#rizi

He was left alone with Rizi, and stole a glance at the elf. He hadn’t approached, but watched him with interest, quietly chatting with a snake in iridescent dark scales Mirai hadn’t known existed. When he caught Mirai’s eye, he gave a wry smile and looked away.

»That’s Izara and Shasha. I’m sure you’ll get to know each other, don’t worry.«

Mirai simply nodded, once again ashamed of his voice. What would Izara think? Maybe it would be better if they didn’t get to know each other… but then, that didn’t seem an option, living in such close quarters.

»Do you want to have breakfast first, or the tour?« Rizi asked. »It won’t take long.«

»Oh.« Mirai was taken aback by even the possibility of a choice. »The, the tour, please.« That was what the serpent king had ordered, after all.

»Alright! So this is our living room,« Rizi gestured at the room around them, then led the way towards the arches, which opened, as Mirai realized when approaching, onto- »The balcony.«

There were a pair of tables with seats on the balcony as well, with a pretty view of a pond full of water-lilies, surrounded by old trees, of which several were flowering.

Mirai found himself with a hand to his heart. It felt good, having a little beauty to look at almost at his leisure.

»Like it?« Rizi was smiling, and it barely felt vulnerable to admit it with a nod.

»You don’t like talking, huh? Does it hurt?«

»No, I just…« Mirai swallowed, once more reminded. »It’s… I miss my voice,« he confessed. »And it’s… it doesn’t bring up… fond memories.«

»Ah.« Rizi reached out and patted his shoulder awkwardly, and somehow, that was the final straw.

Before he knew it, Mirai was bawling in Rizi’s arms. Shame washed through him—how could he, when Rizi and the others were in the same position?

But Rizi didn’t try to escape. They held him, rubbed his back, and muttered, »Shh, it’s alright now. You had a rough journey, huh? It’s okay.«

»I’m s-sorry,« Mirai sobbed, and pulled back.

»It’s okay, really.« Rizi squeezed his hand. »Most of us were a bit of a mess when we got here. Especially us not-snakes. Foreign traders don’t make the journey with wares they can get rid of elsewhere, we’re all… we’ve all been through it.«

That only served to make Mirai feel worse. They all had suffered equally, and here he was taking advantage of Rizi’s kindness. »I’m sorry.«

»Me too, for whatever happened to you.« Rizi smiled sadly. »Here’s better than anywhere I’ve been, I promise.«

»Okay,« Mirai muttered, feeling stupid even as he said it. »Thank you.«

Rizi awkwardly rubbed his arm once more, then asked, »Ready to go on?«

Mirai nodded, his cheeks flushed hot.

They took him back inside and turned to the first door on the left. »Here’s our bathrooms—the other one is right opposite. We’re expected to keep ourselves clean and tidy for the king.«

Mirai nodded; that made sense. The bathroom was generously large, with several washstands, racks of towels, a shelf with various jars, brushes, and soap. In the middle of it, there was even a tub.

»I guess you’ll have your hands full with your hair,« Rizi noted, walked over and picked up a jar out of the shelf. »This’ll be useful for it. Brush it in like once a week.«

»Yes, he- the king said something like that,« Mirai recalled, relieved to find out where and how he was expected to do that. »Thank you.«

»Sure. Hey, if you have any questions, you can ask me, alright? The others too. They don’t bite. Come on.« Rizi led the way back into the main room, where Mirai immediately noticed the more covert curious glances he still drew, then to one of the open doors.

They entered a simple bedroom, containing a large bed, a wardrobe, and even a small desk under a regular-sized window—small in comparison to what Mirai had seen elsewhere in the palace. »And the rest of these are our bedrooms. There’s ten of them and like, what, now fourteen of us, but some people already share so I’m sure you’ll find a spot. Actually I’m not sure anyone sleeps in here at the moment, so, if you want to sleep alone… And during the day, most of the time some of them are free. Just let people know if you’ve got to be alone for a bit. We’re making it work.«

»That’s, um. That’s lovely, thanks.«

»And that’s about it, I think? Like I said, if you have any question or are unsure about anything,« at this they gave Mirai a dubious look, as if they could already tell he was unsure about most things, »just ask, okay?«

»Okay,« Mirai muttered, even knowing he probably wouldn’t have the nerve. Not soon, anyway.

He followed Rizi back into the living room, where they returned to the table they had gotten up from.

The darkest-skinned human, having finished breakfast, was just dealing out cards to the four people around the table, three humans and the startlingly thin brown-patched snake. »You in, Rizi?«, and when Rizi affirmed, she looked at Mirai. »What about you? We’re playing Blossoms.«

»I- I don’t know how.«

»You can just watch a round and see if you want to join the next,« Rizi suggested to general agreement and Mirai’s relief. »You need to eat, anyway.«