“Aren’t you supposed to know already?”

“This was kind of a last-minute assignment,” Thalias admitted. “I spent all my time making sure I got to the spaceport before the shuttle left.”

“Oh,” the girl said, sounding a little confused. She was probably used to caregivers with more discipline. And competence. “I’m Che’ri.”

“Nice to meet you, Che’ri,” Thalias said, smiling. “What game were you playing?”

“What? Oh.” Che’ri touched her questis. “I wasn’t playing anything. I was drawing.”

“Really,” Thalias said, wincing a little. Che’ri liked to draw, and Thalias barely knew one end of a stylus from the other. No common ground there. “I didn’t know tap-click could be adapted to artwork.”

“It isn’t really art,” Che’ri said, sounding embarrassed. “I just take pieces already in the questis and put them together.”

“Sounds interesting,” Thalias said. “Like a collage. May I see it?”

“No,” Che’ri said, jerking back a little as she grabbed the questis and pressed it close to her chest. “I don’t let anyone look at it.”

“Okay, that’s fine,” Thalias hastened to assure her. “But if you ever change your mind, I’d love to see what you do.”

“Do you like to draw?” Che’ri asked.

“I’m not very good at that sort of thing,” Thalias said. “But I like looking at art.”

“You don’t think drawing is silly?”

“No, of course not,” Thalias assured her. “Having that kind of talent is a good thing.”

“I don’t really draw,” Che’ri said. “I already told you I just put things together.”

“Well, it’s still a talent,” Thalias said doggedly. “And talents are never silly.”

Che’ri lowered her eyes. “My last momish said it was.”

“Your last momish was wrong,” Thalias said.

Che’ri gave out a little snort. “She always thought she was right.”

“Trust me,” Thalias said. “I’ve seen momishes come and go, and I can tell you straight up that one was wrong.”

“Okay.” Che’ri peered at her. “You’re not like the others.”

“The other momishes?” Thalias tried a small smile. “Probably not. How many of them have you had?”

Che’ri lowered her gaze again. “Eight,” she said, her voice barely audible.

Thalias winced at the pain in the girl’s voice. “Wow,” she said gently. “Must have been hard.”

Che’ri snorted again. “How would you know?”

“Because I had four,” Thalias said.

Che’ri looked up, her eyes wide. “You’re a sky-walker?”

“I was,” Thalias said. “And I remember how it hurt each time they took one caregiver away and gave me a new one.”

Che’ri looked down again and hunched her shoulders. “I don’t even know what I did wrong.”