Page 75 of Kimiko and the Accidental Proposal
“Why?”
“I’m not really sure.” Tenma thought back to what Inti had said earlier. “I don’t think he needs a reason any more than I need an excuse. We get along. We’re friends now. And we’d like to room together, please.”
Goh bent closer, and Tenma could see the thin spike of his pupil showing against dark irises. Maybe brown. It was hard to tell in the shifting candlelight. But the Rivven’s proximity was giving Tenma other impressions—colors and moods. Like the time when he was with Quen and Lapis. Was his sigil weakening?
“No need to be nervous, pup,” he repeated softly.
Tenma took a deep breath and slowly reached for Goh-sensei. Fingers bumped cloth, hair, skin, rewarding him with a strengthening sense of an emerging personality. Mood and hue. Age and endurance. Wisdom and delight.
With a soft grunt, Goh caught his hand, enfolding it with both of his own in an oblique offer of support. “What do you see, Tenma Subaru?”
“Brown, I think. But a cool brown. Earthy. Strong and pliant.” He searched for the right word for the color of Goh-sensei’s soul. “Clay?”
Head angled appraisingly, Goh said, “The potter’s wheel is behind a screen in the corner, along with my store of clay. But scent is not sight.”
Tenma frowned. Now that he was thinking about it, therewasa clean, muddy smell to the room. Had he been listening to his nose instead of seeing with his soul? He wished he could express these impressions in a way that made sense. “I’m not sure how to explain. I’m not a reaver.”
“Do not let lack of learning prevent you from choosing words. I will neither quibble nor correct.”
So Tenma told him, haltingly at first, about his terror on the first day of school, about Quen’s sigil, and about Lapis Mossberne’s kindness.
Goh-sensei let him ramble, only murmuring encouragement and sympathy from time to time. And at last he said, “A good plan, which I’d willingly improve. Bring young Eloquence along someday soon, and I’ll have him cut a sigil into clay for you. Once fired, it will give better protection than a slip of paper, and it will see you through until Lapis presents you with a gaudier ornament.”
“Thank you.” Tenma felt much better, though their conversation had drifted some distance from his intended purpose.
“Was there something more?” Goh-sensei beckoned encouragingly. “Information, perhaps. Or guidance?”
In a flash, Tenma remembered the question he’d been muddling earlier. “What do monkeys call their young?”
Goh’s surprise melted into amusement. “I’ve been coached by the diplomatic division with regards to all manner of counsel, but I hardly expected curiosity about procreative processes.”
“Oh!” Tenma waved his hands furiously. “It’s not that at all, Sensei! I’m asking for Inti, since he doesn’t seem to know much about his inhuman side.”
“Wouldn’t it be better if he came to me?”
Tenma nodded. “I think so, too. Maybe he will once I tell him what you’re like. That you’re nice and patient and …”
“ … andbrown?”
He nodded sheepishly.Brownfell so far short of the soul he could still sense—rich and real and right beside him.
“You’re an interesting one.” Goh gently mussed his hair, which seemed to be turning into another grooming session. Tenma bowed his head, accepting the touch. “Most of our human students struggle with the ordinary intimacies that are part of Amaranthine culture. But Harmonious claims you nestle like a pup.”
Tenma couldn’t decide if that was a compliment or more teasing. “Isn’t that why we’re here? To learn what we each consider ordinary?”
Goh laughed softly and continued his petting. “You’re unusually accepting. It makes your tale of first-day fear difficult to picture.”
Tenma’s eyes had drifted shut. He hummed vaguely. “Probably because of Quen’s sigil.”
“What if I took it away?”
“Lapis tried that.” He frowned, searching for words. “It’s like alarm bells going off, warming me there’s danger nearby.”
“Interesting.” Goh eased away, his expression thoughtful. “Far be it from me to dabble with your distress. Trust Lapis. And if your new roommate is ready to learn about ordinary things, coax him to come to me as a tribemate.”
Tenma was delighted by this new detail. “A tribe is like a pack?”
“Officially.” Goh smirked. “Though many would argue that a more suitable collective noun would bemischief. We’re one of the trickster clans, after all.”
