would you care to sit with me?

[patration]

While I was never the most avid of tea drinkers, I couldn't help but find it interesting to see that the beverage had lasted so well, over the years. Every morning, those who stepped into the kitchen seemed to mostly request any one of four beverages: coffee, milk, juice, or tea. Their background didn't seem to matter, their cultures were often as

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[submitwithwill]

The masses of people in the kitchen at mealtime was still a bit much for me, so I made sure to get what little I required for a mid-day snack before heading up to the magical bookshelf. It was a trying process, to find volumes that adequately satisfied my curiosity, but I was slowly finding some that served to pique my interest, religious texts, some historical tomes on what was called the Renaissance that were fascinating to me.

Cradling a crust of bread and some cheese wrapped in a towel, I headed into the so-called "rec-room" to see what the bookcase would gift me with today and smiled when I saw a familiar face, seated with a steaming pot of something. "Bonne journée, Messire. Good day. How are you?"

[patration]

If one wanted to ask me what the most common mode of dress was on the island, I would have had a difficult time describing it. If one wanted to ask me which specific type of English accent was the most prevalent, I would have fallen short. But beyond all that people held around themselves on the surface, there was something to be said for mannerisms, for the simple way a person might carry herself, and in that, I would have pointed to Phedre as an example of someone who fell outside of the norms. Regardless of what she wore, ate, or indeed how she spent her time at all, something about her spoke in the same way the women at court did. More intelligent than any man might take her for, even when idle.

I smiled, of course. One never looked upon a woman like that without offering her a proper smile, soon followed by a bow of my head.

"Xiao jie," I replied, deciding that her native language deserved some of my own. "I am well, thank you. And you? Will you join me for tea?"

[submitwithwill]

"Xiao jie." I repeated the phrase, the syllables unfamiliar on my tongue, but familiar in my ears as I took a seat across from him. It was, if not actually, an offshoot of the language of Ch'in, which I'd heard in searalio and it fascinated me.

"Thank you and I will. Would you like some of the bread and cheese I've brought? I have plenty." I regarded my companion with respect and a small measure of affection, he carried himself well and there was something about him that spoke to me. Perhaps a curiosity, perhaps an open politeness, but whatever it was that initially drew me to Zhuge, it made me glad for the opportunity to speak with him when I wasn't in a state of shock.

[patration]

"You say the words well," I smiled broadly, feathered fan resting against the palm of my hand with a simple motion as I fanned myself. The Compound was cool, as always, the air almost making one uneasy with how perfect the temperature was, abnormal. I knew that there were mechanisms responsible for the consistency of the temperature, but a glance at books which explained their structure in the past hadn't helped me very much in learning how to build any of my own, and thus it had been a venture abandoned for the time being. "But do you want to call me... young lady? I can maybe accept the words as compliment."

Glancing down at the bundle she'd brought along, I nodded in appreciation. "I would love to, ah, break bread with you. We do not have this bread or cheese in my country."