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"Okay, then I'll think that at her later I guess when this comes up."

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He nods.

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Eventually - with Kiri providing climate control on request - they arrive in Chialto. Kiri sends an update to Jayce - and also a letter to Loel.

Dear Loel,

In case you haven't heard the news from other channels, Auney Dochenza died during our trip to fetch you. Sarelle Dochenza is the new elay prime, and she had a lead on the Serlast heir, which panned out; Ekador Serlast has been retrieved from Malinqua and confirmed. Aleko and I have been showing him around and as of this letter's sending we are in Chialto.

It's likely that Ekador, Sarelle, and for that matter Patience, will have an interest in meeting you in your capacity as prime. I do not expect you to appear in Chialto anytime soon, but it would be good to know if you are willing to receive visits from them and people who might wish to accompany them the way Aleko accompanies me, or if I should make some sort of excuse on your behalf, or if you only want to meet them with me present to mediate, or have preferences I have not been able to anticipate.

Please direct replies to my Chialto house, where they can be easily forwarded to the palace if need be; but if you expect them to take more than a week to arrive it might be prudent to send a duplicate to the country house care of Jayce, who is kept abreast of my itinerary and will know where to send it on if my near future holds as much travel as my recent past.

I recommend watermarking your outgoing envelopes in such a way that it will be obvious if they have been tampered with. (My equivalent is high-melting-point sealing wax.)

Sincerely,
Kiribel Ardelay
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Ekador turns out to be quite fond of his Chialto house.

So the last item on Kiri's original itinerary is... the palace.
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Yep! That it is.

She helps him with moving into the suite previously occupied by Valdin and shows him where all the relevant stuff is. (Aleko, while they're at the palace, usually parks in the suite and takes messages for them, so he's not there on the tour.)

If she should happen to run into Isten on this tour, she will make introductions.
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If she should happen to consider the palace library relevant - and if she doesn't, Ekador will - they will find Isten there.

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She does consider the palace library relevant!

"Isten, hello. Ekador, this is Prince Isten. Isten, this is Ekador Serlast; Sarelle and I found him in Malinqua."
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Isten nods politely to both of them.

"It's good to see you again, Kiri. And good to meet you, Ekador."
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"Likewise," says Ekador. Prince Isten seems a very polite and well-spoken child. And there's something else about him, some elusive yet definite quality - it is certainly there, Ekador just has no idea what it is. He might call it 'maturity' if pressed for words, but he'd know he was fudging.

In the process of paying closer attention to try to solve that mystery, he discovers that paying close attention to someone will tell him where and approximately when they have broken their bones in the past. It seems Prince Isten has had a childhood accident or two. Ekador decides not to mention it.
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"What have you been up to lately?" Kiri asks Isten.

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"A lot of reading," he says, daring a smile. "Mainly tax records, this week."

(He has a long-term plan to go through and meticulously uproot every tax in the realm that exists because someone annoyed his father. When the time comes.)
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"Tax records. Perhaps it's more interesting than it sounds."

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"I'll have to know this kind of thing one day," he says with a slight shrug. "But, um... no, it isn't particularly." Another tentative-but-genuine smile.

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Ekador chuckles.

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Isten grins at him.

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"You're going to be a good king, one day."

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"I hope so," says Isten.

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"I don't know if you care to greet the current king in person," Kiri adds to Ekador. "I avoid it, by and large, but as I understand it you can more or less sit next to him at any meal unless people of similar status - Isten, a queen, another prime - are trying to sit in the same chair at the same time, and then you'll have his attention and can arrange a more private meeting at another time. When I need to interact with him I write up a letter and give it to his assistant instead. I've got some copies of letters like that in my suite and can show you the protocol Alser taught me."

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"I would like to be shown this protocol, yes. It seems useful."

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"All right. That can be our next stop, unless you'd rather be left to your own devices in this library for a few hours."

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He glances around him, momentarily tempted, then shakes his head. "I can always come back. Lead on."

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"Personally I think my library is nicer," remarks Kiri as she waves to Isten and leads Ekador away. "It isn't as big, but it's been more carefully curated - the Ardelays have owned most of the libraries in Welce for a few generations and there's always some place that wants a book that isn't seeing much use in the private collection."

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"Then I look forward to seeing that one, too, someday."

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"You can come visit me there sometime. After you're settled in. I don't know how long it'll take you to settle in. Oh, I don't think I've told you the queens' names. Hector's first wife is Judin and his second is Risella; the latter is Isten's mother. He's hunti, Judin's coru, Risella's sweela."

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"I see," he says. "You hadn't, no. Thank you, I'm sure that is the sort of thing I could eventually be embarrassed by not knowing."

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