Oh, you’ve done it now, Kay. Kire looked up at him too, eyes wide. Great. Add Envy to the list of people who will have a bone to pick with you, then. “I…uh…well…” She stammered, trying to find a way to explain that wouldn’t reflect badly on him. “Don’t be too upset at him. He does have a point. And he didn’t do the whole ‘I forbid you’ kind of speech, not really. Honest. He just said that—that I had better be sure about how I feel about you before picking at that thread and disrupting your life. Something like that.”

Ruli pursed his lips and frowned. To be sure about how she felt. And, months back, she'd come to his world, tempted to knock on his door, only to leave before doing so. Then, today, thinking she would die, her near-last thought...

"So you've thought this over alot, then." Ruli realized. "Six months, and you're still, I mean. Somehow you haven't lost interest." Ruli said, more toying with his bread than eating it.

Kire sighed. “No,” she said; while Ruli toyed with the bread, she was still eating. “No, I haven’t. But,” she sighed again, stuffing a larger piece of bread into her mouth, taking her time with it. “But, to be clear, I’m not expecting anything. And I have two or three centuries left to get over it, anyway,” she joked, though hearing it out loud only made it sound rather sad. “I know you don’t understand it. Would you rather I stayed away?”

Ruli inhaled, then sighed, same as she did. "I don't know." He answered. "I think you're not listening to either of our requests, really. Mine or Envy's. And somehow I'm... I wouldn't go so far as to say glad, but I'm not upset by it." He admitted, still staring at his bread.

Until he stole a glance to her bed. "Its something you have to get over. So it's more than just what it was, initially. And you seem fine with that. So," Ruli shrugged. "nothing is going to happen with your arm like that." He insisted suddenly.

Kire felt that fluttering again when he said he wasn’t upset by her breaching her promises. Stop it. Still eating, she somehow missed him glancing at her bed, and when she looked back up at him, her mouth stuffed, she frowned. “Hey,” she said after gulping down the piece she had just eaten, “I wasn’t even thinking—of course not,” she said, going red again, now suddenly more self-conscious about how scarred it looked, withdrawing her right arm and partly hiding it under the table. “I’m not a total animal, I do have a little bit of self-control. I think.” She heard how defensive she sounded and admittedly found it rather silly. Kire chuckled a bit. “You have no idea how embarrassed I feel right now.”

"No." Ruli voiced. "But you're pretty red, so I have an idea." He said, amused. After a moment, he tilted his chin toward her arm. "Don't hide it under the table. Its an injury. You know I've had my share." He pointed out, trying to encourage her not to mind the arm. Or the insinuation that she was an animal. "And who am I to judge if you've had a rough few months. You're fighting a war. Frankly, had I the option and were in your shoes, I would be at your door twice a week."

Ruli picked another small bit of his bread and ate it. "You do realize Ysaryn will kill you, right? And me, for that matter?" He asked, changing the topic. "You might need to hand her her own Amrian sword to make her less violent. Ironically."

Feeling a little foolish now for trying to hide her arm, she withdrew it, setting it on the table gingerly. Kire tried not to let her imagination get ahead of her when Ruli said he would’ve come to her twice a week. When he made the comment about Ysaryn, she cringed, nodding. “Yeeah. I know. Guess I better prepare to get that matching scar.” She grinned. “I’ve been thinking of giving her one, anyway. I’m just deciding on the make of it. She might like a scimitar, with steel that has this damask pattern from forging. Really pretty, bloody difficult to replicate. I’m glad the smiths here up North can rival the ones from the Capital.”

She paused, then tilted her head. “So, speaking of Ysaryn, I know my Elvish is still rough, but that new name you gave your city sounded like you’re not happy with it. I assume there’s a good reason, or an interesting one, at least?”

She tore a big chunk and pushed the rest to Ruli, silently insisting he eat more. She sank into thoughtful silence as she listened to Ruli’s explanation, now and then flexing the fingers on her right hand. She was about to ask if he felt like going downstairs with her to see if dinner was ready when she heard footsteps approaching. Too light-footed to be Elva or Narda, or any of the attendants, and the playful knock told Kire who it was. “Come in, Etta,” Kire called. The door opened slightly, and a girl that looked about twelve years old in human terms peeked in, her golden curls framing her face. The Wyvern resemblance was in her features.

“Hullo, Kay!—oh, sorry,” she said, blushing when she saw Kire had company. Kire waved her in, standing up. “Cousin Elva said you were back and resting. She also said you must be really hungry by now. There’s dinner.” She glanced at Ruli and offered a polite curtsy. “Hullo. Are you Kay’s friend? Elva said we were having guests over today.”
“Lady Etta,” Kire said, smiling, “yes he is. This is Ruli. He and his friends would help me on my important missions whenever I go to another world.”
“Oh. Yeah, Daryll mentioned that.” She looked up, curious, at Ruli, then back at Kire, gasping when she saw the hand. “Oh! You’re hurt! What happened?”
“It’s okay, I’m doing much better, don’t worry,” Kire touched her cousin’s cheek. “It looks worse than it feels now,” she said, trying to assure her. Etta pouted, frowning up at her, then sighed, nodding.
“If you say so. Cousin Elva says you need a lot of rest, though. You’re gonna, right?”
“I have. I promise.”

“Good! You better,” Etta said firmly, her hands on her waist, before she glanced at the bread left on the table. “What’s that? I saw the cook eating something like that.”
“Flatbread. Ruli made it. He’s a good cook,” Kire put in, and grinned when she saw Etta’s eyes grow wide, looking back at him.
“Do you bake?” Etta asked, and Kire chuckled, tugging playfully at her curls.
“How about we’ll answer your questions over dinner? Would you tell them we’ll be right down, please?”
“Hey!” Etta giggled, pushing her hand away. “Okay, fine. See you then. Nice to meet you, Ruli!” She skipped to the door, then, suddenly remembering her manners, turned back to Ruli and curtsied again, before hurrying out, no doubt to hunt down her cousin Precy and tell her what had just happened.
Kire grinned, picking up the plate. “If she’s here, my other young cousin should be close by. Come on.”

“Hello, you two,” Narda called, already seated at the dining hall. There was more of the pumpkin soup they had earlier, along with mutton and beef, and more roasted vegetables. Beside her was another young girl around Etta’s age, with brown hair tied in a neat ponytail. “I was just telling Precy here that we have a friend of yours from another world staying in the manor for today. She’s quite interested.”
“Who wouldn’t?” Precy said, before getting up from her seat and curtsying at Ruli as well. “Pleasure to meet you. I’m Precy.”
“Where’s Etta? And your brother?” Kire asked, amused.
“Etta ran straight to the kitchen,” Pres replied, sitting back down beside Narda, “and my brother’s gonna be down in a bit. He and Elva were talking about you,” she added, grinning mischievously at her older cousin.
“Uh-oh. Looks like I’m due for another lecture,” Kire said, rolling her eyes.

"She'll be happy with anything." Ruli assured. "Though, I'm willing to bet she'll ask for two, so maybe anything that can be combined as a dual blade." He shrugged, holding a portion of bread and turning it idly with his fingers.
As Kire went on to say she confirm she could understand elvish, he chuckled. "I should have known you'd insist on learning." Ruli mused, grinning at her. "No, I'm not fond of it. Ysaryn was in the middle of one of her rants and called Risa an evil creature, Úvano, and Risa liked the sound of it. I would much rather continue calling it Ziad." He shrugged again. "Risa said it sounded enough like the words our neighbors use in their language, and decided, despite having absolutely no idea what it means or why Ysaryn chuckles whenever she hears it."
Ruli shook his head. "Its not a horrible name, though. The elves had decided it to be a warning. That we house something evil in our city, and she wears tight fitting dresses and could kill you with her nose."

He fell quiet when he heard footsteps, adjusting in his seat as if to make sure his posture didn't suggest anything indecent had happened. Anything except for bread. The face that peered in made Ruli pause, however, as a far too familiar face peered in. She could be Lree. Ruli realized, staring at the young girl as she swept in and curtsied. Suddenly very unsure of how to respond to a curtsy, Ruli only nodded. "Hello, Lady Etta." He greeted, watching the girl with interest. She hardly spoke like the twelve year olds of his world, and vaguely recalled mention of Kire's world and their aging.

As Kire and Etta spoke, about her injury, about his bread, and what else he could do, Ruli simply remained still, listening. He was spared from answering from Kire, though he was condemned to many future questions over dinner, he was sure. He needed to mentally prepare for that. "And you." He called after Etta when she left the room once more.

"When you're," Ruli began, then paused. "ah, nevermind." Changing his mind, Ruli moved to open the door, wandering back toward the great hall with Kire at his side.

Ruli greeted Narda with little more than a nod, his gaze shifting to the girl beside her. The other young cousin. Finally, a name that didn't begin with 'E'. "Ruli." He returned in introduction, sizing this one up. She had the critical eye that Envy often wore. She saw more than she admitted, and knew more than she spoke, this one. And a sharp tongue, Ruli realized with a smirk as Precy teased Kire about the conversation between Elva and who Ruli guessed would be Daryll.
"Like it will make a difference with you." Ruli muttered, taking a seat far from what he assumed the head of the table would be.

Kire snorted at his remark, though he was hardly wrong. She took a seat adjacent the head of the table; protocol would have dictated the place would be ceded to her, but after a couple of months of living here they had largely been loose with the rules, at least when dining amongst family. She was about to ask Narda how she was getting on when Etta came in, grinning. "I had the bread. It's tasty with the beef!" she declared, sweeping in to sit next to Precy.
Kire grinned. "Won't you spoil your appetite though?"
"Nah," Precy said with a giggle. "She's kinda like you, Kay."
"Hey!" Etta pouted for a moment, before huffing. "Okay. Maybe. But I didn't eat a lot-lot. Just a bit to taste it! Do you bake cakes, too?" she asked, turning to Ruli.
Pres grinned. "He's from another world, Et! Is cake the first thing you ask about?"
Her remark made Kire chuckle. "Yes, he does--oh. Wait." She frowned, realizing she was remembering something else. The visions. "Sorry. Got confused for a moment there."

The two girls looked curiously at her, then glanced at each other. Kire wondered what they were thinking, bracing for a question before she heard the lady of the manor enter. "I see my patients have actually obeyed my orders to rest," Elva said, grinning, "which I find surprising but nevertheless comforting. Look at that, I still have some authority left as your healer."
Narda grinned back. "There was promise of food, you see." She winked at Etta and Precy beside her, the girls giggling at that.
Elva shook her head, then turned to Kire. "I was going to check on you, but decided to let you be and see how the Ring was healing you."
"It's managing. Slow, but I feel it working," Kire replied.

"Glad to see you haven't found a way to actually break the thing," came a male voice behind her. As Elva took her seat, Daryll came in, his brown hair loose and falling to his shoulders. While none of them wore anything too lavish, some elegance and quality could still be seen in their clothes. Daryll's attire looked completely ordinary. "You're lucky you still have an arm. Or the rest of you."
"Hello to you, too, Daryll. You going to yell at me, too?"
Daryll rolled his eyes. "I would, but that never stopped you before." He gave a nod to Narda, then turned his attention to Ruli. "Rulitus, I presume?" He took his place beside Kire. "Tell me, is she as impossibly stubborn in your world as she is here in Amria?"
The girls snickered, and Kire pouted at them. "Not you too," she said.
"You kinda deserve it," Etta said, chin up.

Ruli grinned to Etta. "It goes well with everything." He chimed in, proud. But as Etta asked about cake once more, and Kire answered that he does, he whipped his gaze to her. How had she known that? He'd made no comment before, and hadn't baked in far over a year, with the exception of bread. Envy. Ruli sighed, glad for Elva's sudden appearance. There was so much of the healer disposition that reminded him of Envy. Kind and concerned, but parental and firm where necessary. Plus she smoked; which wasn't entirely uncommon, in his world, or possibly this one, but it brought familiarity, all the same.

As the last of the cousins entered, Daryll, Ruli turned his head to study this one. Instantly, Ruli liked him. Long hair, boring clothing, an air about him that said no bullshit. Of course, most of Kire's family had that sort of outlook, but Ruli supposed having to deal with Kire engrained that into them. He did, however, sneak Kire a look when Daryll said being yelled at wouldn't help.

"To be honest, I wasn't aware she had any other setting." Ruli answered. "You're Daryll, then? Your name has come up quite a bit." Ruli's eyes moved around the room, half expecting Ed to come strolling in. Then he felt uneasy. They really just ate while Ed was on the battlefield? As if this were just an every day thing? Feeling no desire to stir the pot over dinner, Ruli kept quiet on the matter, his back straight in his seat.

“It did, huh? Good things, I hope. Or she was listing off the people who nag her constantly about her safety,” Daryll said as he piled food on his own plate. Kire shook her head, starting on her own dinner.
“How’re you feeling, Nard?” Kire finally asked. Narda shrugged a shoulder.
“Better. I can go back to camp tomorrow. With you, if you’re up to it. While I’m confident Ed and your other generals can handle the captured lords, I’m sure you’re itching to go back.”
Kire nodded. “If everything’s going smoothly, Jan should be coming back soon, too. And we could—”
“Kire,” Elva put in, amused, “weren’t you the one who said no war talk at the dinner table with Etta and Precy just the other day?”
Kire clamped her mouth shut. “Right. Sorry,” she said, turning to her younger cousins.
“Aw, we don’t mind though,” Etta put in, pouting. Precy likewise had a disappointed look.
“It’ll be terribly boring, Etta,” Narda said, smiling down at the girl, “we’ll be talking about numbers a lot, and which crusty old lord is the most annoying of the lot.”
“Nard,” Kire warned, though she was smirking at the description.

So the cousins skirted talk of the recent battle. Kire asked the girls what they had been up to while she was gone, which part of the Northern towns Daryll had taken them to, which books Elva had lent them to read. Elva told them about her day; after tending to Kire and Narda, she had left the manor briefly to visit the nearby villages, a regular habit of hers as both their Lady and healer.
“I’ve been badgering Kire to let me visit this other world,” Daryll put in later, “so imagine my disappointment when I find out she took Narda, and that Ed’s been there this whole time.” Narda let out an amused snort.
“First of all, Narda wasn’t meant to come along then,” Kire put in, pointing at the giantess with a fork. “And Ed was stranded. Doesn’t count.”
“Sure. I still want to meet—Envy, right? And you, actually,” he said, turning back to Ruli. “Especially after what happened at the gate.”
“You have been throwing yourself back at your research ever since that incident,” Elva said. Daryll shrugged a shoulder.
“I never really stopped. Just—slowed down.”
Dinner was over a while later, and, to the girls’ disappointment, Kire had asked to talk to the adults without them. “I know you two are going to find someone to badger into telling you tomorrow, anyway,” Kire whispered to them with a wink after she and the others said their good-nights. “It’s Daryll, isn’t it? You know he’s a terrible liar.” The two giggled at that, not denying it. “Now get your rest, you two.”
“Bye, Ruli,” Etta said, much less formal now. Precy grinned and waved at him, too. Immediately after turning their backs on the adults the two girls started whispering rapidly in Taakalon, casting looks behind them now and then before they disappeared upstairs.

Kire sighed, watching them go, before turning back to the others. “When did they get so big,” she sighed. “Right. So. Narda, what time do you prefer going back tomorrow?”
“Early,” she stressed; Kire wrinkled her nose at that, but nodded, understanding the necessity.
“Once Jan returns, and we’ve met up with Ed, we can convene the war council for the retaking of the Capital,” Kire said. “We’re ready.”
“What will you do with the captured lords, Kay?” Elva asked, elbows on the table, fingers laced together.
“We’ll decide with the council. We have both the patriarchs and their immediate heirs, while their next-in-line for command haven’t proven themselves yet as leaders. Big chance they would be more pliable, with their sires as our hostages.”
“Mm. A year ago you wanted them all beheaded,” Narda mused.
“I know. I still want to,” Kire muttered, leaning back on her chair, looking down at her right arm as she flexed her fingers on the arm rest. “Traitorous bastards.” She exhaled noisily, then looked at Ruli. “I’ll bring you back tomorrow. Depending on how the war council goes, I will be back to get Ysaryn. She’ll have her new swords then.”

Daryll cleared his throat. “I want to be there. The council.”
The women looked at him. “Really?” Elva said, a little dubious. “Are you sure? You’ve never wanted to be involved in this sort of thing before.”
“Look. They used traitors and magic to unseat you from the Capital, cost us dearly, cost us Earnest, nearly had the girls taken hostage. I want to be there when you decide how you’ll pay them back,” he muttered, frowning at the table. “And—I want to run a few ideas by you.”
“Ideas—for the siege?” Kire said, surprise evident on her face.
Daryll nodded. “Which is partly why I wanted to talk to you,” he said, turning to Ruli. “Those wards worked so well, enough to contest Gemini blood magic. They have that on their side, and likely would have prepared for an attempt to retake the throne. We’re more than a match for their military might now, especially after the victory today, but you have to admit, it was their magic that had driven us away from the Capital in the first place.”

Ruli definitely liked Daryll. "That latter is vague, as I'm assuming everyone here nag her constantly." He dug into his dinner as Narda and Kire spoke, and then the discussion spiraled around the table. He enjoyed the fact that they had rules about battle talk around the younger girls, which was a rule they also had themselves long ago in Ziad. Why Envy's personal chambers were usually warded against sound to prevent eavesdropping, even if the children believed it was to allow Envy to sleep without hearing the entire tunnel system projecting every voice.

He was quiet, feeling oddly out of place while the family caught up on recent adventures, learnings, and visitors. This sort of close knit, sit-together-over-dinner family had been something he hadn't had in a long time, not since it had just been himself, Zeke, and a few others in the tunnels of Ziad. When they became too many to sit at one table, dinners had become more of a eat when you can, sit where you can thing. Ruli found it pleasant. Something he hadn't been aware that he missed.

"Goodnight, ladies." He grinned at the two as they departed, waving his hand before gathering his drink. Perhaps he could slip away again, allow the cousins and Narda to converse, until Kire mentioned his return to his world, and the gathering of Ysaryn. As Daryll made his evidently surprising revelation that he wanted to participate in the war council, Ruli studied him, then raised his eyebrows as the man addressed him again.
"I'm not sure if Kire mentioned, but I used blood runes, myself." Ruli admitted. "Her blood, precisely. With permission, but still. Its likely why it was able to overpower their magic, if you ask me. Whatever dormant magic runs in your blood, and is amplified by Kire's Ring." He glanced sidelong at Kire to see if she'd revealed this information to them, knowing how taboo it was. "But it was easy enough. Blood or no, even the girls would be able to perform them. Its as simple as another language."

“Blood runes? With Kire’s blood?” Elva asked, brows raised. Narda, too, looked at Kire with a frown. Daryll was the only one who didn’t look surprised at this, though he did glance at Kire before shifting his focus back to Ruli.
“Nothing’s ever as simple with blood runes and magic,” Daryll pointed out. “And languages have their own kind of power. Also, it’s one thing to cast a protection ward and a ward to keep one person in place, but what I have in mind is quite another.”
“To be fair, the gate was very powerful, and combine that with the portal siphoning off it, you’re dealing with a lot of power to contain,” Kire interjected, “whatever you might have in mind, those wards were pretty effective.”

Daryll tapped the table, thinking it over. “It’s—a little crazy.” Kire narrowed her eyes at him for a moment but held her tongue. “How big a net can those wards cast? Theoretically, can you stretch them over a whole city block?”
Kire’s lips parted. “What?”
“Say, the size of a castle, the castle grounds, and any structure within it?”
“Are—are you asking if you can put a whole ward in the middle of the Capital? Around the Palace?”
“Here me out,” Daryll said; his expression already said he knew how crazy this was, and likely would get crazier, “a ward that counters whatever magic protection they’ve put in, or cancels out whatever enchantments they’d have put in place. Your portals seem strongest around the Red Tower: you don’t get dizzy when you’re there, plus there’s the Seer’s Chamber. It seems like the Tower itself is a conduit to dormant magic, like your Ring. Put up a ward, with the Red tower closing the circuit.”
“Oh you’re right, that sounds lesscrazy the first time you said it,” Kire grumbled, though she couldn’t help but think it over. “Tell me that’s crazy,” she said to Ruli.

"Well, no, when blood is involved, nothing is uncomplicated." Ruli agreed. "But the wards are easy enough. You just have to know what instructions to put down for the magic to obey." He explained. "Blood is simply the best reagent. Not, er, that I support the Gemini and their type of magic. I like blood only for things such as protective wards. I have no fondness for the horrible things they're creating."

As Daryll went on to ask how big his wards could get, and relayed his theory, Ruli leaned forward onto the table to listen. It wasn't as simple as jotting down an alphabet, but ... it was actually genius. Ruli said so when Kire turned to him and ask. "Quite the opposite." He answered. "When Narda and Elva mentioned the Red Tower earlier, the thought crossed my mind, especially if this tower is one of the reasons they're rooting around in the Capital to begin with." He turned toward Daryll. "Magic and wards to negate whatever is inside is easy enough, but it gets complicated from there. Kire wouldn't be able to do anything unless we somehow tie her into the wards, themselves. But-" He made a face. "-having never done such a thing, so this is only speculation, I imagine any magic she would use once within would drain her quickly. You, quickly." Ruli added, realizing he'd been speaking as if Kire weren't there. "Relying on military strength alone would work, especially if you outmatch them, and perhaps only using your magic as a last resort?"

Kire made a face. “I was afraid you’d say something like that,” she said about the wards affecting her as well. “The larger the ritual or enchantment, the more elements could go wrong, right?”
Elva and Narda both groaned when Ruli stressed using her magic as a last resort. “Well, we tried telling her that last time,” Elva said, pointing at Kire’s arm. Kire frowned.

“It won’t happen again.” She was still frowning, thinking it over. “But how are we even going to place the wards around the Palace grounds? I doubt the Gemini would let us just—saunter in and lay down runes. That requires stealth and speed. I can go in and out fast, but my portals aren’t the most subtle. There’s Ruli and Ysaryn, hypothetically, but—” She cut herself off, frowning. Despite her objections, she was starting to see the benefit of it. Elva could see it as much.
“Would you need her blood for this, too?” the healer asked, concerned.
“And with regard to Kire’s point earlier,” Narda put in, interested now that they were talking about a kind of magic that would counteract others’, “Myka and the girls. They’re stealthy, light on their feet. If you tell them how to do it, they can go in and out, while our armies lay siege.”
“I suppose another hiccup would be that you’d need to know the exact layout of the center of the Capital to do it,” Daryll said. “Besides learning how to cast the magic, everyone involved would need to memorize where everything is.”

"Ysaryn and I could get in easily, and, if we managed to get even a little Gemini blood, I could make us untraceable. Hide our symbolic scent." Ruli offered. "Of course, we would need help knowing where to go. And we'd have to be incredibly careful, as any sort of magic used within would undoubtedly alert them. Ysaryn's not always the most subtle of allies, either."

He glanced to Elva, opening his mouth as he considered his answer. "Drops. Nothing more than she hasn't shed already." He looked Narda over, considering this, too. "If we get all the enchantment pieces ready before hand, and have several people carry them in, then, yeah, it would be only a matter of placing them correctly and unseen. That would be the most difficult part, at least until the Gemini realize we've done something. Then, its not being found, and preventing them from destroying what we've done."

Ruli glanced back at Kire. "It won't be easy, entirely. But if it will get you your home back, even Envy would say it'd be foolish not to try."

“Gemini blood? Kire, what about Ga—” Narda put in, and Kire put up a hand, frowning, knowing where that was going.
“We would need to ask him first,” she told the giantess firmly. “He’s been through enough.”
“But you will ask, yes? Just a few drops, he said.”
Kire sighed, thinking it over. “I’ll ask Gavin.” She paused, and a wry smile was on her lips. “Wouldn’t that be ironic? The blood of a Wyvern and a Gemini together, casting a ward to negate blood magic.” It looked like they were all open to the idea now, and she nodded, more to herself than to anyone in particular. If Elva the healer and Narda, who wasn’t particularly fond of magic, were considering this plan, then it must be a good one. “Let’s hope Ed and Jan would be similarly open-minded about it. And as for knowing where to go,” Kire said, turning to Ruli, “there’s a way to do that, isn’t there?” She didn’t know if Ruli wanted his Touch brought up here, and didn’t elaborate.

Elva looked at the two of them, remembering how Ruli had calmed Kire down earlier, but said nothing about this, getting up instead. “You all need rest, first. Healer’s orders. Especially if Narda’s returning tomorrow, and you’re bringing back Ruli to his world. Though I suppose he and Ysaryn and whoever else you’re bringing with you should be present at the war council yes? When will you be convening?”
“Two days. To gather our allies, and whatever preparations you need,” Kire said to Ruli as she got up from her seat. She turned to Daryll, grinning. “I can’t believe the scholar’s joining the war council. I don’t know if I should be proud or extremely concerned.”
“Gods, I don’t know either,” Daryll said with a huff, “a big part of me is screaming for me to just hide in the alchemy chamber rather than be anywhere near that. But I can’t sit idly by, not now.”
“I know. Alright. Tomorrow, bright and early, then.”

She walked back up the stairs towards their rooms, silent as she pondered the plan they had just talked about. She was still swinging between it sounding absolutely risky and absolutely genius when she stopped by her door. “Ruli? You were about to ask me something earlier, before dinner,” she said.

Ruli nodded, agreeing with Kire. "We've forbidden him any sort of action into any blood magic, not that he's objected in any way. It would be incredibly cruel to walk up and demand his blood, even if we explained the reasons. He's coming along nicely with the rest of his lessons, I have no objection to asking him, but you'd have to ask Envy for permission, who has taken the lad on as one of his own." Ruli informed Kire.
And, as she mentioned having a way to get the direction he needed, he only met her gaze, wondering what her family knew, how much she'd tell them, and how much they'd ask at that sly mention.

Elva, thankfully, came to the rescue. Two days. Ruli reeled a little at the short amount of time as he stood and pushed in his chair. "Two days to go back, gather what they needed, and return. He began making lists in his head; magic supplies, clothing, weapons, Ysaryn. He was quite as they walked back to their rooms, repeating and rechecking his list until he heard his name. "Mm?" He asked, glancing up.
Then he chuckled. "I wanted to ask if you'd like to go to dinner." He answered bluntly. "Not what we just had. But in Cordon or Pokos. Or even maybe I'll just cook something for you."
Ruli turned his head toward her. "Exactly how much do you and Envy discuss me? With you knowing I bake cakes, and all."

Kire blinked at him, lips parted slightly. She wasn’t expecting that. “Oh.” She looked at him. “I’d like that. I haven’t been to Pokos, we could go there. Though I wouldn’t mind seeing what else you can do in the kitchen” she added with a grin. Then she paused when he asked about the cakes, and she tilted her head up in thought. “Oh, he didn’t tell me that. As far as I remember. I just confused it with a false memory. You know those weird flashes I’ve been getting, whenever you used that Touch on me?” She looked back at him. “So was that real?”

"I ..." Ruli frowned, confused. "I didn't show you anything to do with my cooking, so no, it's not real. But it is true." He said, pausing in the hallway between their rooms. "That woman I showed you, Dara? She taught me a lot."
His eyes studied her face, wanting to know more about these false memories she was getting, and why.

He folded his arms and leaned against the doorframe, hissing g softly as his tender back muscles hit the wood. "How often do you get them?" Ruli wondered aloud. "And, if I may, what do they show you?"