Path nudges against Kas occasionally, almost like he's testing over and over to see if it hurts, but he never flinches, so it must not.
And she leans forward and turns her head and touches the side of her face against Path's fluffy feathers, keeping her enormous beak out of the way.
Inside, Isabella says, "I should probably tell my parents, at some point. Did they know I was going to come back? Did they know anything?"
"I don't think Inkeri told her prophecy to anyone but us," says Helen. "Granatee knows about Things now - minting and other worlds and stuff - but Charlie doesn't."
"Oh, and the queen," Helen adds. "Inkeri told the queen her prophecy. But it just said sixty-six years after you vanished, and nobody knew what day that was."
"But she'll know approximately, I suppose." Isabella sighs. "Why does Ranata know if Charlie doesn't - she see something?"
"Neither of us really knew them before you were gone," says Kas. "I don't know what might've changed."
She kisses Kas, briefly, lightly, and away she pops.
Pathalan, however, stays where he is.
Petaal goes out to where Path and Kalavar are snuggling and flops down next to them as a tiger, nuzzling one of Kalavar's folded wings.
After a silence, in which neither other daemon comes up with a conversation topic, Path says, "There will probably be a Bellparty in a couple of weeks."