Some days later, shortly before dinner at Tem and Allera's, Myret entered the house. She found Rhysel and Tekaal in the family room. Her skin was covered in blue splotches.

"Hello, again," Myret said, scratching idly at one of the patches on her arm.

"Hello," Tekaal said. "I don't know what caused those blue patches, but according to my brother, it's very nearly always a bad idea to scratch a rash."

"I fell in poison ivy this morning. The blue's a side effect of the counteractive agent I used. I don't think I put quite enough therosen in this one spot, though." She shrugged "It washes off, but it needs to sit for several hours or it doesn't take care of the problem."

"I see."

Rhysel's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Did you fall in deliberately?"

Tekaal looked suprised that anyone would fall into poison ivy on purpose.

Myret shook her head. "Not this time, no. I was harvesting acorns and fell off the ladder. Must have set it on a root or something. Anyhow. It slipped, tipped over, and dumped me right into a thick growth of the stuff. Very nasty. I itched horribly, of course. You always do when you come in contact with that stuff. What's that look for?" Myret asked curiously.

"You've fallen in poison ivy deliberately in the past?" asked Tekaal.

"Of course. Well, jumped in, actually. Less painful than falling. When I was an apprentice and we were working on therosen. You can't very well test how something works if you don't have a subject with the condition in question on hand."

"I see. My brother often complains of the same problem, although he typically enlists his apprentices, family members, or unwitting passersby."

"I took Teria's Vow. Part of that said that I won't do knowing harm to another sentient being. So I'm not going to enlist someone else to test something for the sake of testing if there's a chance it'll hurt them. I'd rather deal with the side effects myself, than inflict them on someone else. I mean, if someone comes to me with say, Mendar's rot, or some other debiliating disease, and they want me to try anything to cure it, I will. The side effects are usually much less problematic than the disease itself."

Tekaal nodded.

"But for things like painkillers or other simple stuff, why inflict harm on someone else?"

"That makes sense. My brother's usual defense is that if whatever he's testing does have adverse effects, he has to be in good health to be able to figure out what's wrong and repair it. Having been his test subject more than once, I think I prefer your approach anyway."

Myret laughed. "Your brother sounds like an interesting sort of person. If perhaps a bit too free with his testing procedures. But then again, I would assume where you live, people wouldn't have heard of Teria's Vow at all."

"You'd be correct in that assumption."

"I expect the standards are different, then. Do you have a deity devoted to healing there?"

"There are a wide variety of conflicting religions," Tekaal replied. "I'm sure at least some of them include deities of healing."

"Sibling rivalry or something?"

"No - the deities aren't as evident as yours are. Some people claim to have contact with their respective gods or goddesses, but in general, if there are any at all, they're inaccessible."

"Peculiar." She starts to scratch at the spot on her arm again. Rhysel looks around the room and into the hallway furtively before saying, "Give me your arm, My. Just don't tell anyone."

The younger woman held out her arm to her sister. Rhysel took it, working the minor healing necessary.

Myret watched with interest. "That's pretty amazing, sis. But you shouldn't do things like that around here. You know how mom and dad feel about it."

"Feel about what?" asked a small voice from the doorway.

Rhysel turned, white-faced, to see her namesake standing there. "Nothing, Sel." She picked the little girl up, snuggling her. "Aunt Myret and I were just talking. How are you?"

The younger Rhysel said, "I'm good. Gram told me to tell you it's time to eat."

Tekaal followed the others into the dining room. Myret detoured to wash off the blue cream before joining the others for dinner.

"What do you think of the city, now that you've had a few days to see it?" Tem asked of Tekaal, as the food was passed around.

"It's a beautiful city," Tekaal replied. "Similar in population to the one I live in, I think, although I don't have specific figures to compare. I enjoy the ambient music - street musicians aren't common where I'm from."

"It is lovely, isn't it?" Allera said. "I love hearing music whenever I'm about on errands."

Tekaal nodded.

"We've seen several examples of your handiwork, father," Rhysel added.

"Yes, it's lovely," agreed Tekaal.

Tem nodded, appearing as if he's trying to hide being pleased at the mention. "I'm not the only artisan. But thank you," he added to Tekaal.

Myret joined the others at the table, the worst of the blue washed away. "Oh, My," Allera said in a disappointed tone, seeing the residue. "Experimenting again?"

Myret shakes her head. "No, this was a legitimate application. I was collecting acorns and the ladder slipped out from under me and I landed in poison ivy when I fell. Therosen is the best cure for rashes, even if it does leave the blue stains, you know."

"You know how I feel about that, My!" Allera said, sounding a bit upset. "What if you try something that turns out to be lethal? Or horribly disfiguring? Or does whatever it is that happened to Rhysel? Where would you be then?" Tekaal startled.

"Mother!" Myret said, flaring a bit herself. "So, what, you'd rather I just grab someone off the street?"

Rhysel meanwhile shrank into her chair, trying to not be noticed.

"If it's not my child, why not?" Allera said. "I wouldn't want to lose you too."

Ryll frowned. "Now, mother," she said in a reasonable tone, "you've not lost anyone." She was, however, drowned out in Myret's heated reply. "You wouldn't 'lose' me, mother. I do sufficient testing before I try anything on myself to work out anything major that could go wrong. You should know that by now!" The young woman stabbed furiously at the slice of lamb on her plate, cutting it into ribbons with the knife in her other hand.

Rhysel was paying strict attention to her meal. Ryll again attempted to divert the impending argument. "No profession is without risk, mother. You know that. How many times have you or father been injured in your craft?"

"It's not the same thing at all, and you know it." Allera said, fuming. "Getting a sliver or a chisel or saw wound isn't life threatening. Not like willfully taking poisons at random, or causing things to blow up without warning or cause!"

Tekaal took Rhysel's hand and squeezed it. Meanwhile, the knuckles of his other hand were going quite white around his fork, and his jaw was clenching so tightly that he looked about to shatter several teeth.

"I don't take poisons, mother!" Myret interjected.

Rhysel, blushing furiously, continued to stare at her meal.

"Then how do you explain your hair all falling out?" Allera said acidly. "And who's to say that just because something works on your test animal that it won't kill you? Or turn you into some sort of freak?"

Rhysel went even more red, still remaining silent, poking at her meal with no apparent appetite.

Tekaal appeared to have forgotten his meal entirely, and his fork started to bend slightly, although he did not cut off circulation to Rhysel's hand.

"Mother," Ryll said, trying to placate the situation again, "this isn't the time for this. You too, My. Just relax and enjoy the meal."

Ryll's voice of reason was completely ignored at this point. "I fixed that problem, Mom. I didn't suffer any lasting ill effects, and there's no better cure for fire viper poison." Myret matched her mother's acid tone. "I swore to help people, and just because you don't like my methods - or my sister's for that matter - doesn't give you the right to act this way!"

Rhysel sank further into her chair, the food in front of her forgotten in her attempts to go unnoticed.

"Your sister," Allera said, "is a freak of nature, and you seem to be doing everything you can to become just like her!"

"I don't have to listen to this," Myret snapped, standing up rapidly, knocking her chair over in the force of her movement. She stormed from the room. Seconds later the front door slammed.

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