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

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

"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."

"Thank you," Kiri chuckles.

Tia leads Kiri to a nearby sitting room.

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

"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."

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

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

"That sounds entirely feasible."

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

"Yeah, same!" chirps Tia.

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

"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?"

"I'd be happy to."

"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."

"I look forward to it."

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

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

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

"Now I'm imagining you arguing with a horse. The Malinquan accent makes it funnier."

"'No, you may not have any more oats!'" intones Aleko in a fake Malinquan accent. "'But I shall die of deprivation without them!'" he replies to himself, dropping this accent in favor of a vaguely neighing effect on the vowels.

Ekador giggles.

"I see," he says. "And here I was thinking that since I now live in Welce it might be time to try to speak the language without obvious foreign influence. I had not accounted for the entertainment value."

"Well, you're completely understandable, and kicking the accent would probably be really hard," shrugs Aleko. "And it doesn't make you sound like a hick the way a hills accent or something would."

"How fortunate."

"Patience has a bit of a hills accent but she manages, possibly via magic, to not sound like a hick while she talks in it."

He laughs.

"Maybe it's because she's so happy all the time and the stereotype of hills people is that they are drab and lifeless? That might be it. She might not be happy when you meet her though on account of dying grandfather."

"Yes."

Meanwhile, in the carriage: "It'd seem like you and Tia are very little alike, except in the obvious visual sense."

"On innumerable levels," she agrees. "We are both very intelligent and that is just about where the similarities end."

"So she doesn't do your finding-stuff-out-even-pre-magic thing?"

"She does not. Or only in a very different context. Her specialty is the sort of thing the Dochenzas traditionally get up to - inventions, engineering, mechanical cleverness."

"Yeah, that sounds very little like - detective work. Or whatever you'd call it."

"'Detective work' is a reasonable term, if a little narrow."

"Narrow how?"

"I do not only find out the kinds of things that detective work is for."

"What else?"

"Not so much. Example?" suggests Kiri.

"Examples," she says, "would also be too narrow. I suppose I could put it like this... the same thing that I do with information I have already sought out, to solve problems or answer questions, I am also doing the rest of the time with whatever information I happen to come across about anything. I don't stop doing it except when I am thoroughly occupied with something else. And it is very hard to thoroughly occupy me."

"And this goes on even when there isn't something in particular you need to know, you're just - assembling data as it comes into your possession, in the background?"

"Hmm. Yes," she says. "About my immediate surroundings, if nothing else important is going on, and usually even if it is. That is part of why I told you that I would mind my own personal space, when we first met. It does not take very much extra effort to always be aware of exactly how far away from you I am."

"That sounds very - intense."

"I suppose that it is." She shrugs slightly. "I am used to it. Any less would feel... muffled."

"How do you do it, have you always or did you pick it up on purpose?"

"I developed the habit over time, when I was very young. Not entirely deliberately. It is just - obvious. Comfortable. Something along those lines."

"It almost reminds me of my self-examination habit, which I also developed when I was young - but more deliberately and less constantly, it sounds like."

"Hmm. Yes. I am always paying attention. It's convenient that I have so much of it to spare."

"It sounds like it'd be necessary. Did you notice an expansion at all when you inherited? I did - I can barely remember what it was like before, but I have notes asserting that there was a jump in sensory space once it had constant input from all sources of warmth and especially nearby human beings."

"Yes," she says. "Although I haven't been thinking of it that way. I have more or less always, certainly for as long as I can clearly remember, had enough attention to distribute it among all available senses with enough left over to analyze as needed, all before touching on the sort of everyday mental activity most people seem to indulge in. That has remained true while the size of 'all available senses' has grown."

"I've never had opportunity to test if my space expands to fit extra more than a couple of people at a time if they crowd in around me," muses Kiri. "There's enough room for, say, Aleko and Jayce simultaneously without being too crowded; I don't know what would happen if I also added Loel and Patience, both of whom have also been known to allow it."

"I wonder," says Sarelle, "if you have enough room for me. It would be interesting to compare."

"I couldn't tell you unless you feel like trying it. I had room for Auney and Jerist - and for that matter Alser, Valdin, and Nerine - but it sounds like you're a separate category all on your own."

"I often am," she says. "Do you feel like trying it? It's possible that it might be - disconcerting, or overwhelming."

"I'm curious," says Kiri.

"...Scuffed my shoe on a corner of a table leg," offers Kiri. "That's a lot to sort out but it's more just available than it is intrusive or even particularly distracting. I can get sort of a - summary - of the whole thing without it taking up that much more of my attention than I use on other people, but getting detail requires focusing, it's like you're a complicated moving painting. It might be harder to affect how much or little attention I'm focusing on you if you were closer, but this range would do if you wanted to communicate something to me, I can definitely spot at a glance the general outline of what your primary attention is on."

'Corner of a table leg' fits in the general category of explanations that Sarelle was favouring. She nods and files the information away, along with the knowledge of how far away her hand was when Kiri reacted to reading her. She is pleased that it's not overhwelming; this way seems more convenient for, as Kiri suggests, communicating things. (She is also pleased that she is noticeably different from most people; it's a direct confirmation of a theory that she could not previously have confirmed.)

"My sample size isn't huge. There's a bigger gap between you and anybody I've read before for long enough to register observations other than 'oh crap', than there is between any two of those people, but that's only about a dozen other subjects," cautions Kiri.

Sary is presently wondering whether there is still worthwhile information to be obtained from this experiment, since she does not care to hold her hand out like this indefinitely. She concludes that there doesn't seem to be, but waits to see if Kiri has any comment to make.

"Nothing in particular, no."

In that case, she reclaims her hand.

"Yes. My visual memory is not perfect, and I wouldn't memorize it on purpose, but given enough exposure it's possible I could partially solve your cipher. It might be prudent to avoid that exposure as much as possible."

"Okay." She draws up her knees and secures her notebook on them, pointed well away from Sarelle. "Very interesting batch of primes we have now," she murmurs.

"Yes," Sarelle agrees.

"I noticed!" he calls back, waving cheerfully. "Hi! You can bring everything across, I guarantee the bridge!"

Ekador examines the bridge, determines it to pass inspection, and leads his horse across.

"I'll show you the stables," he says, abandoning his envelopes and standing up.

Sarelle takes this opportunity to disembark from the carriage.

Aleko waits till she's clear, then follows Loel.

And Kiri crosses the bridge to see what Loel has been doing with the envelopes.

"Pretty," agrees Kiri, sifting through the others.

"He sent me a letter with a drop of wet blood under the wax, apparently he's gotten plain water to work now."

"Blood. I see," she says, mildly amused.

Aleko strolls back around the corner and peers at what Kiri's looking at. "Oh, hey, less gross forms of authentication, go Loel."

Hugs! Hugs are nice. "So, Loel, this is Sarelle Dochenza. Sarelle, Loel Lalindar. And the one behind you is Ekador Serlast if he hasn't already introduced himself."

"Nice to meet you both," says Loel. "You can come in if you want. How long are you staying? Anybody hungry?"

"I would totally eat food if offered food!" says Aleko, waving a hand.

"Great," he says. "I'll make food. Anybody else?"

"By all means," says Sarelle.

"Why not," says Ekador.

"I'm kind of hungry too. Your moat is lovely," adds Kiri. "Very elaborate."

"I appreciated the detail work," mentions Sarelle.

"Yeah? Good eye," says Loel. "It's pretty subtle, but I like it that way."

"You haven't been here that long; I'm surprised all those little fiddly bits are already done."

"When I don't wanna waste time, I don't," he says. "Also, magic. I did a lot of that detail work myself. It was fun."

"Oh, cool."

"That has to have taken forever."

"Not nearly as long as you'd think," says Loel. "Here's a sitting room, it's nice, anybody who doesn't feel like watching me cook can wait here."

Twins plop down in the sitting room.

"I will watch you cook," says Sarelle.

Ekador follows the twins into the sitting room.

"We're staying here for, what'd you tell Patience, a week?" Aleko asks Kiri.

"Yep," says Kiri. "And, yes, then we can go home and stay there for a nice long while."

"Loel Lalindar is very... lively," says Ekador. "It's charming. I'm charmed."

"He is very lively. I'm officially optimistic that we're all five going to get along nicely."

"I think I am likewise optimistic," says Ekador. "Although my opinion of him may suffer if he turns out to be a terrible cook."

"He's fed us before. He's good."

"I am appropriately relieved."

"And he probably would have a hard time getting those weird Thiyecine herbs, around here, too. I don't think I liked them."

"Hopefully he has learned to adjust."

"They taste normal to us because we are from Welce, Aleko. Ekador, what do you think of Welchin food so far?"

"Not that strange, for the most part. I've had a few surprises, but mostly not unpleasant ones."

"We went to Malinqua on a spice boat, there are probably normal Welchin spices all over the place in Malinqua."

"Maybe there are Malinquan spices in Welce too, I have no idea where spices come from, I just know that leaf there was in that breakfast Loel made us when we were at his Thiyec place tasted like soap."

"Curious."

"I told you it didn't taste the same to me or Loel, I'm not sure why it tasted like that to you."

"Even more curious," says Ekador.

"Maybe he just actually got soap in my breakfast?" shrugs Aleko. "Anyhow, I'm glad we don't put soap or soapy herbs or whatever in our food around here."

"I don't think he got soap in your breakfast. I don't know how to explain it."

"Did you identify which herb was at fault?"

"The only thing I didn't recognize was a leaf that Loel thought of as 'cilantro'."

Ekador considers, then says, "I haven't heard of it, at least not by that name."

"Or," says Aleko, "there was soap on my plate, that would also explain it. Why would cilantro taste nice to you and him and not to me?"

"If it was the herb and not accidental soap, it's interesting that it did," says Ekador.

"Do you have a theory?" inquires Kiri.

"Not yet."

"I don't see why it's worth theorizing about."

"If we discover an explanation, perhaps it will help you avoid other things that mysteriously taste like soap to you and not other people," Ekador suggests.

"Nothing else tastes like soap. Except soap."

"So before you encountered this 'cilantro', you would have said that nothing tastes like soap except soap. Who's to say there isn't another thing like it somewhere?"

"This conversation is starting to make it sound like I eat soap every changeday or something. Come to think of it I have no idea why I know what soap tastes like."

Ekador giggles.

"Couldn't tell you. I wonder what Loel's making for dinner."

"Hopefully soap isn't involved."

Ekador giggles again.

"I'm gonna go check, actually." Up he gets and he goes looking for the kitchen.

Where Sarelle and Loel are animatedly discussing the differences between Thiyecine and Welchin cooking. Well, animatedly on Loel's part.

Sarelle is more animated than usual but this is not a high bar to clear.

"You don't have any cilantro, do you?" Aleko asks, poking his head into the kitchen. "Just remembered that either it tastes like soap, or that time you made us breakfast you got soap in my food."

"I have cilantro, but I'm not currently using it," he says. "Lucky for you, I guess."

"I wonder what it tastes like to you," snorts Aleko. "What's for dinner?"

"Fried rice. Almost done," he says.

"Awesome." Aleko heads back to the sitting room. "Fried rice, almost done!" he relays.

"And no cilantro," Kiri says, when her brother is in her range again. "Good."

"Although now I'm curious about whether or not I would find that it tasted like soap," says Ekador.

"He said he has some and just wasn't using it," says Aleko. "If you want to try it."

"Perhaps later."

"If it tastes like soap don't say I didn't warn you!"

"I certainly will not say any such thing."

It is at this point that Sarelle's voice says out of (appropriately enough) thin air, "Would we prefer to eat informally in the sitting room or in the nearby dining room with a table large enough to seat everyone? Our host has no preference."

"I'm comfy right here," offers Aleko, looking around as though there might materialize an appropriate direction at which to render his opinion.

"The same," says Ekador.

Loel is behind her with another one. Between them, they have all appropriate food, dishes, and utensils, needing only to be put down somewhere and then distributed.

Aleko serves himself a heap of rice, watches steam coming off of it, and holds it in Kiri's direction, taking it back a moment later after she nods slightly, presumably finding it a safer temperature after this procedure.

Loel serves himself some rice and sits on the floor next to a low table. He does not choose to solicit temperature control from Kiri.

Sarelle... looks at him. But she doesn't comment, only obtains her own dinner and a more conventional place to sit.

Ekador gets some food and returns to his chair. Chairs are normal. And comfortable.

Om nom nom.

"If anybody else wants their rice heated or cooled I don't mind," Kiri says, "that is not a just-my-brother thing."

Ekador tries his rice, determines the temperature acceptable, and says, "No, thank you."

Sarelle does likewise, but makes no verbal report.

"Does not taste at all like soap, nicely done, Loel."

He snorts. "Thanks."

"It's very good," Sarelle agrees, smiling. "Not that I expected any less, having watched you cook it."

"Do you cook too or do you just know what it looks like when done well?" Kiri inquires of Sarelle.

"I cook. Competently, at that."

"You sure sounded like you knew what you were talking about," says Loel. "If you wanna borrow my kitchen sometime, feel free."

"Heh. I can do a little, too, but not well enough to ever chase anybody else out of a kitchen if they're willing to feed me."

"And I'm always willing to feed people," says Loel, grinning.

"Ekador might want to try your cilantro later," remarks Aleko.

"Yeah?" He glances over at Ekador.

"Are - you okay?" exclaims Aleko.

Kiri looks at Sarelle, who will know better than she will if Ekador needs extra help with his airway.

"He is not in danger," says Sarelle.

Kiri calms down, and looks at Ekador instead.

"...What's going on?"

...Ekador is at a loss for words.

Loel raises his eyebrows. "And you are giving me this look because...?"

"I am... astonished," he says, "astonished is the word - I am astonished by the number and variety of otherwise healthy bones that you have broken in your life."

"...mm," says Loel.

Kiri manages a "disturbed" facial expression largely untainted by other knowledge.

Aleko looks maybe more worried than disturbed.

"It's... not a problem I have anymore," he says. "And I'd rather not get into it."

Ekador looks deeply conflicted.

Kiri waits to see if anyone needs her to confirm that it is really not a problem Loel has anymore or that he would really rather not get into it. She doesn't think that her talking too much can improve anything.

"I can... see that it is no longer a problem," he says. "It seems not to have been a problem for... several years. It troubles me that it was ever a problem. It troubles me further that—" He cuts himself off and shakes his head.

"Sorry," says Loel, smiling crookedly.

Aleko is following Kiri's lead on the not talking thing.

"Anyway," says Loel. "How are you liking Welce? I think it's pretty great here, except for the weird thing about clothes."

"...dare I ask, what weird thing about clothes?"

"I didn't like Thiyec much," mutters Aleko.

Ekador blinks several times. "I... see."

"They seriously have people walking around naked all the time there. Even in the rain. Especially in the rain? Simultaneously with the rain, anyway."

"Walking around naked in the rain is fun," says Loel.

"Why?"

"I dunno, why not?"

"That's not an answer."

He shrugs. "It's the best answer I've got."

"Well, anyway, I'm glad you're not being a cultural maverick on the subject now you're here."

Loel giggles.

"Me?" he asks, glancing at her. "Twenty, why?"

"My age, approximately. And Ekador is a year older, and Kiri is two years younger. I believe Patience is somewhere in the middle. We are going to be a very young set of primes when she inherits."

"No kidding," he agrees.

"I'm the only one who inherited unusually young - late teens, early twenties is the normal age to pick up a primacy. Jerist lasted longer than most and Auney could have been prime for another fifty years if it weren't for the ill-fated flying experiments, Nerine and Valdin both should have had at least a couple more decades in them apiece but had to tear each other apart. Alser's largely a coincidence. We're clustering because the deaths clustered - my age is mostly happenstance as far as that goes."

"Yes," says Sarelle. "Nevertheless, because of that cluster, we will as a set be both young and inexperienced."

"Assuming Patience inherits instead of someone unexpected, she's at least been brought up to expect it and accompanied her grandfather to various things since she was a child."

"That is likely to help."

"Yeah. And of course I'll carry on chipping in what I've picked up whenever I can, but it's - spotty."

She nods.

"You're kinda gloomy," Loel remarks, smiling at Sarelle.

"So I have frequently been told."

"She's got a twin, too," says Kiri conversationally. "Identical, but only in the loosest possible sense of the word."

"Yeah? What's she like?"

"Obvious blatant elay. Not remotely gloomy."

"Both of those," Sarelle agrees. "She wears all her enthusiasm on the outside. I do the opposite."

"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."

"You could hire somebody. This place is huge, if nothing else it'll get dusty."

"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 thought having servants around was weird at first when Kiri inherited. She got used to it way quicker."

"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."

"Of course I wash my clothes with magic, what else is magic for?"

—Ekador laughs.

So does Sarelle.

And Aleko.

"I hardly expected otherwise from you, but some primes have considered magic to be more of a special occasions thing."

"Nah. When I'm not busy with anything else I take walks on the bottom of my moat. Magic is too fun to save for special occasions."

"I agree completely."

"As do I," says Sarelle. "Even if it were possible for me to stop using magic all the time, I would not."

"I haven't found that many casual applications for mine, besides making pretty things out of paper, but I'm not opposed to them."

"Yeah, you got the short stick in casual applications. You do make very pretty paper things, though."

"...Impromptu paper tents for garden parties? Can you make it do colors, and if so can you use it to cheat at drawing?"

"Colour," he says. "Interesting. Something to try, certainly."

"Or, you know, not cheat at drawing, if you can draw. Can you draw?"

"Not as well as I'd like."

Eventually all of the fried rice is eaten, and primes (plus Aleko!) disperse to their various rooms for the night.