Page 77 of The Lost Art of Finding Where You Belong

He managed to feed Prince Horsey only a couple of treats, not letting himself go completely overboard.

“I gave you so many yesterday,” Perian reminded him. “You’re going to end up with abellyache.”

Prince Horsey’s disdainful look said he’d never heard of a bellyache before and would not be convinced until Perian fed him so much sugar he threw up, but Perian managed to resist. He made sure there were oats to eat and then reminded him that it might be a few days before he got down here again.

“I’m coming back, though, I promise. I just need to ride someone else for a while, all right?”

There was an explosive laughter that a stable hand could absolutely not turn into a cough in time, and Perian flashed a grin.

“Sorry, that was a bit of stables’ humor. Too much?”

They were still laughing, tears in their eyes, but shook their head.

On that cheerful note, he headed back to Brannal’s rooms, which were—unsurprisingly, but still disappointingly—empty.

He bathed, scrubbed himself properly clean, and then climbed out of the bath. He toweled himself dry (far less fun than them toweling one another dry), rebandaged his arm, dressed in clean clothes, and switched out the beads in his hair, using a nice set of amber-colored beads because he had Brannal back in person, and he could save the green glass ones for another time.

He peered at himself in the mirror and couldn’t stop smiling. Back in the sitting room, he grabbed a book and settled by the fire and… mostly managed to stare at the book and not take in a lot of information as he daydreamed about Brannal.

Unfortunately, Brannal wasn’t one of the people who came to get him for dinner. Not that Molun, Arvus, and Nisal weren’t awesome, but it wasn’t the same.

“He’s still busy?” Perian asked.

“He’s still busy,” Molun confirmed. “Asked us to come and take you to dinner so you didn’t stay here and pine.”

“Please tell me he didn’t actually say that,” Perian said, embarrassed.

“Maybe notquitelike that,” Molun allowed, “but it’s clearly what hemeant, and it’s obviously what you’re doing. Come on.”

They were a little late, so they struggled to find somewhere to sit, but people slid together and shifted over a bit, and Perian squashed between Molun and Arvus. Nisal wound up on the other side of Onadal, next to Delana. Perian tried not to look at them too much, because he was afraid he’d grin like an idiot. He didn’t understand how it wasn’t obvious to everyone that they had found some point during the day to show oneanother how happy they were to be back together. Perian swore he could practicallyseethe satisfaction wafting off them.

Further down the table, Bennan and Chamiswere sitting next to one another, which filled Perian with glee. It was harder to tell from here, but he was almost certain their body language said something along the lines of “still really like one another a lot, but the pining is no longer unreciprocated.”

He was so happy they seemed to be happy.

Molun nudged him and pointed at his plate. “Eat. You’re going to need your energy for later.”

This made Perian snort and try to concentrate on the food. He could just see Brannal getting concerned by a stomach rumble. It had been a while since the picnic, and he’d gone for a good ride with Prince Horsey. He probablyshouldbe hungry, but his predominant feeling right now was a desire to see Brannal, and that was overshadowing everything else.

But Molun was right; Perian needed to be fueled for what was to come tonight. He was trying to concentrate so hard on his food that he didn’t notice the swirl of sound that suddenly swept through the room until a voice at his elbow said, “Is there room for me?”

Perian sprang to his feet, awkward on the crowded bench. “Brannal!” he beamed. “There is absolutely room for you!”

This was more a wish than an actual statement of reality, because they had already been wedged in there pretty tight…

Perhaps Perian looked as wild-eyed as he felt, because Molun rolled his eyes.

“Come on, Arvus, I think I see some seats over there.”

“You are the best,” Perian told him. “I love you.”

There was another spike of sound, and Molun and Perian rolled their eyes in unison before Molun said, “We love you, too.”

And then he and Arvus went to sit at the end of another table, and there was room for Brannal to sit next to Perian without Perian needing to push someone off the bench.

Brannal settled in beside him.

“Is it easier to shove people off benches discreetly if you have control of air?” Perian wanted to know.

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