“What am I supposed to—?” His brow furrowed in amusement. “Can I Venmo you a penny?”

“We’re locked out of Venmo’s service region.” she told him, then sighed dramatically and crossed her arms. “So how are you gonna pay me if you don’t have money, Feofil?”

She raised her eyebrows at him.

“Pay in advance,” she explained, her toes nudging the hem of his pants as she shifted. “I’ll give you an equivalent number of thoughts.”

She shrugged one shoulder and said, "Maybe not. But the Lumanliscs are all drama. Good luck." right as Roo came back with her bowl. She was too intent on her task list to have noticed them, and turned to the princess with an expression of determination. "I don't think you'll want to be here for this part, Princess Tyrneamitore."
"You can just call me Parisa." Pari said. "And don't worry. I'll get out of your hair. Although, those kids..."
"Oh," Roo said. "Right. Their names, do you remember them? Or what they looked like?"
"I don't know their names but there were three of them -- two little boys and a little girl."
"What were they wearing? What color was their hair?"

Pari's brow furrowed as thought back to the events of the night, to the hot chocolate and the snowy doorstep. There had been two boys and one girl, and they had... been small. As all kids were. They'd... maybe one of them had been wearing a hat? But hair color, eye color... even just their faces, she couldn't seem to summon up any recollection of the three. "I don't remember."
"Nothing at all?" Roo asked. "Think very hard."

"It doesn't matter. Medeiros was an idiot. If he really wanted to lop my head off, he'd need three guards to help him do it." she sighed. And it was true. Medeiros had never scared her; not even when he'd realized her power and he'd gotten serious about taking her for himself. No matter how he raged and how he blustered, it had always felt like a child throwing a tantrum: sure, he would throw things at the wall, scream, stomp around, bang his fists on tables and upturn chairs, but... what was he going to do? If he laid a hand on her, Pari wouldn't stop until she had his head on a pike, whether or not she was in his palace... and somewhere deep inside, she'd known that Kyros wouldn't let it stand either. If Medeiros had laid a hand on her, he wouldn't have lived long enough to see his kingdom and his dynasty obliterated.

She didn't know what to say to that. They had, but it didn't feel like they'd made it. It felt like the calm before the storm, like things were only going to get worse from here. "I might hate this place more than I hated Medeiros' palace."

"Mm," her eyebrows rose, though she continued to gaze absently out into the white woods. "I never said that."

"I mean yeah, he'd threaten to lop off my head if I disobeyed him or tried to go back to Atherdale. But I mean," she gestured to herself. "Mind control. I'd tell him to sit down and shut up and he didn't really have a choice. Until he figured it all out, anyways."

Yes.
"I don't know." she said. "We're not safe here, but I was talking to the baker. These things are out there too, Feo. They're in Atherdale. Maybe this is better. At least we can learn to protect ourselves... or to ward them off."