Page 93 of Sky Song
“Yeah, it’s me. Paloma’s here with friends,” Ren called back.
“Friends? Oh, do bring them back here. I’d love to meet them.”
Ren hesitated. “She’s not well,” he said very quietly to Lyle. “If you so much as look at her wrong…”
“I would never hurt a woman.” Lyle pushed his body into a standing position. He had to use the wall for support, but otherwise seemed stable.
Ren opened the door for them to enter.
The room was uncluttered and very cozy. Done in shades of off-white, it was furnished with warm wooden furniture and decorated with earthtone accents. There were abundant plants everywhere. A single lamp illuminated one corner in a circle of soft glow.
A chair in the middle of the light circle contained a young woman with a fluffy blanket across her lap. She was the most peculiar woman Cricket had ever seen. With Tana-Tana alien features that appeared softened and blunted, she was thin and pale, so very pale, with long wispy hair and eyebrows the color of moonlight. Ugly and attractive at the same time, she radiated a gentle weak aura that pierced Cricket’s heart. She saw a reflection of her old sick self in that woman.
“Hello, everyone.” The woman smiled, revealing teeth small and spaced-out like Ren’s. “I’m Rosamma, Ren’s sister. His twin sister.”
Lyle closed his eyes briefly. “You poor bastard.”
“Don’t,” Ren admonished. His eyes got hard. “We don’t want your pity.”
Rosamma’s tilted washed-out eyes roamed over Cricket with an open curiosity of a child. “Who are you?”
Cricket came closer. “My name is Emmaline but everyone calls me Cricket. Nice to meet you, Rosamma.”
“Nice to meet you as well.” She primly extended her hand for Cricket to shake, dozens of silver bracelets making a soft jingle. “Are you Paloma’s friend?”
“Yes… We’re neighbors, actually.”
“Oh, how nice! I wish we had girl neighbors. Wouldn’t it have been nice, Ren? For me to have someone to talk to when you’re at work?” Her face showed such intense yearning that Cricket’s eyes got all tingly. She was the saddest thing Cricket had seen since looking in the mirror on her Earth self. A caged bird with numbered days, this Rosamma.
“I’m sorry I haven’t been a better friend.” Paloma came forward looking guilty. “I’ll come by and sit here with you, I promise. Whenever you want me to.”
Rosamma smiled her disarming smile. “You’re welcome to, any time. But I know you’re busy. I understand.” There was no reproach in her voice, and it was almost like she consoled Paloma, not the other way around.
Lyle hung back, leaning against the wall, but his quiet presence did go unnoticed.
“What is your name, handsome defender?” Rosamma addressed him in Universal, surprising yet again. There was no hint of contrived coyness in her calling Lyle handsome, just frankness. She wasn’t afraid to say what she thought, and Cricket found herself to be in awe of this freedom.
Lyle pushed off the wall and came to Rosamma’s chair, still a bit wobbly. He kneeled in front of her, and took her hands into his. “I’m no defender, my lady of the skies. The marks on my neck and scars on my body tell the true story.”
Rosamma gave him another of her sunny smiles in answer. “I see them,” she said lightly. “But I look deeper than your skin.”
“I’m afraid your keen eyesight has betrayed you, lady. There’s no more on the inside than what’s marked onto my skin.”
Ren wedged himself between Lyle and his sister, sorely uncomfortable with their interaction, forcing Lyle to drop Rosamma’s hands.
“Don’t call her that,” he said tersely.
Abruptly, Lyle surged to his feet, a lot more balanced than just a few moments ago. “You don’t get to tell me what I call anyone, half-breed.”
It was sudden, this display of aggression. Cricket’s hands balled at her sides in an anticipation of a confrontation.
“Boys, boys,” Rosamma called softly. “No need to get defensive, Ren. Let him use the honor title if he wishes.”
Still tense, Ren stepped back. “She’s no soothsayer. You shouldn’t ever think that.”
“I don’t,” Lyle grated.
“She’s no soul reader, either.”
