"Right."

"I think when they're new it's just very hard. Should I let you go?"

"Oh, no, it's okay, Amina's got her."

"Oh, good. C'mere."

Eeee over there she traipses!

"It's good to see you happier."

"It's really good being here!"

"I'm glad." He kisses her.

Kisses are good!!!!

"I feel that I got rather fortunate."

"I'm so glad, your grace!"

Desert Rose is missing out, and now he has her all to himself!

And he's very pleased about it.

Probably at some point he will remember that the mothers of newborns need to feed them frequently and let her go.

In a couple of days he will be able to be reminded of this when he gets milk on him but for now she will settle for his innate sense of time! She kisses him and traipses off to fetch the baby.

The next time he sees her he is less distracted and can hold onto her a bit longer. 

"How're you finding everything?"

"Everybody's been friendly, especially Amina! And the food's yummy even skipping that spicy fish thing I had my first day."

"Do you think the baby'll do all right here?"

"The other kids seem fine? I guess maybe things'll be different for her since she's not yours but I don't know how."

"I think it shouldn't matter very much because she's a girl. The boys who Abadar might want get a whole pile of added political education but with the girls there's a bit more flexibility, we can make sure she doesn't feel left out."

"Aw, thank you!"

Petpet. "I want to teach them all music. Once they're older, they're mostly too little to get anything out of it yet."

"They can be a little children's choir!"

"I know! It'll be so cute! And if any of them really take to it we can send them to music school, even the girls though of course it's not a boarding school for girls."

"Did you go to music school?"