15. Sullha #3
Leehy had said almost nothing since the plane, her eyes tracking everything like she expected a trap to spring at any time.
Sullha covered her mother's hand with her own and wished she had more strength to lend her, some surplus of steadiness, but she was running on borrowed courage herself, and both of them knew it.
"It's all good," she said quietly. "No harm will come to us here."
Leehy didn't answer, but her hand turned over under Sullha's and gripped it.
Tamira had begun to explain that houses had been prepared for them, complete with plenty of clothing and food.
"The best part is phones," Tamira said, holding up a rectangle that was the size of her palm. "Each of you will get one so you can speak with each other, or with anyone else in the village. If you need anything, at any hour, you press a name and speak."
Did Tamira know that some of the women couldn't read?
"There are pictures next to each name because we figured most of you didn't know how to read English and there was no time to program the phones with the old tongue. So, when you want to call someone, all you have to do is touch their picture, and the call will be placed."
Sullha let out a relieved breath.
Would it have Yaaf's picture as well?
She doubted it, but when Bowen came to visit her, she would ask him about that and whether the Eight had been given phones as well.
It would be wonderful to be able to speak with him.
"I don't understand how it works," Karina said. "I don't think I will be able to use it."
"When we first arrived, we didn't know how to use phones either," Raviki said.
"It took a few days, and now we don't know how we ever lived without them.
You'll have an entire world at your fingertips, but you will have to learn English first." She looked at Sullha. "Perhaps you can teach your friends?"
"I'm not the only one who can speak it. Saphira and Asira can help."
"That's wonderful."
When the brunch wound down and Syssi and Kian had departed, they were left in the care of the former harem ladies.
Then a woman arrived at the café in a click of heels, blond and curvy and so well dressed that Sullha reflexively touched her own borrowed shirt.
Everything about the female was perfect, from her shoes to her hair and makeup.
"Welcome," the woman said in English. "I'm Ingrid, and I'm in charge of housing in the village as well as interior design for the clan's properties. I am the one who gets to show you your new homes."
Tamira translated, saving Sullha the trouble, and Ingrid waited for her to finish and for the excited murmurs to calm down.
"Ready, ladies?"
Were they ever.
Ingrid led the procession through the village until she stopped in front of one of the houses.
"This one goes to Baruha and Asira," Tamira said.
"Just the two of us?" Asira asked. "In this big house?"
"Yes." Tamira threaded her arm through Asira's. "I'll show you the amenities."
Sullha followed Ingrid as if in a daze.
This was a dream, and she was going to wake up any moment now in her small room in the long house and laugh at the silly, impossible dream she'd dreamt.
"Sullha, Tomek, and Leehy," Ingrid read from her tablet. "This one is yours. It has three bedrooms."
Sullha translated.
"I'll show you around," Raviki said.
Sullha followed her in and stood in the entry with Tomek's hand in hers and Leehy leaning against her other side.
"So, this is the living room." Raviki motioned for them to follow her.
"And this is the kitchen, fully stocked.
" She opened the refrigerator to show them it was full of food, then a closet that was also full of items, most of which Sullha didn't recognize.
"Let's see the bedrooms." Raviki exited the kitchen and continued down the hallway.
Sullha followed her in a daze.
Three bedrooms for three people. A room for her, a room for her mother, and a room for her son.
In the enclosure, she and Tomek had shared a room smaller than the closet Raviki was showing them, with a narrow bed they'd slept in together, and it had been precious to her because it was theirs.
"And this," Raviki said, pushing open the last door with a conspiratorial smile on her gorgeous face, "is Tomek's room."
Tomek walked in and stopped.
The shelves were stocked with books and toys, including building blocks, stuffed animals, and a bin of small cars. Under the window, a low table held a stack of paper and a cup of colored pencils.
Tomek stood in the center of it, turning in a slow circle with his hands slightly raised.
"Whose is it?" he asked even though he had heard Raviki say it was his room.
"It's yours," Sullha said.
"Just for me?"
"Yes."
He looked at the shelves, then at her, and then back at the shelves, paralyzed by the abundance. "Am I dreaming, Mama?"
She laughed. "It feels like a dream, but it's real. All of it is real."
"Welcome to your new life," Raviki said softly.
Sullha stood in the doorway of her son's room, in her loose borrowed clothes and her ridiculous flip-flops, in a house that was hers, in a village too pretty to be real, in a room full of toys, and she cataloged all of it as tears streamed down her cheeks, so she could share it with Yaaf.