It turned out Kaylee and Ketu hadn't missed the Kporo High lightning ball game because they were uninterested, but because they were preparing for the next Hawthorne House pageant, which usually came shortly into the second quarter. They had decided to wait until Sunday evening, to make sure they didn't interfere with the game. Key had spent the previous day also helping, but after events of that evening, she wasn't sure she wanted to go anymore.
Tilli saw it on her face immediately. "You're worried about your brother, aren't you? Look, I know you care about him, but if you're always around, you're just going to start a fight. Trust me, I have two older siblings, who are always on my case. It gets kind of annoying."
Key fiddled with her keys. "Yeah, well, you and Mat are different." She didn't mention that she was less worried about Mat than she was about Tilli, who had spent the day conspiring with Miriam.
"Regardless, you deserve to spend time with other people. I'll check on Mat." This worried Key even more. "I've got to bring him a book anyway." Then Tilli told her about the conversation she'd had with Mat about the Pfieffer journals. "We've finished reading them for my Imk Literature class, so I'm going to let him borrow them."
"It'll take him a while to read." Key said this without thinking. She hadn't spoken to Tilli about Mat's language struggled since the first day of school, and she had intended to keep it that way.
"That's why I'm also bringing him this." Tilli held up a black box the size of a small dictionary, with a screen and a keyboard on it. She brandished it as Matsias might have brandished a new book or a test with a particularly good grade. "It's a translator. From Farrow Industries."
"Farrow Industries?" Key had heard the name. It was a magi-tech company that specialized in language tools.
Tilli nodded. "Mom went up there last year to do some translation work for them. I got to meet Simon Farrow himself. Absolute genius. I'm surprised he didn't go to Faraday. Anyway, it's basically a dictionary, only you can change the input and output languages." Tilli fiddled with it for a moment, and then turned the screen to Key. "Now, if I type in an Imk word like yu..." Tilli punched in the word on the keyboard. "It tells me on the screen that it means future." Though Tilli spoke in Shugbo, the word appeared on the screen in Zhohu. Tilli used a set of arrow keys to change the display, revealing a definition and several examples of the word in context.
Key was stunned. "I've never seen anything like that. And how did you know to set it Zhohu?"
"Mat asks me to edit his essays, remember? His Zhohu is impeccable." Tilli picked up the two books from her desk. "Now, I will talk to Mat, and you will got to Hawthorne House."
Key still didn't want to leave her roommate on her own, but she had no good excuse. She told herself that if Tilli and Mat were talking about Laura and Marcus Pfieffer, it would be good for both of them. "You know," she said, "you may be more like those annoying siblings than you realize."
Tilli swore in Imk, and then grinned at Key. "I knew someone would figure out my secret eventually."
Key followed Tilli down the stairs, and after one final pause, left Victoria House as her roommate turned down the hall to the boys' dorm. When she arrived at Hawthorne House, Kaylee and Ketu greeted her with pomp and flair. Kaylee wore a flower crown and Ketu had changed out of their school uniform and into a bright yellow shirt with a pair of jeans covered in colorful patches and embroidery. Key immediately thought of Ayan.
"I hope you didn't eat too much at dinner." Ketu pulled Key toward one of the low tables, which had a large plate of brownies.
"Well, that explains all the energy." Key took a seat on one of the floor cushions.
Charlie Newman settled next to her. "End of quarter explains the energy. We all have different ways of coping. I've been stress baking."
Key took a brownie. "You made these?"
"I'm in one of Mr. Titchen's cooking classes. He's just about the nicest teacher on campus, so I recommend it, if you get the chance."
"You should tell Mat. He loves to cook. He's working with you in the infirmary, right?"
Charlie nodded, but before Key could inquire after her brother, Ketu stood up at the front. "Are we ready for our pageant?" Cheers and laughter erupted from the students as they clapped their hands to turn the lights off.
This time, the pageant focused on things happening at the school. Key worried the fire would be a major part of the improvised storyline, but it barely received a mention, as the events much more heavily involved the teachers. Mrs. Theelnin made more than one appearance, as did Mrs. Putyam.
It seemed that the second quarter pageant was a way for students to blow off steam about the more frustrating and difficult parts of Faraday life. One student talked about working in the infirmary with a group of Westwood students. Another complained about being given only an hour to write an essay for their literature class. Key confessed that being able to manipulate electricity made lightning ball rather boring, and people actually laughed!
When the pageant was over, they stayed in the common, eating brownies and playing charades. By the time she left, Key had all but forgotten about her roommate. But when Key arrived back at Victoria House, she saw Matsias in the common alone. As she got nearer, she could see he was reading. Tilli's translator box rested on the couch next to him.
When Key sat down, Matsias looked up at her calmly. "How are your friends?"
"Good. I saw Charlie."
"Really?"
"Yeah, he's friends with them too." Key looked from the book in Mat's hands to the crutch leaning against the wall to the right leg of Mat's pajama pants, buttoned up along the side. "Where's your leg?"
"In my room."
"What are you reading?"
Mat turned the book to show her. "Laura Pfieffer's journal. Tilli said I should read this one first. Apparently, Marcus used really flowery language."
"I see Tilli gave you her translator box too."
"Yeah! Have you seen it?"
Key laughed. "Yeah. She showed it to me." She paused. "Did you two talk about anything else?"
"Not really, why?"
"She just... seemed off yesterday."
"Oh." Mat ran his hand over the cover of the book. "Sorry I wasn't there."
"That's all right. I was gone most of the day too."
"Shooting with Tisheet. How's that been?"
"Like a piece of home," Key admitted. A thought crossed her mind. "Maybe I should invite Tilli next week."
Mat thought for a moment. "You know, I bet she would like that."
Key tugged on his braid. "Well, don't stay up too late with the Pfieffer siblings."
She prepared to stand up when Matsias grabbed her arm. "Wait, before you go, I... wanted to ask you a favor." Key sat down again and waited for him to continue. "I've been thinking about what you said the first week. I've... let despair get the better of me." It was another moment before he asked, "Would you pray with me?"
"Of course," she told him. Then he closed his eyes and spoke the first Epaluno she had heard from him since he lost his family. As was tradition, he spoke in a chanting style, his words as much song as they were prayer.
"A hafug mi mi khakhed
bilvai u betsu no'afop tse pu ite'e
no no tsilim ni dhuhu
tsuli'o tsu numo fa
tukhi'o at peb be'uts tsu
nutsani'o tsu a khakhed milu peb mofnots
u ukhogibi fa tse fodi um ma
amom tsu fihibi."
