She glanced at Ruler Kreed, who gave her a tiny shrug as if to say he hadn’t instigated this.
Her eyes traced the green, where Pia and her new friend played under Jax’s watchful eye.
She loved them all. Was it really so bad to stay? Was her pride worth so much?
“Miss Hall?” the mayor said.
“I am truly honored,” Yasmine said, looking back to the mayor with a smile. “I accept.”
There was a nice round of applause and the woman standing beside her gave her a friendly little elbow bump.
The mayor finished her speech, talking about her hopes that the miners would retrain for skilled jobs in the new labs during construction of the hospital. She already had some concrete ideas for the committee to talk about as well as plans to have open meetings for the public to share input.
Yasmine tried and failed to give the speech her full attention.
She was going to have a role, however small, in the transformation of a town. And the work of the hospital could save so many lives.
A sense of balance settled into her heart.
She would never feel right about what had happened to the boy with the bomb. The nightmares would probably keep coming.
But right now, today, she felt her sense of worth return to her. She was capable of helping good things happen. She was giving a whole group of people a new lease on life. And that meant something.
A wave of applause for the mayor told her the speech had ended.
She waved to the kids, who ran over to join her, with Calipha in tow.
Together, they moved to the side of the stage, Thomm and Astyr allowed her past the barricade.
Ruler Kreed jogged down to meet them, his azure eyes sparkling in the sunlight.
“You’re going to stay,” he said to Yasmine, a light of hope in his dark voice.
She nodded.
“Thank you,” he said, stepping closer. “I will never take you for granted.”
For a moment, she had the thought that he was about to sweep her up in his strong arms.
“This is Calipha,” Pia said, pointing at her friend.
“It’s very nice to meet you, Calipha,” Kreed replied.
“We’re playing tag, okay?” Pia said, looking eager to run back out to the green.
“I’m sorry, but it’s time to go,” the Ruler said.
“No,” Pia whined.
“Your brother has a game tonight,” Kreed said.
“Dad, can I talk to you about that?” Jax asked suddenly. “Alone?”
Jax had brainstormed with Yasmine about how he was going to tell his dad he wasn’t interested in playing zingball anymore. But she had thought it would be a while longer before he got up the nerve.
“Sure, son,” Kreed said.
“Come on, girls,” Yasmine said, let’s go back to the green for one last round of tag.”