"...Where are you going to put all of these things once you have pretty beads in them?" she wonders.

"In my room! And then I'll sew the beads."

"Is there room in your room for all these things?"

"...If I put some of them on the bed and just be small to sleep yes!"

"Oh, these aren't my shoes."

"...Whose shoes are they?"

"Those are Mallyn's and these are Mom's."

"Have you asked Mallyn and your mother if you can fill their shoes with beads?" inquires Sable, trying and rather thoroughly failing to keep a straight face.

"If they needed their shoes right now they would be wearing them, right now," says Rithka.

"But will they need their shoes between now and when you have finished using all the beads you're going to put in them?"

"...Maybe not?"

"I think you should probably ask before you fill someone else's shoes with beads," says Sable.

"But then they might not let me fill their shoes with beads," says Rithka. "And then we can't use all the colors!"

"What do you suppose will happen if you fill their shoes with beads and then they decide they would rather not have beads in their shoes?"

"They'll have to find somewhere else to put beads in," says Rithka. "Because they can't just dump them out on the floor. And then the beads will be somewhere okay for beads to be."

"They might," says Sable, "decide to dump all the shoe beads in a big box. And then that will be four colours of beads all mixed up. But if you go ask now, maybe your mother will think of a better way to organize your bead collection."

"Like what?" asks Rithka.

"Well, if I could think of one myself, then I would. But your mother probably knows more about your options than I do."

Rithka sighs long-sufferingly. "You won't do beads in the shoes?"

"I am not going to put beads in anybody's shoes without the permission of the people whose shoes they are."

Rithka sighs and carries the shoes back into the house. She's gone for a while.

Sable admires the lovely beads and puts away the dye crafting station. And picks a few escaped beads off the ground and tidies them up and drops them in the (now rather depleted) big box.