open post.

[recreatable]

Comments

[recreatable]

No? I am but your humble servant, ma reine.

[elsecall]

Don't you think it sets a dangerous precedent if I command how someone speaks?

[recreatable]

Then I guess you have no choice but to tolerate my charming self-deprecation for years to come.

[elsecall]

[ Years. Maybe the word, plural, feels less daunting to someone so long-lived. ]

And once the monarchy is abolished?

[recreatable]

Guess I'll have to get another job.

[elsecall]

[ Imagining it, she feels a pang of something. Sadness? ]

...Me, as well.

[ Maybe she'll simply go back to scholarship. That could be nice. ]

[recreatable]

Get good enough at the piano, and maybe I'll let you join my band.

[ Just teasing, of course. Obviously, Jasnah has a greater future than that. ]

[elsecall]

And that would leave you to play what, exactly?

[ Even in this hypothetical, she's disinclined to deprive him of the piano. ]

[recreatable]

Hey, I told you I always wanted to duet.

[elsecall]

[ A duet, then. ]

Alright. A duet, then. Something to look forward to.

[ When wars are won and crowns are set aside and — perhaps most challenging of all — she can at adequately keep up with him at the keys. ]

[recreatable]

J'ai hâte.

[elsecall]

[ A fine little daydream. Safe enough, maybe, to indulge in even as the fate of the planet remains uncertain. ]

Hmm. Shall I guess?

[ One moment while she reviews her notes. J'ai is I have. So he has what...? Hope? Agreement? Doubts? ]

[recreatable]

"I can't wait."

[elsecall]

[ ...Doesn't follow the grammar rules she's learned thus far. Annoying. Must be idiomatic. Still, she makes a note. ]

It's your responsibility to let me know when my skills are up to snuff.

[recreatable]

As the queen commands.

You're doing very well. Improving every lesson.

[elsecall]

Finally figuring out the sheet music has helped tremendously.

[ She'll never be a play-it-by-ear pianist. But she's got the makings of an excellent sight-reader. ]

[recreatable]

Have you come up with an alternative to 'Every Good Boy Does Fine' yet?

[elsecall]

It's currently a tie between 'Every Good Book Deserves Footnotes' and 'Enthusiasm Grows Best During Failure.'

[ She's long since refused Even Geniuses Break During Fatigue. ]

[recreatable]

Someone's been doing their homework.

[elsecall]

As much as someone can without a piano at hand.

[recreatable]

Maybe if you're lucky you'll be able to commission someone to recreate one. Then you could have one of your own.

[elsecall]

Such a someone would need access to yours, first.

[recreatable]

Right, and I'm notoriously stingy and unhelpful.

[elsecall]

I simply assumed you wouldn't want an artifabrian getting their fingers into your possessions.

[recreatable]

[ Okay, context clues suggest an artifabrian is some sort of artificer— ]

I'm not the biggest fan of other people touching my piano.

[ Notably, he takes no issue with Jasnah's fingers all over the keys. ]

But it's a small price to pay to make more of them, no? I'm not so selfish that I'd keep it all for myself.