He laughs. "No, go on."

She ducks inside and changes and comes out and twirls.

"You look stunning," he says, getting up off the couch to pick her up and spin her around and kiss her forehead and put her down again.

She giggles and kisses him on the cheek.

"Let's go meet your family."

He opens a portal in the air, and they step through into the east gardens.

She grins and steps through. These gardens aren't nearly as wonderful when the sun is setting as when it's rising--but still.

She leads him cheerfully to a part of town that's not particularly nice, but not generally unsafe.

They look kind of out of place there, in their gorgeous clothes.

They really do. Oh well.

She leads him to a cute little two-story house and knocks on the door.

There is a slightly lengthy pause, and then the sound of footsteps, and a young female voice asks, "Who is it?"

"It's me, Sissy."

There is a pause, and then the door flies open and she is tackled by a gangly fifteen-year old with black hair who seems intent on hugging her as hard as physically possible.

Lyrame hugs her back and smoothes her hair down gently. "It's okay, I'm okay," she says soothingly, and then to her companion--"This is my sister Elcisse."

"Nice to meet you," he says, cheerfully.

"...Hi," Elcisse says hesitantly. And to her sister: "Who's this?"

"This is--my friend from the garden. The one who gave me the flower. ...Also the one who bought me. I asked to visit and he said yes."

"...Oh. Is it--"

"It's not just a one-time thing, I can't come home but I'm fine and you haven't lost me, it's going to be a change and I need you to be brave about it but we're okay, Sissy."

Elcisse gives another quiet sob, this time out of relief.

Aww.

There is a sound of boot-shod feet coming down the stairs.

"Who's at the door?" a voice from the stairward direction asks. It sounds young, masculine, and angry, although more as a general undercurrent than in a way suggesting he's angry at Elcisse.

"Liri's here!" Elcisse calls.

There is another pause, and then the clattering of a hasty descent down the remaining steps, and then a young man, black-haired like Elcisse, comes into view.

He looks at Lyrame, looks at the mans she's with, puts two and two together and punches him in the jaw. He's very strong. The Emperor being the Emperor, he's not going to be hurt by it, but unless he's specifically doing something to prevent it, he's probably going to go sprawling backwards.

"ALEMAR!" Lyrame exclaims.

And now the Emperor is sitting on the ground, holding his face and giggling.

"Is that how you normally say hello?" he inquires.

"Alemar. No. Apologize."

"But--"

"Fuck's sake, this is my friend from the garden, he bought me because I all but begged him to with my eyes, he hasn't fucking raped me, I've spent most of the day so far either crying on him or asleep because I sure as hell couldn't sleep much last night!"

"..."

"Alemar. This is the best thing that could have possibly happened, once that sonuva bitch ran off. I am fine, and you will apologize."

"...Sorry," he says. He does not sound as sincere as he possibly could. Lyrame sighs and accepts it.

He gets to his feet and brushes dirt from his coat. It doesn't all come off. He laughs again.

"How long can you stay?" Alemar asks.

...She glances at Solekaran.

(Alemar's eyes narrow slightly.)

"How long would you like to?"

She hesitates, and meets Alemar's eyes. The two of them have a moment of wordless sibling communication and she says, "Well, I think we should at least stay for dinner."

"Sure."

"Oh--I cooked, it's still in the oven--it won't be as good as yours, but--" Elcisse says.

"I'm sure it'll be great. I'm proud of you," Lyrame says.

"Yeah--I should get Dad. Dad! Dad!" she calls, dashing back into the house.

"You two might as well come in," Alemar says.

"Thank you."

Lyrame leads the way in and sits down on one end of a squashy couch.

- he glances at Alemar, in case Alemar would like to claim the spot next to his sister.

Alemar watches him thoughtfully and does not move to sit down anywhere.

"Something to say?"