okay but do we have to leave so soon

[liakoura]

The Ardelay twins loiter in the palace for a few days, then fall back to the Chialto house, in plenty of time to receive any prompt reply to the correspondence Kiri sent out when they arrived in the city.

Comments

[free_flowing]

A letter from Loel arrives, promptly enough to suggest that he waited at most a day before replying.

Under the seal is a drop of blood that is still fresh, and only begins drying when the letter is opened. The inside of the envelope is also covered in a complex swirling pattern of thin red-brown lines, which are very likely to be blood that has been coaxed into soaking into the paper just so and then allowed to dry afterward.

Kiri,

Still working on watermarks, but I managed this. If the blood under the seal is fresh, nobody's messed with it.

I wouldn't mind meeting Ekador and Sarelle and Patience. They can bring assistants if they really want to. I'd rather you were there, but I can handle it if you're not.

I finished my moat! I love it to pieces. It is my favourite moat. Come by and admire it sometime, with or without extra visitors.

Loel

[calescent]

Kiri writes back that she'll invite Patience to show up sometime within the window of a weeklong visit to begin in three days, which visit she will attempt to include Ekador and Sarelle in since the two of them are more accessible.

(And then, she promises Aleko, they can go home and stay there for a while.)

She writes Patience a letter, and then goes looking for Sarelle first.

[allthebrightest]

The woman who answers the door of the Dochenzas' house in Chialto looks exactly like Sarelle... but is blatantly, blatantly elay. You couldn't possibly mistake them. Just to make the difference that much more obvious, she's also wearing rough and well-worn clothes in white and faded blue instead of Sarelle's preferred wardrobe of crisp black-and-white.

"Hi!" she says cheerfully. "Who're you?"

[calescent]

"I'm Kiribel Ardelay, and I'm here looking for your sister. You must be Tia."

[allthebrightest]

"I am Tia!" she says, grinning. "C'mon in, I'll go find Sary. Unless she's listening and then she'll mysteriously appear any minute now."

[calescent]

"Thank you," Kiri chuckles.

[allthebrightest]

Tia leads Kiri to a nearby sitting room.

[calendarofcrime]

Where Sarelle promptly appears. Not very mysteriously, given Tia's partial explanation.

[calescent]

"Hi. Loel says he'd rather I be there to introduce the other primes to him if people are going to visit him, although it's not a hard requirement if you aren't free to leave soon. I've written Patience already; I'll be asking Ekador next."

[calendarofcrime]

"I have no strong demands on my time in the near future," says Sarelle.

[calescent]

"How about I swing by tomorrow morning and collect you?"

[calendarofcrime]

"That sounds entirely feasible."

[calescent]

"Okay, great. See you then. It was nice to meet you, Tia."

[allthebrightest]

"Yeah, same!" chirps Tia.

[calescent]

Kiri lets herself out and heads for Ekador's house.

[pyrophyte]

Ekador answers his own door.

"Hello."

[calescent]

"Hi! Loel wants me present to make introductions when he meets the other primes. I've written Patience, for all that she's not technically prime yet, and Sarelle's coming with me tomorrow morning; do you want to join us?"

[pyrophyte]

"I'd be happy to."

[calescent]

"All right, I'll pick you up tomorrow, then. And if Patience shows up you'll have a chance to meet her too, I'm not sure if Sarelle already has but she could have done without my noticing."

[pyrophyte]

"I look forward to it."

[calescent]

"See you then."



So the following morning, as promised, Kiri's carriage (driven by Aleko as usual) sets out to swing by the Dochenza and then the Serlast house.

[calendarofcrime]

Sarelle is ready when they arrive, and can be collected into their carriage with minimal fuss.

[pyrophyte]

Ekador chooses to ride his own horse again. He is likewise ready and fuss-free.

[liakoura]

To the Lalindar house they go!

"Getting along with the horse okay?" Aleko inquires of Ekador.

[pyrophyte]

"Yes, thank you," he says. "We have had very few disagreements so far."