How Lovely Are Thy Branches: A Young Wizards Christmas Read Online Free Page A

him…”
    Possibly realizing this, Carmela merely made a little disappointed moaning sound and went quiet.
    “Anyway, there’s plenty of time to think about this,” Kit’s pop said. “It’s not even Thanksgiving yet.”
    “But some of the guests need time to get their schedules sorted because they’ll be coming such a long way. Ireland! Germany!”
    “16 Aurigae,” Nita added helpfully.
    The newspaper rustled again, and this time the right-hand page twitched aside just enough for Nita to catch a glimpse of Kit’s pop’s eyes looking toward her over the tops of his reading glasses. “Sixteen what?”
    “Aurigae. It’s a star about two hundred and thirty light years from here,” Nita said. “An orange giant.”
    “About two hundred and thirty?” Kit’s pop said.
    “Give or take,” Nita said. “That’s where Filif comes from.”
    “So this is one of the three who stayed in your basement in their little holes in the wall,” said Kit’s mama as she appeared through the door on the far side of the living room that led to the back bedrooms.
    “Elective access gated spaces,” Kit said. “Puptents, we call them. They don’t take up any space in our space: just somewhere else. It’s like taking your home with you, a little.”
    His mama leaned on the passthrough’s shelf. “And the one we’re discussing, 16 Aurigae Guy—? This is the one who looks like a Christmas tree?”
    Nita raised her eyebrows at Kit. His mother had always seemed to have the superpower of being able to hear—or overhear—any conversation that took place under the Rodriguezes’ roof, no matter how far away she was in the house. Sometimes it was really useful, and sometimes it was a pain in the butt, but Nita had learned to deal with it.
    “He’s a Demisiv,” Nita said. “That’s both the planet and the species. They’re carbon-based like us, but they evolved… really differently.”
    “To wind up looking like they do, I’d imagine so.”
    Nita shrugged. “They’re related to trees the same way we’re related to the tetrapods.” She noticed Kit’s pop giving her a slightly confused look from behind the paper, and added, “You know, one of those fish species that got out of the water a long time ago, developed legs out of their fins and started walking around. There’ve been a lot of branches in the evolutionary tree between them and us. Same number of branches, pretty much, between Filif and his species’ ancestors.”
    “A lot of water under the bridge for his people, then,” Kit’s pop said.
    “Five hundred million years,” Kit said, “give or take.”
    “Huh,” said Kit’s pop: a neutral sort of sound. He went back behind the paper again, turned another page.
    Kit’s mama came into the kitchen and stood still in front of the stove for a few seconds, giving the cooktop a long thoughtful look. “Spaghetti and meatballs?” she said.
    “Sounds good, Mama.”
    “Then don’t overdo the sandwiches, you two.” Kit’s mama got down on one knee and started going through the cupboard under the counter: Kit and Nita moved to either side to get out of her way. “So what else does Mr. Christmas Tree Wizard do besides get all excited over the thought of being decorated?”
    “He’s been working with the authorities at the Crossings as a go-between for the Interconnect Project,” Nita said. “The Demisiv have been a big part of the Project for a long time. It’s a group of species who specialize in long-distance intergalactic transit: keeping it running, helping people get around. They also do emergency work… help move populations who have to find new worlds to live on, because their stars have blown up or they’ve had planetary natural disasters or whatever.”
    “So… kind of a humanitarian organization?”
    That wasn’t a comparison Nita had thought to make. “Yeah,” she said.
    “For a whole lot of values of ‘human,’” Kit added.
    Kit’s mama didn’t say anything for a moment, just