What kind of pie did you make, Rhysel?" asked Korulen.

"There's a blackberry and an apple. I hope that meets with your approval," she said with a smile. "I remembered not to make peach."

Korulen smiled. "Those are great."

"Pie!" said Runa.

"Ready for dessert, then?" Rhysel asked.

"Ready for dessert!" announced Runa.

Rhysel grinned as she got the pies, unable to avoid teasing the baby dragon. "Did you eat your dinner, Runa?" she asked, winking at Keo.

"Ate dinner," she said. "Tasty. Thank you. Pie!"

Rhysel laughed. "You're welcome." She set the pies on the table.

Talyn reached for the pies and cut into them, serving out a piece to everyone around the table, starting with Runa, then Korulen, then through the adults.

The baby dragon dug into her pie with relish. The others present did so as well, though they used forks.

"Thank you," said Keo.

"You're welcome," said Talyn politely.

"Anytime, Keo," Rhysel said with a smile. "Korulen," Rhysel said after a moment. "If you're really interested in mind kamai, you could ask Talyn to show you some things on his own - outside the demonstration, I mean. If there were something specific you wanted to know if it could do, he'd know better than I."

"Nah," Korulen said. "I already know I want to learn it."

Talyn shrugged. "Okay. If you change your mind, though. I'd be happy to. As long as I'm here." After a few moments of silence Talyn asked Kanaat, "If it was all right with my Master, could I possibly go to your school part of the time?"

"I'm not sure what you mean," said Kanaat. "Would you be studying something here?"

"Rhysel knows some kamai my Master doesn't - or at least doesn't teach. I'd like to learn it from her. Since she'd be teaching at your school, it seemed the place to do it. I'd be willing to help with the classes too, if you want," he said earnestly.

Kanaat considered. "It would be somewhat unprecedented for you to act as a teaching assistant without having a record at the school. And I believe she'd only be teaching an introductory class next term - so anything she'd be teaching you would be strictly extracurricular and out of the purview of the school."

"Oh." He seemed slightly crestfallen.

"I mean," Kanaat went on, "if there were someone willing to summon and send you back on a regular basis, and Rhysel were inclined to teach you, it wouldn't be any of my business."

"Well if she's teaching at your school, I didn't think she'd be teaching elsewhere." Talyn said.

Rhysel grinned at the boy. "As long as our Master doesn't object, Talyn, I'd be happy to teach you when it's convenient - or you could wait until you reach Journeyman rank, if you'd rather."

"We don't restrict what our employees do in their free time," said Kanaat, sounding surprised. "If they want to teach lessons outside the school that's their prerogative."

Talyn smiled at Rhysel, although his reply was to Kanaat. "Oh. I didn't know how it worked here."

Kanaat inclined his head in acknowledgement. "Now you do."

Rhysel looked up to Tekaal. "Assuming our Master is all right with it, would you be willing to do the summonings if we worked out a schedule?"

He nodded.

She smiled brightly at him. "Thanks, Tekaal."

"You're welcome."

Korulen blinked, as though something had just occurred to her.

Rhysel and Talyn both looked at her curiously, Talyn's eyes slightly narrowed as he dropped his protections from her surface thoughts. "Something the matter, Korulen?" Rhysel asked.

"No," the girl said, returning her attention to her pie. Talyn, however, picked up her connection of Tekaal's first name to the name of the actor to whom he is rumored to be related.

Talyn diverted his attention rather studiously to his pie as he noticed Korulen's thoughts turn opaque to him, realizing he was caught in the act, but hoping he wouldn't have to say anything about it.

<Being unable to help it is one thing,> said Keo's voice in his mind mildly. <Not trying is another.>

Talyn flushed slightly - not really enough to be noticeable. <I'm sorry, Keo. I wasn't hurting anything though, was I?>

<In order to find out if you were hurting anything I'd have to tell Korulen about it.>

<If she doesn't know, though, and no one else knows, then where's the problem?> he asked silently. <If you want me to, though, I'll tell her what I did and apologize.>

<The fact that you can do things without being noticed doesn't make them acceptable. You can tell her or not, as you choose. I respect your right to not broadcast everything you happen to be thinking,> she sent pointedly, not looking up from her pie. <If, however,> she added, <this sort of thing carries on, you can be declared a hostile offworlder and it can be made illegal to summon you.>

<I'm not hostile!> he sent in reply. <Besides, what good is a talent if you don't use it? I'll apologize,> he added, slightly belatedly, contrition in his 'voice'.

<Gosh, I don't know!> she replied. <I never thought of that. I better start using all my talents right away or they'll be no good. Where's somebody whose memory I can shred? After I take over the world do you think I should go with a flat tax plan or a graduated one?>

<All right, all right,> he sent sullenly. <I get your point. I'll do better.>

"Korulen," he said aloud. "Can I talk to you in private for a minute?"

The thudia blinked. "Uh, okay." She got up and followed him upstairs.

"Your mother thinks I owe you an apology," Talyn said. "She's right, too, much as I hate to admit it. I overheard you wondering about Ar Kithen's name and about the actor. I wasn't wandering around your mind or anything," he added hastily. "I just stopped blocking what you were thinking out loud." He sighed. "My apologies. I did wrong by you."

She blinked. "Um, apology accepted. But don't do that anymore. If I want you to know something I'll tell you."

"I won't." His voice was sincere. "Can I make it up to you somehow?"

She shrugged. "I can't think of anything. If I do I'll let you know. Let's just say you owe me a favor."

"All right," he said agreeably. "Would you like to know what it's like for me? Not to pay off the favor or anything like that, just thought it might help you understand."

"Not really. I mean, I'm sure it's hard and everything, but we all have our own stuff to deal with, you know?" she said.

"I'm not looking for pity. I just thought you might like an explanation."

She shook her head. "Maybe later."

He shrugged. "Either way. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that."

"No, you shouldn't have. I forgive you anyway," she said, and returns to the table.

<I did it, Keo,> he sent, sitting down in one of the chairs upstairs, deciding he'd better just stay out of the way for the moment.

Rhysel looked at Korulen curiously as she came back downstairs, but she didn't say anything.

<I guessed. Are you going to come back, or sulk because you don't think it's okay for you to rejoin society having been caught in an error?>

<Neither. I just want to think for a bit.>

<Suit yourself.>

He pulled the crystal from his pocket, staring idly at it for about ten minutes in meditation before he decided to rejoin the others.

Talyn came down the stairs as Rhysel was asking, "Are there magical illnesses on your world?"

"Several," said Keo.

"What are they like?"

"Well, they vary immensely. I haven't studied any of them in great detail."

She nodded. "Would the school's healer know more about them?"

"To an extent," the dragon replied. "Lights don't need to know anything about the afflictions they cure to be able to heal them, so she might not know much about them beyond which ones will afflict her too if she tries to cure them."

"Like south flu?"

"Yes, like south flu."

"I realize this is going to sound like a stupid question, but - lights can't keep baby dragons from dying?"

Keo shook her head.

"What happens when they try?"

"Well, nothing," she said. "It just fails."

"Like it's not an illness at all?"

"Rather like that, yes."

She nodded thoughtfully. "Dragons are inherently magical in nature, aren't they? I mean like moreso than elves or like the channeling capacity and so on."

"I suppose so," Keo replied. "We certainly have a lot of magical abilities."

"Like tonuges and shifting and the group-specific ones?" Keo's nod confirmed this. "Are group-specific things that all dragons can do - like swimming, or vision and hearing and so on - considered magical?"

"Well, no," she said.

Rhysel nodded thoughtfully again.

Talyn, meanwhile, had taken his seat silently and finished off his pie.

Rhysel added after a moment of silence, "That will help direct my reading, I think. Thanks."

"You okay?" asked Runa, putting a paw on Talyn's knee.

"Hm? Yeah, I'm fine, Runa." he said.

"Lying," she said firmly.

"Runa," said Keo, "you don't always need to investigate when someone turns up sad."

Runa sighed long-sufferingly and nosed around for pie crumbs on her empty plate.

Talyn fell silent, unwilling to comment on either dragon's statement.

A silence settled over the table. Tekaal got to his feet. "Thank you for dinner, Rhysel," he said. "I must be on my way. I'll see you later." He gave her a kiss and teleports away.

"Goodbye," Rhysel said with a smile as he left, waiting for Korulen's reaction.

"Oh, gone," sighed Runa.

Korulen studiously avoided reacting at all.

"Still find it weird, Korulen?" Rhysel asked curiously, grinning, unable to help herself from teasing the girl just a little.

"He's still Ar Kithen," she said. "But eh."

"He's a good man," Rhysel said with a smile.

"What do you mean, 'Gone'?" Talyn asked Runa, curiously.

"A happy gone," the baby said.

"What?" He looked confused.

"Poof a happy is gone -" Runa elaborated, and Keo threw her a look. "Runa, remember."

Runa sighed. "Not allowed to say."

Talyn looked baffled, especially since he felt he couldn't even use his power to interpret Runa's meaning so soon after Keo's rebuke.

"Mommy, why?" said Runa plaintively. "Now a confused -"

"If you can tell that much you're looking too deep, little parunia. I'll explain it when we've gone home," said Keo.

"If she's talking about me, she should be able to tell I'm confused just by looking at my face," Talyn said with a slight grin.

"Faces say lies," said Runa philosophically. "Can tell."

"Runa!" said Keo severely, and the little dragon shrank into her seat.

"I don't mind, Keo," Talyn said. "I certainly have no grounds for complaint, even if I did mind."

"I'm not sure Runa understands the rules well enough for this to be the right time to introduce exceptions," said Keo.

"She's learning, though, isn't she? If she's having trouble getting it down, I don't mind her slipping."

"She doesn't have the same problem you have," said Keo mildly. "We can't turn off empathy entirely, but it requires an act of will to get it any deeper than the four-way division."

"Oh." He flashes a winning smile at the baby. "You should listen to your mother, Runa. She's a smart lady."

Runa sighed.

Rhysel grinned. "I think she's too young for your charms, Talyn," she said with a laugh. "Anyhow, before I forget -" She got up and pulled a few small canvas sacks from one of her cabinets, giving one each to Kanaat and Korulen, and two to Keo. "One for Runa," she explained.

They all opened their sacks; Keo only opened one of them.

Inside each was a pile of small yellow candies - perhaps half an inch across.

"Oh, the lemon drops," said Korulen. "Cool. Thanks."

"Yes, thank you," said Keo, smiling.

"Most welcome." She tossed another sack to Talyn. "See if Runa likes them or not?" she said to Keo.

Keo fished out a lemon drop and gave it to Runa, who initially has a bit of trouble with it, as the configuration of her jaw doesn't permit her to either suck on it or attempt to crunch it. She seemed pleased with it nevertheless.

"Since she seems to like sour things, I thought she'd like them," Rhysel said, watching Runa eat it.

"Mmm," agreed Runa around her lemon drop.

Rhysel smiled, and bid her guests farewell as they teleported away.

---

Home Table of Contents Dramatis Personae Setting Gallery News About Us Contact Us