Sei recovers her composure a little bit and murmurs a little scrap of verse she just came up with: something really wistful and profound about the sharp milk teeth of kittens and how the mother cat purrs anyway. It's chock-full of the most classical filial guilt-tripping and she's quite proud of it, but she'll have to think about the characters a little bit before she bothers writing it down.

Also, TOTALLY making a list. Dispiriting Things. ITEM ONE: WHEN CHILDREN DECIDE THEY DON'T LIKE YOU EVEN THOUGH YOU GAVE THEM CANDY.

"It's not that far," she says, once she's got all that being cultured out of the way. "Just past the pond with the moss. You...don't have to come this time, certainly."