The Way Back (Champions of the Crystal Book 4)

Chapter 14.4

"Wouldn't Mara listen to you?" Sabrina asked, surprised.

"It didn't ever get to her. I suppose I should have insisted. This time, I will."

"If it'll help at all," Sabrina offered hesitantly, "I'll speak up on your side. I think you're right, from what I've seen."

"Thank you. I do think you might get a less biased hearing than I will," Ford said, giving her a rueful, lopsided grin. They looked at each other for a moment, recognizing the slow rebuilding of their alliance, until Tristan let out a yowl of annoyance and nipped Sabrina's thumb. She let him go, and he jumped down on the floor and started furiously washing his hind leg.

"He even bites you!" Ford said in amazement. "Why do you keep that thing around? It's vicious!"

"His manners aren't what they should be," she admitted. "He was spoiled by his first owner. But he never bites me in anger. It's just another form of communication. He hardly ever breaks the skin, unless he gets carried away, playing. And," she added, with a smile of realization, "he doesn't like men. His first owner gave him to me because he kept trying to drive off her boyfriend. He's very possessive, I'm afraid."

"Shards of the Crystal!" Ford said. "Are you telling me you kept this cat around to intimidate your dates?"

"I didn't date," Sabrina said, very quietly. "I was coming back to Tassan. I thought."

Ford bit his lip, chagrined. "I'm sorry." He reached out his hand. "I heard, yesterday. I, ah, I didn't know how you'd take my plundering your apartment on Earth, but...well, I knew you didn't want to see me, and I didn't think you'd told anyone else about that, and...I was just trying to think of something to do to make you feel better."

She put her hand in his, her vision suddenly blurring with tears. "Thank you. It was what I needed. And...I did want to see you. You're the closest thing to a friend I've got here. I was bitterly sorry for driving you off. And you were right, after all. I can't imagine what it would have been like to go through that with a stranger in my mind." She thought of that dark, terrible scene, confronting Malvarak, and how Ford's presence had made it bearable. She pictured a stranger in his place, and shuddered.

His hand squeezed hers gently. "You were right, too. I did take it for granted that I had a right to choose for you, since you couldn't. I shouldn't have."

Sabrina sighed. "I've thought about that too. I talked to Éllina about this—she has such wonderful good sense. She asked me if I would have resented it so much if it had been Tirqwin. I wouldn't have. He's sort of a father figure to me. And he did ask you to look after me. I suppose it was really just you being his stand-in. Éllina asked me what I thought Tirqwin would say about my reactions, and I have to admit, he'd give me the lecture of my life if I said he didn't have the right to do whatever it took to help me, even if that meant sending someone else to do it for him. I'm not explaining this very clearly," she sighed again. "But...I had forgotten some things, you know? Éllina knows all the stories that Haaron knew, about when we were all living aboard Khediva. She knew that Tirqwin always thought of me and Scotty as his responsibility, even though we were sworn to serve Mara and Praxatillus. And you represent not only Tirqwin, but Mara. So, though I never gave it to you, you do have a sort of hereditary right to interfere in my life, I suppose. Within reason."

"Within reason," he said, sounding a little amused. "Well, it's not a right I'll ever choose to exercise again, short of dire circumstances, Cousin! I've thought about it too. I acted as if you were one of my little sisters. It didn't occur to me that you have never been a little sister. You've always been the older one, the caretaker. Naturally you resented my usurping your role."