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Quinnahunti ends, Quinnatorz elapses, the twins have their ninth birthday on the thirteenth of Quinnasweela, and Kiri has eventually seen bits of everything she will need to take or delegate charge of - the palace, key portions of Chialto, the Ardelay estate, and the various family business concerns (the national network of libraries being the primary thing, but the Ardelay family has been a major investor in museums as well, and Kiri has inherited partial concerns in things ranging from bakeries to stationery stores; eventually she will have to take a more active role in managing the finances, but they should be self-managing for the time being unless too many key people die.)
In Quinncoru, Kiri - with Aleko in tow this time in addition to Renny - makes a visit to the palace, and, since the king seems willing to ignore her and she doesn't really want his attention, and since there is not a full complement of primes around, has nothing much to do with herself but make a beeline for the prince. (Aleko goes exploring by himself.)
calescent
calescent
Kiri eventually departs, locates the Frothen prime who is currently in the palace too, and gets instructions on how to issue the invitation. She writes up the letter with all its flimsy rationales and formal flourishes, puts the Ardelay seal on it, and presents it to the king's right-hand man.
(She's not even sure if the king has bothered to learn what the Ardelay prime looks like, or, alternatively, why there is a nine-year-old girl in his palace sometimes, and she doesn't particularly want to draw unnecessary attention; and Alser said it didn't have to go directly to the king.)
The letter invites - in suitably curlicued language - both princes to the Ardelay estate for an indefinite visit, whether Kiri happens to be in residence there or not at any given time; they may come and go as they please and be welcome. There's a similar letter on its way to the house to notify relevant cousins who have been living there, and the head of the household staff, about this standing invitation, so they'll know to have rooms ready for the princes and the nursemaid and to let them in even if Kiri isn't there to give instructions.
She's not sure whether to expect a verbal reply from the king over dinner, or a letter brought to her room and given to her or Aleko or Renny, or for the king to ignore what Alser describes as protocol and to neglect to respond to her or her people at all, but she won't particularly mind if she hears an answer one way or the other from the prince.
(She's not even sure if the king has bothered to learn what the Ardelay prime looks like, or, alternatively, why there is a nine-year-old girl in his palace sometimes, and she doesn't particularly want to draw unnecessary attention; and Alser said it didn't have to go directly to the king.)
The letter invites - in suitably curlicued language - both princes to the Ardelay estate for an indefinite visit, whether Kiri happens to be in residence there or not at any given time; they may come and go as they please and be welcome. There's a similar letter on its way to the house to notify relevant cousins who have been living there, and the head of the household staff, about this standing invitation, so they'll know to have rooms ready for the princes and the nursemaid and to let them in even if Kiri isn't there to give instructions.
She's not sure whether to expect a verbal reply from the king over dinner, or a letter brought to her room and given to her or Aleko or Renny, or for the king to ignore what Alser describes as protocol and to neglect to respond to her or her people at all, but she won't particularly mind if she hears an answer one way or the other from the prince.
The return letter is delivered to her rooms two days later, but it's not from the king. It is from, of all people, Queen Risella.
It expresses the princes' grateful acceptance of her invitation, and informs her that they will be visiting as soon as Prince Hector has recovered from his unfortunate illness.
It expresses the princes' grateful acceptance of her invitation, and informs her that they will be visiting as soon as Prince Hector has recovered from his unfortunate illness.
calescent
Illness. Right.
Okay, a queen's permission should work as well as anyone else's. Kiri brings the letter to the elder prince's room.
Okay, a queen's permission should work as well as anyone else's. Kiri brings the letter to the elder prince's room.
"Hi, Kiri!" he says. He's still in his room, but he has progressed from lying in bed to sitting in a comfy chair and reading.
calescent
"Hi!" She considers sitting on the arm of his chair, decides that this is hazardous, and instead hands him the letter and leans on the chair instead.
"Ooh. Hah," he says, examining it. "Not that she talked to me about it. She just wants to get rid of us. Works out just fine, though."
calescent
"Yeah, it doesn't make a lot of practical difference why she's sending you as long as it'll stick."
"Mm."
It makes some amount of difference to the prince's life that Queen Risella is the sort of person who accepts invitations on his behalf without consulting him—but not a lot of difference, because there aren't that many occasions when she can actually exert influence over his life, and even fewer where she cares to. And in this particular case, she's doing him a favour by it. No doubt the king was much more receptive to whatever she said about it than he would have been to the letter alone.
It makes some amount of difference to the prince's life that Queen Risella is the sort of person who accepts invitations on his behalf without consulting him—but not a lot of difference, because there aren't that many occasions when she can actually exert influence over his life, and even fewer where she cares to. And in this particular case, she's doing him a favour by it. No doubt the king was much more receptive to whatever she said about it than he would have been to the letter alone.
He laughs. "Yeah," he says, and leans over to hug her, just because she is there and he feels like it.
"Great." Hug! "I like you. You're nice. And huggable."
'Nice' here stands in for something much more complicated, or at least much - bigger. But he isn't thinking about the details; he knows what he means. It's that thing that she is.
'Nice' here stands in for something much more complicated, or at least much - bigger. But he isn't thinking about the details; he knows what he means. It's that thing that she is.
"Mm? It's not complicated," he says. Although now that he thinks about it, he supposes it sort of is. It's just that it all hangs together in a way that makes perfect sense for him, so he doesn't really have to pay attention to the complicatedness.
(Leaving aside the fact that 'nice' can mean a lot of things, and a lot of words can mean this thing, if they're the word that he says when he means it—)
The thing that he meant when he said that goes something like this: she is good to have around, someone he doesn't mind talking to, someone who doesn't want to hurt him, someone who sometimes does helpful things. Someone he likes and cares about, who gives him happy feelings.
(Leaving aside the fact that 'nice' can mean a lot of things, and a lot of words can mean this thing, if they're the word that he says when he means it—)
The thing that he meant when he said that goes something like this: she is good to have around, someone he doesn't mind talking to, someone who doesn't want to hurt him, someone who sometimes does helpful things. Someone he likes and cares about, who gives him happy feelings.
calescent
"Are you going to have to bring your tutors, do you suppose? The house has the loveliest library of course, but I don't know if you'd be obliged to take them along anyway."
"I hope not," he snorts. He looks forward to seeing the library, but he'd rather do it without anyone pestering him to learn things from it.
calescent
"It's a really nice library. I'm glad we're the family with all the libraries, I'd be so bored if I had to run a million acres of farms like Alser."
calescent
"I guess! And he seems to like it all right, and I suppose he has people for it, the way I don't have to personally run any libraries unless I feel like it."