#anywhere

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Ariel is practicing music and..hiding it from the other girls. They see her play.. then sneak away

Salma notices. Salma notices a lot of things. But then again, Salma is always sneaking off with a book, so she doesn't really have room to judge...

And sometimes, Salma might see her friend is WRITING things down.

Ariel is writing?

It's not like she can't write, but clearly sneaky stuff is underway

sometimes, she is in the study, looking over a thesauruses and dictionary

Salma tries to sneak a look at this. Maybe it's a story...

Well, she was definitely looking up how to spell the word basically and destiny

And she's consulting with Phoebe and if she sees Salma, she scoots the kinian away and goes with her

A frown, It is a mystery. The young girls in her books often are set with mysteries, and need to have pluck and spirit to cleverly solve them. Salma does not consider herself so clever, no. So she seeks out Ellie instead.

Ellie is frowning at a book. Frowning?

"Princesca?" She pauses in the doorway. Is it a school book? Those are worth a frown.

It's a novel, slender enough.

"What is the matter? Did you find a new story?"

"It is a new story, It's about dresses. I like dresses...."

"Do you want to see? Maybe you could read it aloud..."

"If it makes you frown, maybe it is not a good story..." She steps over and lightly pats Ellie on the arm, concerned.

"I don't know if it's a good story or not." She leans against the pooka and shows her the pages.

Salma plops down next to Ellie, wrinkling her skirts - but doesn't care, there is a BOOK!

"See this?" A frown, as she points at the word 'precarious.'

Salma reads it aloud. "Pre-car-ious." A moment thinking, then nods, "That one is easy, it is precario."

She can easily read all the words, though some of the meanings stumble her for a moment in the English written books.

"Who would have a hundred dresses? So many! When would you wear them all?"

Salma is smart, and Salma watches - how often Ellie asks her friend to read aloud. How she likes picture books.

How in class, Ellie's lips move when they're set on reading...

And Salma's eyes widen a bit, and then soften. "Princesca, maybe you can help me?"

"I don't know. I don't think Wanda has a hundred dresses..."

Salma fidgets with the hem of her dress. "I was not sure who to ask."

She leans. "How can I help, amiga?"

"I have been wanting to work on my sewing more. See, Maria and Rosa, they work so hard, but I keep ripping my seams. But when I sew, I cannot read my stories, and I could not decide between the two. Maybe, you could help me by reading a few to me while I dance with the threads?"

There's a flicker of distress. "Oh... oh, I could tell you stories! I know so many."

A sad look, as she glances along the shelves. "Just maybe a few favorites, I cannot concentrate on the new ones well when I also have to see there the needle goes.. I would love to hear it again... and you've heard this one already, see, so it is easy to follow along." She encourages gently. "And Maybe I could sew a green rose on your hem, where it has the spot where you keep kneeling in the garden, ay, I have noticed that."

And the book she hesitates a hand on is definitely an earlier childhood one, but a favorite, she has seen Salma carry it around before.

"Maybe we should ask Ariel. She has such a pretty voice, and it will be good practice for performing..."

"Ariel is off doing mysteries. She does not want me, she ran off." A soft sigh, and she says in a sad tone. "It is okay. You must all go do your big important things, Salma will stay behind and sew in the dark."

Ellie fidgets. "Noooo..." Distressed again.

"I want to help..."

Salma settles down and opens the book in her lap. The floor next to her is patted.

She sits by Salma.

The book opened in her lap, and the pooka produces a tangled pile of thread from a pocket. "Waste today, want tomorrow..." She says, and straightens her glasses as she starts to carefully tease out the edge of a strand from the tangle so that she can wind it around a finger to use later.

"Chica de arándanos - that is the Blueberry girl. Can you start? If there are words you do not know, I will tell you them in Espanol. Then when we travel, it will be our secret language."

Ellie fusses - but there's that sidhe pride. "I can do it. But Ariel would be better... but.."

"But I want my Princesca. Ariel is off playing music... she doesn't understand well how to enjoy a quiet sit. See, her hooves, they want to run and dance."

"But if you do not want, I understand." Droopy ears.

"I can do it." And she starts. Her cadence is slower, more halting - though sometimes fast, when she remembers a phrase from before!

Other words she trips over - "waking" is "whacking" before she doubles back to repeat the sentence correctly.

And if a word is stumbled on, there is no snickering, no judgement. Salma peers over, takes a moment to consider the word herself, then sounds it out in both English and Spanish.

And sometimes - oh, tricky, Ellie substitutes a word, using a picture to fill in the gaps.

An ear perks, and Salma blinks. "Is that right? I remember that page, it is the one with the spindle, and the búho, the owl drawing. I remember because he has his wings spread just so. Did the pages stick?"

Mournful, distressed. "I'm not very good at this..."