flexibility

[calescent]

They leave Thiyec, cross Soche-Tas, and re-enter Welce.

Kiri sends a letter Jayce's way as soon as they stop in a Welchin town. It's brief - we found the Lalindar prime, we'll drop him off and my next stop is the palace so please forward my correspondence there.

The Lalindar house, on inspection, appears to be completely empty. There's a note from the butler on the dining room table stating - in appropriately formal language - that no one was paying them and so they have left, but he, the cook, the gardeners, and the maids may be contacted at the following addresses respectively if the new prime, when located, wishes to re-employ their services. Unlike the Ardelay house at the time of Elytte's death, this house as of Nerine's death contains no extended family. There's nothing to do but for Loel to move in. Kiri draws him a little map of the route between the estate and the nearest town, where he will probably want to buy groceries, and she and Aleko leave to let him plan his moat.

They're at the palace the following day.

Comments

[calendarofcrime]

"It's very informative."

[liakoura]

"Yeah, sounds it. And without Kiri's little ethics problem."

[calendarofcrime]

"Yes."

[calescent]

"It's not that little," murmurs Kiri, sidestepping a pedestrian with practiced resignation.

[calendarofcrime]

"Yes, I assumed the qualifier was decorative."

[liakoura]

"That thing, yeah."

[calescent]

"I go back and forth on whether I think it worked the same way for Great-Aunt Elytte."

[calendarofcrime]

"I... suspect that not all powers are the same from prime to prime," says Sarelle. "But I have very little information about that particular case."

[calescent]

"She didn't advertise it, if it did work the same for her."

[calendarofcrime]

"It is possible to imagine why she might not have."

[calescent]

"Yes, but not very flatteringly."

[calendarofcrime]

[calescent]

"The primes who coexisted with her suspected she could detect lies. She was apparently obvious enough about that, at least with them."

[calendarofcrime]

"Perhaps that is all she could do."

[calescent]

"It's possible. Especially since as far as they could tell she didn't have a range limit on that, so she must have worked somewhat differently."

[calendarofcrime]

It seems Sarelle is one of those people who, when she has nothing to say, says nothing.

[calescent]

Okay then. They can walk in silence, Aleko helping Kiri ward off random Malinquans.

[calendarofcrime]

Some time later, after several carefully planned turns, Sarelle pauses as they come to a cross street.

"Hm," she says. "Hunti."

And she faces into the light breeze and keeps walking.

[calescent]

"Do the native Malinquans just not turn up as anything at all?" wonders Kiri.

[calendarofcrime]

"They turn up as souls," she says, a little distractedly. "Just not, for the most part, elemental ones. I might compare it to the difference between a cup of tea and a cup of warm water that has had some tea leaves dipped in it."

[calescent]

"Huh. When Soechins and Thiyecines stumbled into my range I tended to find them harder to read," she volunteers. "Haven't had any informative accidents with Malinquans yet, but it's convenient in its way, since they won't understand me if I tell them to back off - at least not why; they might get the picture that I'm antisocial."

[calendarofcrime]

"Interesting," Sarelle murmurs. "Books... we are pursuing a scholar, I believe, or a librarian. Something of that nature. Only one. The other has not been here in some time. At least a week, but I suspect longer."

[calescent]

"Ooh, a librarian."

[calendarofcrime]

She goes quiet again.

And then, after a few more minutes of following this new trail, she nods indicatively—

[pyrophyte]

—at a young man of about their age or a little older, emerging from a building across the street and some distance ahead, who is quite possibly even more blatantly sweela than Sarelle herself is blatantly hunti.