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Jayce turns up some interesting information.
Kiri leaves him in charge of everything and takes Aleko with her. She's closer with Aleko, but Jayce has initiative that Aleko doesn't and is less averse to the idea of running Ardelay business in her absence. Aleko can also draw; he has sketches of the missing prince and can make more.
They cross Soche-Tas, in their own carriage but as part of a merchant convoy that knows the way.
On the far side of Soche-Tas is the little country of Thiyec. Thiyec usually has improbably good weather. People who are less wedded to the culture of Welce than most talk about retiring there.
Thiyec has been getting plenty of rain.
They break off from the convoy and start showing the missing prince's picture to people. People in Thiyec consider nudity no more a remarkable fashion decision than hat-wearing, and it's not a terribly comfortable trip - it doesn't help that only about forty percent of Thiyec's population speaks any Soechin, Kiri's the only one who ever learned Soechin, and nobody in their party knows a lick of Thiyecine.
But eventually, there is a knock on a particular door.
calescent
free-flowing
Someone opens it. His smile is friendly but puzzled. He says something, reasonably likely to be a polite greeting, in Thiyecine.
He is wearing a short kilt with a belt of twisted cloth - perfectly reasonable Thiyecine attire. And nothing else, also perfectly reasonable by Thiyecine standards. And, making allowances for the difference in age, he looks exactly like the missing prince.
He is wearing a short kilt with a belt of twisted cloth - perfectly reasonable Thiyecine attire. And nothing else, also perfectly reasonable by Thiyecine standards. And, making allowances for the difference in age, he looks exactly like the missing prince.
calescent
"Oh, please don't tell me you don't recognize me, Lalindar," says Kiri. "I haven't had the pleasantest trip tracking you down and that would just be disappointing."
free-flowing
"Kiri. Can I hug you? Is there some horrible emergency, are you here to tell me the king finally caught up to me and he's going to have me dragged back home in chains, can I hug you anyway?"
calescent
"You can hug me, the king has no idea where you are, there is a medium-sized emergency, hug me."
free-flowing
He hugs her. He hugs her hard enough to lift her right off the ground. (Among other changes, he's gotten taller while he's been gone.) Emergencies notwithstanding, he is really happy to see her.
calescent
"Eep!" she laughs, hugging back as best she can while so thoroughly hugged.
free-flowing
He puts her down. And then hugs her again, minus the lifting. And thinks of something while he's at it.
"—It's Loel, by the way, I have a name I actually like these days, why Lalindar?"
(The name is Thiyecine, an old one fallen out of common usage, and it means something like - luck, chance, the unexpected. He is very fond of it. It is very him.)
"—It's Loel, by the way, I have a name I actually like these days, why Lalindar?"
(The name is Thiyecine, an old one fallen out of common usage, and it means something like - luck, chance, the unexpected. He is very fond of it. It is very him.)
calescent
"The medium-sized emergency is that Nerine and Valdin murdered each other, and neither one has an obvious heir. Guess how I found you."
free-flowing
"I have no idea how you - wait, yes I do," he says, because Lalindar, because it's been raining for weeks in central Thiyec.
Apparently he's the coru prime.
He wonders if he can breathe water.
Apparently he's the coru prime.
He wonders if he can breathe water.
calescent
"You're going to try that whether I think it's a good idea or not, aren't you."
calescent
"Can I convince you to try it in the Marisi River and not in a bathtub?"
free-flowing
"Can you convince me to go back to Welce?" he counters. She said the king doesn't know where he is; therefore the king is still alive, the relevant one, the one he crossed two countries to get away from. He does not think the odds are high that he will be going anywhere near the Marisi River until that is no longer true.
calescent
"I managed to find you, but I have no idea where the new Serlast may have gotten to - and Alser's not dead yet but he's in bed more often than he's out of it these days - and when I left, Auney Dochenza had two broken legs from trying to fly - the primacy is in a shambles. Continuing to be missing will not help. Dig a moat around your favorite Lalindar property and drown anyone trying to drag you back to the palace, but please, please show up."
free-flowing
"Tell you what," he says. "If it turns out I can breathe water, we can talk about me going back."
And if it turns out he can't, well, then someone else will be the new Lalindar prime and it's a good bet that person will be living in Welce. He considers that arguably a better outcome for him than going back to a country ruled by King Hector.
And if it turns out he can't, well, then someone else will be the new Lalindar prime and it's a good bet that person will be living in Welce. He considers that arguably a better outcome for him than going back to a country ruled by King Hector.
calescent
"Nobody but my brothers knew what possessed me to go internationally traveling," pleads Kiri. "No one will expect me to come back with you hiding in my carriage. Start in the Marisi. The Marisi is special to the Lalindars."
free-flowing
"I don't want to touch the Marisi," he says. He does not want a river in Welce to be special to him. If the water in Welce would spare him where Thiyecine water would kill him, all the more reason to try it in Thiyec.
calescent
"If you can breathe water at all I expect you to be able to breathe Thiyecine water. I'm worried that until you at least go for a swim in the Marisi, to say nothing of trying to inhale it, you won't have fully functional powers."
free-flowing
"Then I don't want fully functional powers, and if you want a coru prime in Welce, me killing myself is how you're going to get one," he says.
free-flowing
Loel sighs.
"Sorry," he says, and he is, sort of, but being sorry doesn't make it less true. He would rather die than go back.
Can he hug her again or has he put her off too badly?
"Sorry," he says, and he is, sort of, but being sorry doesn't make it less true. He would rather die than go back.
Can he hug her again or has he put her off too badly?
calescent
He can hug her again.
"Isten's doing as well as can be expected," she remarks. "Very studious, very serious, still visits me when he can, stays out of trouble otherwise whenever possible."
"Isten's doing as well as can be expected," she remarks. "Very studious, very serious, still visits me when he can, stays out of trouble otherwise whenever possible."
free-flowing
He hugs her again when it looks like she wouldn't mind.
"Yeah, I bet," he sighs. He misses his little brother. It's just not worth going back. He's not sure anything would be worth going back. He definitely can't think of any such thing.
"Yeah, I bet," he sighs. He misses his little brother. It's just not worth going back. He's not sure anything would be worth going back. He definitely can't think of any such thing.