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Kiri stays away for weeks, and then she's back, and then she goes to the Ardelay house to learn her way around it and make (thoroughly advised) decisions about staff maintenance, and then she's back, and then she leaves again to be at the Chialto house, but this time Ko is allowed to go with her.
(At a safe distance.)
It's a long boring ride, or it would be boring, but Kiri has learned to make harmless fire-shapes in the air and entertains him with swirls and streamers of it crackling alongside the carriage until she decides to take a nap.
He's not going to be able to sleep in this carriage, it bumps too much, but he can scoot over and sort of nudge part of her onto his lap while she mumbles words.
(And then lurch away from her once she stops partway through "interior decoration".)
She smiles a sad smile at him like she always does when she wakes up and finds him halfway across the room. Or in this case, the carriage.
"You're not even huggy," he observes, on this occasion. "Not like Jayce is anyway." (Jayce is a very huggy little boy.)
She shrugs. "If I didn't have a family and it was just me, and distant Ardelay relatives I barely know, and stuff, then that would be fine probably. We just used to be next to each other all the time and now we can't. I don't need hugging, I just want my brothers."
Ko thinks about this, but doesn't get much of anywhere. Kiri's the smart one, all sweela, always thinking and writing. He isn't going to come up with a solution if she can't, probably.
"I could just try it again," he says.
"You didn't like it last time," she says.
"Yeah, but, you weren't mean about it or anything."
"Why would I be mean because you had to go to the bathroom?"
"I dunno." He fidgets, and looks out the window.
She makes a fire-dart that follows the path of his eyes.
They arrive in Chialto, and wait for the arrival of the prince.
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liakoura
calescent
"Way differently," agrees Kiri. "I don't want to surprise myself like that at all."
"I like it. I feel like it's part of what makes me me and not somebody else."
kindestgarden
Renny comes down the stairs, having squared the luggage away. "Are you three ready to go?"
liakoura
"We just sort of triangle around Kiri and make sure nobody gets close to her, right?"
"Okay!" the prince says cheerfully. He is imagining her bubble again.
calescent
And out they go. Kiri dodges and weaves as necessary within her triangle to conscientiously not get within five feet of anyone they pass in the street.
While they're walking, the prince spots a little shop with a window display of five lovely necklaces made of glass shapes linked by thin chains - white and yellow elay surrounded by dreamy swirls, blue and purple coru surrounded by ripples and waves, black and brown hunti surrounded by woodgrain streaks, red and orange sweela surrounded by stylized flames, green and green torz surrounded by stones and vines.
His first thought is of himself, as a girl, wearing one of those necklaces. They're so pretty.
What he actually says out loud is, "Ooh, look at those! I wanna get the coru one for my mom. And Kiri, you could get the sweela one to wear when you're tired of red dresses."
His first thought is of himself, as a girl, wearing one of those necklaces. They're so pretty.
What he actually says out loud is, "Ooh, look at those! I wanna get the coru one for my mom. And Kiri, you could get the sweela one to wear when you're tired of red dresses."
calescent
"I like them," she says. "Are the rules about wearing the same jewelry different from wearing the same clothes?"
"Yeah! You can wear the same jewelry as much as you want, almost, just if you always wear the same one thing all the time everywhere people are gonna think it means something special to you and some of 'em will think you're - I dunno, something not nice." (He knows what that particular kind of contempt looks like, but not what it actually represents in the minds of the people who feel it.)
calescent
"So I should get maybe a couple things to cover for being obviously sweela when I'm in other colors but this can be one of them. It's pretty."
"It is! They're all pretty."
liakoura
Aleko is paying very careful attention both to Kiri's assessment of aesthetics and to the prince's description of the rules.
kindestgarden
Renny buys the sweela necklace for Kiri.
"If we get a lot of clothes today we can have them delivered to the house, but this is small, so you can just wear it now," she says, and she puts it over her daughter's head.
"If we get a lot of clothes today we can have them delivered to the house, but this is small, so you can just wear it now," she says, and she puts it over her daughter's head.
"It looks really nice on you!" says the prince. He imagines himself wearing the coru necklace again. And then he buys it, for his mother, who he's sure will like it as much as he does.
calescent
Kiri has a little purse which is big enough to hold a little blank book.
She scribbles a line of cipher in it, then puts it away.
On they go.
She scribbles a line of cipher in it, then puts it away.
On they go.
On they go! To clothes.
The prince is really good at clothes.
He picks out things that would be good for Kiri to wear and explains what occasions they would suit the best and pays attention to her aesthetic preferences and explains his opinions to Aleko whenever he has more of an explanation than 'I dunno, it just is'.
The prince is really good at clothes.
He picks out things that would be good for Kiri to wear and explains what occasions they would suit the best and pays attention to her aesthetic preferences and explains his opinions to Aleko whenever he has more of an explanation than 'I dunno, it just is'.
calescent
By the end of the trip there are enough yards of miscellaneous fabric slated for delivery to the Chialto Ardelay house that Kiri should be all set until she's grown two inches and can't wear any of it. "Good, that's over with. Thank you for helping."
"You're welcome!" he says cheerfully. "It was fun!"
liakoura
"I don't think I can do a whole shopping trip by myself yet but maybe in a while," says Aleko.
"I can do another one later if you need!" says the prince.
(If he hasn't run away by then, say the prince's thoughts.)
(If he hasn't run away by then, say the prince's thoughts.)
calescent
"I shouldn't need anything else until I've gotten taller, maybe in a year," says Kiri. "Unless I spend a lot more time in Chialto attending engagements and functions and such than I expect to."
liakoura
"Don't. I hate school when you're not there, it's harder. And boring."
(The prince giggles.)