Rielle leads you into his room with barely contained excitement. The space is organised chaos, a treasure trove of human knickknacks and trinkets of all kinds, some incredibly mundane but displayed like they're deserving of being shown off.
A brass pocket mirror, a ribboned hair clip, a tiny shell-shaped charm, a set of painted wooden beads, a tiny key that apparently 'must belong to some very important land ritual'- the list goes on. Rielle looks at them all with shining satisfaction, then picks up the mirror and presents it to you with real ceremony. “This one,” he says proudly, “is a face-window, used to check whether their feelings are showing.”
He moves from treasure to treasure as though he has spent hours preparing this moment just to see you smile and his incredible collection. “And this is a sun-button,” he declares, holding up the hair clip. “I think it makes a person's face brighten.”
Before you can gently correct him, he is already reaching for the wooden beads, eyes widening with delight. “Oh, and these are worry pearls. You hold them when you need to be brave.” The way he says it is so sincerely wrong and so endearingly hopeful is beyond adorable. "Do you have some? I can lend you mine anytime!"