"Dinner was delicious," put in Keo. Everyone nodded agreement.

"Thanks. It was a bit on the simple side, but I like the dish," said Rhysel.

"Simple's good sometimes," said Samia.

"Yes." The kama smiled. "I do a lot of simple. I subsist mostly on sandwiches because they're quick and easy."

"I like sandwiches," said Korulen. "Especially avocado sandwiches."

"Just avocado and bread?"

"Yeah. You've never had an avocado sandwich?"

"Not just avocado. Turkey and avocado, or chicken and avocado - usually with tomatoes and lettuce and some other things, but not just plain."

"Huh. Sometimes I put hummus in too. But usually just avocado."

Rhysel nodded. "Do you all have guacamole here?"

"No, what is it?" asked Keo.

"Mashed avocados mixed with some seasonings and a few other vegetables - tomato or onion is fairly common. It's quite tasty."

"Interesting. We mash avocados sometimes, but don't usually season them much and certainly never put tomatoes or onions in," said Samia.

"It's good for dipping vegetables or cornmeal chips into. And there are some dishes I make that use it."

"Sounds interesting," said Narax.

"Guacamole," said the baby. Everyone at the table laughed at her utterance.

"She's really quite adorable, Keo," Rhysel said.

"Isn't she though?" cooed Keo, chucking the little reptile under the chin.

"If it's not too impertinent a question, was she a live birth, or did she hatch from an egg?"

"She hatched," said Keo. "Parunias do, thudias don't."

Korulen smirked. "We thudias are inconvenient that way."

"Dragons are capable of both live births and hatching eggs then? And inconvenient how?"

"Laying an egg is a much more pleasant process," said Keo dryly. "Anyway, I had to turn into a dragon to lay the egg, and stay human while I was in labor with Korulen."

"Ah. So what happens if Narax and Samia have a parunia? Or is that not possible?"

"I'd lay an egg," said Samia. "I have no idea what that would be like, but apparently that's what happens."

Narax laughed.

"I'd imagine that would be a rather unsettling experience."

"Well, parunias aren't very common," said Samia. "When we have children they're probably all going to be thudias."

She nodded. "And you both hatched from eggs?" she asked Keo and Narax.

"Naturally," said Keo. "I watched Narax hatch, as it happens," she added, smiling. "He was a very cute baby." Narax rolled his eyes and Samia giggled.

Rhysel laughed, started to say something, stopped, then said, "Must run in the family then. Since your baby is very cute as well."

Keo smiled. "Very!" said the baby, and everyone laughed.

"Is that why the naming ceremony consists of saying the name repeatedly?" Rhysel asked.

"Partly, and partly to familiarize everyone with it thoroughly so we don't continue calling her 'the baby' once she's got a name," Keo said.

She nodded. "Did you go through a similar ceremony?" she asked Korulen.

"Nope. I got a name as soon as I was born," she said. "I count as an elf, not a dragon, so I don't do any of the dragon-only stuff."

"Ah. I see." Rhysel shook her head theatrically. "You have such complicated lives."

"They don't seem all that complicated to us," said Keo.

"Well, no. I was mostly being facetious. It's just foreign to me, so I'm always learning something new. Every time someone speaks to me, it seems."

"That's to be expected," said Narax. "You're surrounded by new things."

"Not that everything new is bad, of course."

"I should hope not," said Keo.

You all, for instance." She grinned. "Can't really complain about chocolate either."

"You didn't have chocolate in your world?" said Korulen, aghast. "We definitely did you a favor."

Rhysel laughed at that. "Well, if it exists back home, it's certainly not something I've ever seen. I agree though, it's absolutely wonderful. One of these days I'll have to figure out how to cook with it."

"That, I look forward to," said Keo with a grin.

"Well, if you know any recipes, you're welcome to share them."

"I'll copy some out of my cookbooks for you," said Narax. "I think I have a number of chocolate desserts that would be good to try."

She nodded. "Is it solely a dessert ingredient?"

"Yep," said Korulen. "Can you imagine putting chocolate on your pasta or something? That would be gross."

"I wouldn't know. Like I said, it's new to me. But I can use lemons or peaches or berries in regular dishes as well as in pies. So I thought maybe it would work for something else."

"Lemons and peaches and berries are fruits," said Samia. "Chocolate's something else entirely."

She nodded. "I see. More of a spice, like cinnamon?"

"No-o," said Narax. "More like - well, usually it's a candy."

She nodded, acknowledging Narax's comment, but speaking generally in reply. "What is it in its natural state? I assume candies don't grow on bushes or trees here."

"It's made from a kind of bean," said Kanaat.

"Like a string bean, or like a coffee bean?"

"More like a coffee bean," said Keo.

"Hm. Do you make a drink from it?"

"You can," said Korulen. "It's nice with marshmallows in."

"Interesting." She smiled fondly. "I'm sure my mother would work wonders with it."

"Did you learn to cook from your mom?" asked Korulen.

"Yes, I did. It was about the only skill of hers I could learn. Although I did get her appreciation for music, I got none of her talent."

"Aw," said Korulen.

"She's a skilled cook, though. I used to love to sit in the kitchen and watch her, and just enjoy the smells." She smiled nostalgically. "I spent a lot of time just sitting and watching my parents work."

"Did you have school?" asked Korulen.

"Not until I was eight, and not all the time."

"Oh."

"I'd play with the other children at times, too, but I always just really enjoyed watching my father sculpt, or my mother put together a violin or flute and listen to her test the sound quality, or watching her cook and enjoy the smells."

Her guests all nodded in reply "Smells," said the baby. Rhysel smiled again as the baby spoke.

Keo pet her baby, who purred. "She purrs? Is that a normal dragon sound, or just something babies do?" Rhysel inquired.

"Dragons can purr even when they're adults," said Samia. Grinning a bit, she reached up and stroked Narax's hair. He closed his eyes and purred; this seemed like an automatic reaction of some kind.

Rhysel closed her eyes for a moment at that, then focused her attention more on the baby, watching Keo's ministrations for a moment. She looked up to Keo. "This naming ceremony - are gifts usually given at it?"

"Sometimes people bring small things for the baby being named," said Keo.

She nodded. "What sort of things?"

"Well, let me think," said Keo. "I don't remember what I got for mine. Narax got a chunk of jade to chew on, a little hammock, a bead-ball, and a stuffed drake."

She nodded, still studiously and - she hoped - surreptitiously avoiding looking at Narax and Samia. "So simple things, nothing really fancy, then."

"Yeah. Things babies like," said Keo.

Samia finally tired of petting Narax, and he stopped purring.

Rhysel nodded again. "When will she start to breath fire?" she asked, still entirely focused on Keo and the baby.

"When she's a few more months old," said Keo.

"Will she still be more or less an infant at six?"

"Well, yes and no," said Keo. "She'll be able to talk coherently and she'll be quite bright, but in many ways still be a baby."

She nodded. "Mostly physically?"

"Mostly. She's not going to have much emotional maturity at that point either."

"Well, even humans at six aren't really that emotionally mature. Although I can understand if she matures more slowly than that."

"Right."

"Will she still be about the same size, or will she have grown substantially by then?"

"She'll grow a little over an inch, nose to tail, every year until she's two hundred."

Rhysel nodded again. "When will she learn to shift forms?"

"When she's about twenty," said Keo.

"Is that typical age for dragons as well, or does she learn at a different rate for being a parunia?"

"Nothing's different between regular dragons and parunias except what their parents are," said Narax.

Rhysel nodded, acknowledging the response, but still focused on the baby. She watched Keo pet her for a few moments more then turned to look at Korulen. "What about you? When did you start to shift?"

"I could shift into my dragon form right away, supposedly, but I didn't actually figure that out until I was eleven," said Korulen.

"No one bothered to tell you before then? Or you still had to figure out how on your own?"

"Well, there's kind of a knack to it. I didn't really want to bother trying hard to learn it before then, and I didn't stumble on it accidentally early on like some thudias do, so I didn't ever shift before then."

She nodded. "Seems like a handy skill to have."

"Well, it's nice to be able to fly when I want to. But I can't speak in tongues or learn other forms or do any of the other dragon stuff," she said.

Rhysel looked surprised at that. "Really now? I never would have suspected." She paused for a moment, then added, "Although now that I think about it, you did have to put the translation spell on me when I first arrived before I'd understand you, didn't you?"

"Yeah."

"I should have put it together sooner, but I had other things on my mind at the time." Korulen nodded. Rhysel shrugged, and sighed, then leaned back in her chair. "It was definitely an unusual day, that one."

"I bet," said Keo.

"I'm just glad you were willing to let me out of the circle, despite my urge to punish the two for getting me into this." She looked at Korulen with a wry grin. "Somehow, I think I'd have a harder time doing that now that I know you're older than me."

"What's that got to do with anything? Why not say that you wouldn't because you know now that I could turn into my dragon form and bite you?" Korulen said, grinning wickedly.

"I just find the idea of taking a forty-something over my knee and spanking her rather absurd." She laughed at Korulen's second comment. "True, you could, but I don't know that that would be wise. If I could react quickly enough, you might break a few teeth - or burn your mouth." She winked.

"How fast do you normally react to elves unexpectedly turning into dragons and biting you?" asked Korulen curiously.

Rhysel laughed. "Having never had it happen, I don't know. But that would definitely trigger my sense of personal danger. I'm just as glad it didn't come to that though."

"Indeed," said Keo.

She looked to the green-haired woman. "Don't get me wrong, Keo. I'm not a violent person - although I suppose you know that. But spanking as a method of punishment is common where I'm from. And I was having some difficulty keeping my temper under control just then."

"That's creepy," said Korulen. "They only do that in uncivilized countries here. Like in Ryganaav. My friend Polir is from Ryganaav and she says that's why people are so nasty there, because their dads hit them when they're little."

Rhysel shrugged. "I've never really thought about it. I wouldn't consider myself nasty, though. And I got my fair share of spankings."

"Well, there are a lot of reasons people in Ryganaav are nasty, I guess," said Korulen thoughtfully. "And Polir says not everybody is, but most of them are."

She nodded. "I see. I don't believe I've met anyone from there."

"I can introduce you to Polir if you want, but you definitely don't want to go there, because you're female and a half-elf and a spellcaster," the thudia replied.

"That's a problem?"

"Ryganaav is not friendly to any of the above," said Keo, frowning. "You'd be beset by angry mobs."

"Really? What a peculiar concept."

"Which?" asked Narax.

"Disliking someone for their gender, species, or because they can do magic." She paused. "I suppose I can understand the second one-there are a lot of people back home who dislike trolls simply because they're trolls. My family's never been like that, although my mother won't go back to troll territory. She doesn't dislike trolls simply because they're trolls though." She looked over at Narax and Samia for the first time since the purring demonstration as she spoke.

"Well, Ryganaav wasn't always like that," said Keo. "There was a bloody revolution about three hundred years ago. It used to be a much more normal country. Now it's worse than Egeria."

She nodded. "What species do live there?"

"Almost all humans. There are some leonines within the borders, but they have to stay very far away from the settlements and they get raided a lot," said Keo.

"The people in power are pretty oppressive?"

"Very."

"Well, then, I guess I'll keep it off my list of places to visit."

"That's definitely a good idea," said Samia.

Rhysel shrugged. "I can generally take care of myself, but no sense borrowing trouble after all."

"Right."

"Are there any other places like that?"

"Not quite so bad, but Egeria's weird about certain things too," said Keo.

"Oh? Such as?"

"Dragons," said Narax dryly. "Also, mages, mixed-species individuals, and anyone not fluent in Munine."

"Oh, yes. That's the place your family lived for a while."

"Right," said Keo.

"I still don't understand that one. Why'd your parents want to live there if the people don't like dragons?"

"They've never explained it to us," said Narax. "I think they may have considered it a challenge of some kind. It also has very nice weather."

Rhysel looked to Keo to see if she had any response to her question, but the other dragon seemed to find Narax's answer adequate. Rhysel shook her head, somewhat mystified. "Are there a lot of places that wouldn't take kindly to my being an off-worlder?"

"Not many," said Keo.

"That's a relief. 'Course, if I ever did decide to go somewhere, I'd probably be asking one of you about it anyway. I'd have to be here a lot longer to feel comfortable with the geography and culture here."

"Probably wise to check, yes," said Narax.

"I'm still not used to the idea that your world is a square. And that's something you've grown up with all your lives and accept as a given."

Korulen laughed.

She quirked an eyebrow at that. "Well, my world's a sphere." she said with a smile.

"A sphere? Which way is down?" Korulen asked, furrowing her brow.

"The center." She smiled at the girl's reaction.

"It must be a really big sphere."

"It is. About 8000 miles in diameter."

"Wow."

"It's seems perfectly normal to me. If I think too hard about thinks like that here, it starts to get a touch unnerving, and I find myself clutching for something to keep me on the ground. It's all rather foreign."

"And you've never even visited the edge of the world, have you?" asked Keo.

"No. Nor the underside."

"They're not very interesting," said Samia.

"Because of the lack of people?"

"Nothing lives on the side or underside at all," said Narax. "It's completely barren."

"It might still be interesting to see sometime-at least once. Since it's such a foreign idea to me."

"Hey, by all means," said Korulen. "Go, step off, get dizzy, throw up, and then realize that you've got to step back again to get on top of the world again. Makes a great day trip."

Rhysel laughed. "You don't fall off, then, I take it."

"Nope. You just step and you swing around to the side," replied the thudia.

"Are there any bodies of water on the edges?"

"There's a couple oceans that extend to the edge. All the oceans go straight through at their deepest points, actually, so if you can stand five miles of water pressure you can actually swim through the world," Keo said.

"That I could probably cope with. I've never tried, but I should be able to."

"My water mage friend did it once for kicks," said Narax. "Said it was much less disorienting than walking. You can also swim around the edge, which she says would only turn the stomachs of people unusually susceptible."

"Earth mages can get to the other side just by sinking straight through," said Korulen.

"Either method would take quite a while, I'd imagine," said Rhysel.

"Earth and water mages can go very rapidly underground or underwater," said Keo.

"Interesting. There are more differences between your mages and my magic than I suspected."

"Oh?" asked Keo.

"Well, like for instance, I can't breathe water - or at least, I've never tried - but I can stay underwater indefinitely by supplying my own air. I could probably burrow or swim to the other side of your world without trouble, but I wouldn't be able to do it much faster than I could walk or swim normally. And again, I'd be supplying my own air for either trip."

"Earth mages can breathe earth and water mages can breathe water," said Narax.

"That's rather unique. I think, once I get some of my other research finished up, that I'll have to study the abilities of your mages and see if I can figure out how to duplicate some of those effects."

"Sounds like an interesting avenue of research," said Keo.

"I would enjoy it. It would certainly be a lot more applicable to me than studying wizardry."

"Definitely don't study wizardry," said Samia.

"Believe me, I don't plan on it. But the earth, fire, water, and air magics would be very interesting to study and learn about."

"There's a fire mage enrolled at the school," said Keo.

"Oh? Mages can learn wizardry too?"

"Sure. Anyone can learn wizardry as long as they have a channeling capacity, hands, and a voice. Most born casters don't bother with it, but some do," said the dragon.

Rhysel nodded. "Ah. okay. I guess I just assumed they'd be mutually exclusive somehow."

"Nope."

She nodded again. "I'll have to meet your student at some point then - probably not in the next few weeks, though. I'll be pretty busy."

"Right," said Kanaat. "She's a ninth tier, taking the test for tenth next week."

"She'd probably not want to be bothered right now either, with a test coming up. Is tenth the last tier?"

"Yep," said Narax.

"Oh." She looked at Narax for a moment. "And you know a water mage. Any connections for an earth or air mage?"

They all appeared to think. "Saasnil has a cousin who's an air mage." said Korulen after a moment.

She nodded. "Well, I guess it's a start, at least. Once I work out the details of this magic infusion working, I can start bothering everyone about getting in touch with those people." She smiled, a glimmer of excitement in her eyes at the prospect of new research.

Keo said to Narax, "Isn't Loenna's son an earth mage?"

"I think so - yes, he is."

"Who's Loenna?"

"A relative," said Narax. "Keo, do you remember exactly how she's related? I think it's something on Dad's side-"

"I think maybe Loenna was Rialla's niece?" said Keo, furrowing her brow.

"Oh, right, Rialla's brother's daughter," said Narax, snapping his fingers. "So that makes Loenna's son our - let's see - Dad's former wife's brother's great-grandson. Is there a word for that relationship outside Draconic?"

"Probably not," said Keo.

Rhysel listened to all this sort of bemusedly.

"But anyway, Loenna's son's an earth mage," said Keo. "I think."

Rhysel nodded. "That's helpful, thanks." She looked at Kanaat. "And I understand you know someone who's a light?"

"I know a couple of lights," said Kanaat.

"I'd like to meet one of those too."

"I'm sure Aral Muharaan would be available for that," said Kanaat.

"Would Aral charge for something like that, and if so, how much?"

"Aral is a title," said Kanaat. "You may have heard people referring to me as Ar Inular; Aral is the female version. And no, she wouldn't charge for it."

"Ah. What's the title mean?"

"Nothing."

"Then why have it?"

"It's more formal than if I were to call her Ulin, which is her first name."

"So it's sort of like Mister or Miss?"

"Yes, but Ar and Aral don't indicate marital status."

She nodded. "Inular is your surname then?"

"Yes."

"Ah. When I heard people use it at your school, I assumed it was a special title for 'headmaster'."

"No. There isn't one."

She nodded. "I see."

"When would you be able to find out when she'd have time to help me test my theory?"

"I can drop by her office tomorrow, if you like," he replied.

"That would be helpful, thank you." Rhysel paused for a moment. "Should I plan on coming along?"

"No, unless there's more you need to tell her that I can't relay for you."

She shook her head. "No, there isn't. I just wasn't sure of the formalities. I wouldn't want to be rude, after all."

"There's not much formality in my asking an employee if she'd be willing to help you out," he said, nonplussed.

"Oh. I didn't realize she worked at the school."

"I didn't mention she was the school healer?"

She shook her head. "No, you didn't."

"Oh. She is."

"Ah. I suppose that would make sense then." She smiled somewhat apologetically. "One of these days, I'll get a feel for everything around here, then I won't be wondering about things like what's involved with talking to someone."

"Of course," said Keo.

Rhysel fell silent again, seeming to have run out of things to say on that topic. She suddenly blurted out. "Narax, I left my telescope at your place, didn't I? It just occurred to me."

"I think so," he said. "Do you want me to bring it by later?"

"I'd like to have it, but there's no urgency, as long as it's not in your way. Whenever is convenient for you and Samia."

"We're commuting a lot until I can get a place nearer the school," he said. "I'll bring it tomorrow morning."

"Okay." She paused for a moment. "Why do you need a place near the school when you can just teleport there and back?" There's a small hint of confusion in her question.

"In case a student needs to ask me something at an odd hour of the day," he said. "Also, I wanted a place in Esmaar anyway, now that..." He trailed off and exchanged knowing smiles with Samia.

Rhysel looked puzzled at the unfinished sentence.

Keo and Kanaat looked nonplussed, then simultaneously burst out laughing.

She looked even more confused. "Anyone willing to share with the person who can't read anyone else's mind?" There's definite humor in her tone, despite the confusion.

Samia smiled warmly. "We're going to have a baby!" she exclaimed.

"Oh. Well, congratulations." She fell silent again after those few words. After a minute or two, she resolved whatever internal debate she was having and managed a wide smile at Samia. "That's really wonderful news. You must be quite thrilled."

"It's not a surprise," she said. "But yes, we're thrilled."

She nodded with another smile. "First of many? Or would you prefer a small family?"

"We're not sure yet," said Narax. "We'll see how the first one goes."

"A good plan," said Keo.

"You would probably be the one to know," she said with a smile at Keo. "Although I guess Korulen wasn't too much of a handful if you decided to have another." She winked at Korulen.

"You'll notice we waited a while," said Keo, smirking.

Korulen sighed with mock exasperation.

She laughed. "Now, see, I would have just assumed that was normal time between children for elves."

"Not really," said Kanaat. "Waiting until the first one is even in her thirties, let alone forties, before having the second one is very uncommon, and we never would have waited so long if Keo were an elf."

"But I'm not," said Keo cheerfully. "I can go on having children until I'm two thousand if I like."

"And probably will?" She seemed slightly more at ease now that the conversation had turned to Keo's family.

Kanaat looked troubled. "Who knows," said Keo.

Seeing Kanaat's look, Rhysel dropped that train of conversation, looking over to Korulen. "What do you think of your sister?"

"She's adorable," said Korulen promptly. "I'm glad she's a parunia, so she'll be interesting sooner. If she were a thudia she'd take much longer to learn to talk."

"How much longer?"

"Years."

"Typical time for an elf, then, or did you learn to speak a little sooner because you're a thudia?"

"Same for elf thudias as it is for elves," said Korulen.

"So what? Around 6 or so?"

"Five or six, yeah," she replied.

"How old is the baby?"

"Not quite a month," said Keo.

"She was born just before I arrived then?"

"Hatched," said Kanaat.

"Hatched. Sorry."

"Just a few days before, yes," said Keo.

Rhysel nodded. "It's been an eventful month for your family."

"Very!" said Keo.

"Do you have a lot of those, or are things usually pretty quiet?"

"You dropped in on an unusually busy time period," said Kanaat.

"So it would seem. Although I guess I'm sort of part of that as well, since Korulen's one of the ones who brought me here after all."

"Indeed," said Keo dryly.

She grinned, winking impishly at Korulen, while she spoke to Keo. "Maybe it was just a cry for attention, since she just got a new sister after all this time."

"I wanted a sister," Korulen said plaintively. "They asked my permission, and whether I wanted a sister or a brother."

Rhysel looked surprised. "You can control that? Whether you have a boy or a girl, I mean."

"It's a dragon thing," said Keo. "We can decide when we want to conceive, if at all, and what gender we want to wind up with when we do."

"That's why it's not a surprise," Samia supplied.

She looked positively mystified. "That's an intriguing talent." There was a slight tightening around her eyes as Samia spoke, but she quickly banished it again.

"Useful," said Keo. "No fiddling with spells and such. But this may not be an appropriate after-dinner conversation topic."

Korulen snickered.

"Not while children are around at least?" She looked up. "You are all welcome to stay as long as you like, of course, but I don't want to keep you if you've got an early day tomorrow."

"I need to study," wailed Korulen, after swiftly casting a spell that caused the time to appear in the air before her. "Dad, I hereby officially blah blah blah," she said, glancing up at Kanaat. "You know the drill."

"Granted," said Kanaat tiredly, and Korulen teleported away.

Rhysel quirked a smile at Korulen's request. "You sound fairly tired yourself, Kanaat. You all right?"

"Oh, I'm fine. I just get very tired of distributing official permissions to my students to use advanced spells after a while," he said.

She looked curious. "So anytime someone wants to cast a spell of a certain level, they have to ask you first?"

"Not necessarily me. Any graduated wizard. Otherwise I'd be running around to all the practical spellcasting classes all day."

She nodded. "Ah. They can do this even if they're not a teacher at the school?"

"Right. She could have asked Narax or Samia," he replied. "She's accustomed to asking me, though."

"Well, you're around more."

"Exactly."

"I technically 'ask' too," said Keo, smiling a little, "but I don't usually bother Kanaat on a conscious level."

"And there are licenses you can get to cast particular predetermined spells, if one has a job as a commercial caster but isn't a wizard, and the spell is complicated enough that it's not legal for untrained use," Narax said.

Rhysel smiled at Keo's comment. "I see. Probably a topic to discuss in detail another time, but would my teaching of my magic have such strictures to it?"

"No, the law only applies to wizardry," said Kanaat. "And there wouldn't be laws about your magic even if it did apply to other kinds of magic."

She nodded. "That makes thing simpler. I'd hate to have to jump through a bunch of hoops."

"Naturally," said Keo, sighing.

"Does anyone? Enjoy all the hoops, I mean."

"Nope," said Keo.

"Didn't think so."

After a brief silence, Samia said, "Well, we're going to head home now. We'll drop by with the telescope in the morning, Rhysel. Bye."

"Bye," repeated Narax.

She nodded. "Okay. Thank you for coming."

They teleported away, casting the spell in perfect unison.

"I think we'll be going too," said Keo. "Thank you for a lovely dinner."

She smiled. "You're most welcome. It's nice to have the company from time to time."

"Time," said the baby.

Keo chuckled. "Yeah, got to get the baby into bed. Until next time!" She and Kanaat also teleported away, their scaled child in tow, and Rhysel was left alone.

Rhysel sighed heavily, her social defenses dropping. She picked idly at what was left of the pie for several minutes, mentally recriminating herself for her jealous attitude, especially about how much she struggled to get past feeling envious of Samia's pregnancy. Eventually she got up, and wandered to her workroom, where she looked at her work dully for a few moments before deciding simply to go to bed instead and try to start fresh in the morning.

---

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