For Friendship?

[Kender Bard]

~No, mom~ Harmony replied. She didn't wince, but she had sounded a bit strained.

Though her mother didn't actually say anything she could feel a hovering presence against her mind - mental silence of a sort. Then it was gone. Evidently Filly had decided not to question her daughter further and Harmony let out a sigh of relief at that.

"C'mon," she told Coral and headed towards her room. "Thank you for being there for me, Coral, and I'm sorry I got you in hurt."

[Northen Light36]

"It's okay," Coral told Harmony with a smile. "At least your mum will get the stamp back and Ross will get into trouble, not us." She reached out to take Harmony's hand. "From now on it's just you and me, until you're strong enough to take us to other places, right? No one here is good enough to be our friends anyway. They're all... evil."

[Kender Bard]

Harmony considered that. Evil. She wasn't sure, actually. Perhaps she should ask Nagi's grandmother sometime if that was true. But for now, it seemed adequate. "Aye," she agreed. "You'll like all my other friends. In Sensatia, Libre's..." She trailed off with a small blush and smile. "Perfect. And in Talen'sul, Lady Teardrop Calder is so very sweet. And there's a common boy named Spice and he and his entire family are so much fun. I'd like very much to meet your friends in Ilyamen too. Could you tell me more about them?"

[Northen Light36]

"Okay," Coral agrees, brightening as she thinks about her old friends. "Well there was Austin and Susan, and Kay and Mitch. And Dodger. That was his nickname, but no one used his real name. I don't even know it. And there was Mat, he was more my Daddy's friend, but he taught me how to punch someone who hurt me. And Echo used to give me sweetmeats after my daddy died and let me play with her little babies." Coral flops down on the bed and leans back against it, closing her eyes. "And there was Kit, but I didn't see her often really. I think she went other places a lot... With her family or something. She was grown up like Mat and Echo, but she didn't act like it."

[Kender Bard]

Harmony thought of Locket. "Grown ups who don't act like it are fun," she muses. "You had a lot of friends there."

Harmony sat on her bed as well and considered it. "It must have been nice," she mused, wistful. "I guess I've gotten a lot of friends now that I think about it, but we're all spread apart." Talen'sul had come closest to showing her what a group of friends would be like. It had been blissful.

[Northen Light36]

"It was nice," Coral replied softly, and more then a little bit sadly. "I miss my friends a lot, even though having you for a friend helps." She sighes wistfully. "They all looked after me really well when Daddy died so I was sad, but not really sad. And they knew all sorts of places in Ilyamen to explore, so sometimes we'd play tricks on people and then hide. Nothing mean, like Ross did today. Just silly things like pouring water on a guard who was sleeping instead of working."

[Kender Bard]

Harmony smiled at that. She tried her best to imagine it as well though what came to mind was vague at best. "There weren't a lot of kids in Acoia," she confided in Coral. "Though the ones that were there were nice. Nobody was mean to each other. I mean there were teasings and things, but nothing like this."

Filly was short in returning. Ross's father had been most accommodating. Seal in hand, she promptly returned it to Lucifer's study and then came to Harmony's room, arms crossed. "Coral, I'd like to speak with my daughter alone for a moment please."

Harmony swallowed.

[Northen Light36]

Coral blinks then slowly gets up. Giving Harmony an apologetic look, she leaves the room, then hovers near the closed door to listen in.

[Kender Bard]

Filly leaned back against the wall of her daughter's room, arms crossed. "You sounded strained, Harmony," Filly stated. "Why?"

Harmony kept her eyes on the floor. "I had to do some teleporting to get the seal. I didn't want to get caught."

"Which begs the question why you didn't just come get an adult to help you," Filly said firmly, frowning.

Harmony was silent and her guilt lay against her like a heavy cloak.

"You're not telling me the whole truth, Harmony."

Harmony bowed her head and sniffled as she started to cry a little. "I'm sorry, Mom. I didn't want you to yell at us!"

Filly sighed. Well, she was angry, but she wasn't about to scream at her distraught daughter. "Tell me the real story now," she ordered firmly but softly.

Harmony quietly and tearfully told the story properly now.

"Oh Harmony," Filly sighed. "You know I can't let this go. Not only did you steal from the king but you lied to me about it too. And Coral did as well."

"Don't yell at her," Harmony pleaded. "She was just trying to help me from getting in trouble."

"I won't," Filly promised. She decided to deal with the girl first. ~Coral I know the truth. I'm afraid I'm going to have to forbid you and my daughter from playing with one another for a week for lying to me like that and helping her to steal.~

[Northen Light36]

Coral sniffled at that and dashed off, running out of the palace. A whole week, just for telling a little lie. No one at home ever made a fuss over the big stuff. It wasn't fair. They'd been tricked and now she was going to be all alone.

She hated Khelek. Everyone was mean here. And it was cold, and misrable and... "I want to go home..." she said out loud. And, like bad ideas tend to do when you're utterly unhappy, suddenly she could think of nothing else. Her mind began to form impossible, unrealistic plans that seemed perfect to the little girl. She'd go to Talen'sul, that was close. Then there'd be some farmer or woodcutter travelling to Ilyamen and she'd ride with him all the way home. And she'd never, ever come back here again.

Slipping into the temple, she took a sack, some bread and some smoked meat from the kitchen, then she ran to her bed to stuff her clothes and a blanket into the sack before going to the temple library and stealing a map. Now satisfied she had everything she needed, Coral crept back out of the temple and started walking away, heading in what she hoped was the way to Talen'sul.

[Kender Bard]

Filly turned her attention back to her daughter after delivering the news. "You and Coral are not to see each other for a week," she informed Harmony, who flinched and began to cry a little at that. "That's just her punishment, and part of yours. You're also forbidden from leaving the palace for two weeks without escort unless it's to attend lessons. I'm very disappointed in you, Harmony. I thought you knew better than this."

Harmony cried louder. She didn't really have anything to say to that, except to weep out, "I hate you! They made me do it and now I'm in trouble!"

Filly just shook her head. "Nobody made you do anything, Harmony, you chose to do the wrong thing instead of getting an adult." As Harmony continued to simply cry, she shut the door and headed back to her work. She wished that Schuldig was here, not that the man likely would have wanted to get his hands into this mess. Harmony would learn her lesson, at least, and hopefully Coral would take away a good lesson from this as well.