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( the second time that nuala addresses the ship as a whole, she is slightly more prepared - and she has a purpose to it beyond the greetings that, she will continue to hold, were in and of themselves a perfectly respectable goal.

cross-legged in the gardens, her sewing basket at her side, her hands neatly folded-- )

I have a request of those who man the smithy, and a boon to offer in return for seeing it done.

Thank you.

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There's a wheel in the second lounge here. [ her shrug is audible in her tone. ] I don't think it belongs to anyone. You could use that.

( audibly brightening -- )

Where is here? Perhaps Nuada could be induced to collect it for me, if it might hasten his mending.

[ crap. no one's supposed to know she lives on deck one. if asked, she can say she was visiting tony. ]

Deck one. Noticed it when I was walking by.

Thank you, Arya, I'm very grateful to you for drawing it to my attention.

Were you in need of thread?

No. I don't sew.

Then I am especially grateful.

( for an offering made without plain ulterior motive. )

It's no trouble, my lady.

[ when uncomfortable, formality. ]

Of course.

But if you would ask anything of me, know that you may.

That is kind. But I do not need anything.

( undeterred, but not insistent-- merely plain: )

Presently.

I guess. [ she chews her lip. ]

Is that because of the—patronage?

[ the offer, she means. ]

It is a reason, yes; I won't presume on the familiarity you have with my brother, but it's my hope you'll feel free to call on my friendship when you've a need.

I don't have many friends.

[ it's not a request for pity or meant to dissuade nuala — it's fact.

it's also a lie, though one she believes. ]

Then I should be privileged to count myself amongst so select a group.

( there is something serenely unbending about nuala; her first interactions on this ship may have been tense, but she's since found her footing and doesn't readily betray herself. )

[ how to tell nuala she's not a friend and not be rude while doing it. ]

We are not friends. My lady.

[ nailed it. ]

No, I agree--

--but I hope that may change, and I will be privileged indeed if it should.

[ and offers of friendship continue to baffle her. ]

You did not know many people either, did you? Nuada said he hated most of us.

( welcome to princess nuala /shades.app )

I can well imagine what my brother might say on the topic.

I have known a great many people. If you mean of your kind, particularly, then that holds true-- it's merely that those of them I knew best, I knew a long time ago, before there was war between us.

What was it like then? Could you travel where you wished?

I could - within reason.

( with a retinue of handmaidens and the royal guard and with a great deal of planning beforehand, she means. )

It wasn't always so ugly, between your kind and mine. Even in the early days after our parting-- some held to old ways, and were rewarded.

But not many, [ she points out. ] It's never so many.

Less and less, as the years past. As a people, they forgot.

( some individuals linger, she knows - last scions of a faithful line, or those who reach with clumsy, childish hands for something lost to them generations ago - but they are so few as to be meaningless, dismissed by their own kind as eccentric at best. )

I am not so young, and I choose not to forget that once we were friends. I don't do this because I don't share my brother's pain, but because I do share it.

[ arya considers it. ]

You're very different, [ she says finally. ] Nuada and you.

( any bitterness that she has - and she has bitterness - is neatly and ruthlessly concealed. this is not the time or place; arya is not the person. instead, her tone is tiredly wry: )

We are that.

I should get back to my work. I hope the wheel serves you well, my lady.

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