to be higher. So, I will be slapped down when I say or do anything regarding you two. They want me far away from you, but you have brought me here, so they are working on figuring out how to reduce the timeline. They will do the minimal to maintain me in order to get me gone as fast as possible.”
Syar frowned. “They aren’t.”
“They are a family dynamic. Everyone has a place. I am outside the normal dynamic. There is no place for me, and they want to keep it that way.” She smiled. “That is just a guess by being in this situation a few times.”
A server came in and filled Reynaldo’s and Syar’s glasses with fruit juice and then came to Ven, and she was out of juice.
The server blushed. “I will go get more.”
“No. It’s fine.”
“No, miss. I insist.”
Syar started getting irritated when she left. “It was probably just because they are used to how much we drink.”
“I am sure that’s it.” She stretched out her hand, and he took it as she calmed him down.
The server came back with a high blush on her cheeks. “Here you are, miss.”
