Kytriya beamed from ear to ear as Jez led her out into the fresh air outside of the Charles de Gaul Airport. Jez hailed a taxi with his left hand while reaching with his right to clumsily cuddle her as he was carrying his briefcase in that hand. She quickly handed the Taxi driver her briefcase while a medium built man ran very fast towards their backs.
Just as the man was almost close enough to grab Jez's briefcase, Kytriya spun around and grabbed his shirt, just below the neck, and used her foot to trip him, letting him fall to the ground. Jez signaled for the police officer to come over. The police officer helped the man up and sent him off with a warning. Kytriya stopped beaming.
Jez rolled his eyes towards the heavens and mildly swore in Hebrew, under his breath, "Oy vey! Baruch Haba!" Then, feeling guilty, he thought he should apologize to God, "Scheisskopf! I've forgotten how to apologize in Hebrew!" So, in mostly German added, "Verzeih mir! Ich vergesse meine Ivrit." [Forgive me! I forgot my Hebrew!"
* * *
In a few short minutes, they were walking along the infamous Avenue Montaigne in the 8th arrondissement and shopping in Christian Dior. He led her to the famed Haute Couture part of the shop.
Mrs. Bourq walked up to Jez, and in French asked, "Hello Jez! How is our favorite customer?"
"Couldn't be better. I finally get to show off my wife, Kytriya." He nodded in her direction.
"How wonderful!" She turned towards Kytriya, "Pleased to met you. Shall you be ordering?"
"Ah, no," Jez answered. "My order should last me for awhile, especially since I was just in last week."
"Right, right you are. And that order is coming along quite nicely. They have put a rush on it. However, we weren't expecting you so soon." Mrs. Bourq folded her arms, while she successfully stifled a giggle.
"Neither was I expecting to be here. But a happy circumstance led me to a six hour layaway here, before I head to Tokyo."
"Now that we have that cleared up, will She be ordering," she asked, emphasizing the She so that this time, whom she meant would not be misunderstood.
Jez laughed. "Yes, but of course. Silly of me."
"No matter. Lucinda, please measure her while I show her the book," Mrs. Bourq ordered, while walking over to the shelf to take the Fall Collection book off the shelf.
Kytriya nodded "yes" or shook her head "no" while trying not to betray her 10 year old ticklish body to Lucinda, as she was measured. Kytriya looked questioningly at Jez, as if asking, "How can we afford all of this?" He merely looked lovingly back at her, with sparkling eyes. Kytriya's heart went up into her throat, making her thankful that she only had to nod as she really didn't think she could speak if she tried.
They boarded their Taxi and made a beeline to Christian Lacroix, on rue du Faubourg St. Honoré, where the same procedure was followed. However, it was here that they picked out there "off the rack" upper crust clothing, that only the very rich could afford. They selected a wide assortment of tops, bottoms, dresses, skirts, shoes and anything else that would be appropriate for a couple in their standings.
Kytriya was afraid that she would dare ask him questions concerning finances or mention something else that might be a taboo if someone over heard, so she decided to shop in quiet. She tried to shop as if she was dancing and following a leader so that she would not dance out of step, or, in this case, make a procedural faux paux in the usual customs the rich follow while shopping.
Jez looked at her, trying hard to not be amazed at how quickly she picked up on the finer cultural nuances of the rich and royally famous, if you believe the myths. Her silence was so not normal for the rich, that he wondered if she would divulge her fears if he gave her a Japanese cultural immersion. He spoke in Japanese, "You are very quiet."
Kytriya looked up at him with tears in her eyes. Breaking her silence, she answered in Japanese, with joy ringing from her voice, "I'm very happy. I'm free." She quieted her voice to a whisper, before continuing, "And, dare I say it, I shall have real clothes."
After a quick change of clothes into something more suitable for the very wealthy on vacation, instead of on business, they went out to their Taxi. The awaiting Taxi driver eagerly tossed their purchases in the trunk of the car while Jez held the door open for Kytriya.
Once inside Jez slipped the driver a couple hundred euros, and said, in French, "This is for waiting so patiently. More to come."
The Taxi driver was used to big tips, so merely said, "Merci! Où prochaine?"
"Mauboussin. Le Bar a Chocolat".
Kytriya understood chocolate and assumed a look of surprise. Jez bent down and whispered in her ear in Japanese, "They have the best chocolate and some of the finest Jewelry."
Kytriya assumed the look of 'I belong here. This is my people, and my type of jewelry' while perusing the store. Jez leaned slightly over the counter and asked, "We would like to see the better Jewelry."
The clerk nodded her head, and escourted them to the back, where the finest jewelry was kept under lock and key.
"We would like a diamond necklace. Deep, bright purple?" Jez asked in French.
"Oui," The clerk said while motioning them to sit in the fine leather chairs by the counter.
She turned behind her and unlocked a drawer, before pulling out a lovely purple diamond necklace. It had five .5 carot white diamonds between each .5 carot purple diamond. At the tip of the necklace, was a beautiful and quite rare, 1 carot purple diamond surrounded by .7 carot white diamonds. The necklace was worth over 100,000 euros. The clerk then pulled out the matching diamond earrings. These earings neatly wrapped around the ears, as the lastest trend was to avoid unsitely "earing ears" as that made you look poor, and unable to afford plastic surgery.
Kytriya waited patiently as the clerk fitted the necklace around her neck, before placing the earrings around her ears. She positioned herself so she could look into the mirror. Beaming, she exclaimed in the only French she knew, "Oui!"
The clerk nodded in agreement, before turning around to pull out the matching bracelet and rings set. She deftly positioned the bracelet on Kytriya, before fitting the ring on her finger.
"We can get the rings resized." The rings were still too large for her fingers, as she still have the little girl fingers, even though she was large boned.
Jez thought for a moment before asking, "When her hands grow, would we be able to resize them up?"
The clerk looked surprised. "Oui, but that is more difficult."
"Then, we shall leave it for now, as her hands are still growing, and by the end of the year, those rings should fit her perfectly." Jez guessed.
Kytriya picked out some 'everyday' necklaces, bracelets and rings, before they checked out, and headed upstairs for dessert at Le Bar a Chocolat, on the third floor. They took their chocolate to go, as they really didn't have time to waste.
* * *
Jez held the door to Goumard, on rue Duphot, for Kytriya. Prim and proper, she walked towards the host stand as if she owned the place and was their best customer, and most regular customer.
The host looked up and upon seeing Jez spoke welcomingly in French, "Hello, my friend! Your dinners await you. Here, let me escourt you to your private room."
What Jez did not know, that a party of two who had previously requested the room before he did, had been put upon to suffer with a table in a corner in an entirely different part of the restaurant. For their troubles, the restaurant gave them a two for one deal, apologizing profusely for double scheduling. Yes, Jez was this well loved. And, the tips Jez gave, proved it.
The host held out the chair, while Kytriya sat down. After helping her up to the table, he repeated the procedure for Jez, as this was the custom. A waiter, who had been keeping an eye out for them, immediately brought their tray of food, and served it to them, while another waiter poured their drinks of Francois Brouchette's Cherry Sparkler, over a glass filled with cherries, with the stems left on.
Kytriya looked at the proper table setting and wondered what all the forks were for. There was the fish fork, the larger main course fork, and the shorter salad fork on one side of the plate, and on the other was the dinner knife, the fish knife, and the soup spoon. As she was staring at a broccolli cheese soup, she decided to grab the soup spoon, and begin eating. She watched Jez take his soup spoon and scoop the spoon away from him as he dished the soup out of the bowl. She followed suit.
Once they were alone, Jez continued to speak to Kytriya in Japanese, in an attempt at Japanese language immersion. Having exactly two hours before they had to go back to the airport, Jez hoped to get her thinking in Japanese before they had to board the plane to Japan.
Jez reached over with this right hand and grabbed Kytriya's left. "I've been preparing for this moment for a very long time. I've watched your trials and tribulations." Upon noticing a look of confusion, added, "your ups and downs, tribulations. I love you. I've loved you since I first saw you that first day, two years ago. Thank you for trusting me. I know how hard that is. I have been ignoring you only because I wanted to run off with you, without anyone knowing we had any connection. Given what happened, that had to change. Fortunately, I had prepared for that."
Jez immediately switched topics upon seeing the waiter heading in their direction. "I think that if we were to create an online RPG world where people could communicate in any language they chose, including the Tolkien languages..."
Jez paused while the waiter removed their soup plate from their right side, and served their Smoked Salmon course on the left. Kytriya grabbed the first fork she came too, having realized that the silverware was probably meant to be used in order.
"Merci," Jez said to the waiter before continuing his conversation. "I mean, if we were to have a online gaming community, I think that people would flock to it. What do you think?"
Kytriya had just taken a bite of Salmon, so assumed the look of "excuse me" before swallowing so she could answer. "I so agree. And then have what they said translated into what ever language the person they were speaking to, wanted it translated into, and then we would have a product that will make us very rich."
Being a left-hander, she had no difficulties cutting the Salmon with her right hand, and eating with her left. The hard part came to the peas, as they always wanted to roll off the back of the fork. She desperately wanted to turn the fork around and eat the peas that way, but as this was not the Continental way of eating that was so popular in Europe, she decided against it. As it was, peas would roll off onto the table, where Jez would non-chalantly plop them back on her plate. If it wasn't for her learning how to lean over her plate to eat, she would have had the peas rolling across the floor. Jzyvyen sighed, wishing he had thought to teach her how to keep peas from rolling off the fork.
Jez was glad that no one was around to hear her discombobulated sentence. "So, what you are saying is, that if we were to come up with some program that allowed users to ask for a translation of whatever the person they are talking to said. And, they could get that translation in any language that wanted to. Right?"
"Yes, that is what I meant." She laughed.
"Thats quite alright. I do understand. As I was saying..." He paused and studied her eyes intently. He noticed them tearing up once more. Quickly, he moved to comfort her again, gently massaging her arm. "Do you think that we can make this work, I mean, for life? Until death do us part?"
Kytriya quickly swallowed her last bite of Salmon before replying, "Yes, I agree. I mean, yes, we can. You and I are different. We aren't like the others. It takes an act of God to get out of our heads what we have set out to do."
Jez broke out in a wide grin and laughed. "Eh! I thought I had hid that so well from you. I'll have to be more careful." He winked.
The waiter removed their plates, before serving the main course of John Dory with White and Green Asparagus. He handed Jzyvyen the bill, as requested. He refilled their drinks while Jez took out his credit card. He then continued with the conversation, "Can you map out a world, or rather, parts of that world?"
Kytriya answered in half Japanese and half German. "Yes, and I can do one better. I can even help you plan puzzles for people to solve while searching for clues to find whatever it is they are searching for. Sort of like a treasure hunt."
Jez choked on his drink, "You know German?"
"My father took German in College but didn't use it. I found an old textbook of his and studied it."
"Did you finish the textbook?"
"Yes, I did. And a reader as well."
"Sweet! That means that you know 2,000 words in German. That is perfect. Too perfect. I almost wish I had chosen Germany instead of Japan."
"The reason why we are going to Japan," She answered in Japanese, "is so that I can have language immersion and become fluent in Japanese. They are looking for someone who does not speak Japanese and does not even have the ability to learn Japanese."
The waiter removed their plates, and quietly served their salads, which was really Blue cheese of Auvergne served on a bed of Romaine lettuce.
"Indeed, which is why I almost decided against Japan. I didn't think you would be able to learn it, even with my superior knowledge of how to teach foreign languages to people." He assumed an apologetic look. "I don't mean to brag, not my point. Sorry."
"Thats quite alright. So, you really did intend to marry me, didn't you?"
"Yes. And, I shall have to tell you the beginning of that story, but I'll save it for somewhere more private. How do you like flying?"
"It is wonderful. Like a ride at the park," Kytriya said with a upward flourish of her hand.
"Exciting?"
"Yes, exciting. I felt like my stomach was turning around and around."
"Fluttering. Around and around, fluttering."
Kytriya repeated the new words to herself before concentrating once more, on eating. The waiter came back and served their desert, Ravioli of Chocolate and Passion fruit.
While Jez signed the bill, Kytriya dipped into the lovely Chocolate, savoring every bite. He took out an envelope with a sizeable tip in it for the host while slipping the other sizeable tip into the payment book, for the waiter. He quickly downed his dessert, as they really should be going. Upon leaving the restaurant, Jez slipped the envelope to the host, before offering his elbow to Kytriya so he could lead her out to the awaiting Taxi.
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