vision

[calescent]

Kiri's up early the next morning, restless with various low-level simmering concerns, and wanders out of her room.

Comments

[salt_of_the]

"See you!"

And she sets the table.

[free_flowing]

Loel arrives in the sitting room.

"I kind of accidentally got fancy," he says. "Food's in the dining room. Or it will be when we get there. I hope you all like trout."

[calescent]

"Mmm, trout."

[liakoura]

"Do you just keep half a dozen people's worth of trout around, or did you literally go catch a bunch of fish just now?"

[free_flowing]

"I went and caught a bunch of fish," he says. "Patience wanted to see."

[liakoura]

"Do you... float up blobs of water that have fish in them, or something?"

[free_flowing]

"Nah. I kill 'em in the water with a creepy coru trick and then scoop 'em out with a little net," he says cheerfully.

[calescent]

"If I were going to go fishing for my lunch I'd probably cook them before I even took them out of the river," snorts Kiri.

[free_flowing]

"Mm, but you would have a harder time finding out where they were to do it in the first place," he says, grinning and going over to give her a hug.

[calescent]

"Yeah, fish aren't very warm." Hug!

[free_flowing]

Snughug!

(An idle recollection of a similar but crucially different hug with Patience crosses his mind. Mm, hugs. Loel is so fond of hugs. They're so... hugs.)

[calescent]

Kiri giggles, just a little, then calms herself.

[free_flowing]

Loel giggles, too, more or less as a result of pure giggle contagion.

Okay. To the dining room!

[liakoura]

"Whoa, that is a spread."

[free_flowing]

"I'm proud," says Loel, proudly.

[salt_of_the]

"C'mon, sit down, it's not just for looking at, I'm starving."

[free_flowing]

It is indeed not just for looking at! It is also for eating. Tasty, tasty eating.