Nobody reads a mystery to get to the middle.
The mind of a child is a combination of sieves and vaults. Useless scraps of information - like math and the benefits of brushing your teeth - find themselves dumped into a pile of mangled understandings that get filtered out via a single yawn. However, important information - like the best type of cheesecake or the mention of a legitimate unsolved mystery waiting to be solved - slip easily into a steel vault kept under lock, guard, and key that can't be circumvented by any attempts at distraction.
Although she takes the 'maybe' as a good sign she'll be traversing Starfall by morning, her eventual disappointment will only be brief, replaced by a determination to force him into taking her or find a way on her own. After all, mysteries were made to be solved.
But for the moment, flower crowns will buy Kai some time, her attention shifting to the hyacinths spread across the counter. She puts her knees under her, elbows propped on the surface while she arranges the stems. Kai's approval and subsequent nickname elicit a beaming smile and a delighted giggle. "Thanks Kai-" she pauses with pinched concentration before alighting with "fry!"
Once her giggling dies down, she hops between watching him braid and doing it herself. It's not as pretty this time, and she has to fix things when she skips a stem on occasion, but it's... progress. Still, Knell frowns softly at the stems that have been broken or folded in her efforts, noticing how it's not nearly as nice as Kai's.
Although she takes the 'maybe' as a good sign she'll be traversing Starfall by morning, her eventual disappointment will only be brief, replaced by a determination to force him into taking her or find a way on her own. After all, mysteries were made to be solved.
But for the moment, flower crowns will buy Kai some time, her attention shifting to the hyacinths spread across the counter. She puts her knees under her, elbows propped on the surface while she arranges the stems. Kai's approval and subsequent nickname elicit a beaming smile and a delighted giggle. "Thanks Kai-" she pauses with pinched concentration before alighting with "fry!"
Once her giggling dies down, she hops between watching him braid and doing it herself. It's not as pretty this time, and she has to fix things when she skips a stem on occasion, but it's... progress. Still, Knell frowns softly at the stems that have been broken or folded in her efforts, noticing how it's not nearly as nice as Kai's.
Knell
They read it to get to the end.
