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Sarelle and the Ardelay twins go to their inn. They are greeted there the following day by Ekador apparently-Serlast, who says he'll be another two days settling up his affairs and then they can all go to Welce.
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?"
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calescent
calescent
"When we're on the boat I'll show you I can do stuff with ice too - I remove heat from things about as easily as I add it."
liakoura
"She's very handy to have around in the middle of Quinnahunti when the sun is trying to bake us."
calescent
"I'm also handy when it's freezing cold, but people tend to expect that of me more."
Pause.
"Hm - it hadn't occurred to me to worry before, but there is a magical practice of sorts that primes can do but only all together and it involves close proximity. I suppose if everyone stretches their arms out and I'm between Alser - or Patience - and Loel I won't have to be within range of you or Sarelle."
Pause.
"Hm - it hadn't occurred to me to worry before, but there is a magical practice of sorts that primes can do but only all together and it involves close proximity. I suppose if everyone stretches their arms out and I'm between Alser - or Patience - and Loel I won't have to be within range of you or Sarelle."
liakoura
"Oh, yeah, the magic handholding thing. Do you have to do that? I thought it was recreational."
calescent
"I think it'll also be a step in ratifying Isten. Otherwise we could skip it."
calescent
"If all five primes hold hands in a circle, there's a - thing. It's very hard to describe. Nerine thought doing it regularly was important to the health of the Welchin 'elemental ecology' or you probably couldn't have gotten her to stand in the same circle as Valdin for love or money; as far as I know this was just a superstition she had, though."
calescent
"...All the primes are sort of high for an hour or two afterwards? No obvious practical effects."
liakoura
"Kiri wanders back to the suite after magic handholding muttering about how everything is so sharp and clear and my thoughts are easier to understand," says Aleko. "One time I guess they stood like that an extra long time and she started talking in half-poetry about how all the elements are really the same thing at their most basic. It was weird."
calescent
"It's pleasant, and except for the weird poetry incident it's not usually impairing - things really are sharp for a while, and things I write down still make sense later - except, again, weird poetry incident. But I can understand why it wouldn't sound appealing. I wasn't told what was going to happen the first time or I probably would've refused."
calescent
"I've never ratified a monarch before, but I think it does require magic handholding. Otherwise it can be omitted."
calescent
"I haven't received an instructional tutorial on the subject, but I coexisted with two primes who did it so I have a general idea. Magic in general is very intuitive once you get the hang of it, so I don't anticipate it to be an intractable problem."
calescent
"Well, if I'm wrong, we're in trouble. Alser's the only more experienced prime than me and he's dying and he wasn't prime yet when King Hector took the throne."
calescent
"I have the things I know about it written down just because I write everything down, but I didn't receive a complete set of instructions. People haven't tended to write books about their magic. It seems to behave differently from person to person, which doesn't help encourage recordkeeping. If Great-Aunt Elytte could read minds she didn't choose to tell anyone that she could do more than detect lies, for instance."
pyrophyte
"I suggest that we keep better records," he says, "in case some future set of primes ever faces a similar situation."