During the family vacation to Geith, Solveis had brought the parts of the queen doll with her. She had managed to finish the project before vacation was over. When she returned to her mainland home on Amalga, she had a whole and rather impressive doll. Her relatives had all given her advice and helped her with the different skills required. Their combined craftsmanship had contributed to a really beautiful, though intense and foreign looking, little creature.

When the Eigeroy family finally returned to the island, the weekend after their vacation, Livia didn’t join them. They were burnt out of her company, at least the mother and the brother were, and besides, Livia’s family wanted her back for at least a few days of vacation. Little Jordao would be celebrating his birthday soon, too.

As well as completing her doll on vacation, Solveis had also finished making a linen outfit for Livia, which she had possession of until Livia came back. She ended up making a tunic in the style of Livia’s clan of oggos. Livia’s people used to wear a simple wrapping tunic, tied low at the waist. They were lightweight for the summer heat. Solveis made Livia’s more modern and wearable. She added pseudo-traditional embroidery. The embroidery had too many flowers and swirls to be really traditional, but it was what her little friend had wanted. The style of Livia’s people was to embroider bright colors onto neutral fabrics. Solveis had done her best to recreate the style, and she thought it seemed to fit the people who originated it. The garment somehow reminded Solveis of the people themselves, their coloring and the way that they moved.

Anyway, Solveis hung up the dress in the girls’ room for Livia to see it displayed the next time she was around.

Since the family of five was left to themselves, the two older Eigeroy siblings spent their weekend doing absolutely whatever they wanted. They recovered from a week of traveling and talking to strangers and old friends by dropping all obligations and being one hundred percent their own weird selves for a couple days. The parents seemed happy to have their two oldest busy doing who-knows-what, making no noise, and being constantly out of the house.

Solveis’s time alone on her mountain was disturbed only by one thing. Immediately upon arriving at her mountain, Solveis sensed that things had been tampered with. The room felt wrong. One of the bunk beds had been remade differently. There was a new pillow and a plush doll in the shape of a large, dark purple beetle. Also, one of the boys’ bunks was unmade. The aepsis siblings must have been here – been here when the host family was away! Who did they think they were!?

“That little boy changed my beds!” Arlendr barked at his sister.

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“And his sister put a new thing in my bed – a pillow – a bug,” Solveis joined him in ranting.

“They don’t come here when I’m not,” he grouched and stomped.

“Yes. I think so too. How comes they moved my things? It’s not theirs.”

The two siblings continually noticed little alterations in their environment and pointed them out to each other, fueling each other's anger.

“Why are the paths too deep?” Arlendr complained about the heavily treaded look of the foot paths.

“Even the blue birds look kinda different,” Solveis added.

“They fly around too much, except not right now.”

“I have to check stashes,” Solveis told her brother, communicating to him that she didn’t want to be watched. They separated and checked on their separate, supposedly secret from each other, stashes.

Arlendr found Solveis again. He was fuming. “My bow. The old bad one,” he glared as he uttered half a thought. Then, he paused his rant to brag, “I can make it much better now”. He then continued his rant, “It got taken. Taken away. Taken away.” He repeated himself. Solveis wasn’t sure if it was to strengthen the statement or to make himself believe it.

“They stole things from my stashes too, but I’d moved the good stuff already,” Solveis informed her confidante. Then, she took the opportunity to rub in his face the consequence of his previous unbelief. “I told you before. You should have believed me then. Should have moved stuff like I.”

He responded by leaning into her face and grabbing both of her wrists with his hands, not in a way that hurt, but to be intimidating. She ignored it and continued conversing.

For the few days of social recovery, after the family vacation, the intruders stayed away. Solveis used the time to get some things done. Firstly, she minutely surveyed her whole mountain. Arlendr, frustrated from the disturbance of his things, and away from the influence of the others, chose to join her. He stomped about and grumbled at everything that was different, often hitting the altered things with a stick.

Solveis also had another project which required her to be unobserved by outsiders. She cleaned out the new see-through popcorn tin and installed a lock on it. She set it up special, to be a display. She put the newly refurbished queen doll in there, with the rest of her and Arlendr’s old toy army.

“It’s for display,” Arlendr informed his sister, after he saw the tin all set up. “You have to put my things in there too. I have to show off my good things.”

Solveis felt no need to respond verbally. Arlendr collected a prized carving, a very fancy little dagger, and a few more toy soldiers. He shoved them at her and pointed to the tin. “Make it all match. Put it in,” he commanded.

Although his tone didn’t speak to her spirit, his request pleased her. She put the things in, and posed them in display formation. Then her brother took the lock from her hand and locked it closed. He seemed pleased with his work. He carefully moved the tin to a high point in the uneven ground, against the cave wall, where it could be clearly seen by all who came in.

“Ok,” Arlendr approved to his sister. Then he left the cave.