Yoshi hoisted himself up to hang from the top of the fence on his elbow, peering over at Liya. "Are you all right?"

"Aww," she said, looking frustrated. The outermost layer of her skirt had split almost to her hip. She was inspected this, scowling. "I tore it."

Yoshi snorted, and Liya tried to give him a dirty look, but couldn't help grinning. "Don't laugh!"

"I am sorry," Yoshi replied, half-hiding his smile in the crook of his arm. He came after her over the fence then, hopping down easily. Liya was still inspecting the tear in her skirt.

"Why did it rip?" she wanted to know. Yoshi looked at her questioningly, brushing his hands off. "Shouldn't it be spelled not to? Shouldn't everything be spelled here?"

"Oh," Yoshi said with some surprise. "Well, that's expensive, isn't it? Having all your clothes hand-spelled? That's expensive."

Liya thought about this momentarily, as they moved into the courtyard, looking around. "Oh. I guess I didn't think about it like that," she admitted. "That someone would have to spell everything by hand."

The courtyard looked smaller and dingier by day, with the moss growing along its edges and the dull whitewashing on the buildings at either end. The wires that were draped across one end of the courtyard--which during the night had been covered in small glowing lights--were bare now, and just looked haphazard. The fountain in the center of the courtyard, a smooth statue of a dog-like animal gushing water from its jaws as though it were vomiting, burbled quietly. Liya paused to look at it as Yoshi wandered across to the white buildings at the far end of the yard.