Sairu feels free to completely ignore his disapproval until such time as he expresses it openly!

It's a few months later when Anaseverina says, "So, um--I've been--thinking about it--kind of a lot, and, um, if you wanted me--I think we could do it without--it being too scary."

He smiles.

"So, um--that." She doesn't really have any idea how to proceed from there.

He has some ideas.

...She didn't actually do the tea thing before talking to him about this, so Ideas can wait a couple of hours, right?

Yeah, of course.

Yeah okay good.

The process is nonzero scary but she doesn't come out of it with her trust in him destroyed so that's good. It's...actually kinda nice.

It is!

...and he kind of likes that it's nonzero scary. He doesn't want to destroy her trust in him, he definitely does not want that, but... a little bit scared is nice.

Well that's good because it's not going away any time soon.

They can keep doing this every so often and see how that works out for them.

Tentatively positive!

Good!

Sleeping in the same bed every night is even better now, too.

Mhm. And it helps take some of the edge off, after. A little scared is okay during but it's better if it doesn't stick around.

Yeah.

Savaross drops heavier hints. He criticizes Tassairen's association with such a talentless apprentice; he refers to her offhand as a childish attachment; he decides that clearly if Tassairen has nothing better to do than her he must require a heavier workload.

A heavier workload is just not a good way of discouraging Tassairen from things.

And despite it, he still manages to get her a skeletal bird for her fourteenth birthday. It perches on her finger with its tiny skeletal feet.

She is utterly delighted.

Aww!

She names it Pikiro and manages to get it to make actual songbird noises.

Awwwwwwwwwwwww.

It's nice being able to have more-than-generic possessions that won't go missing when she isn't there to identify the perpetrators to Sairu!

It's nice having his Anaseverina right there in his room to cuddle with every night!

Yeah. Cuddling is nice. And she is more pettable than bony animals.

This is true! Bony animals are not soft. Anaseverina is soft.