"I guess I can try it."

"You might also like pottery or carving, work with your hands a bit."

"I guess I can try those too." Maybe it's easier for Songbirds to be good, if they just like a bunch of boring things that aren't Evil.

"I do think boxing will probably help, it would just be best if you didn't put yourself in a position where you've just got to get into a fistfight and you start one with somebody who didn't feel the same way about it, so I'm trying to think of things you don't need to arrange with a friend."

"I said I'd try them. You don't have to convince me."

"All right, all right, I just want to be sure you'll go into them with an open mind. Excited! Hopeful! Nobody has fun with a line dance they're dragging themselves to because they won't get any apple fritters if they don't prove they tried."

He is really not sure he can manage excited and hopeful. "Don't think I had any other questions."

"Okay. Thank you so much for coming in today." She clasps her hands and looks ceilingward. "Shelyn, please bless this man; love and beauty belong to all."

And he leaves.

She gives him a head start, then drifts out into the main room again.

A woman arrives, dragging a girl of about seven by the arm. "Are you the priest?"

(It's a little hard to see since her dress is also white, but the ends of the girl's sleeves are covered in white paint.)

"I'm one of them, what can I do for you two?"

"Please explain to my daughter that Shelyn doesn't want her painting the walls of our flat without permission."

"Uh-oh! C'mere, let's go in my office, little one." Mom's not invited and Laia will thank you not to make her say it out loud.

Meritxell is pretty unhappy about that but she's not going to actually pick a fight about it. She lets go of her daughter's arm.

"O-kay!" Sara follows Laia into the office.

"What'd'ja paint?" Laia asks, closing the door.

"A lion! A BIG lion!"

"Ooh, those are Iomedae's animal. It would be pretty neat to have a lion picture in your room, wouldn't it!"

"Yeah! The room was BORING without the lion."

"Do you and your mom have your own house that's all yours or does she pay a landlord?"

"Landlord! I don't like him. Don't tell him I said that."

"I won't! So here's the thing about landlords. Maybe they like singing and dancing and whittling and all that good stuff, but when it comes to their houses they are so boring. They want the most boring houses in the world. Isn't that sad? I think it's kind of sad for them."

"That's SO SAD! Why would ANYONE want their house to be boring?"