Five whole months passed since they first met; summer fought to stay present, despite fall creeping in. Rene came to the music district as normal, despite the rain—about a third of the usual visitors seemed to make the same choice, and musicians still played the instruments in the gazebo and in other covered areas. Since the benches in front of the gazebo itself weren’t covered, however, most of them huddled beneath the canopies of nearby shops, occasionally alternating to get a better view or to make way for someone who needed the space more.

At some point—after an hour, maybe, but it was always hard to tell—an older couple came by and Rene moved off to one corner to let them in. She pulled up her jacket’s hood and stood in the rain for a minute or five before someone walked up to her. She only looked over when an umbrella was tipped enough in her direction that the rain stopped falling on her.

Rene smiled and frowned at Adelinde at the same time, if such a thing was technically possible. She lightly nudged the umbrella handle back towards Adelinde, still trying to keep her distance. She appreciated that Adelinde could stand a bit closer to her now without hesitating or seeming anxious, but she also didn’t want to be responsible for getting Adelinde or her outfit wet.

In response, Adelinde just frowned and kept the umbrella where it was.

“It’s raining a bit too much not to have anything,” she pointed out.

Rene gestured towards her jacket.

“I have this. I’m fine.”

She didn’t look convinced, but still moved the umbrella back. She readjusted herself a bit—a nervous habit of sorts, Rene noticed, typically accompanied by a quick glance around her—then took a few steps back to distance themselves again.

Rene chose to end the brief silence, nodding in the direction Adelinde’s little son usually was.

“No kid today?” Rene asked.

“I didn’t want him to run around in the rain,” Adelinde explained. Her expression changed a bit, to something Rene almost recognized, then it shifted back to neutral again. “My brother said he could watch Matteo for the day; it’s been a while since I’ve gone out without him.”

Rene nodded. This would make it only the second or third time Adelinde came to chat alone. Matteo had his charms—in the weird toddler way—but she couldn’t immediately decide if she was more or less comfortable without him; Adelinde, judging by her expression, felt the same.

“Anyway,” Adelinde said, glancing around again. “Let’s go somewhere that you don’t have to stand out in the rain. Do you know your way around?”

“Somewhat,” Rene replied. “Mostly just in the shopping district though.”

“Just follow me, then.”

Rene murmured an agreement and stayed a few steps behind her. As they walked through the streets, the rain paused, resumed, poured, then repeated the process; during the heavier rain, the streets almost looked like there was a thin river running overtop it. Every person’s step made a splash, audible even among the rain hitting roofs and stone.

Adelinde led her to one of the places Rene hadn’t explored—a large conservatory near the palace—and gestured her inside. Rene entered and waited near the entryway while Adelinde closed and shook off her umbrella. She left it by the door, smiling at Rene a bit.

“It always seems like spring here,” Adelinde mused. She paused for a second, then added, “There’s a little music area further back, if you’d like to sit down?”

“Lead the way,” Rene said.

Adelinde nodded, and once again Rene stayed a bit behind her. Rene took off her wet jacket as they walked, and when they got to a little area similar to the music district’s center—complete with a small platform for the instruments, albeit without anyone there—they separated a bit.

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Noticeably more cautious—she must have expected there to be more people, or realized it was just them—Adelinde went to the piano, opened the cover, and started playing. Rene laid her jacket on the back of one bench and sat down, not entirely sure if she should watch Adelinde or try to focus on something else.

After a minute or two, Adelinde surprisingly started conversation—albeit warily.

“You’re the adopted Dazuz, aren’t you?” It sounded both curious and worried, like she wanted to know but didn’t want to overstep by asking.

Fortunately, it never really bothered her. Rene just shrugged.

“They took me in about five years ago,” Rene explained. She tilted her head slightly to one side. “How’d you guess?”

“You’re…more casual, I suppose,” Adelinde admitted. “You don’t look at me critically, like some nobles to. I thought being adopted into the nobility was more likely than being particularly patient, especially given how the other two children act.”

“You’ve met them?” Rene asked, a bit intrigued. As far as she knew, Elina and Leo only left the house for parties—and even then, most were held by people Adelinde most definitely wouldn’t appreciate.

Adelinde nodded. “Only once or twice, granted. The last time was at my father’s funeral—they didn’t say anything to me or Mark, but their conversations together were…a bit disrespectful at best. Sometimes I see them during the arts festival, but they’re always scowling—the girl especially.”

“They’re…something. All I can really say is that they were raised a lot differently than I was, and it shows.”

They believed in creation of a nation because they were told it would be like their lives now—grand and extravagant. They always ignored the parts where Lord Dazuz tried to remind them they would still have to work for whatever they gain. They didn’t consider people who lived in Dakari to really have thoughts or feelings if they didn’t want to live in a place they were promised.

Adelinde’s playing shifted from one thing to something different, and after a second looked at Rene.

“Do you mind if I experiment a bit?” Adelinde asked.

“Go ahead,” Rene replied, almost smiling. “I don’t mind.”

She cast her something like a thankful nod and continued a bit less confidently, only pausing for a few minutes to get a piece of paper and a pen off a little stand near the back of the platform. She spoke up again, just as cautious as before, when she was back behind the piano and testing certain key combinations.

“If I may, where did you live before the Dazuz family took you in?”

“One of the northern ports: Eyset.” Sensing the next few questions, she opted to continue. “My father’s from Sólstaður; my mother was an omyn. I know for sure that they were married, but they went north before I could remember. Whether or not they meant to keep me here is debatable, but basically I just stayed in the port until Lord Dazuz showed up.”

Adelinde stopped playing when Rene’s tone shifted towards something a bit more cynical than she intended, but somehow neither of them apologized. Instead, they simply looked at each other for a few seconds before Adelinde looked back at the piano keys.

“…Something like this, then?”

Somehow she turned the words into music; first, the simple melody caught Rene off guard. That broke off, changed into something a bit more frantic or fearful, then settled into something steady that occasionally moved off key. All the while Adelinde took quick notes on the piece of paper, jotting down the basics of it.

It mesmerized her—both the music, and the person making each note. When it ended and Adelinde glanced towards her for approval, Rene honestly struggled to form words, half distracted by Adelinde herself and partly still hanging on to every note.

“…Yeah,” she finally said after an entire minute, still awestruck. “Something like that.”

Adelinde seemed proud of it, nodding to herself. Almost jokingly, she said, “I guess this means I need to get a score book for you. Very rarely do I ever think of just a single song to associate with a person.”

Rene could only really nod, smiling when Adelinde did. For a second, she worried about hearing Lord Dazuz’s rant when he heard—even if she didn’t tell him, he would catch on to her changing motivations eventually.

She failed to keep caring when she shifted back into conversation with Adelinde, fully enjoying the music in the moments when a topic ended. They must’ve stayed for another hour or two—an entire hour longer than Rene agreed to take—before Adelinde noticed the time and said she was close to staying out longer than promised.

Rene took an extra few minutes to get her cover story straight before she left, walking to the entryway just to see the rain had cleared up a bit and Adelinde’s umbrella was still there. She took it—just so no one else did—and tried to come up with some elaborate explanation on why she was late and had an umbrella she couldn’t keep.

By the time she got to the Dazuz mansion, she avoided explaining at all by just slipping in the back way.