(A/N Hello again! (second chapter today, I think...) This chapter is short, but I have three excuses. A, my holidays started today (yaay!9, B It's hot over here. I hate it when it's hot. It's disgusting. I always get in a bad mood. C, you'll see that in the next chapter ;)

Chapter 19: Staying For Dinner

Kitumaini had been right. Guillaume had grown a lot since the last time Cashmére had seen her. Back then, Guillaume barely had been able to crawl. Now, the little girl was running around all over the house. Kitumaini and Embu lived in a house in Capriolium. A big house. Four floors, and about twelve rooms at each floor. Cosy. The house was cosy. It smelled like exotic fruit and parfume. Cashmére thought that it was lovely. A lovely house, a lovely home, a lovely family. She had always wanted that. A family. A mother, a father and siblings. Always. Always. If she and Joseph ever would get children, she knew that there would be more than one. And if it only would be one, by some reason that Cashmére didn't see or understand, she would make sure that that child never had to be alone. Not ever. She stopped thinking for a while, and watched Guillaume. She was so pretty! She had the same darke skin as both her parents, she had Kitumaini's lips and nose and hair, but she had Embu's eyes. His wizard-green eyes. Or she would have. They were grey right now. That was also one thing Cashmére was wondering over. If- if- she and Joseph ever would have a child, would it be a wizard? Maybe it would choose to be a witch? Or would it be none of it? Like Cashmére's mother. Once again, Cashmére's thoughts got interupted. Guillaume was playing with Joseph. They barely understood eachother, but that didn't seem to bother them at all. Cashmére almost had to laugh. They looked cute together. Funny. She smiled.

Kitumaini asked them to stay for dinner, and they did. At first, they ate some kind of meat and then, as a dessert, the ate a fruit that had hard, green skin but was purple, soft and juicy on the inside. It tasted delicious. Katimu, it was called. It sounded cute. Almost like Kitumaini. If Cashmére wouldn't have known that Kitumaini meant hope, she would have thought that Kitumaini was named after the sweet fruit. It wouldn't surprise her. Not a bit. After the dinner, they went to the palace. Ambrosia. It was a bit, but finally, they got there. They didn't know where Joseph was suppoused to sleep, so- even though Cashmére knew that her father would have prefered it if they didn't- they slept together. In the same bed. Cashmére had never done that before. Not as far as she could remember. And not certainly with a boy. At first, Joseph had been sleeping in one corner of the bed, and Cashmére in the other. But then, by some mystical force, they had moved closer and closer. And then, in the morning when Cashmére woke up, they had been sleeping face to face. It had been was odd. Very odd. But nice. She had liked the feeling it gave her. Like a tickling in her stomach. Ever more odd. Hmm. After a while, Cashmére got out of the bed. Joseph had still been sleeping, and she thought that it was creepy to watch people while they were sleeping. Not at all cute, just creepy. Instead, she had a wash and pulled her clothes on. Usually, she letted her servants do that, but not now. Not anymore. It would feel odd. Cashmére sighed and scratched her hair. She didn't want to leave the room, in case that he would wake up. She pulled on a dress- red, as usually- picked out a book- about weddings. She didn't know why- and started to read.

Around ten o'clock in the morning, Joseph started to wake up. As Cashmére had expected, he did not know where he was at first. He simply didn't remember. Cashmére could tell that he was getting nerveous. "Joseph." she said, "Are you alright?"

Joseph looked relived, and had an expression that told her that he remembered everything now. "Yes." he sreplied, sighing with relief. Cashmére cleared her throat.

"I'm going to make the servants get you some clothes..." she told him, then she yelled; "Rosinda!"

The short, slightly chubby woman appeard in her room. "Yes, miss Cashmére?" she wondered. She looked at Joseph, with a gaze that clearly said she did not approve having him there. Cashmére didn't care the least bit. She flicked her fingers.

"He needs clothing." she said, in a demanding tune. "Rather quickly." Rosamunda seemed to hesitate.

"Now!" Cashmére demanded. Rosamunda left the room, again, and Cashmére smiled at Joseph. She settled down at the edge of the bed.

"Slept well?" she wondered. Joseph nodded

"Very." he said, getting reminded of that day when she had asked him to marry him. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes." Cashmére replied. She rose up again and yawned. "I'm just a little tired."

"Well, Cass, I've thought a little..." Joseph begun, and Cashmére looked at him. He had her attention. "You know, shouldn't we plan... or, you know."

"Maybe we should." she said, "But we've got the time..."

"I think we should get married as quick as possible." Joseph replied, honestly.

"Yeah, but we still have to wait for fourteen months." Cashmére answered.

"Why?" Joseph wondered. Cashmére laughed.

"It's tradition!" she said.

"Who made that up?"

"Someone with cold feet." Cashmére shrugged, "I don't know. It just is like that."

"Okay." Joseph said, "We maybe could look it up."

Cashmére laughed again. "Maybe we could."

(P.S Kitamu means 'sweet fruit', or 'well-tasting fruit'. I should add that it is a fictive fruit. It tastes very sweet, for you who wonders.)