A Small Thing About Tahlira

Hadna has three separate names for her, depending on mood, and swears none of them count as an insult. Tahlira never explains why she answers two of them and ignores the third. She just does.

Dhaelen learns this the hard way, early on. He tries clearing his throat. Nothing. He tries her name, clipped and impatient, the way he says everyone's name when he wants something done fast. Still nothing. It isn't until he slows down and says both syllables of it properly, like he's reading it off a formal document, that her head comes up at all. Hadna watches this happen and doesn't bother hiding her grin.

There's a habit Tahlira has of humming before she speaks. Three or four notes, off the beat of whatever's playing if there's music nearby, off some private rhythm of her own if there isn't. It's not a full song. It sounds more like she's checking that her voice still works before she commits to using it out loud.

She has opinions about seating. The chair closest to the door, always, whether it's the best chair in the room or not. Nobody in the party has figured out if this is a preference or a rule she's set for herself, and she's never once explained it when asked directly.

Rose-gold catches in her coloring when she turns her head near firelight, enough that Hadna mentions it twice in the same scene, which is about as close to sentimental as Hadna's narration ever gets.

Small things. That's the point of these posts. The rest of her, I'm keeping for the book.