"Really?" Aurana's excitement only increased.

"Yes." Janius smiled. "We had some more discussions this morning. I'm sorry for leaving you in suspense last night, I could hardly think with everything that had gone on that day. Anyway, the plan is not especially sophisticated, no tricks, we just need to do two things." Janius looked around the room. "Do you mind if we sit?"

Aurana nodded quickly. "Sure."

She practically darted around, drawing out seating for the group. Harald silently helped too. It was not exactly a lounge, but there were some chairs and stools tucked away.

Janius explained as they moved the furniture around. "Now, by the end of this, we want to make mother and father realise that keeping you trapped isn't doing you any good." Janius clasped his hands together and pointed them at Aurana. "I want to talk to them, for better or worst, but I first would like to know whether you have tried talking to them yourself before."

After a swallow, Aurana's eyes wandered. Her voice lowered. "Well...yes, I suppose. Every few months or so."

"How do you fare?" Janius asked.

Aurana sighed. "They didn't listen to me. I tell them it's unfair, all the other children get to go out. Father says it's dangerous. I tell him I don't care, I'm going mad in here. He tells me I don't know anything, then starts shouting. Then I get scared and go back to my room." She sat on her bed and held her fingers, looking down at them with a frown. "I don't like arguing with him."

Apart from Harald, they were all seated now, either on a chair or the bed. The conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door. Jatinha spoke on the outside. "You called for me, my Lady?"

Rhazii's ears twitched and his eyes lit up. He watched the door.

"Come in, Jatinha," Harald said. "We have guests."

The door opened and Jatinha entered with her usual withdrawn posture. However, she and Rhazii exchanged smiles where they she thought she could get away with it.

Harald provided instructions, noticing Aurana's anxious silence. "Tea for our guests, if you would."

Jatinha nodded and scurried away.

[hr]
Pircalmo's method of boiling water appeared to simply be heating the kettle by magic. It began to sigh and steam, but they could still talk over it.

Lunise looked thoughtfully at a window. "Oh, hmm...twenty-five years, if I remember correctly." She gave Meesei a sideways look. "Father had friends that tutored children and young adults at the time. Being family friends, they were patient enough with me. They even managed to grant me my full general education. Literature, mathematics, geography, writing. The rudiments, as it were. Being knowledgeable, they could answer a great many deep questions on their expertise as well, though things of a magical nature I reserved for mother's visits."

Pircalmo approached and poured hot water into a prepared tea pot. The gentle sound of the hot water was relaxing after the rumbling of the water boiling.

"They might have dragged me into research and discovery, too, though I was far too swept up by the early political movement of the Thalmor by the end of it." Lunise stared at the steam wafting out from the teapot's spout.

"Oh, you were never going to be a scholar like me, Lunise," Pircalmo said. He took a seat opposite the pair. "You were not the type to sit down and read and write for most of your days. You couldn't sit still for that long. If you weren't going to become a justicar, you would have become a gladiator or something."

Lunise grinned and stifled a laugh, before closing her smiling mouth. "You have no idea how much paperwork I have, do you, father?"

"Oh pish and posh. What I meant was you were always going to go out and do something more tangible and important. It's your mother in you. It's your nature to either change the world or else itch incessantly."

Pausing, Lunise's smile faded. Her eyes met her fathers. "Have you heard anything from her?"

Pircalmo was frowning as well. He turned his eyes to the tea and shook his head.