“Father sent me to help you.”
Her mother straightened up, putting her hands on her back. “Were you pestering him again?”
“No.”
“Come stack the plates, please, Mayna.”
“Yes, mother.”
Mayna took the plates her mother had finished with and stacked them on the shelves. At seven she was already taller than most of the other girls her age that she knew; a product of her mixed heritage.
“You know you should call him Master Sol Rus.” Her mother went back to cleaning, dunking a dish in the water and scrubbing it.
“But there’s no one else here.”
“Better to be in the habit.”
“The other children know already.” Mayna finished stacking the clean dishes and stood by the sink waiting.
“It’s not them, but your father’s people we must keep it from.”
“Are you ashamed of me?”
Her mother stopped and looked at Mayna. “No. But you know it would be trouble for you father if it got around. Especially if his son found out.”
“I don’t see why it matters to him.”
“You’re still too young to really know. Kay Rus doesn’t like our kind much. And he wouldn’t be happy about finding he had a half sister.”
Dispatches from Obscurity 