As much as Tilli had wanted to go bowling over the weekend, Ayan's plan to work on their literature essays turned out to be a good one. Tilli had never been particularly good at writing formal papers. Miriam had little experience writing such papers, though caught on to the format easily, and Key struggled with reading and writing in general. No one was surprised that Mat had the same assignment for his Ethite literature class. Nor were they surprised when he was the first to finish. He did, however, surprise Tilli when he asked her to read it.
"Why me?" Tilli said.
"Well, I want someone to edit it, and you seem to be a better reader than Key." He gave his sister an apologetic look. But Key, still bent over her own writing, shrugged in agreement. "And you're half-sprite, which means you learn languages quickly, and the chances you know Zhohu are pretty high."
Tilli couldn't argue with that, so she read the paper. Tilli was used to Mat excelling in every class, but this was different... effortless. She had never spoken to Mat in his native language, but he had a mastery of it she felt would impress even her polyglot mother. She returned the paper having found only two errors.
Tilli then exchanged papers with Ayan and turned to helping Key and Miriam while Mat and Ayan worked on homework for their intermediate Shugbo class. She decided to stop harassing Mat about the time he spent studying. He was clearly more comfortable studying openly, and all in all, the time they spent together was pleasant, even if it centered around schoolwork.
They took breaks each day to play lightning ball, or more accurately, to watch Ayan play lightning ball with whoever was out on the pitch. On Sunday, it was Antony and Miriam's cousin, Jo. Tilli glanced at Miriam, who she expected to return to Victoria House. Instead, Miriam sighed and seated herself with the others to watch her roommate play.
Key went shooting with Tisheet on Autun, leaving Tilli alone to work on her art, which was a good thing because she had her first major art assignment due later that week. Mr. Teershik had told her she needed to "break out of her comfort zone." She hated when teachers said things like that.
Tilli usually did landscapes--like Vasco Painter--so she settled across from her roommate's bed and drew Key's baby shawl. It took her the better part of the day, but she was almost finished by dinner time. Mat and Key were sitting with their other friends that night, but they had joined the regular table two days later.
On Sutday, Tilli woke up early and borrowed the broom from the front desk. When she returned to her room, Key was up and dressed. So Tilli explained the ritual as she swept the room, speaking the traditional mantra of sweeping away the sorrows and the mistakes of the past year to make room for new and better moments in life.
Ayan was beaming when she and Key arrived at their table for breakfast. "Are you excited about your birthday?" she asked.
Tilli set her tray on the table. "Yeah. What are we doing?"
"It's a surprise. Just meet in the common after eighth, and be prepared to walk a bit."
Mat glanced at Ayan nervously, but Key elbowed him. "It's going to be fine," she said in Zhohu.
Tilli managed to get through the day without running into her siblings, in part by working on her art project during lunch, and grabbing an apple from the cafeteria on her way to her fifth period. By the time she reached art class, her stomach was rumbling, but she fingered her necklace to keep herself calm. She knew that it would be worth it. If she got pulled into a meal with Sam and Caddie they would want to spend the whole time talking about Southern Continent politics and how she needed to pay more attention to them because sprites might be the next group of people on someone's list. It didn't sound like a pleasant birthday.
"What's that?" Tilli felt the light brush of hair as Neely, one of her classmates, leaned over the picture of Key's baby shawl she'd been working on. Neely was a third year from Providence House. She was the one other student in her art class familiar with the works of Vasco Painter, likely because she was from his home country of Oron.
"It's a baby shawl," Tilli explained, shading in the shadows in between folds of fabric. "My roommate is Thisaazhou. Apparently her dad made it for her when she was born. Mr. Teershik said to draw something you don't normally draw."
"I think he was suggesting you draw something living."
Tilli turned to her classmate. Neely's wide lips curled upward into an even wider smile. Tilli shook her head. "I can't draw people. I never get the proportions right. They always look like their heads are too big or their ears are too small. And I can't do noses at all."
Neely laughed light enough to sound like a bell. "Well, what about animals?"
Tilli shook her head again. "worse," she said. Then to change the subject, "what are you working on?"
Neely flipped open her sketchbook. The picture was a series of bustling shop fronts on a brick walk. "It's the town square where I'm from."
"You drew this from memory?" Tilli asked. This picture was the reason she knew she could never draw people. Tilli could almost see the wind in Neely's picture, tossing everyone's hair and skirts."I want to submit it to a gallery in Kporo that Mr. Tearshik told me about. They sometimes put student art in their shows. I wanted something reminiscent of Nefrale, but that would also remind me of home."
"Well, I'd say you did it." Tilli looked back at her own drawing, which felt woefully inadequate.When class ended, she rolled her drawing into her art roll and dashed to Victoria House. She waved to Key and Mat, sitting on one of the couches, and ran up to her room to stow her art supplies. When she got back down, Miriam and Ayan had joined the other two.
On their way out, Sam and Caddie finally found Tilli.
"Hey!" Sam waved, "Happy birthday! We thought we would take you to Eclipse tonight."
Caddie followed him, arms crossed over her chest. "It is your favorite," she said, sounding bored.
Tilli looked around, wishing she could hide, but knowing she couldn't. Then Ayan came to her rescue. "Oh! Hi again! We met on the train." She turned to Tilli. "Tilli, I'm so sorry, I didn't even think to make reservations for your siblings. I should have."
"Reservations?" Sam's face fell.
"Yeah, we were going out for her birthday and..." Ayan ran her hand up her other arm, looking for all the world like someone who felt really guilty about something. Tilli suspected this was one of the skills she had employed in her career as a thief.
Cadolina put a hand on Sam's shoulder. "It's okay, Sam. We should have figured she'd be going out with friends." Tilli wondered vaguely if her sister was as relieved as she was for Ayan's explanation. She looked at Tilli. "Maybe we'll catch you this weekend?"
"Uh... sure!" Tilli nodded and waved to her siblings as she walked off campus with her friends."Reservations?" Tilli said, "where are we going?" She wasn't entirely sure she wanted to eat anywhere fancy, but Ayan probably thought it was appropriate, after spending so much time with the Antaran princess.
"It's a surprise," Ayan said again. "Are you okay, Miriam?"
The small girl's face was screwed up as if she had been eating something sour. She shook her head. "I'm fine."
They walked for about twenty minutes before Ayan stopped."What is this?" Mat asked looking at the building, which was not, as Tilli had suspected, a restaurant.
Key grinned. "It's a bowling alley," she told her brother, "come on, you'll like it."
"You don't need reservations for a bowling alley!" Tilli said.
"I know." Ayan opened the door. "That's why I didn't tell your siblings where we were going."
"You... lied... to them..." Miriam said, sounding unsure of herself.
"Not technically." Ayan smiled, showing all her teeth. "I didn't make reservations for them or anyone. Now come on, Tilli's been talking about bowling all week."
