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Jayce turns up some interesting information.
Kiri leaves him in charge of everything and takes Aleko with her. She's closer with Aleko, but Jayce has initiative that Aleko doesn't and is less averse to the idea of running Ardelay business in her absence. Aleko can also draw; he has sketches of the missing prince and can make more.
They cross Soche-Tas, in their own carriage but as part of a merchant convoy that knows the way.
On the far side of Soche-Tas is the little country of Thiyec. Thiyec usually has improbably good weather. People who are less wedded to the culture of Welce than most talk about retiring there.
Thiyec has been getting plenty of rain.
They break off from the convoy and start showing the missing prince's picture to people. People in Thiyec consider nudity no more a remarkable fashion decision than hat-wearing, and it's not a terribly comfortable trip - it doesn't help that only about forty percent of Thiyec's population speaks any Soechin, Kiri's the only one who ever learned Soechin, and nobody in their party knows a lick of Thiyecine.
But eventually, there is a knock on a particular door.
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calescent
free-flowing
There doesn't look to be such a thing as a bed present. A couple of comfy-looking stuffed chairs, but no bed. Loel is starting to move furniture, though, clearing a space by one of the interior walls, so maybe a bed or bed-like object will soon be produced.
free-flowing
"Somebody suggested it when I translated my blessings," he explains. "You name people words in Thiyec, and 'loel' is an old one that used to mean... it's hard to translate, but 'luck' and 'surprise' both more or less work, in different contexts. It's not much in use anymore as a word or a name - hangs around in a couple of old sayings and that's pretty much it - but I like it, it suits me."
liakoura
"So it's sort of like Patience's name only in Thiyecine and actually a blessing you actually have?"
calescent
"Patience is fine too," Kiri ventures to mention. "Not prime yet, but at least it doesn't look like when her grandfather dies it'll worsen the situation by too much. She has no idea why you left, by the way. Bought that it had to have been a kidnapping."
free-flowing
"I don't think anybody but you and Isten knows why I left," says Loel. "Not that I told, for sure."
He disappears into the next room and comes back carrying a stack of flat cushions with some blankets on top, which he commences organizing into a bed-like shape on the floor.
"Did she tell you?" he asks Aleko while he's at it.
He disappears into the next room and comes back carrying a stack of flat cushions with some blankets on top, which he commences organizing into a bed-like shape on the floor.
"Did she tell you?" he asks Aleko while he's at it.
liakoura
"That you weren't kidnapped, because otherwise this trip makes no sense - Jayce knows that much too, he was the one hunting down boring crap about where it was raining. Not why you weren't kidnapped. I mean, I suppose you weren't kidnapped because nobody kidnapped you but she didn't say why you ran off," says Aleko.
free-flowing
"Oh."
He considers this for a moment, then says, "I don't mind if you know, but I don't really know how to say it."
He considers this for a moment, then says, "I don't mind if you know, but I don't really know how to say it."
calescent
"The king is an injuriously abusive parent, the queens are completely passive," Kiri says. "I've known since I met Loel, which is why he and Isten and recently just Isten visit us so often."
free-flowing
"I asked if he wanted to come with me. He said no. Because if we both left, the king would just have more children and then they'd be getting it."
liakoura
"So instead you just took off alone and left Isten there alone with Kiri looking out for him but she can't be there all the time and can't even read the king and you were gone."
free-flowing
"He told me I could," Loel reiterates. "I could've stayed, if he'd asked me to, but I don't know how long I would've lasted."
free-flowing
"For one thing, Father liked to tell me that he had a spare son in case the first one needed replacing," he says, not quite steadily. "He was strict with both of us, his definition of strict, but I'm the one he hated on top of that. He's not stupid, I'm sure he knew it'd be a bad idea to beat me to death, but there were times he came pretty damn close."
He stops laying out the proto-bed and sits down on the floor next to it and presses his hands to his face.
He stops laying out the proto-bed and sits down on the floor next to it and presses his hands to his face.
calescent
Kiri pats her twin on the shoulder.
And says to Loel, "Since the last time you saw me - a couple of times there have been situations where I've been more concerned about not using my less passive mind powers than about using them, on people who came to me for help - and I haven't broken anything yet. If there's anything you want done."
And says to Loel, "Since the last time you saw me - a couple of times there have been situations where I've been more concerned about not using my less passive mind powers than about using them, on people who came to me for help - and I haven't broken anything yet. If there's anything you want done."
free-flowing
He shakes his head. "I'll be fine," he says, although this message is somewhat undermined by the roughness of his voice. "I'd rather handle myself than - be handled."
free-flowing
After a few more seconds, he takes his hands away from his face and goes back to making Aleko's bed.