Page 56 of The Lost Art of Finding Where You Belong

Carefully, he said, “I just mean that there’s probably ways we could prove it, if you wanted. Like, I could write something on a piece of paper while you were standing across the room, and Kee could tell you what it said so you could recite it for them. Or someone who’s not me could do the writing, in case they thought we’d made it up beforehand. Or he could read from a book that I was holding that you couldn’t possibly see, you know?”

Renny still had a stubborn expression on her face. “They’re still not like you, Perian. You believed us before you thought of all that, and you didn’t ask us to do it.”

Huh. It hadn’t really occurred to Perian to make Rennyproveit. He’d just sort of… found himself believing her.

She smiled faintly at the realization that must have shown on his face. “You treat us just like we’re people, even though we’re royalty and you can’t see or hear Kee. Even if we forced the others to admit it, what would happen?”

“Well, I imagine the Queen would want to talk to him,” Perian said, the first thing that occurred to him.

“So she could be all upset?” Renny paused as Kee evidently said something, and then she frowned. “You wouldn’t be!”

Perian said, “He wouldn’t be what?”

Renny looked distracted, but after a moment, she clarified, “He said he doesn’t want to be an invisible, soundless liability for the crown—which obviously he wouldn’t be!”

Perian supposed it was awkward to be the crown prince in that situation.

“We’re all right the way we are,” Renny told him. “Promise.”

“If you’re sure,” he said.

She nodded emphatically, her expression earnest. “So sure. It’s so much better with you here with us, and we want to keep it that way.”

“Yeah, all right,” Perianagreed.

He’d brought it up, at least, and maybe if they thought it over longer, they’d eventually decide theydidwant to prove it to everyone. And, he supposed, if they really didn’t want to, it was their choice.

After the picnic, he swung by the doctor’s room in hope of finding Nisal.

“Not hurt, I hope?” the doctor asked.

“No, no,” Perian assured her. “No training, nothing more strenuous than giggling at picnics, I promise. I’m actually looking for Nisal.”

“I believe they have training with the Mage Warriors this afternoon.”

“Thanks.”

He made his way back to the Mage Warrior wing, contemplating whether or not he should interrupt training for something that was probably objectively not that important, it just felt important in Perian’s mind. He would just… walk up and down the corridor outside of the training rooms a few times, and if someone happened to look out—

“Perian, is everything all right?”

Yes!

Perian turned to Nisal. “Everything is totally fine, and I have a totally ridiculous favor to ask. It could probably wait, but I’m impatient, so I was just going to walk up and down the hallway and see if I could lure you out without actually asking.”

Nisal snorted with amusement, stuck their head back in the room to tell the other Mage Warriors they’d be back in a minute, and then joined Perian in the hall.

“Well?” they asked.

“Oh, knower of all things,” he began.

They snorted. “You’ve already got me on tenterhooks, get to the favor.”

“If I wanted to ‘accidentally’ run into Chamis the Warrior, where would I have to be and when? Preferably tomorrow, I guess, since you look busy right now.”

They eyed him for a long moment. “Seriously?”

Perian made a desperate face. “He and Bennan are pining. It’s painful to watch. Ineed to help.”

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