swiftness

[calescent]

Sarelle and the Ardelay twins go to their inn. They are greeted there the following day by Ekador apparently-Serlast, who says he'll be another two days settling up his affairs and then they can all go to Welce.

Ekador packs quite lightly for someone who's leaving the country on short notice and otherwise bears negligible personality resemblance to Loel. The carriage isn't particularly crowded as they make their way back to the port to find a boat leading back to Welce.

"There are three stops to make," Kiri tells him as they drive. "Although we'll land close to Chialto, I don't think that should be the first place we go. You'll have a much smoother go of taking over as uncontested prime if you can demonstrate at least minor magical power on demand - I don't think fielding questions of your legitimacy is anyone's idea of a good time and it would be better to have more than Sarelle's word to lean on. It doesn't help that anyone but her will mistake you for sweela. The Serlast estate is a couple of days by carriage from Chialto, there's a forest on the property, it's supposed to be special to the Serlasts, and going and having a walk around it might give you an idea of how to perform some minor visible magic."

"Might not. Loel figured out how to do magic without jumping into the Marisi River," shrugs Aleko.

"It might not. But it's worth a try if you don't have an epiphany before we get there," says Kiri. "Anyway, some of your cousins are living at the Serlast estate - off the top of my head, one of Valdin's children, his younger sister, and one of his grandsons, but I don't know how you're related to the family so I don't know who they are to you. You can kick them out if you want, but I recommend getting to know them and soliciting their help with the family business, and you have plenty of room to continue to board them. The Chialto house of the Serlasts was empty last I heard, but I'd be willing to bet you can re-hire Valdin's old servants if you want them, and you're entitled to maintain your own suite at the palace, too. You can divide your time between these places more or less however you please, although if you neglect the palace then the royal family may start issuing pointed invitations, and you might want to become acquainted with Prince Isten in particular, as he is heir to the throne and it's his succession you're necessary to ratify later."

"Isten's eleven," Aleko adds. "Coru, quiet."

"Questions?" Kiri inquires. "Do you want me to write any of that down, possibly in chart format?"

Comments

[liakoura]

"I will have to find some even subtler method of teasing her than not saying anything, this is going to be a hard one."

[pyrophyte]

"You tend to make a particular face," he says. "And then she tells you to shut up, which is also a clue."

[liakoura]

"I'll tell her that - wait, maybe it will be awkward if I tell her that you noticed this, considering."

[pyrophyte]

"Quite likely."

[liakoura]

"You don't like her, do you, you probably would've said by now if you did because that would be way less awkward."

[pyrophyte]

"I hardly know her."

[liakoura]

"Are you one of those people who has to know a whole lot about somebody before you can like them? I have killed entire afternoons thinking about random girls I encounter who seem like they might be nice and have the correct number of all their facial features."

[pyrophyte]

"I... don't have many previous examples to draw on."

[liakoura]

"Huh. Anyway, like I said, I'm not sure if I'm right because she says it's none of my business and she has a legit history of saying this when it turned out she actually didn't have a crush on whoever I was teasing her about, and also Kiri is my sister and I have special teasing-her-about-things-privileges so - continue not being a jerk to her about it."

[pyrophyte]

"Happily."

[liakoura]

"Good. I hate it when people are jerks to her about things."

[pyrophyte]

"Reasonable."

[liakoura]

"That's me, reasonable and also interested in not having Kiri in a bad mood since I am around her pretty much all of the time."

[pyrophyte]

"Which," he says, "is also reasonable."

[liakoura]

[pyrophyte]

[liakoura]

"If you do decide you like her I can pass messages, I am under the impression that some people find that kind of thing useful for... some reason."

[pyrophyte]

"I don't expect to need any such thing," he says, "but thank you anyway."

[liakoura]

"You're welcome."

Pause.

"She reads my mind like all the time, and it is not huge mental discipline meaning I think only of the things I want to think that lets me put up with it, she's gonna know about this conversation."

[pyrophyte]

"I expected as much."

[liakoura]

"Mini Pocket Kiri s- have you had Miniature Pocket Kiri explained to you, I can't remember, I know we explained it to Sarelle."

[pyrophyte]

"Do tell."

[liakoura]

"Some people have consciences and where those usually go I have a Miniature Pocket Kiri, who is imaginary and is basically my-ability-to-predict-what-Kiri-would-say, so I can consult her on things besides conscience things."

[pyrophyte]

"And she has some comment on this situation?"

[liakoura]

"Yeah, she says you might as well specify now if you want Kiri to apologize to you for - something; I know Kiri would be inclined to apologize for something but don't really know what. Disadvantage of the minature pocket version. Possibly she'd apologize for my behavior or for any possibility of the whole thing having made you uncomfortable or something?"