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Aurin holds his mother's hand as she leads him from the street to his aunt and uncle's house. He's been here only a couple of times, and can't remember most of them distinctly; they're sort of awkwardly related, his dead father's half-brother and the wife thereof. But now they have a baby parunia, and that means there is a dragon related to Aurin who is not too far from his age, only thirty-one years younger. This is apparently the sort of relation that it will be particularly enriching for Aurin to meet. They can do this now instead of waiting a month, because parunias don't die when they're babies; this one is safe, unlike the miscellaneous cousins on his mother's side he's never met because they are all in too much danger to get attached to (and have all succumbed to that danger). So here they are. Even though it was a very long flight and he couldn't ride his mother for takeoff and landing when she had to be a heron, only for the middle part.
Alys knocks on the door.
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Finnah doesn't have anything else to say. She just sits there perched somewhat precariously on the roof and lets him hug her.
"I'm hungry," he says. "Are you hungry?"
"No," mumbles Finnah.
Her stomach growls.
Her stomach growls.
"...That sounded like a hungry noise," Mial observes.
"I don't want to eat anything."
"Okay. Do you want to go inside anyway? There's blankets. And my parents."
"Fine."
Mial birds and flies into the house.
Finnah hesitates a moment, but then does the same thing.
on-my-word
Avar is reading a book in the living room.
"Finnah is sad and you should hug her," Mial announces. "I'm hungry and I'm getting a snack."
"Do you want a hug, Finnah?" asks Avar.
"Finnah is sad and you should hug her," Mial announces. "I'm hungry and I'm getting a snack."
"Do you want a hug, Finnah?" asks Avar.
Finnah turns human.
"Okay."
Finnah sits in this hug without doing much of anything.
"I live here now," she informs Avar, in case he missed this information and thought she was sad for no reason.
"What do I have to know about living here now?"
on-my-word
"Well, you can keep the room you're staying in," he says. "You can ask me or Koridaar when you need anything, except that it's important not to interrupt Koridaar when she's in her office with the door closed. But if I'm not home and it can't wait, you're allowed to knock on her door."
"Okay," mumbles Finnah.
Stiff lap-sitting accompanied by intermittent sniffles.
on-my-word
Mial comes back from getting his snack, and dispenses a hug each to Finnah and his dad, and picks up Avar's book and starts reading it to him, since Avar has been delegated the task of hugging Finnah and cannot conveniently read it himself.
Finnah is listless, short on appetite, and passively amenable to being hugged, as her residence in her new home wears on.
Colla mails a couple of boxes with Finnah's clothes and toys and books.
Finnah flies into a rage and attacks the nearest box until her fists are full of splinters.
on-my-word
Avar gets a pair of tweezers and carefully extracts the splinters, while Koridaar rescues the contents of the boxes and disposes of the slightly mauled box.
Finnah cries while the splinters are taken out; one may safely assume it is not from discomfort.
Listlessness, disinterest in eating, and apparent indifference to her steady supply of hugs persist, only gradually lifting.
Aurin comes for his next visit on a day where Finnah has recently accomplished the milestone of eating some breakfast without coaxing.
Aurin keeps his distance from her. She makes no attempt to close it, but she notices and sort of glares halfheartedly at him.
Listlessness, disinterest in eating, and apparent indifference to her steady supply of hugs persist, only gradually lifting.
Aurin comes for his next visit on a day where Finnah has recently accomplished the milestone of eating some breakfast without coaxing.
Aurin keeps his distance from her. She makes no attempt to close it, but she notices and sort of glares halfheartedly at him.