After a while Talyn said, humor in his tone, "I don't really want to move, but my stomach's starting to hate me. Mind if we head over to Rhysel's home? Ar Kithen should be gone by now anyway, and she makes good food."

"Okay," Leekath replied, standing.

He stood as well, wrapping his arm around her and leading her around the school the to entrance hall. "Thank you," he said with a smile, "unfortunately, I don't have your ability to go a week without eating."

"I can go longer," she said. "That's just when I start being in the mood to feed again."

"I can't," he said simply. "I hope you don't mind that."

"It's okay."

He took them through the transfer point and started looking for Rhysel, who happened to be on the second level, studying Leraal with Maeris.

Rhysel looked up. "Hello, Talyn. Leekath," she acknowledged. "Did you need something?" When Talyn nodded yes, she looked to Maeris. "Do you mind?"

The temporarily diminuitive dragon shook her head kindly.

"Well, I was thinking," Talyn said, "stuff can be sent to our world, but we can't push things across, right? So if you're going to be able to find out if Master Casten will allow me to come study with you from time to time, someone's got to come to our world. Leekath said she'd be willing. Is that all right with you?"

Rhysel looked from Talyn to Leekath - who is still being held close to him by his arm. "Are you willing to go over, Leekath? As a messenger?"

The vampire nodded.

Rhysel pursed her lips for a moment. "I'll discuss it with Tekaal before we send you back tonight, Talyn. I expect you to be here when he's free after nine, though. Okay?"

Talyn nodded agreeably. "That's all I needed. Sorry to disturb you."

"How did you learn Leraal?" asked Maeris curiously.

"I'm better at mind kamai than Rhysel is. I just pestered people to talk to me a lot and I picked up the meanings of their words as they were speaking them."

"Handy trick. You'll put me out of business," she said mildly.

He grinned. "I doubt it. It's not all that easy for most people to do."

"Well, good."

Rhysel grinned at Talyn. "There's food downstairs for you. I'm surprised you waited this long, actually, after this morning."

Talyn nodded, and led Leekath downstairs. "I had a thought, by the way," he said conversationally to Leekath as he grabbed a stack of sandwiches and some juice.

"That's not unusual, is it?"

"Well, no," he agreed. "But this one you might find particularly interesting." He took the food over to the table and started to eat. "Wild kamai does healing. Generally when someone's been injured especially badly, they lose a lot of blood. So there's got to be something in the wild kamai to restore blood someone's lost, I would think."

"That's interesting. So vampires could bite a particular person more often."

"Yup," he said with a smile. "Probably every day, as long as the bite wound itself isn't a problem."

"Those can be healed too. People often don't bother since they don't hurt until they're nearly all healed by themselves."

"That's true too," he concedes. "I'll ask my Master about it when I get back. Maybe he knows - or knows what book to look at."

Leekath nodded.

"If I learn it," he said, "I'll let you bite me whenever you want."

She smiled fangily.

He looked at her fangs for a moment as if they presented some sort of obstacle. "I really like your smile," he said sincerely, although he' was still looking at her fangs in a rather odd way.

She stopped smiling when she noticed his expression.

"If you don't mind my asking," he said hesitantly, "does having fangs make it hard to kiss someone?"

"I'm told it does a bit," she replied, relaxing slightly when she realizes that his expression was not due to being creeped out by her fangs.

"You've never tried?"

She shook her head.

"Oh." He fell silent for a moment, then added, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel self-conscious about your smile. I really do like it."

She smiled again - briefly, though, and tentatively.

Talyn smiled back at her. "It's a very pretty smile." He finished his meal, spending the rest of the time paying more attention to her face than to the food.

In the silence she became distracted, presumably listening to hhikiias, but made no move to go and did not seem impatient.

After he finished eating, he said, "Is there anything you'd like to do while I'm still here?"

She snapped out of her apparent reverie. "Um, I don't really know."

"Oh?" he asked solicitously.

She shrugged. "I don't normally do anything very interesting, I mentioned."

He nodded, "Is there anything you've ever wanted to do that you haven't?"

Leekath thought, and shook her head. "Except things like graduate, which I can't do yet."

"Would you mind going for another walk?"

She shook her head again.

He stood up, taking the dishes over to the sink, then offered her his hand to assist her out of her seat, bowing slightly to her.

She took his hand and got up.

Talyn smiled at her and led her outside, walking the countryside near Rhysel's tower. "What sorts of things does your family do when they're together?"

"Usually the same things we do when we aren't," she said. "We're not a really close family."

"Oh. Is that typical for vampires, or just your family?"

"Just mine."

"Did that ever bother you?"

"Not more than not having friends ever did, really."

"Oh."

He walked along with her in silence for a little bit, enjoying her company and the relative quiet of the area. He said slowly, "I hope you haven't felt like I've put you on the spot when I've asked what you'd like to do."

"It's just that I can't really think of things to do. I never had to before."

"I can think of things to do, I just wanted you to enjoy whatever we do, which is why I've been asking."

She nodded.

"In the future, if you'd rather I not ask, I won't - provided if there is something like that concert that you'd like to do, you mention it? That all right with you?"

"Okay."

"I'd just like you to be happy, Leekath. Especially when we're together."

"Just because I don't start out sad for lack of something doesn't mean I won't be happy if I get it."

"Well, that's true, I suppose. I guess I was more worried I might suggest something you'd hate to do and not realize it."

"If I don't want to do something I'll say so."

He grinned. "All right. Am I being too solicitous?" he asked after a moment. "I'm not very experienced at this."

"I'm not either, so I don't know."

"As long as you don't mind how I'm approaching it, I guess I'm doing all right." He smiled brightly at her.

She nodded.

After walking along in silence for a bit longer, he stopped walking for a moment, turning to face her and taking her other hand as well. "Leekath," he said, taking a slight breath, "may I kiss you?"

She stopped walking as well. "Okay. But if any part of your face goes numb you should stop."

"All right," he agreed, adding, "I'll be careful," before leaning in to kiss her. He sucessfully avoided being fanged.

He let the kiss linger for a bit less than a minute before pulling back and smiling at her. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Talyn pulled her in again, this time giving her a hug and stroking her hair gently. He held her close, paying light attention to her mood, curious if she liked the kiss or not, but not prying too deeply. He continued to stroke her hair lightly, which she definitely did like. "Happy?" he asked softly.

"Mmhm."

"Me too," he said, smiling at her.

Quite content to stay that way indefinitely, he spent the next two hours holding her and stroking her hair quietly. Leekath fell into the not-quite-asleep state she had previously occupied while having her hair stroked for an extended period.

He started poking around to see if she heard the hhikiias while in that state. They were quieter, although still present.

"You know," he said eventually, "I've thought of something else I like about you. I like the way you view the world and how you tend to see straight to the heart of things."

This bestirred her from her trance. "What do you mean?"

"You think directly," he said. "Like earlier when I was saying that I was wanting to know what you'd like to do because I want you to be happy, and you said that not being unhappy because you aren't wishing for something, doesn't mean you can't be happier. I really like the way you do that, see right to the heart of things."

"Oh."

"I think it's really cool." He fell silent again for a bit longer then asked softly, "May I ask what you like about me?"

"That you like me."

"Just that?" he said with a half-smile.

"It's enough."

"How could I not like you? You're a likeable person."

"You're the only person who does."

He hugged her a little more tightly for a moment. "It doesn't make you any less likeable."

She snuggled a little closer.

"I really do. Like you, that is," he said, continuing to stroke her hair.

"I believe you."

He smiled at her. "I'm glad."

Once the sun had set and the sky began to darken, he sighed. "We should be heading back to Rhysel's tower. I don't want to go, though."

"Me either."

"Can you do the time spell? Maybe it's not as late as I think it is."

"The one to tell time? Yes." She cast it idly.

The time spell came up 8:10.

Talyn smiled, "I think we can spend another hour - maybe longer if I fly us back."

"Good."

"Thanks for spending the day with me."

"You're welcome."

He fell silent, spending the last hour just holding her close and stroking her hair in silence as before.

After a bit more than an hour had passed, Talyn sighed heavily. He chose to float them into the air back to Rhysel's tower while still cuddled, hoping to let the moment last as long as possible. Once they arrived, he said softly, "I'll miss you, Leekath. I hope I get to see you again soon."

She nodded. "I guess I'll be visiting to find out if your Master will let you come here sometimes."

He smiled. "I look forward to it." He set them on the ground softly, stood up, and helped her to her feet, then leaned in to kiss her once more.

As he pulled away from the kiss, he caught his lower lip on one of her fangs.

"Eep!" she exclaimed as she noticed this, grabbing his face so she could gently remove the fang. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she cried.

He accepted her help calmly then put a hand to his mouth, probing gently where it had gone all numb. "It's not your fault, Leekath. I just got careless there at the end." His speech is slightly slurred due to the numbed lip. He smiled at her, and gave her a hug. "Besides, it's just a bit numb. No harm done."

"You're bleeding," she said.

He put his hand to his mouth again, pulling it away and looking at the blood. "It's all right," he assures her. "I'm sure Rhysel can fix it." He blushed at the thought of having to tell Rhysel, though.

"The numbness too?"

"Probably."

"Okay," she said uncertainly.

He smiled at her, "I'll be fine. Don't worry about it. It wasn't your fault at all."

"Okay," she repeated.

He hugged her again, then took her hand and led her inside. "Rhysel?" he called out.

"We're up here," she replied, her voice echoing from the stairwell, "in my work room."

Talyn led Leekath up, entering the workroom. "Um, Rhysel, I know you're not really skilled at healing yet, but I got a minor wound. Would you mind fixing it for me?"

Leekath looked at the floor.

Talyn squeezed the girl's hand reassuringly, while Rhysel got up from her seat next to Tekaal and looked Talyn over, finding the cut easily due to the blood still oozing slowly from his lip. "How'd you manage that?" she asked.

Talyn said, barely audibly, "I caught Leekath's fang by accident, when I was, um, kissing her just now." He was blushing furiously, the color clearly showing up on his face.

Leekath continued to stare at the floor.

Rhysel smiled, amusment all over her face. "I see." She placed two fingers over his wound, focusing on the injury. While she did so, Talyn sent, <It's all right, Leekath, don't be embarrassed.>

<You are,> she thought back.

<Well, yeah. 'Cause I was careless. I get embarrassed when I slip up. I'm not embarrassed I kissed you!> he sent emphatically.

<I could've been more careful too. I just didn't know what I was doing. It was probably horrible.>

After a moment, Rhysel's lip started to bleed slightly as the wound in Talyn's mouth faded away. After another moment, the injury in Rhysel's mouth also vanished. "There you go," she said, unaware of the conversation the adolescents were having.

<I enjoyed it - a lot,> he sent. <I'm sure we'll get better with practice.>

"Thank you," he said aloud to Rhysel, who nodded acknowledgement, her eyes still twinkling with amusement.

Leekath's diminishing embarrassment returned in full force when she noticed Rhysel's expression.

"You make a cute pair," Rhysel said with a smile, letting the matter drop. "Would you like a few minutes alone to say good-bye?"

Talyn looked to Leekath to see if she had an opinion.

Leekath was staring at the floor once again, trying to be fascinated by its tale of how it is both a floor and a ceiling for the story below. She had not quite registered Rhysel's question.

"I think so," Talyn said. He pulled Leekath out of the room, taking her downstairs to the next level.

"Are you all right?" he asked concerned.

"That was very embarrassing," she said.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to be embarrassed."

"I know."

He hugged her again, stroking her hair gently for a moment to calm her a bit. "I like you, Leekath. A lot."

"Thank you," she said. The hair-stroking had the desired effect, as usual.

After a moment, he reached down, putting his hand under her chin and tipping her face up, kissing her again - being much more careful.

She returned the kiss willingly, although she was ginger and delicate in doing so.

He smiled once the kiss ended. "I look forward to seeing you again, milady."

She smiled back momentarily. "When should they send me?"

"Two or three weeks, I expect. I may have to do some persuading." He smiled widely at her. "Thanks for letting me see your smile again."

"You're welcome."

"Come upstairs with me again?" He led her back into Rhysel's workroom. "I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

Tekaal nodded and reversed the summoning spell. Talyn vanished.

Rhysel looked kindly at Leekath. "Would you like me to take you to the school through the point, or would you rather travel under your own power?"

"I'll fly," Leekath said. "Thank you anyway."

"Okay," Rhysel said agreeably, adding after a moment, "I hope you're not still upset with me."

"About not telling Talyn about what it actually meant to ask me out to dinner?"

"Yes, that. I won't make that mistake again."

"I'm not still mad at you."

"That's good to hear," Rhysel said with a smile.

Leekath smiled politely, went downstairs, left the tower, turned into a bat, and flew home.

Rhysel took her seat next to Tekaal again, turning back to the lesson plans they were going over.

---

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