Ranara and her little daughter Azabel move to Urtho's Tower when the latter can say six words ("up", "mama", "milk", "no", "now", and "please") and hasn't started to walk yet. Ranara sets up to teach little children to read, ones who don't have evident Gifts yet - Ranara herself has Mindspeech, is all, with about a classroom's worth of range. Azabel sits in on classes, worn on her mother's back or later plopped in a corner with toys or, when she's only four, plopped in a corner with a book, younger than the other kids in the class. When Azabel has in fact sat through her mother's curriculum she is turned somewhat loose, to walk very carefully up and down and around the Tower, exploring.
Sigh. Ma'ar switches to Mindspeech again. :Eliana was hovering around after dancing, so I thought I'd - talk to her and see if I could learn about her virtues...:
And he briefly recounts the rest of it.
:Well, it kind of sounds like she's got a crush on you and is not substantially suave about it:
:- I wouldn't mind, er, practicing having a crush on her! But I was trying to get her to talk about her virtues and - I think I'm just no good at it, I couldn't figure out how to nudge her into talking about interesting things:
:....I guess:
After a long pause:
:I notice your virtues a lot? But, uh, I don't know if I...have a crush on you...or if you just actually have a lot of virtues, in general as a person:
She's not really sure what to do with that. :Well, I think I'm great and... don't have a crush on myself...:
Ma'ar also isn't sure what to do with this entire exchange!
:I, uh, also think you're great, but - I guess that's not the same thing as a crush:
He sits back, puts away the small cheese in his pocket, and stands up. "I, er, anyway, how was your evening?"
"Had an appointment. Circuit Mindhealers skip this place these days because I'm by every now and then but it's not really good as being able to have a regular one they see routinely."
"Mmm, that makes sense."
Ma'ar can't ask questions about Azabel's Mindhealing patients, obviously, but he tries hard for a few minutes to come up with some tactful subject to talk about instead, planning to plead tiredness and flee to the backyard tentifact if he can't succeed at this task.
"What kind of cheese is it, did she say? I can't tell for sure without cutting it open."
“Uh, cow’s milk and - good on brown bread, I think that’s all she said, I’m not a cheese expert...” Ma’ar draws it out of his pocket and holds it up. “I don’t mind if you cut it open, though, I - don’t really feel like carrying it for the next few days in my pocket...”
"Sure, let's have it with dinner." Dinner is fish stew that has apparently been on the fire while she was talking to her patient; she can also get a loaf of bread out.
It’s a pretty good dinner! Ma’ar sits back and is mostly quiet, again, while they eat it.
For the rest of the trip, he offers to help Azabel with magic for the locals, spends the rest of the time reading the books he brought in companionable silence with her and Charl, and continues to go dancing in the evenings but declines and makes his most polite excuses if Eliana asks for a walk home again.
She looks slightly hurt when he won't come along the following night and doesn't ask again.
Aza asks if he wants to do the Gate home or if she should.
And Ma'ar raises a Gate on the front doorway and transports them back to the courtyard outside the Tower.
She gives herself a little shake. "Gates feel so peculiar. Well, that was quite a lot of vacation, I feel the need to immediately go do a lot of homework, I don't know about you."
And they need to pick their classes for the next session! They can take intermediate-level weather magic, introducing concert work for very large scale urgent weather needs, or they can select their pick from a range of half a dozen specialized artifact-work classes; at this level, it makes sense to decide if one wants to focus on detection wards versus defensive shields versus communication and surveillance versus building maintenance, etc etc. There are several more combat courses. There's advanced illusion-magic in two versions, one aimed mostly at artistic performances, and one for 'practical purposes', which is widely known to be code for 'combat and/or spying'.
Aza is most tempted by artistic illusions and by the sorts of practical artificing that will, say, purify water.