Chapter Text
“Ding-a-ling-a-ling, Lily’s at the door!” The young Crystalian flung herself in between two figures seated on a sofa. Her fellow Crystalian Erin followed into the room after her, sighing as she gently closed the door.
“Lily, you should greet others properly.”
“Huh? But this is proper! Big sis Lyria and I came up with it together! You should do it too, Erin! Follow me! Ding-a-ling-a-ling, Lily’s here!”
Swept up by the younger girl’s energy, Erin made a valiant attempt to follow up. “Um… D-ding-a-ling-ling… it’s Erin…”
“Sing-along-a-song, Izmir is here!” The silver-haired Draph gave a gentle smile as she swooped to Erin’s rescue.
“See! Big sis Izmir can do it!” Lily turned to the man to her left, reclining against the arm of the sofa. “Your turn, big brother Aglovale!”
As the older man smiled silently, Erin reminded Lily, “I don’t think ‘big brother’ is the right term…”
“Oh! He’s a king, right? So it should be, um… His… His Royal… Royal Majesty?”
Aglovale placed a hand on the back of her head and gently smoothed her hair with his thumb. “You can just call me ‘Aglovale’, Lily.”
As that was going on, Izmir exchanged glances and a small nod with Erin. In an instant, the room froze over in a thick layer of ice. Only the sofa and the four figures remained unaffected; in fact, they didn’t seem perturbed at all.
In the Grandcypher, this room came to be known as “The Freezer.” Izmir’s condition forces her to use her ice magic constantly lest it destroy her from the inside out. Realizing this, Gran and Djeeta set aside a room for her use… and a few particularly cold-resistant friends to keep her company. (And to keep the magic in check so it wouldn’t make the Grandcypher sustain any more damage than it already did on a regular basis.)
To assure Izmir that she wasn’t being a hindrance, the crew also used the room as storage for perishable foods after she was done using the room. Of course, it would slowly thaw (with some “encouragement” from Percival and Elmott, who weren’t altogether pleased with their role as ice-melters), so Izmir could repeat the process as necessary.
“Ding-a-ling-a-ling, Ag-lo-vale… Hmm…” Lily kicked her legs out in front of her as she hummed various tunes to herself. “Dong-a-long-a-long… Aggu, it’s you…”
Erin wedged herself between Aglovale and Lily, making Lily scooch closer to Izmir. “He can’t exactly sing that about himself, Lily…”
“But…!” Lily pouted at the older girl. “Hmm… His name’s kinda long… Most people don’t have such long names!”
“Lily, that’s not nice to say,” Erin admonished. A smirk danced on Aglovale’s lips as he watched their banter, but his gaze seemed distant, as if concentrating on something else.
The younger girl didn’t seem to care about the admonishment, swaying from side to side as she continued softly singing to herself. “Ring-a-ding-a-ding, ring-a-dong-a-dong, rin rin rin, don don don, ring-a-ding-dong—”
“—Ding-a-ling-a-ling, Aggy, that's me.”
All heads swiveled to look at him, all three of the girls’ faces expressing their surprise as a self-satisfied grin sat on his face. Lily was the first of them to react. “Teehee! Big brother Aggy did it too! See, Erin, see?”
“Hee hee. I didn’t realize you had such a good singing voice,” Izmir gently teased.
“I haven’t done this in a while,” he replied. “I’m afraid I’m getting rusty.”
“Then let’s do it again! Ring-a-ling, ring-a-ling!”
Aglovale and Izmir followed along in chorus. “Ring-a-ling, ring-a-ling!”
“R-ring…ling…ring…” Erin squirmed uncomfortably as she shyly chimed in.
“Eriiiiin, put more energy into it!”
Izmir came to the girl’s rescue once again. “Lily, if Erin isn’t comfortable with it, then leave her be. I’m more surprised you have no problem singing along, Aglovale.”
“As long as you don’t breathe a word about this to the rest of the crew. I have an image to maintain, after all.” He watched as Erin produced a small object from her bag. “Oh? Have you been working on your crystal figurines again, Erin?”
“Yes. I’ve been studying the carbuncles for the past week, like you recommended.” She gently placed her creation into Aglovale’s outstretched hand. As he carefully inspected it, she continued, “Something still doesn’t seem quite right, though. It doesn’t compare to the real thing…”
He gently brushed the crystal-carbuncle’s tail with his thumb. “Well, I see that the proportions have improved greatly since the last one you’ve gifted me. There’s greater detail in the fur and feathers which adds to its realism. But I think it lacks dynamism.”
“Dynamism?”
“You’ve made it stand upright, on all fours, but how often do you actually see a carbuncle do that? They’re usually sitting or curled up around someone. The only time they really use their legs is to jump and propel themselves in the air.”
Erin listened intently. “I see… So it doesn’t feel lifelike because it’s making an unnatural pose… Is that what you mean?”
“That’s how I see it, at least.” Aglovale smiled. “But you are a hobbyist crafter. You aren’t obligated to make it realistic.”
“No, I came out of the Crystal Palace so I could see animals with my own eyes, so your advice has been helpful… and thank you for the animal encyclopedia you gifted me. It’s so much more detailed than the books we had back at the palace.”
The man scrutinized the figurine some more, turning it in his hand. “There was something quite charming about your original figurines, though. Because you had to use your imagination to fill in some gaps, they had a unique quality that can’t be produced by imitating reality.”
She contemplated his words silently. “Do you think my old ornaments were cuter?”
“They’re all cute.”
“They’re always cute!” Lily interjected, leaning into Erin and wrapping her arms around the older girl in a big hug. She pressed her face into Erin’s shoulder, mumbling, “I’m sleepy…”
“It’s the middle of the day, how are you sleepy? Did you sneak off into Lyria’s room again and stay up all night giggling?” The younger girl’s guilty pout told Erin all she needed to know. “Lily. How many times have we gone over this?”
Lily brought out the puppy eyes. “But Eriiiin… Oh! How about I ask Gran and Jeejee for a snack! It’ll wake me up!”
“You shouldn’t ask the captains for snacks so much.”
“I’ll, uh… I’ll ask big brother Vane, then!”
“No, that isn’t what I meant.”
As they bantered, Lily tugged Erin towards the door, though the other girl didn’t bother putting up a fight. This happened every day, and Erin was well aware that Lily was unstoppable when it came to indulging in snacks.
Izmir made the ice blocking the door dissipate into snowflakes so the girls could leave. Once the two adults were left alone, she rose from her seat. “Well now, it’s about time we called it a day, hm? I’ve had enough of the cold.”
The two walked down the hallway in silence when Izmir spoke up. “You’ve grown fond of those children, haven’t you?”
He arched a brow. “You make it sound like I disliked them.”
“No, but the first day in that room, you never spoke the entire time.”
“Lily was entertaining enough on her own. I don’t think I get tired of her stories… even if she’s repeated them more times than I can count.”
“Does she remind you of your brothers when they were younger?”
A wistful smile crossed his lips. “I suppose Percival was a bit like Lily as a child. Shy, emotional, but kind-hearted.”
“Shy?” Surprised crossed Izmir’s features. “I would hardly have guessed based on the way he acts now.”
Aglovale didn’t respond, but he didn’t have to—they heard the pattering of feet before Lyria appeared before them. A scarf was draped around her neck and shoulders, and she uncharacteristically wore tall, fur-lined boots. “Dong-a-long-a-long, it’s time to come along!”
“Sing-along-a-song, Izmir’s here!”
The two of them looked at Aglovale, who only shook his head with a bemused smirk. Izmir ventured, “Ding-a-ling-a-ling…”
Ignoring it, he brushed past them as he replied, “I’m leaving Erin’s figurine in my room first.”
The Draph woman giggled. “Oh, Lyria dear, he’s just being shy. You see…”
“Not another word, Izmir.”
But he was too late. Lyria ran up to him, singing his version of the song. “Ding-a-ling-a-ling, Aggy, that’s you! Ring-a-ding-ding! Teehee, sing along with us, Lord Aglovale!”
“Don’t be such a stick in the mud and let loose, Aglovale,” Izmir chided. “You never know if you’ll get an opportunity like this again when you return to Wales.”
“I think you both just want to hear me sing.”
Lyria clung to his free arm. “I do, Lord Aglovale! Come on, sing with us! Ready? Ding-a-ling-a-ling, someone’s at the door!”
Between Lyria’s pleading eyes and the few details of Izmir’s condition she allowed him to be privy to, he caved. “Dong-a-long-a-long, I’ve never seen them before!”