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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.)
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calescent
calescent
(Kiri giggles.) She finds a book, takes it off the shelf, peers at it, puts it back. Eventually she finds another one that looks more promising. She writes the section on a slip of carbon paper, tucks it into the book, and puts the other in the gap left by the book. "There."
"Ooh, lemme see," says the prince.
calescent
"Well, let's go sit down," laughs Kiri. "There's a little place with couches and tables, over this way -" And she leads him through the stacks to a nook that is exactly as described.
Couches! He sits on one. And holds out his hands for the book.
The prince starts reading. (It's the obvious way to share; of the two of them, Kiri likes writing things down more than he does and can read his mind.)
calescent
It works pretty well, although she does peer over his shoulder for more stable looks at the characters while she's getting the alphabet down.
That is sensible!
It's interesting. He did not expect to like foreign languages quite as much as he turns out to.
It's interesting. He did not expect to like foreign languages quite as much as he turns out to.
calescent
"It's going to be hard to learn the accent this way I guess," says Kiri.
"Yeah, we'd have to find somebody who speaks it. But we can do that later."
Or not, as the case may be. (Whenever he thinks about long-term plans these days, there is an awareness in the back of his mind that he might not be around to complete them. For whatever reason.)
Or not, as the case may be. (Whenever he thinks about long-term plans these days, there is an awareness in the back of his mind that he might not be around to complete them. For whatever reason.)
calescent
Kiri frowns, for a little bit, then shakes it off.
"Yeah. Maybe if I switch over to tutors I'll get one in Soechin."
"Yeah. Maybe if I switch over to tutors I'll get one in Soechin."
He wonders what she is frowning about, comes to no particular conclusions, shrugs it off internally, and smiles.
"You'll probably like yours more than I like mine."
Her entire attitude to the prospect of learning seems to be different from his, in ways he doesn't entirely understand.
"You'll probably like yours more than I like mine."
Her entire attitude to the prospect of learning seems to be different from his, in ways he doesn't entirely understand.
calescent
"Well, I'll be able to make more decisions about who they are than you can, probably."
"Yeah."
Which he expects will help a lot. But he doesn't think he would personally be satisfied with any tutor who felt it was their job to make him learn particular things in a particular way and a particular order regardless of his preferences.
Which he expects will help a lot. But he doesn't think he would personally be satisfied with any tutor who felt it was their job to make him learn particular things in a particular way and a particular order regardless of his preferences.
calescent
"I think they will pay attention to what order and way I want to learn things if I can fire them."
"Maybe."
Maybe he has just had bad luck with tutors. Or maybe he has just had tutors who were all chosen by his father.
Maybe he has just had bad luck with tutors. Or maybe he has just had tutors who were all chosen by his father.
calescent
"...If I can fire them and they aren't answerable very much to anyone else, except maybe my parents, who are not terrible."
The prince giggles. "Yeah."
calescent
Kiri puts her head on his shoulder, briefly, then picks it up and goes back to note-taking. She is making a chart about introductory sentence patterns.
The head-putting is nice. He glances at her chart, has a momentary reaction of 'yes of course she is making a chart', and then goes back to reading the book.
calescent
Soechin turns out to be a language that doesn't have words for "yes" or "no" per se. The book suggests that you can use "correct" and "incorrect" where appropriate, and when agreeing or disagreeing to do something you must simply state that you will or will not do the thing in a complete (though usually short) sentence).
"Huh," says Kiri. "It never occurred to me that there might be entire languages that didn't have 'yes' and 'no'."
"Huh," says Kiri. "It never occurred to me that there might be entire languages that didn't have 'yes' and 'no'."
"Me neither," says the prince. "I like it!" Foreign languages are new and different and interesting! He wants to learn ten more.
He giggles. "So?"
This will not stop him from trying, if he feels like it!
This will not stop him from trying, if he feels like it!
calescent
"Fair enough." She makes columned lists of vocabulary. The book suggests that the reader pause after chapter two and attempt to write or converse with simple sentences about the weather, the colors of various garments, and the relative beauty/age/height of hypothetical girls/boys/men/women.
Kiri points at the list for the last set of choices: "Aw, they don't have a word for you either."
Kiri points at the list for the last set of choices: "Aw, they don't have a word for you either."