Ekador packs quite lightly for someone who's leaving the country on short notice and otherwise bears negligible personality resemblance to Loel. The carriage isn't particularly crowded as they make their way back to the port to find a boat leading back to Welce.
"There are three stops to make," Kiri tells him as they drive. "Although we'll land close to Chialto, I don't think that should be the first place we go. You'll have a much smoother go of taking over as uncontested prime if you can demonstrate at least minor magical power on demand - I don't think fielding questions of your legitimacy is anyone's idea of a good time and it would be better to have more than Sarelle's word to lean on. It doesn't help that anyone but her will mistake you for sweela. The Serlast estate is a couple of days by carriage from Chialto, there's a forest on the property, it's supposed to be special to the Serlasts, and going and having a walk around it might give you an idea of how to perform some minor visible magic."
"Might not. Loel figured out how to do magic without jumping into the Marisi River," shrugs Aleko.
"It might not. But it's worth a try if you don't have an epiphany before we get there," says Kiri. "Anyway, some of your cousins are living at the Serlast estate - off the top of my head, one of Valdin's children, his younger sister, and one of his grandsons, but I don't know how you're related to the family so I don't know who they are to you. You can kick them out if you want, but I recommend getting to know them and soliciting their help with the family business, and you have plenty of room to continue to board them. The Chialto house of the Serlasts was empty last I heard, but I'd be willing to bet you can re-hire Valdin's old servants if you want them, and you're entitled to maintain your own suite at the palace, too. You can divide your time between these places more or less however you please, although if you neglect the palace then the royal family may start issuing pointed invitations, and you might want to become acquainted with Prince Isten in particular, as he is heir to the throne and it's his succession you're necessary to ratify later."
"Isten's eleven," Aleko adds. "Coru, quiet."
"Questions?" Kiri inquires. "Do you want me to write any of that down, possibly in chart format?"
"I see," he says. "You hadn't, no. Thank you, I'm sure that is the sort of thing I could eventually be embarrassed by not knowing."
"...Speaking of things you might be embarrassed not to know, it's probably not wise to ask whether Judin had any children in polite company. She had; the firstborn prince, named after his father, vanished about five years ago, no one has come forward with a satisfactory explanation, and it's now considered gauche to bring him up."
"That's all I can think of off the top of my head but I'll let you know if I think of anything else."
"Nerine thought that Valdin had arranged for him to be kidnapped," Kiri adds, vaguely conversationally. "That wasn't what finally prompted them to duel to the death, though, and the rumor got out of hand enough that someone tried to set your city house on fire. I was close enough to stop it before it had gotten far and it's since all been fixed."
"That explains some features of the house I had previously not thought very much about," he says. "Old repairs, with hints of fire damage underneath."
"I'd make a better fire suppression system if only I could move from place to place both instantaneously and in response to summonses from the destination. I've never managed to be present to stop any other house fires. I did once help with a controlled burn in a forest a ways north, but that I both started and ended."