Chapter Text
The hardest lady to get rid of, by far, was Andrette.
It wasn’t because she was hard to find, or hard to trick. She’d only been coming by Papa’s nest for a week before Kitten was able to find and work her way into her nest. The problem was that none of Kitten’s tricks seemed to make her angry.
She tried entering her nest while she was gone and gnawing a hole in a pile of letters she’d left out on her desk. Andrette just called the seneschal and asked him to look for mouseholes. She followed her to the Eating Room one day and whistled a tone that made a squire trip, spilling an entire flagon of wine down her front in full view of Papa, the Blue Fire Man, and Prettier-Than-Everyone-But-Mama. Andrette blinked, and then reached out a hand to help the squire to his feet. She tried changing the colors of all the pots of color she put on her face, to make her lips blue and her cheeks green. When she looked in the mirror, she just started to laugh.
Worse yet, she was nice . She was the first of Papa’s women who tried to be friends with Kitten and Mama. If she saw them at a party or dinner, Andrette would stop and talk to Mama, asking her about her studies or her Mama-hearted friends. If she was nearby when someone said something mean about Mama, she would scold them or walk away. She went to her home fief once and came back with a shiny stone for Kitten and a necklace of seashells for Mama.
Kitten felt guilty about it, but she liked Andrette. She would scratch Kitten under the chin when she saw her and give her almond cakes. Worse still, Mama liked her. Kitten knew Mama felt… itchy about it, but she liked her all the same.
It was much harder to play pranks on someone you like, Kitten was finding, but she needed to do something . Finally, after more than a month of Andrette visiting Papa’s nest, Kitten decided to just explain things to Andrette, like she would with Mama or Papa.
She waited until she knew Mama and Papa were busy together one afternoon, then went to find Andrette. It wasn’t hard to do; she was always in her nest at this time of day. Kitten could have whistled the lock off the door, but instead she sat on her haunches and scratched politely to be let in. When Andrette opened the door, Kitten hooked a claw into her bracelet and chattered at her, asking her to follow.
“You need me?” Andrette asked, mystified, but followed where she led. Kitten took her to the East Outer Wall, which had a good view of the pony meadow. Papa was there, riding Spots in a large, slow circle with Mama at its center. Kitten knew that if Andrette just saw and heard them together while she was really paying attention, she’d understand. She whistled a listening spell so she and Andrette could hear what Mama and Papa were saying.
“I know how to ride, Daine,” Papa said.
“No, you know how to not fall off. That’s different. One more time around, and this time I don’t want to see any space between you and the saddle.”
“This is humiliating,” Papa muttered, but he obeyed. He was getting better about obeying Mama’s orders.
Mama turned to follow his progress.
“Your horse is bearing right, Master Salmalin,” she called. “He’s trying to tell you something. What is he trying to tell you?”
“ I don’t know!”
“Well, listen. ”
“Why? Isn’t it easier for you to just tell me what he’s thinking, so I don’t have to guess?”
“One of these days, your life might depend on your ability to make a hasty getaway on a mount less patient than Spots. I won’t always be there, looking over your shoulder to translate for you.”
For a moment, Kitten thought Papa looked sad. Then he smiled, and edged Spots closer to Mama. When he was close enough to touch her, he flung himself down from his saddle and scooped her up, carrying her over one shoulder.
“ Numair! ” Mama said, laughing. “What are you doing?”
“Making sure I always have you over my shoulder to translate my horse’s thoughts for me.”
Mama flailed her legs, but not like she really meant it.
“Put me down!”
Papa turned around, like he was looking for the speaker behind his back.
“What? What was that?”
“I said, put me down!”
“Who said that?” He turned around again.
Mama squirmed and tried to roll off his shoulder, and Papa almost dropped her. Actually, Papa did drop her, Kitten could tell, but he made a cushion with his magic so that she wouldn’t really fall. Instead, she ended up lying spread eagled in the grass, smiling up at the sun.
“No fair,” she said. “You don’t get out of lessons just for acting like a clown.”
Papa fell back beside her, tucking his hands behind his head and closing his eyes.
“Says who?”
“Says you! ”
“Hm. I may need to revisit that particular rule.”
Mama snorted.
“Did anyone ever tell you that snorting is unbecoming of a young lady?”
“Did anyone ever tell you that you’re an insufferable know-it-all?”
Papa grinned, his eyes still closed. They were quiet together for several long moments, but KItten didn’t break the spell. Mama had something more she wanted to say - she could see it on her face.
“Numair. When I said I wouldn’t always be there, I didn’t mean - I just meant that we might need to be separated for a time, like we were at Dunlath. You know I’d never leave you willingly.”
“I know, Magelet.” He groped around blindly for her hand. When he found it, he brought it to his lips to kiss her knuckles, then brought it back to the grass, still holding it. “Nor I you.”
Mama smiled again, broader this time. Her breathing became slow and even, like she was meditating or taking a nap.
Kitten whistled the spell to end.
“Yes,” Andrette said from beside her. “Yes. I think I see what you mean.”
Kitten couldn’t read the emotion in her voice. When she looked up at her, her eyes were both happy and sad.
“Thank you, little one,” she said. “Just think how much it would have hurt if I had fallen in love with him.”
Andrette scratched her under her chin, and then went back inside.
The next day, she took Papa aside. Kitten didn’t know what she said, but she never went to Papa’s nest again after that. Papa was moody and sulky for days - Mama avoided him, and instructed Kitten to do the same - until the Blue Fire Man called them all into his nest one day. He told them they were going to Carthak, across the sea. After that, everyone forgot about Andrette.