She stands on the back lawn, just behind Andy. The garden is in the last bloom of summer and fills the air with local and exotic flowers from other places her mother has worked, including some of the more distant planets with Minshara class designations with similar conditions as Earth. But for as beautifully scented and coloured it is, no single aspect is left to its wild nature. Down to the smallest leaf it has been carefully manicured to within a centimetre of its life. Every blade of grass carefully measured by an army of gardeners. It contrasts the flag stone courtyard with its fountain, the white outer walls of the sprawling single floor manor that over looks the bay. The land has been in the Admiral's family for generations. So have most of the things on it. Everything is pristine and perfect, right down to the three people waiting for their new guest.
There's no fence or force-field around the cliff's perimeter, he'll need to be warned about that. It wouldn't do at all if he were to fall or be swept out to sea.
Her mother and the Admiral have been talking quietly about it for months, and only seemingly consulted her brother and her when they'd already made their decision. From that quiet moment at the dinner table to her mother's overseeing of setting up the guest room, to the few hours before now, Andy's practically floated on an cloud of enthusiasm. A young boy about Beth's age give or take. A new sibling to shelter under wing, one he doesn't feel he needs to be over protective one. Does he like sports? Does he read graphic novels and old stories? Does he like to tinker with ancient technologies? An army of questions and possibilities have filled Andy's thoughts. Her mother of course reminds her children to be sensitive. The boy lost his parents, she tells them, and might not wish to speak of that, nor of the years he has spent more or less on his own. Be sensitive to the fact that his culture and life are vastly different than their own, and do try to make him feel welcome. The Admiral himself says very little, except to point out gruffly, and perhaps intentionally pointedly, that the boy has test scores like none he's seen before. That his intellect is a rare treasure and they could all surely appreciate how special he is because of. That in some ways he reminds your old man of myself, and of course, you Andrew.
She says nothing, everyone knows she's smarter than her sibling, more artistic, and in some ways, more cultured.
The boy is still better.
She wonders if he hates it. She wonders if he takes pride in being a golden child.
She wonders, too, if he knows how to swim.
"Heads up, make yourselves presentable, there is the shuttle." Her mother's voice breaks into her thoughts and Beth finds herself standing at her full if unimpressive height. Hands smooth down her skirt, tucks dark hair back into the braids it had been wrestled into. Andy stands at parade rest, hands tucked behind his back, and her mother is a vision in black and gold, slender as a reed and a little taller than her only daughter though her heels make up a few extra inches. Even into her fifties, her mother is one of the most beautiful women in the world, regal and maternal at once. Beth might have felt better if she'd been permitted to merely watch this all from the window of her room.
The shuttle lands on the pad as smooth as glass.
As soon as the hatch opens and the boy comes into view, her mother steps forward with a radiant smile parting her lips. "Welcome, Mr Chekov. Chuvstvuyte sebya kak doma."