The Garden of Cute Ladies ft Avaris

Niralahi tells you, "Greetings, Avaris! If you do not mind me addressing you so informally, that is.
It seems you have quite cleverly and cunningly foiled my ingenious plan to attempt to strike up
conversation with you in a way that seemed casual and accidental, which has me both amused and mock-
miffed."

Folding your Golden Wings of Fair Eroee behind you, you swiftly dive down to the ground below.
Footbridge above a reflective pond.
The rippling sound of flowing celestial waters echoes distantly from a healing shrine of Lantra
nearby. This location is flooded with shallow, crystal clear water. Niralahi Coldwater lingers here,
her figure traced in a soothing aura of effortless serenity. She wields a luminous symbol of justice
in her left hand.
You see exits leading northeast, east, southwest, and northwest.

Descending from the skies with the peculiar, steady rhythm of his six wings beating
powerfully upon the air, Avaris alights upon the grass before the pond with surprising grace for
once of his bulk. Bowing to Niralahi in a courteous, elegant manner, the layered chorus of his voice
is apologetic, and more than a tad tinged with embarrassment. "Ah, I am very sorry, Niralahi. I
spend much time in the skies, when I am seeking perspective on matters."

Niralahi covers her mouth to hide her grin as she watches you descending from the sky, though her
eyes sparkle with amusement. She begins to wave her hand cheerfully at your apology, before seeming
to catch herself and drawing herself up haughtily. "Ah, yes, of course, you should be quite
apologetic! Hmph! I almost wondered if you heard me, or perhaps my enormous seal, coming and decided
to hide up in the air to avoid my company!" she exclaims, her voice lilting with suppressed
laughter.

Rising smoothly from his bow, the curved, layered blades of Avaris's crest glint in
the morning light as he utters a soft, pleasant laugh, the sound resonant and harmonious. "I am
wracked by guilt, good Lady, agonised unto my very soul by the inconvenience I have caused you." The
severity of his intonation is belied by the distinct note of light amusement that weaves in and out
of the sober timbre, as his antennae twitch curiously in Niralahi's direction. Politely, and fainly
puzzled, he asks, "Enormous...Seal?"

"Oh! Oh, yes, I dismissed her. I'd forgotten," Niralahi exclaims, her mask of hauteur dropping
immediately as she looks about herself and gives an affectionate, exasperated sigh. "I have a beast
that I quite adore, a large silver-furred seal named Pinnelope, but I had to send her away before
seeking you out because she kept trying to chase after the treats that were to be my pretext
for...well, seeking you out."

"I was planning to enter quite gracefully and casually, you see, and place one dainty foot upon one
end of this footbridge," Niralahi explains, waving an arm about to illustrate, "and then when you
looked up, I would say quite pleasantly and urbanely, 'Some sweets to sweeten your meditations?' and
offer you one of these."

With a rueful chuckle directed at herself, Niralahi gives a fragile lily meringue of sweet summer
fruits to you.

Niralahi Coldwater laughingly says, "I had it all planned out in my head, you see, like a set of
stage directions. But perhaps it would have just been easier to look up and call out a friendly
hello instead."

Folding his immense wings upon his back, the vast pinions form a thick, layered
cloak of gently effulgent feathers, with countless stylised, glowing eyes adorning the gilded
plumage. A number of these drift about with open curiosity, as if seeking to glimpse a sign of the
seal, while the kephera's visored visage faces slightly to one side of Niralahi. The explanation
wins a surprised, delighted laugh, the sound rich and deep as Avaris accepts the offered delicacy
carefully with the claws of one massive, gleaming hand. "Ah, you are ever so kind. No doubt I would
have been thoroughly charmed by your smooth, sophisticated air. I can see how Misericorde is
helpless before you, indeed."

Voice warm with sincere pleasure, you say, "Thank you, Niralahi. This is very kind of you - Though
you do not need a pretext to seek me out."

"What is that?" asks a twinkling chime of voices, curious, emanating not from around you, or above
you, but from within the reflective pond itself.

Niralahi gives a shrug and a helpless-looking wave of her hands in the air. "That was certainly the
plan, to thoroughly charm and amaze you! But you can see how it would have been quite ruined if my
seal had stolen the merin... Oh? What? Who is that?"

Niralahi peers over her shoulder down at the pond with puzzlement, her gills pulsing slightly more
rapidly than usual along either side of her neck. Glancing back up at you, she whispers, "Did you
hear that? Were there...voices just now?"

Avaris's antennae flick upright at the sound of the voice, the constellation of his
luminous eyes swarming towards the pool even as he turns towards it, eyes awash with brilliant motes
of light. "Ah! Little Star. It is wonderful to hear your voice. Come meet the good Lady Niralahi."
The chorus of his voice is bright and vibrant with unabashed delight as he lifts a hand, beckoning
towards the pond. To Niralahi, he says, "This is Lady Vaevaya, our wonderful ephemeral friend. She
is an excellent young lady."

Belatedly, you ask, "Ah - What is what, Little Star?"

Though the early afternoon sun glints overhead, painting the puffy clouds above with buttery shades
of white, its fierceness is not the source of the twinkling within the pond - indeed, the light is
thinner, paler, iridescent in its curious sparkling. "There were!" the chimes cry out from therein,
delightedly emphasizing the kephera's explanation. "They are me, and I am she!"

A twinkling brightness limns your surroundings as Vaevaya, the Refulgent winks into being.

Eagerly, Vaevaya, the Refulgent says, "The thing that Lady Niralahi gave to you, that she said is
sweet!" She pauses. "What is 'sweet'?"

Niralahi lets out a gasp of delight and curtseys deeply to Vaevaya, ducking her head to hide her
expression of incredulity. Standing up again, she exclaims, "An honour to meet you, Lady Vaevaya!
I've heard a little about you, so I'm delighted to hear your voice and meet you in person."

Staring unabashedly at Vaevaya with wide eyes, Niralahi involuntarily murmurs, "So pretty..." under
her breath, her expression openly dazzled by the dance of sparkling stardust and celestial energy
within Vaevaya's form.

Positively radiating a composed joy at Vaevaya's presence, Avaris holds the floral
meringue aloft upon the platter of one enormous palm, so that the sidereal being can better study
it. "This is a meringue. It is a dessert." The angle of his jaw shifts slightly as he considers the
question, his tone growing more thoughtful as he says, "Sweet is a taste. It is bright, and strong,
like light upon the tongue. There are many different kinds of sweet, and many other forms of
flavour, as well."

Dipping his head towards Niralahi in an emphatic nod of agreement, Avaris says,
"She is most beautiful, is she not?"

Drawn down from the heavens themselves, peculiar points of starlight constellate into the
coruscating form of Vaevaya, the Refulgent. Like glittering night scattered across the surface of
the open sea, she wavers upon ripples of celestial energy, shifting and flowing with stirrings in
the air. If they exist, any features that might contour the finer details of her face - or indeed a
body of any sort - lose themselves in her twinkling glow. Her nebulous shape would find a vaguely
humanoid frame in spite of it, if only one could trace lines between the brightest of her aspects.
Ephemeral and insubstantial as she is, her every step sheds sparkles of evanescing brilliance, their
stellular trails lingering in her wake, winking and then dwindling into nothing.

She is wearing:
a band of starlight spinning contracurrent to her movements, undimmed around each would-be wrist
a whirling stardust anklet pealing with gossamer music where she steps
a nebulous wreath of stars dancing above her, caught within her wayward orbit
a haloed circlet of cosmic rings revolving around her crown, casting galactic afterimages as it
circuits.

Vaevaya's coalesced form releases its shape to dance a merry swirl about Niralahi, glittering in a
cosmic river of galactic spacedust and orbiting starlight. "So are you!" she says emphatically to
her before she draws back to thoughtful, condensed sparkles. "I had a lemon cheesecake before, with
Aeldra," she wonders aloud, her voices like wind chimes caught in a delightful, summery breeze. "It
was very fun to play with. I bet that is fun to play with, too."

Scintillating fiercely, Vaevaya, the Refulgent says to you, "How very lucky for you!"

You think to yourself: "Play with? That...Hm." A faint, benign suspicion. "Can she even eat? What
mischief has Aeldra been letting her get up to?"

Scarcely letting up in her questions, Vaevaya, the Refulgent asks you, "Do you have a sweet for Lady
Niralahi as well?"

Niralahi composes herself with a start at your question, closing her mouth and rubbing a hand over
her eyes. "She is! I mean, You are!" she answers, turning her face back toward Vaevaya. "And thank
you," she adds in a softer tone, her cheeks flushing a deep azure. "That's not something I expected
to hear this month, let alone from someone so...so unique."

Niralahi Coldwater says to Vaevaya, "Well, to be fair, I was planning to take Avaris by surprise, so
he could hardly have been prepared with a sweet to give back to me."

In contrast to the effervescent, twinkling motion of Vaevaya's vibrant presence,
Avaris stands largely still, content to allow the luminous eyes of his wings to watch Niralahi and
Vaevaya speak. Lowering the point of his chin in a slight nod, he responds, "Niralahi is indeed very
pretty. I am blessed to have an abundance of beautiful women in my life, it seems." Lifting a
massive shoulder in a modest shrug, he explains, "I am not given to gifting food to others, Little
Star. It is not my way. I have given her thanks, in turn, and will no doubt find some other manner
to return her kindness."

Studying Vaevaya intently, Avaris asks, "What did you mean by playing with your
cheesecake, young Lady?"

Vaevaya sparkles contemplatively as she considers Niralahi and her words, and then your words in
turn, and then she shimmers - this time in a huff. "Oh no," she exclaims, several of her stars
twinkling in startling unison, "that will not do! You give gifts to people that you would like to
receive in kind and Lady Niralahi ~must~ receive something sweet!" She pauses - several pinpricks of
light glint in Niralahi's direction, considering - and then she floats nearer to you, gleaming
quietly and conspiratorially to you and your many eyes.

"Would you like to give her my doll for a time?" the stars ask you very, very quietly. "You made it,
after all, with your wish. Would it be sweet?"

"Oh goodness, that's quite all right," Niralahi exclaims with a chuckle, waving one hand in an
attempt to forestall Vaevaya. "In all truthfulness, I was hoping to bestow a small gift of sweet
pastry upon him in hopes of receiving sweet conversation and possibly even compliments in return.
Particularly if the conversation happened to turn toward the theater," she adds, her lips twitching
briefly upward in a faint smirk. "And that, he has already done in some measure, I assure you, Lady
Vaevaya."

The broad strokes of sanguine that form Avaris's four antennae bend ever so
slightly downwards at Vaevaya's huffing, though he does not comment immediately. Instead, with a
wink from one of the larger, central eyes of his uppermost wing towards Niralahi, the paladin lifts
it to form a screen between the merian woman and themselves, ostensibly granting some degree of
privacy for their conspiring. Lowering his voices to a murmur, and adopting a demeanour that is
befitting of the gravity of Vaevaya's query, he emits a low, contemplative sound, which shivers in
the air for a time before fading. "First, Little Star, that is not necessarily the case, with gifts.
You give what you think the other person would like, not what you would want to receive in turn."
Lifting a clawed fingertip to tap thoughtfully at his chin, he muses, "That ~would~ be sweet, albeit
in a different form. I think that is a very fine idea, indeed - Though it is your doll, Little Star,
and so you may do with is as you wish." The deep murmur warms with open approval as he says, "It is
very mannerly of you to ask, however."

The stars of Vaevaya peek furtively over the veil that your wing provides, sparkling consideringly
at Niralahi before she draws back down and in. In a single clandestine motion, much of it concealed
by you - though nought can be done for the irrepressible glow of her stars - she shifts something
into your lower set of arms.

"She can play with it for one whole day!" whisper the stars in a twinkling coruscation of sound to
you. "Let her know, and tell her about how you made it, too!"

Niralahi watches you and Vaevaya conferring with evident curiosity, her body leaning forward just
slightly on her tiptoes and her fan-like ears spread back on either side of her head to catch the
smallest iota of sound.

Receiving the imparted item with the air of one accepting a grave duty, Avaris dips
his great, helm-like head in a sober nod. In a hushed susurrus of sound, reminiscent of a distant,
rushing river, he whispers, "I shall. This is a very fine thing that you are doing, Little Star. I
am very proud of you. I know that the Great Lady will be, as well, when I tell Her all about how
fine a Lady you are becoming." offering the meringue to Vaevaya with a gentle shift of his upper
hands, he says, in a rather less subtle murmur that would not be out of place upon the stage, "I am
sure that Niralahi would be very happy for me to pass this delicious meringue to you, since you are
being so good - But only if you behave with it, and do not make a mess." Glancing over the barrier
of his wings, antennae wriggling playfully at Niralahi, the kephera tips his head aside in a brief,
questioning tilt.

Harmony echoes in your mind as you sing to Niralahi Coldwater, "Ah, in truth, I am not one for sweet
foods, or eating in general. I prefer meat, or healthy dishes. You are very kind to think of me,
though."

"Oooh!" the stars of Vaevaya exclaim in unison, only to hush with a little gasp of wind and silvery
chimes. Quieter, though not nearly so hushed now as before, she says excitedly, "I will be-have!"

Niralahi nods in response to your unspoken question, the corners of her lips twitching upward again.
"I hope that you will like it, Lady Vaevaya," she adds. "I went through so many trials and travails
to obtain that meringue, you know...fought so many battles and searched high and low, far and wide,
to find that simple treat, after all!"

Niralahi tells you, "Oh, goodness, I had no idea! I suppose I should have asked before assuming, or
simply have just greeted you directly, after all. I appreciate your accepting the gift in the spirit
in which it was meant, though."

Nodding in turn to Niralahi, Avaris turns back to the shining star-child before
him. "There. This is a very great gift that you are receiving, Little Star." Lowering his upper hand
so that the meringue is within easy reach of Vaevaya, he says, "And what do we say when we have
received a gift, or someone does something for us that is kind, or helpful?"

Harmony echoes in your mind as you sing to Niralahi Coldwater, "It is quite alright. Many tend to do
the very same thing. I think that I am something of an oddity, in that I am not enchanted by sweets.
Thank you, once more. Are you fond of them, yourself?"

Mischievously, Vaevaya swims in a powerful current of light and gravity that cannot move you, but
surely teases at your ring of fluff and antennae in her sweeping swirl. And, with the meringue in
such easy reach, she sweeps it into her starry embrace, singing not to you, but to Niralahi, "Thank
you, Lady Niralahiii~".

Niralahi tells you, "I do enjoy fruits and sweets as an occasional treat, I admit. But I shall take
note of your own preferences and seek to remember them as best I can. I certainly didn't wish to
presume that my conversation alone would be gift enough all by itself!"

Vaevaya's pale starlight pulses around a fragile lily meringue of sweet summer fruits, embracing it
within a glowing halo as it enters her orbit. Uncertainly, it wobbles in mid-air, then slowly begins
to circle her, picking up speed, spinning faster and faster and faster still until it finally flies
free and falls to the ground a small distance from her.

Niralahi suddenly scoops up a fragile lily meringue of sweet summer fruits.

Delightedly caught up in her own game, Vaevaya chases after the meringue, only to draw up to
Niralahi with laughter ringing in her light.

You think to yourself: A bright, sunny sense of approval for the young being before him, fondness
for her warming his heart - Though surprise mingles with helpless amusement at the unexpected flight
of the meringue.

Niralahi lets out a chuckle despite herself, before sweeping a bow before Vaevaya. "You are most
welcome, Lady Vaevaya, and I am glad to see that you are such an excellent student. But oh! Be
careful," she exclaims as she protectively scoops up the a fragile lily meringue of sweet summer
fruits. "You did promise to behave, after all, and this particular sweet is rather fragile!"

Handing it back carefully and cautiously, evidently unsure where exactly to place it within the mist
of orbiting stardust, Niralahi gives a fragile lily meringue of sweet summer fruits to Vaevaya, the
Refulgent.

"I did, I did!" Vaevaya sings as she dances in a flurry of starlight, and then whispers in a quiet
rustling of grass at night to Niralahi as the coalescence carefully balances a fragile lily meringue
of sweet summer fruits for a moment before herself, "but what is a 'mess'?"

The pristine white of Avaris's voluminous mane stirs as if brushed by a giddy
breeze, the glossy tufts shimmering with the reflected light of Vaevaya's sidereal form, as his
antennae sway as if caught in a merry current. Nodding in gentle approval at the gratitude, he
pauses, watching the orbiting flight of the meringue with the eyes of his wings wide in surprise.
Clearing his throat - Surely, that was not a laugh - he says, "A mess is...When things get strewn
about where they should not be, or are untidy to look at." Gesturing at the meringue with a slight
wave of one huge hand, he explains, "For example, if you were to drop that lovely, precious gift
upon the ground, it would spill all over the place. That would be a mess." His voice gaining a
distinctly pointed intonation as he looks at Vaevaya, he emphasises, "And that would be rude to do
with something so nice."

Shifting his blank visor to Niralahi, Avaris suggests, "Perhaps something suited
for play would be best. Do you happen to know of any toys that might be good for her?" Pausing, he
says, "Ah. And come here a moment, would you? I have a gift for you, as well. A most special one."

Harmony echoes in your mind as you sing to Niralahi Coldwater, "Well, now you are much the Wiser in
knowing that notion is false. Your company is a very fine gift, indeed."

Vaevaya gasps in an intake of gravity that draws the blades of grass beneath her up and in toward
her. Protectively, despite the meringue's substance, she rings the treat in her twinkling motes of
light, enshrining it in an orbiting ring of shooting stars and comet trails. "Sweet!" she exclaims,
more to herself in delight than to interrupt or interject.

Niralahi steps forward obediently, if distractedly, her brow furrowed in thought. "Toys...toys," she
repeats to herself under her breath. She looks toward Vaevaya with an expression of open amazement,
shaking her head slightly in wonder and sighing. "I suppose this might do?" she offers at last,
reaching deep into the pockets of a star-studded backpack of teal satin.

Brushing off the condensation collecting continually upon the outside of an ornament of the
sparkling sea, Niralahi holds it up in a flat palm for Vaevaya's inspection, tilting her hand very
slightly in one direction and then another to display how the tiny sailboat inside sways from side
to side as it rides the blue-dyed water inside the hollow globe.

Turning the large, gold and white wedge of his head to nod approvingly at Vaevaya's
cosmic warding of the dessert, Avaris studies the proposed toy in Niralahi's hand, via the effulgent
eyes that adorn his wings. "That would be perfect, I believe. A marvelous suggestion."Folding his
wing back atop its brethren upon his back, he holds out his lower pair of hands to Niralahi, a
small, wondrously sidereal doll held carefully within the protective cage of his golden claws. "This
is the Lady Vaevaya's very special wish doll. It came to be when I wished upon her, hoping that she
would have something with her always, that would let her feel loved, and safe." Lowering the
immobile plates of his face down to regard the doll with fondness in his resonating tones, he
continues, "It holds the wishes that we have all made upon her. You may have it for one day, to play
with, if you are careful with it - And if you promise to me that you will make a wish upon her
before this month is up."

"Oh!" Vaevaya exclaims with suddenness, her startled attention causing the meringue within her to
wobble unsteadily before she steadies it again. Tentatively, she swirls nearer to the ornament, and
stretches a mote of light out to brush over its surface. "Oh, wow," she breathes, a whisper of wind
through palm trees at night, and then seems uncertain, torn. Shimmering in a blush of iridescence,
she insists, "That looks far too prized and important! And besides, there is something Avaris needs
to show you first!"

At the mention of 'a wish', the constellation of Vaevaya shines brightly in spite of the afternoon
sun, each individual star twinkling as though possessing its very own heartbeat.

Comprising far too many pinpricks of light to count - and spinning far too quickly within their
enchanted bounds to properly study - this little doll twinkles here with all its might. Many details
are difficult to discern through the concentrated glow of sidereal luminescence, but it certainly
seems modelled after mortals with its rounded head and four appendages. Instead of clothing, a veil
of galactic colour shifts and dances over its entirety, blue and pink and purple and many other hues
besides. A pale, iridescent halo enfolds the toy within its shimmering embrace, occasionally pierced
by a tiny, orbiting comet whose cosmic-dusted trail quickly vaporises into nothingness.

"A wish doll!" Niralahi exclaims in startlement, her mouth falling open as she stares mesmerised at
the shifting dance of galactic light emitted by the wish doll. "Ahh, the most beautiful wish doll
that one could possibly imagine," she breathes. "I...I would be honoured, if you are sure, Lady
Vaevaya? I can't imagine parting with such a pretty and precious thing, even for a short time,
especially with so many good intentions behind it..."

"It is Avaris's gift to you!" the stars of Vaevaya chime as one, though their lights still gleam
with fiercely independent luminescence. "And mine, too, for meeting your acquaintance. And for the
sweet! I am certain!"

Niralahi Coldwater says to Vaevaya, "The ornament is precious to me too, but not nearly so
significant to me as the doll surely must be to you. If you wish, I would be honoured to trade
ownership of both gifts for a day, if you like, so that we both have time to admire the things that
matter most to us: love, and safety, and the beauty of the sea."

You think to yourself: "Ah, that is a very fine sentiment, indeed. An excellent lesson, as well -
Learning how to share, and take care of things that are dear to others. Very Wise, Niralahi. Well
done."

Vaevaya strongly considers the offer, and then she twinkles - you have the sense her quick
flickering is an affirmative. With decidedly more gentleness and ceremony than she offered when she
took the proferred meringue, she stretches her lights out like hands to scoop an ornament of the
sparkling sea into her orbit.

Niralahi softly smiles, watching the ornament be accepted by Vaevaya, and then gasps in delight as
the shimmering glow of Vaevaya's form illuminates the ornament against the growing darkness of dusk,
making it shine with a radiance that makes it seem as though the sailboat encapsulated within the
ornament is sailing through a starlit sea against a dark sky filled with constellations.

Very gently, with a careful, practised deftness she has not yet demonstrated being capable of until
this very moment, Vaevaya sets an ornament of the sparkling sea to spinning. Its droplets catch her
iridescent light like diamonds in the sun, and the sailboat within, when the slow-moving miniature
planet comes round again, shows that it remains undisturbed by her antics - though not immune to the
small sea contained within the globe. "Like the ships I saw when I first became aware," she
whispers, her tintinnabulation barely audible over the quiet sounds of the meditation garden itself.

Watching the pact be struck with an air of calm, benign patience, Avaris's natural
eyes glow with brilliant, scintillating motes of brilliant light. Observing Vaevaya's play with a
fond, almost paternal air, he nods to himself, apparently satisfied, and extends the wish doll to
Niralahi, in the manner of one imparting a most precious gift.

Harmony echoes in your mind as you sing to Niralahi Coldwater, "I have found that the best way to
convey your wishe to our wonderful young friend here, is by way of actionorigami - Much as you did
so with myself. She takes great joy in receiving them, and I think it gives her much purpose, as
well. Wish from the heart."

"Oh my Gods, I do not feel worthy of something so precious," Niralahi whispers involuntarily,
accepting the doll with faintly trembling hands. Looking at you, she speaks up to ask, "Did you
truly make this yourself? How did you manage that?"

Lifting all four of his long, heavily armoured hands up, Avaris waves the notion
away with a series of circular warding gestures, hurriedly explaining, "Ah, I simply wished upon the
young Lady here."

Slowly, the ornament of the sparkling sea rotates around the stars of Vaevaya like a planet,
drifting ponderously as she keeps the circuit smooth for its journeys. Rather than offer comment,
she inquires, curiously, "Do you suppose there are little sailors upon the ship in here?"

Some of Vaevaya's stars narrow, as though squinting to see as they follow an ornament of the
sparkling sea's orbit.

Inspecting the doll with a tailor's thoughtful eye, Niralahi nods at you and purses her lips.
"But...how?" she asks simply and wonderingly. "How does one stitch starlight? How does one poke a
needle through galactic stardust or put pins into sidereal twinkles or...?" Curling one hand into a
fist, she declares, "Someday, I really must learn how to sew with starlight! Although...although
that is not my wish," she adds hastily, looking up from the doll.

"No?" Vaevaya asks, sounding somewhat disappointed by the assertion. She sparkles as she further
asserts, "Wishes can do amazing, amazing things. Whatever you do choose to entrust me with, I will
be honoured to make it come true."

Antennae flicking towards Vaevaya as she speaks, Avaris emits a soft, thoughtful
note. "Perhaps, if you imagine them, there will be, for a little while, Little Star." Voice warm
with approval, he comments, "You are playing very nicely with that. Well done, young Lady." To
Niralahi, he flicks his upper right hand aside in a gently negating gesture. "We do not pick apart
the nature of wishes, Niralahi. We simply appreciate them for the wonders that they are."

Niralahi Coldwater looks thoughtful and says, "I will have to think further on the nature of my wish
and on all wishes in general, then. We all want so many things, after all, and it is no easy thing
to know what one wishes for most or which wish is most important..."

Niralahi Coldwater says, "I am afraid that I must be departing now to rest...and surely to dream
about stars and wishes and gifts unanticipated now. I am...I am very happy to have wandered by here
this month, though, and to have spoken with you both."

Niralahi's lips curl into an impish smile as she tilts her head to listen to Vaevaya. "I will," she
promises in an undertone. "Eventually." She touches the side of the wish doll with one finger
exploratively.

Bowing to Niralahi in a smooth, stately gesture of courteous respect, Avaris says,
"It has been a pleasure meeting you in person, Niralahi. Thank you for the gift of your company, and
for being so kind to our young ward here. Light's blessings upon you, and rest well."

Slowly, slowly, does an ornament of the sparkling sea make its orbit about Vaevaya as she sparkles
fiercely upon Niralahi. "I am so very happy to have met you, Lady Niralahi! I hope that you find me
in the heavens now that the storms are calmer, and you entrust me with many, many wishes!"

Vaevaya's lights shiver as though to swirl up Niralahi again, or perhaps you, but the careful
circuit of an ornament of the sparkling sea forestalls her. Instead, very studiously, she maintains
its orbit as she likewise rises up. "Thank you for being such very good friends!" And then, like a
rain of upward-falling stars, she shoots toward the firmanent.

Niralahi Coldwater says, "Thank you both for the trust and friendship that you have shown me. Be
well, and may our paths cross again soon."

Niralahi curtseys gracefully.

Rising, Avaris's visored face tilts back to watch the ascent of the scintillating
ephemeral, her light reflected in the glittering pinpricks of brilliance within his eyes. "Thank
you, for all that you are, Little Star."