“It’s still warm.”Nelith smiled.
“My hands run warm.”
Nelith nodded.“Right.That helps you make things malleable.”
Keska nodded.“Ava is going for secondary testing, and I wonder if I should go as well.I have a physical manifestation and don’t know if I want it in my classification.”
“What is it, Keska?”
Keska leaned in and whispered the detail.
Nelith smiled in delight.“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“Will you show it off at the party?”Nelith smiled.
“Um, really?”
“Really.You will be among family.No safer place to be.”
“You haven’t eaten a pancake made by Kessie.That is the least safe place to be.”
Nelith grinned but kept the toy in her hands as it slowly continued morphing from one manifestation of Dmitri to the others.
They walked back upstairs to where the tea party was still underway, and Dmitri was explaining Erradian food to Kessie.Nigel was lying in the grass, and Salat and Caska were talking about assassination legalities while Ava and Khytten were talking about college funds and travel funds.There might be bio bankers out there, but Ava lived in the world of finances, and she saw the littlest flutter and turned it into cash.Bankers wished she were on their payroll.
Nelith waited until Dmitri stopped talking, and then she showed him the toy.He stared at it, and she held it for him.He gasped and grinned as it went through his manifestations.He looked to Keska.“You made this?”
She nodded.
Nelith bragged, “While we were talking.She made the figures with her fingertips and then connected them with this mechanism that lets one open into another.I love it.”
“I am sorry that the bear had to be on his hind legs, but he wouldn’t fit otherwise.”Keska bit her lip.
Caska sighed.“She overthinks the figures.She had performance fixation and keeps agonizing over what she makes for friends or family.”
Keska snorted.“Sure.Give away my secrets.”
Caska smiled and walked over to hug her.“You are an open book, Kes.”
“I know, but not everybody needs to know.”
Kessie walked over and hugged her.“It’s okay.We all have a thing.”
Sorooth said, “We are staying at the embassy for now, but I don’t know if you know places around the academy.We need something close to the international school.”
Keska paused.“I...know a place.”
Kessie smiled.“Is it near the school?”
“Yes.And near a playground.Well, it has a playground in the backyard.”
Ava laughed.“Oh, so that was why you bought that place.”
Keska blushed.
Sorooth said, “What place?”
