"I t could be," Jin-ae agreed. "It could also be terribly cold. Although there are many poems and paintings done of the land in winter." It had been strangely surprising to pass through the coldest season of the year without even a lick of frost. Jin-ae had marveled at the rains even to the exasperation of her fellow slaves. She had never seen so much at once, and had to be persuaded by her own logic not to risk illness by being out in the middle of it. "It would be too much here, I think, if she could. I don't know what would survive so dramatic a change." A test of the environment, surely, and a fascinating one. Even Paon's great hunters would be forced to extremes if the island was robbed its native wildlife. The idea really didn't bare entertaining. Warmed at his assessment of one of the last pieces she had of her family, Jin-ae vanished the bauble, daring to foster the hope that it would not find its way into any stilted, hostile discussion with her Lady. A smile softened her mouth, made easier by the touch of nostalgia she felt at the idea of home. It had gotten muddied, a little, in the year she'd been a slave, but first home had been in Anahi."I will," she affirmed. "Perhaps one day you might show me where you work." The idea of books, and so many, within reach - it made her heart ache in longing. Books on fishing Craft, on boats, on the native plants, the birds; so much that she didn't know but had ideas about. So much that could be learned. She'd have to see if she could redirect them to the bookseller's stall, if the hunters were far enough away. But that was not the most pressing thing. Books would keep. There wasn't quite so large a market for reading things that people who were longer to the island already knew. She frowned, first at the ribbons and then down at herself. "I find it hard to imagine putting them anywhere but my hair. Making a dress from individual pieces seems tedious and expensive." and Jin-ae did not have enough patience or marks to furnish that endeavor, let alone the courage to inquire with either her Mistress or her Master as to Lady Salome's measurements. Paris was not even to be considered. "How would you wear one?" Maybe he had seen more styles than her limited imagination could conjure. The weight of his attention made the hairs at the nape of her neck prickle. She knew, to a degree, that her treatment in Captain Nazaire's house was unique. She'd seen enough of her peers treatment to know her pursuits - the archery, the reading, the calligraphy in Dhemlan's native alphabet, the Craft experiments - were gifts, easily taken. There were few even in his employ who had the same liberties. Falling from that place was not something to be entertained. It was by her Master's Darkness given grace alone that put her where she was. A wrong word to Paris could ruin all of it, used right. Fingers glancing across one such ribbon - not sapphire, but close, cerulean perhaps - Jin-ae debated. "I am allowed near Lady Salome's marks no more than you are," she said, levity petering away. It was not something she could speak of in strictly true terms, after all. But I am learning to build lies. Perhaps that is the goal, in the end. Swallowing, she pressed a hand against her hip, looking at nothing."When I... came here," was taken, stolen, captured "there were several items in my cabinet that I no longer required. I had intended to use them as payment for my travels. I was - I was running away from home." Eyes back and up, to the level of his jaw. Had Paris ever entertained the idea? Surely not. "I forfeited those things when I came to Captain Nazaire. He was gracious enough to allow me to retain part of their value in marks, that I might acquire new things better fit to my role in his household without troubling his own purse." It was true, in part. She had owned clothing too heavy for island heat, shoes too thin for outdoor wear but not required for indoor use. Utensils, gifts from birthdays long past that had little practical use outside of a farm. Gloves, thick socks, scarves. Added to the generous allowance Isidore had dropped onto her lap in hopes of easing the way for Salome, it was enough that she had been spending her own marks on her things, and Captain Nazaire's on food for her lady."All the same, I can't quite imagine she would want anything from my hand."