Penwick

In the years since Enid's older sister, Cerys, had first started at Penwick, the main question facing the Pryce family as they prepared to say their goodbyes at the Mooring Bay was always the same: four or five?

Usually, the answer was four, even though they often put off answering it until the very last minute. Enid could only remember two years where her mother had felt well enough to make the journey with them: Cerys' first year, before her sickness really took its first turn, and Enid's own first year send-off three years later. A third attempt was made for Siân's first year as well, but their mothers' health failed again in the last days of August, and Siân had been left bereft of that particular tradition.

It should have been four of them again this year, though the circumstances were far different; her mother, for as frail and drawn as she still looked, was slowly building up her strength with each passing day, and it was especially visible as here in the Mooring Bay. Alizé, all soft blonde hair and sharp angles, looked more vibrant than she had in years, her posture tired but unbowed as she greeted family friends and familiar parents of their peers with a smile that could have melted a Welsh winter. Enid's father, Gawain, had once again taken up his favorite position by her side, the redhead acting as a giant, quiet complement to his wife's effusive sociability.

No, it was not their mother they lacked this year, but rather Cerys, who'd graduated in June and was now Sigerth's problem, thank Merlin. Enid's feelings regarding her sister's absence here were complicated, so she chose not to address them at all. Scowling caused wrinkles, apparently, so she had begun investing her time in trying to do less of it. So far, it had been a gruelling uphill battle.

Absence made the heart grow fonder, allegedly, but thankfully, Enid had been cursed with a ward against this fate in the form of one Kasimir Damon-Cowles, who so nobly inserted himself into the space her eldest sister had vacated. He did a bang-up job of filling her shoes, too, as he was also uniquely talented at getting on her very last nerve.

Enid's habit of being fashionably, just-shy-of-impropriety late was less a choice and more an unwitting prize of her rigged genetic lottery, with her mother having a habit of picking up and dropping a dozen or two tasks before she ever even got out the door, and her father, hands calloused with dried paint under his nails, had something of an artist's spirit, and existed on his own time somewhere far outside the sphere of theirs. Thus, when the Aderyn called out her last and final whistle, only then were the Pryce sisters - and their honorary new brother - finally able to pull themselves away with quick hugs goodbye and a far more leisurely pace than the others around them, at least on Enid's part.

It was easy to lose Siân and Kasimir in the crowd, so Enid did so, with not a shred of guilt muddying her mood. She mad a beeline down to the lower deck where she knew Santiago would be waiting, stopping to chat with friends and picking up a few clever little tidbits to be looked into later along the way.

When she arrived at their usual compartment, Santi had already made himself at home on one of the seats. Enid quickly went through the motions of getting settled in, adding her luggage alongside Santi's in storage before unzipping her shouder-slung pygmy puff carrier - with a lovely mesh window through which her puffs could view the world outside - and letting Fig emerge before getting the fluffy, pale pink little creature settled in the windowsill so she could watch the clouds go by.

With her affairs settled, she eagerly flopped down half on the bench and half on Santi, likely elbowing him at least a little as she got comfortable. "Shwdi. I've missed you. How was your summer?"

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Tagging @Santiago Corvesso, as well as a courtesy tag for @Kasimir Damon-Cowles, who was so cruelly abandoned to the elements.