The best part about Mr. Depping agreeing to Ayan's attempt at making a quilt was that she didn't have to worry any more about writing to Leo. She had found lots of ways to procrastinate--lightning ball, quarter exams, homework. But now that she was channeling that energy into the quilt, she no longer felt guilty about not responding to her brother's letter.
On Nortday evening, Key joined her to work on sewing projects together. "I'm a little worried Mat's going to figure it out," she said as she settled onto Ayan's bed.
"That you're making a baby shawl for him?"
"I just don't want to upset him, you know? He's going to think I'm avoiding him."
"Well, you are avoiding him," Ayan pointed out as she gathered pieces she had cut out earlier. She had used pins to hold together all the pieces of each individual block for her quilt, and now needed to sew them together.
"I mean really avoiding him."
Ayan arranged the pieces of the first block on her desk. "Just tell him you're using my sewing machine. He's seemed really supportive of you sewing so far." Mat had praised Key on every project she completed for Mr. Depping's class--from the simple ones, like curtains, to the clothes she had made for the quarter term. He had reason to be proud. Key had made a lot of progress in such a short time. Ayan watched as the other girl deftly moved her needle in and out of the fabric draped across her lap, finishing a cluster of four purple roses.
"Well, Miriam's downstairs with him right now. I think they're working on history homework. I'll have to thank her later for distracting him for me."
Ayan lowered the pressor foot onto to triangles and paused. "I don't know if it's a good thing to have her distracting him."
"What do you mean?"
"I think she and Tilli may be up to something." She explained the strange conversation she'd had with the other girls about picking locks.
Key sighed. "You all promised me you wouldn't do anything."
"I'm not. I think Miriam is. She's been disappearing a lot. We usually spend our break together, but lately she keeps running off. And on the weekends, she leaves before I get up and doesn't come back in until after lunch. On Sunday, she came in with a box that she put under her bed." Ayan glanced around as if to make sure her roommate wasn't hiding somewhere. "I tried to look inside, but she's got an anti-theft truth ward on it. When I tried to touch it, my hand just passed through."
Key opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, Miriam walked through the door. There was silence for a moment. Then Key asked, "finished studying?"
"With history," Miriam answered. She settled at her desk and pulled out a book. "I've got other stuff to work on now."
"So you don't need Mat anymore?"
"I think he more needed me."
"Well, if it was history, maybe he did."
Miriam turned toward Key and eyed her suspiciously. Ayan tried to focus her attention on piecing together her first quilt block. She stitched the two triangles together and when she lifted her foot off the pedal, Miriam said to Key. "I've been helping Mat with history homework all year. Why is that now you suddenly don't think he needs my help?"
Key huffed. "Didn't I say he did?"
"It was only a half-truth."
Key returned to her embroidery. "We just started talking about the Pelan. Mat knows a lot about them already. Our family has interacted with lots of Pelan people. They're our sister culture."
Miriam spoke slowly and deliberately. "Still only a half-truth."
Considering the Thisaazhou and the Pelan were sister cultures, Ayan couldn't figure out why Key's statement sounded disingenuine unless Miriam could sense Key's suspicions in her words. She could feel the tension in the air, like a thread pulled too taught and ready to snap. So she cut it. "What's in the box?"
Miriam turned to her with a surprised look on her face and Ayan elaborated. "I saw you bring it in on Sunday. And you're obviously hiding it. Why?"
Miriam dropped her focus on Key. She sighed, then got on her knees and pulled the box out from under the bed. She opened it and handed part of the contents to Ayan. This time, it did not pass through her fingers.
Ayan stared at the item in her hand. "Plates?"
"I wanted it to be surprise," Miriam said. "I thought it would be fun to have a nice dinner before we all left. I mean, every dinner is nice, but... I wanted to do something nice for you... for being my friends."
"You're planning to make us dinner?"
Miriam took the plate back from Miriam and returned it to the box. "I thought it would be like... an early Messengers Day celebration. I got help from Tilli's brother--he helped me find the plates--and Mat's friend Charlie. He said I could use the Westwood kitchen to cook. But they both said Messengers Day isn't that big a holiday on the Southern Continent."
"It's not," Ayan and Key said together. Ayan looked over her shoulder and grinned.
"It sounds like fun, anyway," Key assured Miriam, "and I love Messengers Day."
Suddenly, there was a shout from the hall. Three heads snapped toward the door. Miriam, who was closest, jumped up and opened it. Ayan could hear other students yelling and whooping as they ran down the hall. "What's going on?" she called out to someone.
"Look outside!" another student shouted.
Ayan stood and pulled back the curtain on the window. She was greeted by a sight she had never seen in Antarand. Fat white flakes fell from the sky, quickly covering the grass. She switched off her sewing machine and grabbed her coat.
"What is it?" asked Key.
"It's snowing!"
