Ordinary Sisters #3
“I can read Zashian too,” Mikhi translated around a mouthful of pastry.
“I can sometimes tell what people are saying by watching their lips, so I don’t always need Mikhi to translate—pbbt to you too—I have some Zashian books, if you want to borrow them.
I have The Legend of Prince Eggplant. And something about cakes in the rain?
” Mikhi held up a hand to stop her sister talking and explained to Lill, “She’s spelling out Zashian words now, and I can’t follow it.
You’ll have to learn hand language so the two of you can jabber about books. ”
“I do mean to learn hand language!” Lill tried to sit so that both Mikhi and Atari could see him as he spoke. “I have always wanted to learn it, ever since I heard about the village of Tsuruva.”
The girls seemed to find that funny, although Atari nodded in understanding when he explained that he liked learning languages. He told her that he looked forward to seeing her books. He asked them to teach him more hand language then and there, and they were happy to oblige.
He could see that it made Vanu happy to watch his bride being friendly with his daughters. Vanu wanted them to get along, that was clear. That would have to become part of the mission, because Lill was meant to be a pleasing bride.
It was easy talking with Mikhi and Atari.
Susami, the beautiful girl his own age who was Vanu’s daughter by blood, had scarcely taken part in the conversation, although she had been watching attentively.
She seemed reserved, and Lill wondered whether it was her character, or something to do with him, whether she was less ready to accept him than her sisters.
That would have been understandable. Indeed, he would have understood if she had been hostile to him.
He wondered, as he sat chatting easily with Mikhi and Atari, whether there were something he could do to endear himself to their elder sister. With the younger girls, all it had taken was expressing an interest in their language. But maybe there was something Susami liked that he could learn about.
Or—the thought occurred to him suddenly—would Vanu not like that?
Would he be jealous? Suspicious of Lill’s motives?
His eldest daughter was very lovely, and Lill couldn’t prove that beautiful women held no special interest for him except by ignoring one when she was in front of him.
Probably the safest course would be not to try to befriend Susami.
The thought gave him an irrelevant feeling of regret.
Taking stock of his wedding day, he had to conclude that it hadn’t been a complete failure.
Vanu had seemed to enjoy himself and was obviously well disposed toward Lill now.
You could tell that from the way he was looking at Lill, the way his eyes lingered, the appreciative smile that tugged at the corners of his lips.
He wouldn’t look that way if he had been left completely unsatisfied.
There was something else in his eyes when he looked at Lill, something Lill did not recognize and could not name, though he felt that he should have been able to.
It began to grow dark, and the girls retired, after some prompting from Susami, to their own house. That left Vanu and Lill alone on the balcony again. The plasinta were all gone, and the teacups were empty.
“You like to talk,” Vanu signed.
“Yes, I—I do.”
He always had, although it had rarely served him well in the Order. Only when he’d been permitted to lecture on history to the younger boys had it been of any use. He’d enjoyed that, while he was allowed it.
“I like to read as well. I like learning about things and then talking about what I’ve learned …
” Why was he telling Vanu this, as if they were really setting out to build a life together in which his husband would need to know these things?
As if he was trying to endear himself to Vanu by revealing his real self.
He could not do that. He must not do that.
Vanu got to his feet and began gathering up the plates and cups from the table. It was even more incongruous than the thought of him cooking dinner, and it took Lill a moment to pop up and say, “Let me help.”
Vanu smiled and handed him the teapot, the only thing left to carry. Lill followed him down the stairs to a wash basin in the outdoor kitchen, where they left everything stacked. Lill wondered if he should offer to do something else.
“I’m not accustomed to many domestic tasks,” he admitted, “but now that I am—a part of your family—I will learn what needs to be done.” He was rather pleased with how that sounded. A part of Vanu’s family. Yes, that was how Vanu would think of him now.
Vanu reached out a hand and cupped the back of Lill’s head, and for a moment Lill thought he would be pulled into an embrace the way Atari had been when she snuggled up to Vanu on the balcony. But if Vanu had been thinking of doing that, he changed his mind.
“Good night,” he whispered, releasing Lill.
That seemed a clear enough signal. Perhaps, after all, the wedding day had not gone so well.
“Good night,” said Lill, and turned to go back up the stairs.