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rabbithole

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Ai-Ling hates formal dinners. She hates them very much indeed. In fact, the only pleasure she usually gains from them is to try and sabotage them in as inventive a way as possible, while staying just out of actualy trouble.

This time, it's vitally important she makes a good impression on her future sister-in-law, so she's practically squirming as she dresses in her formal silks and does her hair up neatly and respectably. Then the need to do something other than what's expected gets too much and she makes a break for it. There's still an hour or so before she needs to be anywhere, so she heads straight towards the gardens, only opccasionally remembering she doesn't want to end up muddy and disshevelled.

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This, apparently, is not anywhere near the response that Sakari suspected. She blinks, stunned by the question. "What? No, of course not. She's just... huggy. Really physically affectionate."

She has the grace to look a little abashed in her grinning right after she says that, shrugging a bit. "I guess we all are. Though Pay's more likely to wrestle you than hug you."

"I can wrestle!" Ai-Ling assures her, nodding hard. "It's just that no one around here hugs much. I can learn."

Apparently 'hugging' is a trial she's willing to go through for the sake of Miki.

"Mom will tell you she's too old and feeble to wrestle," Sakari informs her future sister-in-law sadly, "about five seconds before she lands you on your butt."

She grins again, like sisters sharing secrets, though Ai-Ling's far too uncomfortable around her to really remind her of Panya yet. "She likes hugging more than fighting, though. Are you planning on visiting them?"

"Yeah, of course," Ai-Ling says. "Soon as I can get out of here, we're heading South."

"Really?" Sakari looks incredibly enthused about this, grin brightening. "When? After the wedding? Did Miki write to our parents yet?"

"Miki?" Ai-Ling replies, tilting her head. "Write? Seriously?

"I wrote to them. But it only went out yesterday."

"I know he knows how," Sakari argues with a giggle, "if only because I had to take lessons with him."

She looks like she might be refraining from hugging the girl again, hands clasped in front of her tightly. "They'll be so excited to get a letter from you. You should have seen my mom's face when she realized she couldn't come with me to meet you. She was so jealous."

"Why couldn't she come?"

Ai-Ling's genuine with the question.

"She's really not supposed to travel," Sakari explains, apparently unsurprised that Miki never mentioned this. "She was such a great warrior for so long, but... well, she says she used her body up too quick. She can still fight and walk and everything but traveling is really hard on her."

...and because Sakari insisted it wouldn't be at all helpful to the new independent and powerful image of the South if her parents escorted her everywhere.

"Oh."

Ai-Ling frowns for a second, unsure what to do with the sudden wave of pity, but she quickly grins again. "I guess we'll have to get there as quickly as possible.

"She'll love it," Sakari assures her, grinning brightly. "Mom and Dad both, they can't wait to meet you." She beams, already fond of her future sister-in-law and seeing no reason why she shouldn't consider her family already.

"You'll get to meet Panya, too. I bet you'll get along great with her."

"Miki says she's an unbearable brat," Ai-Ling says.

"So I love her already."

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