[Closed] The Miles Won't Phase Me

[Aremu Ediwo]

Midday, Hamis 18, 2720
The Ibutatu Estate, Isla Dzum

Aremu jerked forward. “I’ll get the other end,” he said.

Hashem shrugged, lowering the trunk from where he’d started to hoist it on his shoulder. He watched Aremu, carefully, as the Mugrobi came around, and hooked his hand and the wooden prosthetic beneath the edge of the trunk. There was a shift, and Aremu felt the weight of it settle onto him, at least in part. He inclined his head.

Between the two of them, they carried it towards the house.

Behind him, Jidha was hoisting Aremu’s trunk onto his shoulder, trailing after them. Chibugo was climbing down the ladder still; he dropped the last few feet to the bottom, glancing around, the breeze off the ocean skimming his braids. He leaned over and spat, then, onto the knee high waving grass that lined the cliff.

Aremu carried the trunk with Hashem the rest of the way into the house. The Hessean left him the last of its weight, and Aremu grunted, lowering it carefully to the floor in the midst of the living room. The furniture was dusted, kept clean; no sheets covered the room here, at least. The windows were closed, and Aremu went to one, and then the next, opening them so the cool breeze washed over the light wood furniture, crisp white curtains snapping in it. Clean cushions were set here and there on the couch and chairs, vivid floral patterns in bright colors, just a little faded from the breeze and sun.

“Flooding hot here already,” Chibugo said, stepping around Jidha as he set Aremu’s trunk down. “You need help getting it up there?” He gestured at the stairs with his chin.

Aremu shook his head. “No, adame,” he reached out.

Chibugo clasped Aremu’s hand in his, squeezing lightly. He smiled.

Hashem trotted out the back door; he spat once on the ground outside as well, making his way back to the ship.

“Ule’elana, Aremu,” Jidha said, smiling. Aremu smiled back.

Chibugo’s second hand came and met his forearm. He shook his head; he grinned. “Almost like old times.”

“I cannot thank you enough,” Aremu said, frowning.

Chibugo grinned. “What are thanks between brothers?” Hs gaze lowered to Aremu’s wrist; his eyebrows lifted, and his head tilted to the side. “I know what I owe you.” He squeezed Aremu’s hand with his. “Be well, my friend.” He glanced at the trunk, and went over, and crouched beside it, rapping lightly on the top. “And Circle bless!”

Laughing, Chibugo went.

Aremu stood at the doorway; he waved, once, exhaling. Chibugo was the last figure up the ladder, Jidha and Hashem above him, the sling which had raised and lowered the trunks already towed back onto the ship. Aremu closed the door behind himself, and went to the trunk; he undid the straps, one then the other, and opened the lid of it.

“All right,” Aremu exhaled, kneeling beside her. Something which had clenched tight inside him for two days relaxed, slowly.

Welcome, Aremu thought to say, or else make yourself at home. We’ve made it, maybe, he might have said. You’re safe, he wanted to say; you’re as safe as I can make you. You can stay here as long as like. I hope you’ll like it, here. He tried to see it from her perspective, and he found he couldn’t, really, not quite; he couldn’t imagine what this must be like for her, not the journey, not the house, not him.

“How do you feel?” Aremu asked instead, softly. He smiled at Aurelie, soft beneath the little frown wrinkling his forehead. He reached his hand to her, slowly, thinking to help her out of the trunk and into the house, standing himself for better leverage. The prosthetic on his right side he tucked into the pocket of his linen pants, so it was only a bulge, as if it were nothing more.

Outside, there was a quiet rumble as the Tsqueqachye’ki lifted away; a shadow passed over the house, and was gone.

[Aurelie Steerpike]

Hamis 18, 2720 - Midday | The Ibutatu Estate, Isla Dzum

Getting back in the trunk hadn't been a prospect Aurelie looked forward to. She knew it was necessary, of course. And it wasn't so terrible, all things considered. There was just something unpleasant about moving from a single room she left only the once to the even smaller space of the trunk.

The journey was at least brief, and not so stressful as the one before. Aurelie had grimace at the lid of it in the dark, but it was more at the principle than any real discomfort. Warm, though. Even with the holes in the sides of it, it warmed up quickly enough. She tucked herself up and listened to the voices outside, not listening for the shape of words so much as to the rhythm of them.

The knocking at the lid of the trunk, light as it had been, was unexpected. It startled a squeak out of her; Aurelie clapped a hand over her mouth, before she remembered: it didn't matter. Chibugo's voice was slightly muffled through the thickness of the trunk, and she relaxed again. She brought her hand away, smiling.

When the voices had all faded away, that was when Aurelie felt restlessness settle on her. She couldn't open the thing herself, and she didn't think she would have if she could. A muscle in her foot twitched. She bit her lip. Before too long, she heard the straps being undone, and the lid opened.

"All right," Aurelie repeated, squinting up in the sudden flood of light. It filled her sight and overwhelmed it. She blinked once, and then again, and her eyes adjusted. She sat up. Once again, everything felt very unreal. Aurelie rolled her shoulders back a few times, as if the movement of her muscles would ground her in the oddness of it all and make it feel less like a strange kind of dream. Again. She resisted the urge to pinch herself--but only just.

"Warm," she said without thinking, taking the hand Aremu offered her. When she was on her feet, she realized how that sounded. "But, er. Well, otherwise. I think. I--ah, hmm." She did withdraw her hand then, and took a moment to look around and get her bearings. To collect the scattered contents of her thoughts, as much as was ever possible.

Bright--that was her first impression. Light, of course, coming in from the windows. More than that, though. The breeze that came in too ruffled white curtains, and all of the cushions she could see were brightly-colored too. A little faded, but cheerful. Floral.

She really should say something else. Something better. Aurelie stepped carefully to the side, lacing her fingers together. Anything, she thought, would be better than her continued quiet. Do something, too--once again, anything would do. She just didn't know what to say, or do, or... The enormity of it had faded a little, once she'd adjusted to that small room in the Tsuqeqachye'ki. It struck her again now and rendered her useless.

"Would you be upset to hear..." she started speaking with her face turned away. She paused, and then turned to look at Aremu with an unsure kind of smile. "Would you be upset to hear, ah, that I hadn't really--really thought this far ahead?" Aurelie bit her lip, eyebrows raised, and all of her hair framing her face in chaos from the travel.

[Aremu Ediwo]

Midday, Hamis 18, 2720
The Ibutatu Estate, Isla Dzum

Warm, Aurelie said, and Aremu’s face went a little blank, hesitant. Of course, he thought; it must have been an uncomfortable trip. He glanced down at the chest, wondering what else he could have done, feeling a strange pinch of guilt. He let go of her hand when she pulled back, sliding his left hand into his pocket as well, so the two could look as if they matched, however briefly.

He wasn’t sure what else to ask, and she didn’t say anything else for a little while. Aremu ran his tongue over dry lips, not wanting to interrupt. He didn’t know what she was thinking about as she looked around; he tried not to think too much about it, watching her.

“No,” Aremu said with a little smile, almost hesitant. “Not upset,” he clarified, carefully. His fingers twitched in his pocket; her hair was as much a mess as it had been when she’d woken up, bits of it strewn all about the side of her head, mussed and soft.

“Well,” Aremu took a deep breath. “Look, I’ll show you the house. We’ll sort out what to do about clothing,” he didn’t look down at the pale blue uniform, though it was with something of an effort, “and anything else you need.” He smiled at her.

“When it’s a bit later – less hot,” Aremu explained, “I’d be happy to give you a tour outside, if you like. And we’ll, um… we’ll go from there. Is that all right?”

Aremu took her to the kitchen first, thinking it might ease some of the tense strain on her face. It was well-lit; the curtains there were pale yellow, now. There was a large stove, scrubbed clean, and a heavy wooden table, neatly dusted, chairs pushed in. Herbs hung in bunches from the ceiling; Aremu pushed open the door to show Aurelie the larder, with all its spices, flours, dried beans, legumes and grains. Well used pots and pans were tucked here and there, hanging from the walls or stacked on shelves, along with a variety of spoons and spatulas; several mortar and pestles stood on the counter, pushed back against the wall.

Kofi plants grew outside the window over the sink; they waved in the breeze, small green beans bobbing in the wind.

“Just the staples,” Aremu said. “I can head into town later; I’ll let Ahura know I’ve returned, and pick up something to cook for dinner.” He smiled at Aurelie.

“Um, let’s see,” Aremu glanced around, leading Aurelie back into the living room. “Niccolette’s room is down this way,” he said, gesturing down the hall with his left hand. “Nothing’s off-limits, but I usually do stay away from there. This is the library,” Aremu pushed open another room; there were three walls of shelves, all covered with thick, heavy drapes, and several chairs settled comfortably around a window. Aremu pulled back the cords on the drapes one of the shelves, revealing rows of bound books, spines gleaming.

“I thought um…” Aremu swallowed, glancing at Aurelie with a little smile. “Well, a lot of it’s – um – grimoires, but Uzoji had a collection of poetry, some history books about Mugroba, some other epics and the sort. You’re very welcome to read whatever you like.”

After the library, he would take her up the stairs in the main room. “We can…” Aremu glanced around. “Here, I think,” he went to the north side of the house, opening a door; even at this hour, the room was in shade, without too much sun spilling in. Aremu went inside and opened the window, though there was no real mustiness to the room; the bed was covered in a sheet, and the armchair as well. He took them off, and would fold them, with Aurelie’s help if she offered it; he’d learned to do it one handed, using his arm carefully, but it was never quite easy.

“Just a moment,” Aremu said. He went out into the hallway.

The room was comfortable; there was a large, four poster bed with a soft overhang of white curtains, and white curtains on the wall. There was an armoire, a small desk, a sturdy chair, and the bigger, more comfortable armchair which had been covered; the house looked out towards the cliffs, with the swell of the Tincta Basta beyond.

Aremu returned with an armful of clean sheets, just as white, and a bedspread folded over them, a light cotton blanket in vibrant swirls of blue and purple, along with two pillows. He settled them onto the bed and smiled at Aurelie. “It’s yours, as long as you want,” Aremu said, quietly, looking at her. He exhaled; he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, his right wrist and prosthetic in his pocket once more. “I’m upstairs, on the third floor; there’s a bathroom just down the hall that you’ll have to yourself.” He shifted, frowning a little.

“Niccolette might stop by when she leaves Thul Ka,” Aremu went on, “and Ahura’ll come – usually it’s every other day or so. Ah,” Aremu paused, frowning. If it makes you uncomfortable, he wanted to say, with just the two of us here – he didn’t know how to broach it. He frowned a little, looking at her.

“Is it all right?” Aremu asked, finally, not sure what else to say.

[Aurelie Steerpike]

Hamis 18, 2720 - Midday | The Ibutatu Estate, Isla Dzum

Aurelie hadn't really meant for all of that to sound so... She heard what she said as she said it, but by then it was too late to take it back and she didn't think she could clarify without making it all seem worse. Real, she reminded herself. All of this was real, and she wouldn't--she had woken up each day since to a brief moment of terror that she had dreamt all of this. A fraction of a piece of a heartbeat where she expected her eyes to open and see the bottom of Bernadetta Peterson's bunk. Just like she had for the last eleven years, since before it was even Bernie's.

The offer of a tour of the house was something she could seize on easily, and she did. Her smile brightened at the offer, and dimmed at the mention of clothing. Aremu at least didn't look at her uniform; Aurelie, however, did. She plucked at it a little self-consciously, her cheeks shifting pink. Clothing was a practicality she had woefully not accounted for, and she hadn't stopped kicking herself the whole trip thus far. She wasn't used to thinking about it--she had two sets of the uniform, and a nightgown. And that was all. Well, and the dress still carefully wrapped in packaging from the tailor, but that hardly counted. She hadn't really brought that to wear; she just couldn't bear to part with it, any more than she could bear to part with the lockets at her neck or the bracelet at her wrist. The only things she really owned that were hers.

"Yes," she breathed, relieved to have some sort of structure she could look to. "That sounds--yes. Thank you." She smiled more easily then. She took a breath and followed Aremu as he showed her around the house.

Starting, of course, with the kitchen. Aurelie wasn't so ignorant to think this was the usual place to begin; she felt her shoulders relax just looking at it. Aurelie wondered if that had been the point, too shy to confirm. If that was the case, then she was grateful; if not, then it had the same effect anyway and it hardly mattered. The curtains were the yellow of daffodils in spring--daffodils that had started to pop up on the edges of the grounds, in fact, before they left. Brought on by the relative warmth of Hamis and the steady rain. All of it was clean and neat, and clearly well-loved. She smiled to look at it. It wasn't Brunnhold's kitchen, not any of them, and it wasn't the kitchen she had spent so much of her childhood in at Briarwood. Still, it had an immediately relaxing feel to it.

She asked little questions, here and there, like what some of the things in larder were--more spices than she had ever really gotten to become familiar with at Brunnhold, certainly. She tried to keep her hands to herself, at least, and not touch anything--it wasn't her kitchen, her house. She looked up when Aremu mentioned going into town, and he was smiling at her. That made her feel less stiff, too, though no less unreal. She managed to smile back and nod.

"Oh," Aurelie said when they left the kitchen and Aremu pointed down a hall to where Niccolette's room was. She had, somehow, managed to forget that this was Niccolette's house too. Aurelie stared down that hallway and felt distinctly uncomfortable. It wouldn't be difficult to stay away from there, really. She still didn't know quite what to think about Niccolette, and she wasn't sure she ever would.

The library was a welcome distraction from contemplating the various strange and unsettling ways that her path and Niccolette's intersected. At first she was mostly looking to look, and then-- "Oh," she said again, feeling a little like that was the only syllable she knew how to say. "I can... Oh. I--"

She drifted a little to the shelves, almost reaching out to touch the spines of the one Aremu had revealed. She caught herself just in time, and kept her hands folded squarely in front of her. She could have read a little, in the lab--Niamh had even brought her a few books on embroidery, and they'd proven very helpful. But that was secretive, brief, and rare--it didn't feel quite the same as being able to read whatever she liked, in a whole room just for the purpose. A thought came to her mind, and she laughed.

"I don't even know what I would like," she confessed with a small smile and a glance back over her shoulder. "But I--well, I suppose I could, ah, find out?" She exhaled, feeling the oddest mix of confusion and wonder. And happiness, too. She even had time to do so, now.

After a moment, they left the library. She followed Aremu to a room that even now was in shade, sheets thrown over the bed and armchair both. Aremu moved to take them off, and she helped, although she felt rather certain he could have managed on his own. It was a relief to have something to do for a moment. When Aremu went out into the hallway, Aurelie looked around. There were more white curtains everywhere--on the walls and the bed both. And outside the window that Aremu had opened, she could see the cliffs and the sea beyond them. It was, she thought, a nice room.

"Ah--" Aurelie didn't know what to say to that. She felt distinctly overwhelmed; not upset, but overwhelmed. Aremu was on the third floor, he said. And he went on; a bathroom down the hall that she would have to herself. Then he frowned, adding that Niccolette may stop by--Aurelie thought then that she must not be here that often, which was a slight relief--and that Ahura came every other day. He frowned a little more, looking at her, and asked if it was all right.

Initially she thought he meant the room, or Niccolette's coming by, or even Ahura's schedule--slowly it rather sank in that the only full-time occupants of the house would be the two of them. She inhaled, thinking about it, her forehead creasing slightly. Then she exhaled, and she smiled broadly. If a little fuzzy around the edges, because this really was all rather a lot.

"O-of course. Yes. It's--more than all right. I mean, er, the... all of this is very... uhm." Aurelie bit her lip and tucked her hair behind her ears before she tried again. "Thank you, I keep saying that b-but... Really. I'm, uhm. Hmm." Her fingers traced over the bedspread. She felt a little giddy.

"You know, I haven't had a bathroom--or a b-bedroom, actually--to myself in... in eleven years. I don't know what I'll do with such luxury." She laughed, less brittle than she might have expected. The tour had helped; it still wasn't her house, but at least she felt like she knew where everything was. She left off her prodding of the linens and looked up, hopeful.

"A-actually, would you... Would it be all right if I, er, that is--I don't have to, if you think it's a bad idea, or... May I come with you, later? I, ah. I am not used to being idle. Or alone. And I just, er." She shrugged, feeling like she had overstepped. Her eyes dropped off of Aremu's face and back to the tips of her own fingers. Her face was warm, again.

[Aremu Ediwo]

Midday, Hamis 18, 2720
The Ibutatu Estate, Isla Dzum

Aremu was more than happy to name the spices for Aurelie. He showed her the whole turmeric fingers, fresh, and how they looked after being peeled, boiled and dried ones, and the powdered yellow spice made from them. When she hesitated, he offered her the roots to touch, the turmeric and the ginger too. He showed her the saffron, as well, the small yellow threads of it, all brightly colored, and took down a bunch of dried chilies to let her touch and smell them.

"These are the least strong,” Aremu explained, hoisting them back to the rafter, "“and these are the strongest,” he drew his hand along the line to the darkest chilis, and grinned at Aurelie. "The seeds of these make even me cry,” Aremu confessed, "eaten alone. Ground to powder and well-mixed, I like them.”

The library, he had thought, would be harder. At first, she had been hesitant, but she had brightened, slowly, and Aremu smiled in relief.

"I haven’t read very many of them,” he admitted, looking at the shelves, thinking back to the poetry he had white-knuckled his way through in school. "But I can try to help you sort out where to start, if you like.”

By the time they were at the room, Aremu felt he had settled into the strange certain uncertainty of it, at least somewhat. He nodded when Aurelie thanked him. "You are welcome,” Aremu said, quietly, meaning it in its own way, though he knew it was the usual Anaxi response.

"Of course,” Aremu said, when Aurelie asked about coming into town. "I wasn’t sure if you’d want to,” he thought of her on the airship, and the way she had clung to his hand in the hallway. "But I'd be glad for your company. It isn’t too long a walk – we won’t go all the way to Western Port, there’s a smaller town on the coast nearby where we can get fish and vegetables and the like.”

Aremu smiled, tentatively, still more than a little uncertain. He shifted. Normally, he thought, he would go start looking at the books, and doing the other work which would inevitably pile up in his absence; he had answered a good deal of correspondence from Thul Ka, but there was likely to be more still remaining. It would be good to check the fields as well; he knew, if he thought about it, that the weeding would have gone on in his absence, but there was something comforting in seeing it all the same.

Not used to being idle, Aurelie had said, quietly, or alone.

Aremu frowned.

"Would you like to learn how to swim?” Aremu asked, after a moment. He tried to do something like smile; he thought he managed it, after a moment. "Not, um, just now, I mean, but… while you’re… here? I’ve never taught anyone, but I could try, if you like.”

There was a moment when he thought of the currents of the Tincta Basta, too far out, and felt something clench inside him, an oddly sharp sort of fear.

Never mind, Aremu wanted to say; never mind –

"I’d stay with you,” Aremu went on, evenly. "There’s a good shallow spot in the cove below the house, where I think you should be able to learn well.” Niccolette learned there, he didn’t say; she never really liked it, he didn’t say either. He tried to imagine Aurelie lounging on one of the beach chairs in the little covered house he and Uzoji had built; he wasn’t quite sure if he could manage it.

It didn’t solve the issue of what they should do now; it didn’t solve, Aremu thought, feeling oddly tense, anything. All the same, he had asked. It had been an easier question than what do you want to do now; even asking if she should like a bath felt strange and oddly presumptuous. He found he didn’t quite want to suggest it, either; she didn’t smell bad, he felt, but he thought perhaps he shouldn’t admit to having noticed a scent at all, even if he – didn’t quite dislike it.

"If you like,” Aremu said, instead, in the end, conscious of repeating himself, again and again. He didn’t know what else to say; he didn’t know how to be anyone but himself. He knew he was not enough; he tried, all the same, because he did not know what else to do.

[Aurelie Steerpike]

Hamis 18, 2720 - Midday | The Ibutatu Estate, Isla Dzum

Aurelie sighed a small sigh of relief when Aremu said she could come with him. She wasn't sure she would be of much use, or even that it was the wisest course of action. The alternative, however, struck her as worse--sitting here alone in a house that she was welcome to be in but was not hers, to do... Nothing. She could read, she supposed, but she felt unsure of where to start and didn't know if she wanted to ask for help on that front quite yet. Shopping, at least, she understood to a degree.

"Oh, ah, good! T-the exercise might... and... Good." Aurelie smiled back when Aremu did, equally as uncertain. He shifted about a bit, and she wondered--perhaps there was something he needed to be doing? Surely she had taken up enough of his time now. Days of it. Enough that as she thought on it, she felt distinctly guilty for standing here asking for more.

Also, she rather thought she should wash eventually. Aremu hadn't said anything, she could only assume out of politeness. But this couldn't go on; one thing she had never lacked at Brunnhold was a bath, even if it wasn't particularly private. She wasn't sure how to mention this, and when he frowned she didn't know what to do. Her worries about occupying too much of his time pushed forward. Surely, if he wanted to do something else, needed to, he would say.

Except, would he? Aurelie folded her hands together again and then unfolded them, unsure. He might not. He had been, if anything, wildly considerate of her at his own expense. All of this was proof, with many small moments of proof in between. The smile didn't fall off her face but it tensed around the edges. Her eyebrows came together just a little. She put one hand in her pocket, wrapping the thread around one finger.

"To--swim? Oh! I did say I didn't know, didn't I?" Aurelie didn't know why, but that he should remember made her flustered. She remembered telling him in a letter. It just wasn't the sort of fact she thought was very important, and she was flattered he'd held on to it. He tried to smile and she did as well. They both, she thought, got somewhat to the goal. And neither all the way. "I've never thought about--oh. That does sound--yes, I think I'd. Like to learn. If you'd--that would be. Good. Sometime."

The problem, Aurelie realized rather immediately, was a similar one to the problem she found herself faced with now, and for the past few days. Swimming, to her recollection, required appropriate costume. She didn't even have something to sleep in, let alone... Oh, she really should have planned all of this better. How had she neglected something so obvious, so practical? Yes, she had been rather distraught at the time. No, she hadn't been thinking. And yet she felt keenly embarrassed.

"Do you, ah. Hmm. If you have--something to be doing...? I. Ah. I don't want to--keep you from anything. N-not that I don't want... you around I just, er... Hmm. And then later, we could, ah, go t-to town? Whenever..." Her voice drifted from her, unsure. She looked up and she tried to keep her smile bright, to balance out her astonishing ability to make it sound like she wanted Aremu to go away.

[Aremu Ediwo]

Midday, Hamis 18, 2720
The Ibutatu Estate, Isla Dzum

Aremu nodded when Aurelie mentioned she could not swim. He remembered; she had written that she had not learned how, that the fish would not have liked to share the pond with her at the house where she had grown up.

She accepted the offer, and Aremu smiled, relieved. They would, he thought, sort out a bathing costume and all the rest. Surely something could be arranged.

Aurelie asked first if he had something to be doing; she didn’t give him time to answer, but went on off as it would be - should be - yes.

I can stay, Aremu wanted to say, as he had on the ship. But it wasn’t the same. He couldn’t be with her all the time, here. He doubted that she would want that, even if he could. Besides, Aremu thought, she probably did want some time to herself.

“I should get my things settled,” Aremu said. “I’ll show you the bathroom and get you some soap and towels and the like. After,” Aremu went on, slowly, “I’ll be in the kitchen for a bit, if you want company. Before we go to the village.”

Aremu started with the soap and linens; he showed Aurelie the second floor linen closet and where to find other such things, and left her with that.

Aremu went back down to the living room; he hoisted the trunk which had carried Aurelie, and, somewhat uncertain, put it away in a storage room. Next he lifted his own trunk, balancing it on his left shoulder with the hard edge digging in, and carried it up the stairs to the third floor.

Aremu undressed, first, and undid one by one the straps that held his prosthetic to him. Lines ran across his body, and at his shoulder there was something close to a welt, though it had not broken the skin - the stain, Aremu knew, of carrying a weight he should not have. He felt it with his fingers, prodding carefully at the tenderness, until he was sure it was no more than skin deep.

He washed himself; he trimmed his hair, and cleaned the grime of the shop journey from his skin. He changed clothing again, into something cleaner, long sleeves and linen pants once more, with a loose, open neck to the shirt, not thinking to bother with that ties that would pull it shut. He left behind the dirty linens in his washing basket, and rubbed the short curls of hair hair dry with his towel.

For just a few moments, Aremu leaned in his open window, looking out over the grounds. He breathed in, slowly, the wafting scent of tsug and the sea breeze. It startled him still how much this place had come to feel like home.

He knew better, Aremu thought. His fingers tightened on the windowsill, but all the same he looked out over the low fields, still not high enough to do more than stir in the hot breeze, and from there to the grove of tsug trees, and the kofi which was little more than a shadow at their base. His gaze swept the other way, instead, down along the road and towards the pale beach visible over the edge of it and the waves beyond, the tangle of mangrove just visible in the distance.

Aremu made his way downstairs again, bare feet quiet on the steps.

In the kitchen, he set the kettle to boil. In the tea pot he set the kofi shells; they made a delicate, almost floral tea. When the kettle came to boil, he poured the water in.

Aremu sat down at the table, the cup of tea at his elbow. He took down the ledgers first, with a grunt, and then the heavy stack of papers Ahura had left next to them. He knew her well enough to know they should be in order, at least. He flipped back to the last, opened the ledger, and bent his head to the work, grateful to have this to think of and to think of nothing else.

[Aurelie Steerpike]

Hamis 18, 2720 - Midday | The Ibutatu Estate, Isla Dzum

She had been right, and the thought didn't bring her any satisfaction. It rarely did. Settled--yes, he had things to settle. Aurelie had only herself, and what she had on her person. That didn't need much settling, or rather, could only settle so much.

"Right--yes. Thank you." She didn't bring her hand out of her pocket. All the things were arranged, the soap and towels and so on, and she knew where to find them, now. Then he left her with it.

She had at least thought to bring a comb with her. That was a generous way of putting it. Aurelie always had that much, and a few other things of that nature besides, in the rather ample space in her apron pocket. First, she thought to herself firmly, first she would wash. Then after she could--well, figure out what came after. There was nothing she could do about her clothes, but she could be clean herself. That was something.

There was a strangeness to undressing in bathroom that was so unfamiliar. Like she was trespassing where she shouldn't, despite knowing this wasn't true. That Aremu had said she would have this to herself--a luxury she couldn't really comprehend. Her skin prickled, and she thought it was the grime from the journey. She takes her necklace off last of all, setting in a neat pile on top of her other things.

She washed slowly and carefully, trying not to think of anything else beyond the task. When her mind wandered, she counted the scars on her arms. When that failed, she began on the freckles. Plenty enough of those, even though it was Hamis and there had been little enough sun on her skin in months. There were a great number that never seemed to fade, no matter how much she kept them covered up. Ana's smooth, pale face, without a single freckle or mark on, swam up in Aurelie's mind. She swallowed; thirty-nine, forty, forty-one...

Aurelie could only stay in the task for so long. Then she knew she was just lingering, but not why. She was reluctant to put her uniform back on, but she didn't think to bring anything else with her. She brought the comb through her hair, drying the dripping ends with a towel. That was simple enough; she kept her hair short for just such a reason. Clean-scrubbed, even in clothes that were less so, she felt a little better. It would have been better if she could have changed, but all she brought was--

She frowned, not looking at her reflection. Her hair was neat, as neat as she could get it; she set the comb down gently after a moment of hesitation. To leave it there for herself, later. That, too, felt very presumptuous of her. Yet where else was it supposed to go?

It's when she went down the hall back to the room--her room, for now; she repeated those words in her mind over and over--that she thought she might be able to change after all. The package with the dress Ana had made of her sat unopened on the bed. On the ship, it had seemed too much to take it out, though she had clutched it to her chest and brought it with her. Aurelie untied the ribbons that kept the wrapping shut carefully, with only a slight tremble in her hands. Slowly, like she was afraid. And when she finally got them undone and the package opened, it seemed less terrible for the breeze that came in through the window and the soft rustling of white curtains.

The dress was beautiful, richer fabric than she'd had since--since her first blue uniform, since the day she failed her test. Maybe before that as well; she had been a child then, after all. A timid one, who rarely ruined her dresses--but a child all the same.

The heavy weave of the brocade overdress was too much for her to wear now, or ever. Weighty and substantial, a dark russet red with darker brown pattern that was almost floral, but more abstract. Aurelie traced the edges of it with a finger, until it blurred in front of her eyes. That wasn't what she wanted anyway. There was, in addition to the russet overdress, an under layer of lighter, plain fabric in a pale and dusty moss. She remembered Ana holding it up to her, telling her how well it matched her eyes--their father's eyes, green like spring, like--Aurelie stopped thinking about it.

Aurelie slipped it on. The underdress alone hung strange on her frame, and seemed to her too thin for propriety. But, she reminded herself, it was clean. And besides, it was all she had. The sleeves of it were so thin as to be sheer, which she tried not to think about--at least they went to her wrist. As an after thought, she put her pinafore on over it, and that made her feel a little less bare. She hadn't put her necklace back on yet; she thought to tuck it against her chest, like she always had. In the end, though, she left it out. It clinked together quietly when she moved.

By then her hair had started to dry, and she felt a little less pathetic than she had before. She remembered Aremu had said he would be in the kitchen. Aurelie hesitated, wondering if it was better if she stayed out of his way--in the end, her selfishness won. She put on her shoes and didn't get too lost on the way. Aremu was there at the table, a cup at his elbow and his head bent over--something. Papers, of some kind.

She hovered at the edge of the kitchen, looking. She knew it was probably better to take those last few steps forward. She just stood there, not wanting to interrupt, just a quiet clearing of her throat to announce her presence--to take or ignore, she wouldn't mind.

[Aremu Ediwo]

Midday, Hamis 18, 2720
The Ibutatu Estate, Isla Dzum

At some point, Aremu, thought, he must have put one of the stacks out of order. It hadn’t mattered until abruptly it had, and he was left with a table full of papers and none of them for the day in question. He put the ledger aside and rose, and bent over them, sorting with his hand and using his wrist to make his place.

His shirt sleeves kept brushing the papers and so - unthinking, his gaze still searching, Aremu folded up his right arm’s sleeve with careful fingers, and pushed up the other with his left, so it bunched and held at his elbow.

He groaned with relief when he found the papers he had needed. He set them aside, and put everything else back in order. He pulled the ledger back to himself, poured more tea, tepid now, and grimaced at the tasting of it. He bent his head back to the work, his shoulders aching. There was, he thought grimly, a great deal of it left to do.

Aremu didn’t know how long had passed until he heard a soft noise from the doorway. He looked up, blinking owlishly; it was oddly hard to focus his gaze after so much reading. For a moment, she was only a soft shape in pale green, blue and red. Aremu rubbed his tired eyes with his hand, aching with lack of sleep. His shoulders tightened with the motion, and Aremu made an inelegant sort of grunt, and straightened them back, sitting up slowly.

“Aurelie,” he said, blinking again and looking at her. He’d scarcely seen her, so of course he had never seen her in anything like - Aremu smiled, unthinkingly. He could see the lines of her slender arms, and - even with the pale blue pinafore sort of bizarrely layered over it he could tell it was a soft sort of dress. Her hair, clean and just a little damp, hung in its usual slightly uneven way around her neck, gleaming and pretty against the softer green.

“That’s a nice color,” Aremu offered, a bit dumbly. “On you - er.” He trailed off.

Abruptly he remembered he was just sitting there. He came up to his feet; there was an unpleasant sort of twinge in his back, though he managed not to grunt again. His mouth was unpleasantly dry. He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, and glanced around for the cup of tea he had poured - sometime?

Aremu took it and drank the rest in a gulp. He grimaced through the swallow, and set it back down, clearing his throat. He smiled at Aurelie, a little uncertainty. He didn’t quite mean to look at the neckline - it wasn’t low, of course, but he could just sort of see the gleam of her collarbones, and -

Aremu went very stiff. He looked down at his own arms; he shifted. His right wrist found the pocket of his pants, and tucked away; he was conscious not only of the wrist, but of the long scar which ran down the arm, still rigid against the skin, a gift from a knife the Yaris before. He reached for the sleeve with his left hand, unfolding it carefully, tugging it down without ever removing his wrist from his pocket.

Sorry, he wanted to say - I’m sorry. He didn’t; he couldn’t, quite. He knew what it was that he didn’t quite see on her chest, but saw instead the suggestion of. It wasn’t the same, he knew; he couldn’t quite figure out how to articulate how.

Aremu glanced back up from his arm, and tried another smile; he didn’t know quite how it fit, but it was easier when he gazed at her a little longer, and didn’t think too much of himself. “Do you - do you need anything? Water or - I can make some better tea.”

[Aurelie Steerpike]

Hamis 18, 2720 - Midday | The Ibutatu Estate, Isla Dzum

Somewhere between coming to stand at the edge of the kitchen and making a sound, Aurelie made room for observation. Not deliberately, really, but her eyes did it naturally. Drawn, perhaps, by the rolled-up sleeves. Aurelie realized as she looked that she had never seen Aremu do so. She hadn't seen him much at all, but for the past few days and two before--and there was hardly call for it, she supposed. But it surprised her anyway.

The scars she had noticed before were clearer to her now, in the full light of day coming in through those sunny curtains. Her eyes didn't linger--she had seen plenty enough, had plenty enough of her own, for all that she thought they were obtained rather differently. But they didn't skip over them entirely, either, curious. The burns were the most obvious, she though, in the way that burns often were, stretching across the muscles there. More of that, too, than she would have thought. He had picked her up easily enough before, but--oh, chimes. That was an unproductive line of thought.

When he did look up, he blinked, as if coming out from too long in the dark. It was a look she saw often enough, actually; professors and students alike often looked such a way, stumbling out of exams or late nights in the library. They hardly noticed Aurelie as they brushed past her in the hallways. As one wouldn't, she supposed. It made no more sense to see her than it would to always notice a fixture on the wall, a side table that was always in the hall, or--

No, she didn't need to think on that anymore. Aremu's eyes focused eventually anyway, and they didn't slide past her but settled on her instead. He said her name and smiled; Aurelie smiled back on reflex. She was going to say something, she was sure of it, even if just a mumbled "hello", when he spoke again.

"Ana picked it out, or--I mean, she did pick it out, but this is just. Well there's another piece that goes over it, but I thought, ah. The rest is too--well that's why I kept the pinafore I suppose, but they d-don't really uhm. Match, quite. I suppose it doesn't really matter, it just. Er. Hmm." It was a nice color, she thought, and Ana had said it looked well on her. So that was fine, but there was something about it coming out of Aremu's mouth that was different than when Ana had expressed the same sentiment. Perhaps just the awkward way it was delivered, stuttering in the middle and sort of trailing off at the end. Whatever the reason, she had been flattered and shy when Ana said it. She had not, however, turned to quite the shade of red she knew she was turning now.

Aremu came to stand rather abruptly, with Aurelie still in the middle of trying to gather her wits about her. No, it really wasn't the same at all, and she didn't know if it was just the delivery. It wasn't even--it was green, and she was Anaxi as the day was long. Aurelie had always assumed that Brunnhold's uniforms were green precisely because it was so flattering against the typical coloring. So that this green looked well on her had very little to do with her personally. Still.

"Er. Bells and chimes. T-thank you, ah." She tried to look him in the eye, to be polite and to get her bearings, but his shirt collar was undone and that didn't seem to help. She looked down, abruptly, in time for Aremu's posture to stiffen and for him to tuck his right wrist back into his pocket.

Aurelie had never gotten so clear a look, she thought, at the right arm. That was scarred as well, heavily--like one might expect, for injury. There was too a stiffer scar that ran down the length of it; as he pulled the sleeve down Aurelie looked away. She wanted to say that it didn't bother her--but she wasn't sure that was the problem, and she didn't want to draw attention to her own looking.

She was curious though. Not curious enough to ask--or rather, her curiosity didn't outweigh her desire to not intrude. There were some people who wanted you to ask, who wanted tell--and some who did not. She had known a few of the former; things happened in Brunnhold, to those laboring there. And things happened outside it, too--to those who had been children of the factories, first. Some of them it had been easy to ask.

Some didn't even wait for a question; one woman she had worked with in her younger years had lost two fingers to a machine in the Dives before she was brought to Brunnhold later in her life. She had told Aurelie the story over and over. And still another had a foot removed because, Aurelie learned, of a blood rot they could do nothing more about. She hadn't volunteered, quite, but asked Aurelie quiet once if she wanted to know. Aurelie had felt so ashamed she had always been careful after.

The ones who wanted you to ask, Aurelie found, were not often also the ones who would so carefully hide such a thing away, in a pocket and with a sleeve. Aurelie thought of the burn that stretched across her chest, just below the neckline of the green under-dress, that she tried so hard to keep out of sight. And that wasn't the same, at least she didn't think so. Somehow, she just didn't think it was comparable at all. She kept her hands away from her own collarbones, though it did ghost over the mark on her upper arm, almost visible through the thinner material of the sleeve.

Aurelie found his face then, and eventually he smiled. Uneasy at first, like he hadn't wanted to do it, but it bore out after a while. She didn't think on it any more. "Oh, please. You don't have to trouble yourself--you're in the middle of something. I could... Oh. Hmm." Aurelie rubbed the back of her neck, self-conscious. "I suppose I can't do it m-myself, really. Tea, I mean. Hmm."