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.
"She sounds fun," says Loel. "Bring her by for a visit sometime if you want. I'm not keen on crowds lately, but it does get lonely being all by myself in this gigantic house day after day."
"I have... complicated feelings about that," he says. "Well, not about the dust, but if it gets to be too much for me to handle I can hire somebody to come dust every so often. I don't know, I just feel better about myself when there's nobody else picking up after me."
"I made sure they were all being well-paid and confirmed that there were enough tasks going around to justify them, there didn't seem much point to fretting about it after that beyond making sure I said please and thank you."
Loel shrugs. "If it gets to the point where I can't do all my prime stuff and still wash my own clothes, then maybe I'll hire a servant. But I'd rather not."
"If you persist in not showing up at the palace, and particularly if you're willing to wash your clothes with magic, you can probably manage it a good long time."
no subject
no subject
She grins.
"What an excellent description of Tia."
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
(no subject)
(no subject)