Title: A good yarn
Fandom: Magic Knight Rayearth
Rating: General
Length: 400ish words
Content notes: none
Author notes: post canon, Umi and Clef. Despite being someone who both knits and crochets, I got stuck on yarn as in story... *grins*
Summary: "Clef, are these children's picture books?"


oOo

"So, what's this book about?" Umi asked, flopping into the chair beside Clef's over-cluttered desk and picking up a slim, colourfully-bound volume that was sat conspicuously on the end of the desk. It had a green-and-gold dragon on the cover, a title in large bold letters across the top. There were another couple of books below it, with similarly bright and cheerful covers and not that many pages. Also, as she flicked through the first one, it was illustrated on every other page, and not that many words, and-

"Clef, are these children's picture books?"

Blinking, Clef looked up at her. "Sorry, what did you say?"

She sighed, and waved the book at him. "Are you so overworked you've started reading children's books to give your brain some rest?"

Snorting, Clef sat back in his chair and stretched, back crunching so loud that Umi winced along with him. "No, though it might be a reasonable idea. Those are for you, actually."

Eyeing the books, Umi paused. "Uh, Clef-"

"You said you wanted to learn to read Cephiran, and read it fluently. I figured a few good stories would help motivate you - all those have a few exciting sword-fights or a magical escapade of some sort, and even simplified in those versions, they're fun." He shrugged. "It's how most of us learn to read, and you wanted to know more about Cephiran culture, don't you? All those are classic tales. So-"

"Thank you," Umi blurted, cutting off the awkwardly-extending explanation, flicking through the first book again. It did have a sword-fight in it, as well as several dragons. She'd not expected him to take her grumbling complaint about not being able to read anything here to heart. "…Will you help me with them?"

Clef looked back at his papers, the tips of his ears going bright pink as he muttered "I wouldn't mind. It would be a break from these restructure papers, anyway." He glanced at her, with a grin. "Though at least they don't argue with me."

"I only argue when you're wrong," Umi retorted, and pulled her chair in closer to the table. "So, how much more do you have to do tonight? Do you have time to start this? Or-"

"I was thinking you might start with actually learning the whole set of Cephiran letters, not just learning half and guessing the rest," he said, but with a laugh, setting his pen aside and clearing a space for Umi to set the book down. "If you get through a page, I could read you one of the tales from the book of legends you were sighing over when you started complaining. If you wanted."

"It's a deal," Umi declared, and settled in next to him.