“I need to speak to Ariah,” he said again. He said it simply, easily, and I watched as he pointedly ignored the hurt it caused in his brother. He caught my eye and nodded to the door. Guilt gnawed at me as I edged past Sorcha and left the room with Dirva. We did not speak until we were out in the Main Square. “What happened to your face?”

I rubbed a hand against my jaw. “Your brother made me shave in the dark.”

Dirva raised an eyebrow just the slightest bit. “He made you?”

“He insisted. It seemed polite to acquiesce. He insisted on the clothes, too.”

“Ma told me he lived with Falynn for a few years. The vanity must have rubbed off on him. Have you eaten?” I told him I’d had exactly one plum since I’d seen him last. “Let’s get something to eat. There are things we should discuss.”

He took me to a cafe in the Tinker’s Borough. It was strange, because the place was so thoroughly Semadran, but no one in it so much as raised an eyebrow at the two of us. It was strange to be in a place among my own where I was no longer notable. Over familiar food, Dirva tried to speak to me. He couldn’t for a very long time. He was as emotional as I had ever seen him, and emotional in a quiet, tightly-controlled way. A Semadran way. I gave him the space to marshal himself. “Will the squat house suffice?” he asked.

“As long as it doesn’t collapse, I suppose so,” I said. He laughed, and I felt a wave of relief wash over me.

He wrote two addresses down one a slip of paper and handed them to me. “The top one is my parents’ place. The bottom is where I am staying. Should you need me, I will be at one or the other.”

“You’re not staying with your parents?”

“No, I’m not.” He said it with a finality, which precluded further conversation. Dirva sighed. He had not eaten much more than a few bites, but he pushed his plate away. “We won’t be here very long.”

I heard what he wanted me to hear. I heard what he could not bring himself to say. “I am sorry.”

“It is what it is.” He was quiet for some time. The counter-minder came and cleared away the plates. She returned with a glass of water for me. “You’ve met my sisters and my younger brother. You don’t have to meet anyone else if you’d rather not. But if you would not be opposed to it, I would welcome you to meet the rest of my family.”

“Yes, of course.”