"As I said," shrug, "he could be worse."

"Is there anyone he listens to?"

"I wouldn't know." She regards Ambela thoughtfully. "Are you going to go bother him?"

"I will try not to bother him."

"Hm."

Perhaps some vocabulary lessons on happier subjects.

(Kioh comes by with food for both of them and compliments Ambela on how fast she's learning the language - "you must be so smart!")

"I have a lot of things to help my memory."

"What kinds of things?"

"I don't have the words. We say 'blessings'."

"Well, are they magic?" he asks next.

"No - not really."

"Hmm." He squints doubtfully up at her, then scampers off and leaves them to food and vocabulary. (Fish! Delicious!)

Delicious fish!

Eventually the boats start coming back in, and Viasarae introduces Ambela to the rest of the village. It's a really small village. Most of them are kind of confused by this pointy-eared stranger, and content to let her stay Viasarae's problem, but a handful of Viasarae's children and grandchildren take an interest and join in the language lessons as afternoon wears on into evening.

Then Ambela will be quite conversant by nightfall.

Everyone is very impressed.

They do not have an entire extra house for her and it'll be a bit cramped if she tries to fit into one of theirs, but there's a couple of spare beds she can put together and a tent to put up over them in case of rain, and if she really wants a roof over her head then she can probably find a spot on Viasarae's floor with room for her to curl up in.

Or she could just not sleep tonight.

...she can do that? Well, all right, if she likes. None of the villagers are staying up, though.

Do they have any books? She can try to teach herself to read.

Viasarae lends her a small stack and introduces her to the fairly straightforward alphabet. There's a recipe book with illustrations, a longish history of the empire, a short book about magic, and a book of nature-focused poetry.

That should keep her occupied.

Yep! And here's a little magical lamp to read by!

Some of the recipes are a little baffling; others sound delicious. The poetry is hard to decipher, but rewardingly pleasant to read aloud even when the meanings continue to elude her. The history of the empire is mostly kind of samey, although if she reads closely enough there's an unsettling implication that everyone (with the exception of the Emperor) just dies eventually and then is never heard from again.

Magic seems kind of complicated, and she might have to get someone more interrogable than a book to re-explain the basics in the morning.

She makes a mental note to do so! And murmurs poems and songs softly to herself.

The night goes by quietly. She does not get rained on. The moon spends half the night hiding behind clouds, but is very pretty when she finally gets a chance to see it. The sunrise is spectacular, and is also when the villagers start waking up again.

Good morning villagers.

Good morning Ambela!

Kioh wants to know if she enjoyed the books and whether she really didn't sleep all night and, if so, whether this is a teachable trick.