Rene honestly forgot about her birthday again until she looked at the calendar to see if she marked what day she went out earlier in the week. She couldn’t remember having any kind of celebration for it since she was with Hannah—even then, that was just restricted to a once-a-year shopping trip with what little money they had. She actually had to pause for a minute to figure out how old she was turning.
The Dazuz family brought her in when she was seventeen. It’s been about five years since then.
Twenty-two? That sounded right.
She let out a grim chuckle with no one else to hear it. Here she was, getting ready to gather information so a nation could be created—most people her age were only just now getting married.
Then again, she stopped going solely to figure out how much power Matteo after the third or fourth trip out. She found someone she greatly admired, but she wanted to know what she should expect before saying anything about it. She didn’t know how Adelinde would react to hearing that—to some extent—Rene was questioning her role and work here more than she used to.
The risk of screwing something up—either for her and Adelinde’s budding friendship, or the island creation effort—was too overwhelming for her to take, though. The thought of losing what little she had now terrified her.
Rene tried to put it out of mind for now, shaking the thoughts off getting dressed into one of her simpler outfits as per usual. Since she remembered it, she rummaged around a bit for one of Hannah’s old gifts—a little ship charm she put on a chain and called a necklace, really. Hannah had a similar one somewhere, probably also in a little keepsake box. Neither of them had much use for jewelry; it ran the risk of getting stolen or lost if they got in a fight in Eyset.
Rene left when she was ready, only grabbing a little bit to eat directly from the kitchen while still managing to leave before anyone but the staff saw her. The weather outside was fairly nice, at least—warm and ready for summer, even with a few more weeks left to go before it officially started.
By the time she got to the music district, there were already a few musicians sitting in the gazebo. Rene took her usual spot on one of the corner benches but only partially watched, one half of her wondering if Adelinde would come out and the other half musing about past experiences, both with Adelinde and with Hannah. She toyed with the necklace while she waited; the thing had a knack for making her reminisce.
It only took about thirty minutes before Adelinde came, her son alternating between being close and a few steps ahead depending on whether or not his mother asked him to walk next to her within the minute. The toddler held a pack of crayons while Adelinde carried a few sheets of paper, as well as a bag of some smaller toys.
Rene looked up to greet them, and Adelinde’s step faltered a second when she noticed her—then she guided her son over, nodding a greeting like she hadn’t done anything. She stood a bit out of reach as usual, although Matteo was a bit braver and stood slightly in between them.
“Good morning,” Adelinde greeted.
“Morning!” Matteo cheerfully parroted.
Rene murmured something similar, looking at Adelinde.
“You’re heading over to the piano, I assume?”
Adelinde nodded, initially glancing at Matteo before focusing on Rene again.
“Actually”—as with some other things Adelinde seemed to do when not entirely confident, she hesitated a second—“he’s getting a bit too big to sit on the edge of the piano bench with me, but if he’s drawing I’d like to have someone watching him. Could he stay with you?”
Matteo seemed to like the idea, cheering a bit and moving a step away from his mother. Rene gave Adelinde a slightly questioning look—ignoring Rene’s actual goal here, she didn’t want to be responsible for someone else’s kid, even if that person was still able to watch them—to which Adelinde tried to give some kind of smile and mostly failed.
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“I trust you,” Adelinde said, albeit after a steadying breath.
“Are you sure?” Rene asked, mostly without thinking about it first.
She could imagine a few other people that might’ve snapped at her or defended themselves confidently, but instead a certain measure of Adelinde’s confidence fell alongside the forced smile.
“I would like to,” Adelinde reasoned. She cast a genuine smile towards Matteo as he patiently waited for her to give him the toys or the paper, the toddler himself having none of the reservations his mother did. “I’m told children are good judges of character—and I won’t be very far, besides.”
Rene hesitantly nodded, and Adelinde gave her a thankful look before handing over the small stack of paper and setting the toy bag on the ground. Matteo immediately tried to get into the toys, but Adelinde bent down to get his attention.
“Stay here with Rene,” Adelinde said firmly.
“Okay,” Matteo replied mostly innocently. Whether or not he actually understood could be debated.
Adelinde cautiously stood up and stepped away, waiting until Matteo took out some toys from the bag before she fully left and went to the gazebo to play the piano. Whether or not Adelinde actually was, Rene distinctly felt like she was being watched.
Or, who knows, maybe that was the curious looks of the other people around them, wondering why the mother best known for keeping her child close in the safest part of San Asari let said child play next to someone else.
Rene just watched Matteo play for a little bit, until he got bored of the toys in the bag. He climbed up onto the bench, pawing at the crayon box lid for a second before looking up and noticing Rene’s necklace.
Immediately he inched a little closer and tried to grab it; by instinct she moved a bit farther away and covered it with her hand. Matteo’s expression immediately changed to something like disappointment, slowly shifting into a sad look.
Deciding that she didn’t want to be responsible for a crying toddler, she carefully uncovered the necklace. The toddler seemed pleased, if nothing else; when he reached for it again, Rene gently put his arm down.
“Don’t grab it,” Rene warned. “Just look.”
Matteo seemed to understand, simply staring at it in wonder for a few seconds. That look somehow convinced her to try some kind of conversation with the child.
“Do you know what this looks like?” As she asked it, she lightly tapped on the charm.
He thought about it for a second, then started trying to get the crayon box open again. Rene helped, and he started scribbling some vague shape on a piece of paper. He proudly showed her the finished product.
“What is it?” she asked kindly. To her, toddler scribbles were still toddler scribbles, and the kid’s choice of colors—that being, practically every color he had available—could make it practically anything.
“Ship!” Matteo declared. He pointed at the charm on her necklace. “Ship!”
“Good job,” Rene replied. Slowly, she found herself smiling. “Do you know who controls a ship?”
Matteo shook his head, so she continued explaining. “Sailors tend ships; they make sure it gets from one port to another. Do you know what sailors use to help guide ships?”
Once again, the toddler silently acknowledged he didn’t, and this time Rene picked out one of the crayons and drew on a blank sheet of paper. She drew each object as she said it, albeit fully acknowledging it would likely go right over the kid’s head; the drawings themselves probably wouldn’t even be recognized by an adult.
“A lot of them use maps, or compasses. But the earliest way was with stars. That’s what you see at night when it’s dark outside.”
Whether or not Matteo understood, he looked completely fascinated. Some kind of conversation followed, motivating Rene to keep asking questions even after Matteo stopped giving her his full attention. When Adelinde stopped playing on the piano, she sat on the other end of the bench, with Matteo making a conversation that involved all three of them.
Rene stayed longer than she meant to, ultimately only leaving when a certain thought came to mind; how she wouldn’t mind staying there with them for the entire day, how she almost wanted to have these kinds of moments more. To avoid saying anything stupid without meaning to—to avoid taking a risk she still couldn’t confirm was worth it—she bid farewell for the day and went back to the Dazuz mansion.