"How did you do it without the letters, anyway?"

W I T H P E O P L E W H O A R E V E R Y M U S I C A L (pause) C O M M U N I C A T I N G T H R O U G H M U S I C C O M E S M O R E N A T U R A L L Y

"Even if I could distinguish every pitch and chord you can emit, I'm pretty sure I'd have a hard time getting anything detailed or complex without assigning some sort of code."

I T I S P O S S I B L E (pause) B U T R A R E

"I am failing to even conceptualize it. I can guess as far as - emotions and numbers and you managed a fairly recognizable laugh earlier - and beyond that I'm just going back to 'play snatches of music with lyrics to refer to the words'. I'm not saying it's impossible, mind, I'm saying it'd be fascinating."

I D O N O T T H I N K I C O U L D E X P L A I N I T (pause) T O A N Y O N E W H O C O U L D N O T D O I T

"Fair enough."

She doesn't say anything. Oh, look, she's almost to her spot!

"Almost there," says Aya encouragingly. "I imagine he can be trusted not to treat you like he does his furni- look," she interrupts herself, turning to the "him" in question, "Berete calls you 'Hal'; is that actually okay with you or did she pick it for reasons of her own and you haven't corrected her?"

"...more the second one," he says. "I don't like my name. I don't like any parts of my name. I don't mind it that much, either, but... I don't like it."

"I can drop right back into 'my lord' without a bit of slip-up if we're ever talking in front of one of your parents or a visitor or something, but I don't think Piper will tell anybody if you pick a name you like more, now that there are multiple people around and it would be especially handy to refer to you by a name. Will you, Piper?"

I W I L L N O T

Aya laughs. "I'm less surprised than I could be. All right."

Piper giggles.

"Speaking of Piper telling people things," says Aya, "do you want to be introduced to anyone else? Berete comes to mind; I'm sure she'd be interested to know about the singing ghost."

I W O U L D N O T M I N D

"Do you want to tell her or should I?" Aya asks Aelare.

"I don't care much either way. You can if you want, or I will the next time I catch her alone, whenever that is."

Piper, now in her spot, finally finishes settling onto the floor. (It took her some time to turn so that her keys faced in the most visible direction, too.)

"Comfy?" Aya asks Piper. "...Do you even get to be comfy or uncomfy anymore?"

N O T T H E W A Y Y O U W O U L D U N D E R S T A N D T H E T E R M

"I imagine after a few thousand years one gets used to being a pipe tower, but it must have been a huge adjustment at first, what was it like?"

I T W A S A S I G N I F I C A N T I M P R O V E M E N T O V E R D R O W N I N G