They arrived at a modestly-sized concert hall. A short line composed entirely of vampires had formed outside of it.

"The way Hihhliir made it sound, I would have thought the line would be longer," Talyn remarked, looking around the area with some interest.

Well, we're here ahead of time," Leekath said.

"Oh, yeah, good point."

Indeed, the line grew behind them fairly steadily, and the harried ticket saleslady was going as quickly as she can. Soon a line of vampires trailed down the entire street.

When they got to the saleslady, Talyn paid for the tickets. They set him back fourteen aaberik. "We can go in now," said Leekath, "or wait until when the concert's about to start. There aren't any seats, so if we go in, we have to stand."

"Whichever you'd prefer, although if you'd like to sit down inside until the show starts, I can arrange that."

"How?"

"Air kamai. Just make the air feel like a bench."

"Oh. That would be cool. Or a perch? It's really more comfortable to hang upside-down, when it's possible."

"If you'd like. Although, unless you object, I'd stay upright. I don't have Rhysel's talent of shifting my gravity around yet."

"I don't mind. I understand people who have blood find it uncomfortable to be upside-down."

"Yeah, I don't look good with a red face," he quipped. "Shall we then?" he asked, gesturing to the door.

She nodded and went in. A man inspected their tickets and let them pass into a large, open room with a stage at the front and a smooth stone floor.

Talyn looked around the area with some interest. "Where would you like to go?" he asked Leekath.

"We should probably go somewhere near the side so you won't be in the way if there's flutterdancing. And near the front is good."

"All right." He led her close to the front along the right side. "How's this?"

"This is fine."

"And how high would milady desire her perch?" he said with a grin.

"Oh, about like the one in my room is good."

"All right," he said agreeably, floating up into the air slightly and putting out his hands like he was holding a bar. "It's right here."

She turned bat and tentatively landed where he suggested, swinging around it to an upside-down posture when she found purchase. She didn't bother to turn back into her humanoid form.

He let go of the 'bar' and floated down so his head was level with the bat, looking at her alternate form curiously. "And you can still talk this way?"

"In vampire," she said, in vampire. "But you can understand me like that now so it's okay."

"Which form are you born in?" he asked curiously.

"The other one," she replied.

"Oh. Can you change right away, or does it take time to learn this one?"

"We can change right away, so we can sleep."

"Oh yeah. You have to be a bat to sleep. I forgot." He watched her quietly for a moment. "Can I, um, touch you? I'd curious to what your fur feels like. I don't know if that's considered bad form or not, though."

"It's okay. Don't pull out any of my fur though."

"No, no, I wouldn't do that." He reaches out and gently ran a finger along her back. Her fur was about three quarters of an inch long and very fine. "It's really soft," he said, retracting his hand.

"Is it? I wouldn't know."

"Yes, would you like to know what it feels like?"

"If I were really curious I'd pet Hihhliir sometime."

"Oh."

He glanced around the room idly for a bit. "I'm glad you agreed to go out with me again," he said after a bit.

"Good," she said.

"Why 'good'?" he asked curiously.

"It's good that you're glad. I couldn't really say "you're welcome", since you didn't say "thank you"."

"I think I will likely miss you once the demonstration is over - although if my Master agrees to it, I can spend some time here while Rhysel teaches me things my Master doesn't cover," said Talyn.

She nodded, an odd behavior for an upside-down bat. He smiled at her, finding the action somewhat humorous.

Some more vampires, mostly teenage girls, a few with boys along, started to show up. One couple noticed Leekath and Talyn and sidled over to them, while the rest just started forming a row by the stage.

Talyn looked down at the couple. "Hello," he said politely.

"How're you hanging in midair?" asked the girl, who looked like she was probably sixteen or seventeen. She and her boyfriend ignored Talyn.

"Talyn made an invisible perch for me," Leekath replied.

"Oh, is that him?" asked the vampire girl.

Leekath nodded.

Talyn watched the conversation, torn between irritation at being treated like he wasn't there and wanting to behave in front of Leekath.

"Well, it's nice to meet you. I'm Fhhiik and this is Laeein."

"I'm Leekath."

"Hello," Talyn repeated, responding in vampire, this time, although his accent was quite terrible.

"Oh, I didn't know you spoke vampire," said Fhhiik, looking at him. "Sorry."

"Not very well, yet. I'm learning," he replied.

"It's probably a pointless exercise," advised Laeein, switching to Leraal.

"Can't hurt to understand it, even if I'll sound silly when I speak it," he replied, also in Leraal.

She frowned. "Your Leraal accent is bad too. Where are you from?"

He picked their minds briefly, investigating just enough to find out if they'd react badly to his being from offworld and then pulling out again immediately. Finding that Fhhiik would have no special reaction to the information but that it would provoke a negative response from Laeein, he said simply, "A long way away. I'm still learning Leraal too."

"Where, though?" Laeein pressed.

"I'd rather not say. You're not going to like it, if I do," he said with a sigh.

"What are you talking about?" asked Fhhiik, looking puzzled.

"Ever been to Mryne?" he asked.

"No," said Laeein, sounding puzzled.

"Me either," said Fhhiik.

"You haven't got an Ician accent, at all, though," said Laeein.

"I didn't say I was from there," he pointed out. "Ever hear of wolfriders? I'm not one of those either," he added hastily, lest they get the wrong impression.

They look at him skeptically. "Yeah, we could tell." said Laeein.

"Well, in Mryne, some people think that the wolfriders come and steal Mrynish children - which they don't. But those people wouldn't like it if they met a wolfrider in person. I just think you might react similarly if I tell you where I'm from."

Laeein and Fhhiik exchanged skeptical looks.

Talyn glanced over to Leekath, <Do you think I should tell them? You can think the answer if you want.>

<It's up to you,> she replied. <I never met them before. I don't know what they'd do.>

He nodded slightly, looking back at the vampire couple and eyeing them for a moment. "I'm what you all call a 'demon'," he said in Leraal. "I'm from another world. Told you you might not like it." he added, bracing for a negative reaction.

Laeein seemed like he was about to say soemthing, but Fhhiik looked at him sternly and mouthed an apology to Talyn as she steered her boyfriend elsewhere.

Talyn smiled gratefully at Fhhiik in reply to her silent apology, and looked back to Leekath. "I wonder if he believed me, or thought I was teasing."

"Why would he think you were making it up?"

"Cause it wouldn't strike me as all that believable. I don't look out of place - even the magic I'm using is like what air mages can do. And I didn't read his mind to see."

"Air mages can't make invisible perches."

He looked confused "Why not? It's just air. No different from walking on it."

"Air mages don't walk on air either. They more swim through it."

"Oh. Really? I would have thought there'd be more overlap."

She shrugged her wings.

The room gradually filled up.

When the room was quite full, Leekath fluttered down and resumed her humanoid form.

Talyn joined her on the ground, releasing his magic.

Someone started chanting "Rhheeeiikan! Rhheeeiikan!" Soon the entire crowd had joined the chant, Leekath included.

Talyn joined in when Leekath did, albeit badly.

The room suddenly went pitch-black. The vampires all started making high-pitched squeaky sounds in the direction of the stage, presumably echolocating. Talyn blinked, startled by the darkness.

Finally a spotlight shone on the stage, with a willowy vampire woman with floor-length hair holding a red crystal to her lips standing in the illuminated circle. The lights around the stage came up a little bit, silhouetting a supporting band.

"Hello, Paraasilan," said Rhheeeiikan. The crystal seemed to be amplifying her voice. The crowd squealed incoherently.

Talyn looked to Leekath to see if she was enjoying it, a smile on his face. She was squealing right along with the rest of the vampires present.

The instrumentalists started up a soft introductory passage. Rhheeeiikan began to sing, and the crowd went completely silent.

The set lasted for ten songs, and starting about halfway through the fourth one and lasting until the seventh, virtually everyone in the crowd turned into bats and flutterdanced. There were about four hundred vampires present, and they managed some extremely intricate patterns considering that it was entirely made up on the spot.

Talyn watched the flutterdancing with fascination, paying little attention to the stage as it was going on.

After the tenth song ended, the place went pitch-black again, and then all the lights come back up to full strength gradually. Rhheeeiikan and her instrumentalists vanished during the dark interval.

Talyn looked at Leekath happily. "Enjoy yourself?"

She nodded enthusiastically, although she appeared a bit dazed.

The audience started to file out of the building.

"You all right? You seem a little out of it," he asked, concerned.

"It was really cool," she said.

Still worried, he mentally checked to see if she was concussed or anything, although he didn't pry further in that regard and found her merely overstimulated, not injured. He relaxed and kept his smile on his face. "I'm glad you thought so. I thought it was cool too, although to be honest, the flutterdancing was more entrancing than the music itself. I forgot to pay attention to the meanings of the words a couple of times."

"Flutterdancing is fun," she said. "Thank you for bringing me," she added after a moment.

"You're welcome," he said cheerfully. "I'm glad she was here - it was nice to do something you really wanted to do."

She smiled, although only for a moment.

He grinned happily when she smiled, although he didn't comment this time.

The crowd soon thinned out enough that they could move freely to the exit.

Talyn, instead of offering Leekath his arm, somewhat tenatively reached for her hand. "I'd offer you dinner again, but I guess it's a bit too soon, isn't it?" he said.

She nodded. "I'm perfectly happy with once a week, perfectly healthy with every other, and capable of living on once a month. And you shouldn't be offering any vampires dinner for at least a few more weeks."

"I wasn't planning on offering to any other vampires," he said.

She shrugged. "Either way."

He nodded slightly. "Are either of your fathers wizards?" he asked after a moment.

"No. Why?"

"Just curious. What do they do?"

"One stays at home and teaches my cousins and my sister. The other one's a member of parliament."

"Parliament? Is that like a senate?"

"Sort of, yes. He's a sorcerer so he qualifies."

"You have to be a magic user to be in the parliament?"

"Esmaar's a magocracy."

"Oh. I didn't know that."

Outside the theater, vampires were turning into bats and flying home. The sun had set quite completely and there was a chill in the air.

"It's a little cold," he said, using the warming magic to keep the chill away from himself, and then, after a moment's thought, extending it to Leekath.

She looks a bit surprised.

"If it bothers you, I'll stop," he said solicitously. "I just didn't want you to be cold."

"It's okay, I just wasn't expecting it," she said.

He smiled. "Sorry, guess I should have warned you."

She shrugged.

"As long as we're in town, is there anything else you'd like to do?"

She shook her head.

He fell silent, walking along holding her hand, just enjoying the moment and the company.

She matched his pace, appearing a bit lost in thought.

After several minutes he asked, "What are you thinking about?"

"Oh, I'm listening to the buildings. Somebody jumped off that one two years ago," she said, pointing.

"Air mage?" he asked.

"I don't know."

"Nothing to tell you if they hit the ground?"

She shook her head. "The sidewalk there is new."

"Do you like learning those sorts of things? It's sort of like a puzzle, isn't it?"

"A little bit."

They arrived at the school in due time and proceeded to Leekath's room.

"Thanks, Leekath," Talyn said as they reached her room. "I had a good time tonight." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

She looked momentarily stunned, and as though she'd blush did blushing not require blood. "Thank you," she said, after recovering. "I had a good time too."

He smiled brightly at her. "I'm glad." He opened the door to her room for her.

Hihhliir pounced on her as soon as the door was ajar. "Was it awesome? Did she sing Sharp Edges of the Moon? Was there flutterdancing? Tell me everything!" She dragged Leekath into the room and shut the door without acknowledging Talyn's existence.

Talyn grinned at the other girl's reaction. <See you later, Leekath,> he sent to her as he walked down the hall.

---

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