Obligatory warning: I own nothing. Kim and Richard Merril belong to Patricia C. Wrede.

I enjoy writing arguments. I don't know why. You can tell a lot about a character's feelings and personality through them and it's rather entertaining.

I always like reading Kim and Mairelon arguing about her come-out ball at the start of The Magician's Ward and have always, always wanted to see someone take the scene from his point of view. No one did, so I took it upon myself.

Enjoy!

Richard Merril was in a particularly good mood.

He wasn't entirely sure where the idea of giving his apprentice and ward a proper come-out had come from, but it was common enough for him to come up with ideas and plans before his mind fully caught up with the reasons behind them that he no longer questioned it. In any case, when he did think about it, it was a very good idea. With it, Kim could be properly respected as the talented wizard-in-training that she was, as she ought to be.

Furthermore, the London Season would be rather a lot more pleasant if Kim was there. She was a breath of fresh air and his partner in crime – in all senses of the term – and with the previous days attempted burglary it felt right that she'd be with him if their thief was potentially found.

And, of course, the whole thing thoroughly upset his aunt. What better reasons did he have?

It was in this cheerful mood that he entered the townhouse library to answer whatever questions it was said ward had for him. He rather suspected it was about the button she'd received from one of the friends from her previous life on the street. A distress call of sorts? Either way, she'd probably want to see the caller as soon as possible and Richard didn't see why there was anything wrong with that. If Kim knew anything, she knew caution and he would go with her, of course. His smiled absently; the whole scene would look something like their adventures of a year ago. In some cases he missed that – 5 years of running made sitting still a bit of a difficulty.

He found Kim slouched casually in a reading chair. She looked up at him, seeming to gather her thoughts from wherever they had run off to.

He grinned at her, "Well, that's settled, more or less. Now, what was it you wanted to ask?"

"Settled?" She asked, sounding a bit startled, "What's settled?"

"The business of presenting you to society," he answered promptly. "Aunt Agatha doesn't like it, of course, but it's clear enough that she'll agree to sponsor you eventually."

"Eventually?" Kim screwed up her face, obviously at the idea of his aunt as her sponsor. Richard was entirely sympathetic, but the amusement of it all won over.

"Right now, she's too furious to agree to anything, but she'll come around as soon as I propose letting Renée D'Auber sponsor you instead. She's far too conventional to let my ward be presented by someone who's not a member of the family."

"You enjoy annoying her," Kim said in surprise.

Well, yes. "Nonsense. It's much too easy – everything annoys Aunt Agatha. Now, you had some questions, I think?"

"Not exactly. It's just you forgot to ask me."

Richard blinked. Sometimes it was so easy to get caught up in his own ideas to forget they involved other people who may wish to be included. But, in actuality, he did have a reason for this one. "I'm sorry about springing it on you, but I wanted it to be clear to Aunt Agatha that you hadn't been scheming for a come-out all along. It worked too."

"That's not what I meant," Kim said. "That just explains why you didn't tell me what you were planning. I'm talking about asking me whether I wanted to be launched into society."

He paused briefly, unsure what to make of that. Since they had returned to London from their year or so in Kent where he had begun her magic lessons Kim hadn't seemed herself, and he didn't want her to just suffer in silence. He wanted to do something. "I didn't think I had to. It's obvious you haven't been happy since we got back to London. I thought you wanted a change."

"Well, I haven't been and I did want a change but that's not the point," Kim said with more than a touch of irritation. "A year ago, I wanted to get off the streets, but I didn't want it badly enough to go to the stews."

"I should hope not," Richard said, startled – as he often was – by her bringing up the harsher realities of her old life on the streets of London. Whenever she did, even in passing, it made him profusely glad that she was no longer there. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that she was grateful either, so what was she annoyed about? He tried explaining it to her further. "It's not just a matter of presenting you, you know. I'm hoping if we circulate a bit during the Season we'll run across our toff burglar."

"That's not the point," Kim repeated, sounding if anything more annoyed with him. She'd been irritated with him in the past, plenty of times. But in most of those cases he was being admittedly stubborn or, as she would eloquently put it, goose-witted. Not knowing, exactly, what was bothering her made this upset Kim much more concerning to him. "A year ago, you asked me if I wanted to be your ward, when it was a lot plainer I'd jump at the chance. But you didn't ask me about coming out in Society and you didn't ask me about 'circulating during the Season.' You're as bad as Mrs. Lowe."

From anyone else the comparison to his insufferably respectable aunt would be a mildly offensive, but coming from Kim and her feelings towards his aunt being what they were there was nothing mild about it. For Richard to be put beside her in Kim's mind stung him.

"What?"

"Mrs. Lowe didn't ask me about whether I came to London to catch a husband, she just decided that's what I wanted. Or that it would be best for me. And you didn't ask about this. You both act like I'm some fog-headed mort who ain't got sense enough to make up her own mind about anything."

"I'm sorry," he said, unsure of what else he could say after that speech.

"I'm sorry don't fix it."

"What would? Do you want me to tell Aunt Agatha that you refuse to be presented?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I want."

"Why?" He asked, startled. He hadn't expected that answer. Well, he hadn't really expected this entire conversation. "It's not because of that Hardcastle woman's remarks this afternoon, or the Ternower girl's attitude, is it? Their opinions really don't matter in the slightest."

'Why' seemed like the most appropriate question, in any case. He was so used to understanding Kim, and having her understand him. They may not always agree on everything but misunderstandings were rare. In certain cases Richard felt as though he and his ward could understand one another without saying a word. He didn't like the idea that this would not always be the case between them.

"Not to you they don't. But I ain't been out with your poker-backed aunt every day for a week without noticing that the opinions of bubble-brains like those two matter a lot to some people. Your aunt, for one."

"And do they matter to you?" He asked, still trying to grasp at something he could make sense of. "Is that why you're so… overset?"

"No," she said with profound exasperation. "Not the way you mean, not now. But if I were to get launched into Society, their opinions would have to matter, wouldn't they? Because that's what society is, mostly."

Well, that was true enough, and at least now he knew what she was saying… for the most part. Richard sighed. "What an unfortunately truthful observation. I take your point. I shouldn't have sprung this on you in front of them."

"You shouldn't have sprung this on me at all!" She snapped. "You ought to have asked me about it first, and not just because you thought I'd give you a trimming if you didn't." She paused to catch her breath. "It's my life. And I ain't – I'm not a noodle."

"No one said you were." He said, somewhat helplessly.

"You act like it." Kim shook her head. "Maybe it's just how you toffs are, deciding what other people should do. But I wasn't born and bred to it. I don't like it. And I ain't never going to get used to it." The lapse in her grammar showing that she meant it.

Richard studied her silently for a moment. It was easy enough to tell his aunt that Kim didn't want a come-out, but he didn't really want to. He wanted Kim to be presented, to feel more comfortable and for Society to treat her the way she deserved to be treated. He hadn't realized that by doing so he would not be treating her as such. He shook his head.

"Very well, if you really don't wish to have a come-out, I'll talk to Aunt Agatha again. Tomorrow, I think; that'll give her time to calm down, and I can probably convince her that her excellent arguments persuaded us to reconsider, which might even put her in charity with both of us."

"Good," Kim said. She still sounded uncomfortable and not at all happy. Well, that was just about how he felt as well. He'd never argued with her before, not like this at least. He hoped he wouldn't do so for a very long time, if ever again.

I originally wanted to include both arguments in one post (the next one being about Richard accompanying her to Tom's that night) but this got so long I might as well have made it a two shot. So you have that to look forward to.

Anywho, I hope you enjoyed. I do always feel sorry for Mairelon, here. It's very clear he did mean well this whole time. I also love that this argument takes place after he makes some comment to his Aunt about how he and Kim 'deal so well together'.

Also, reviews make me happy. Let me know someone is reading! ;)