After a few moments of silence, Rhysel asked suddenly, "Is the golem behaving?"

"Yes," Ar Kithen replied, "although it was a trifle difficult to pry him off my neck when I got home. He was thereafter content to accept the leg of my kitchen table as a substitute, however."

She laughed at the image. "Cute."

"Lelonik habitually rest around cylindrical objects, such as trees," he explained. "When they congregate in colonies, they do so in stacks."

"It's an intriguing animal. I've not seen anything like it."

"They are curious little creatures."

She nodded. "Do you have platypusses on your world?"

"I don't think so," he said.

"They're fairly curious creatures as well - when you said that, it came to mind - sort of a beaver with a duck's bill."

"A beaver with a duck bill? How silly."

"Perhaps," she conceded. "They're fairly interesting, though."

"I might like to see one someday," Ar Kithen said speculatively.

Rhysel closed her eyes, concentrating for a moment, her hands cupped in front of her. After several heartbeats, her hands began to fill with sand, which she turned to clay. She opened her eyes again, working in silence, shaping the clay into a platypus, spending perhaps half an hour to do so. After she finished, she solidfied and colored it, then held it out to him.

He watched silently, taking the statue when she offered it to him and looking at it with an incredulous look on his face. "Is there really a creature that looks like this, or is this an unusually labor-intensive joke?" he asked.

"No, there really is. At least on my world."

"Perhaps the original member of this species was an unusually labor-intensive joke," he murmured, putting the statue on his desk.

She smiled. "Maybe. I wouldn't know."

"Thank you," he added.

"You're welcome." She seemed about to say something else to Ar Kithen, when a look of concentration came over her. She went pale, then stood up abruptly. "Keo says my Master's here," she said in a voice thick with emotion. "I need to go. I have to see him while I can."

Ar Kithen noted this reaction with interest, but didn't comment on it, merely getting to his feet and holding the door for her. She gave him a quick hug and thanked him, then literally flew down the hall and into the lift, carrying herself at top speed and asking the box to take her to Kanaat's office.

Keo, in the middle of tidying Kanaat's office after their baby's most recent misadventure, heard her name sung twice by Revenn, indicating that he wished to converse with her at her convenience. She and Kanaat went to the circle they'd kept set up, and the elf cast the summoning spell, using Keo as a focus for the subject.

Rhysel's master appeared in the pentagram with a piece of bacon in one hand and a glass of juice in the other, looking startled by his new surorundings, before spotting Keo and relaxing a bit. "I must say, I wasn't expecting a response so soon. I also imagined you'd be visiting me again," he said in his deep voice.

"Oh, we hadn't specified," she said. "I thought that if you just wanted to talk, this is just as easy as me being sent there, and if you wanted to let me know that it's time to summon people, this would save a few steps." She bent down and smudged the line of the design on the floor. "Sorry to have interrupted your breakfast," she added.

"Oh, quite all right. I can finish later." He looked at the circle curiously, not moving from it yet. "What's this for?" he asked, around a bite from his bacon.

"That's part of the summoning spell," Keo said. "If I hadn't just smudged the line, it would have kept you stuck inside it, with no ability for any magic or objects to pass outwards."

"Intruiging." He crouched low, examining the chalk marks. "I've made all the preparations necessary," he told the dragon, while examining the diagram. "It took a bit of doing, but I've arranged for another Master to take my students for a few days - except for young Talyn, who'll be coming with me - and she's here already. Well, not here, obviously, but at my home. As are the other two Masters and a fifth person who wishes to be in attendance as well."

"I see," Keo said, furrowing her brow. "Should we arrange for them to be summoned now, or are they having breakfast at the moment as well?"

"I would imagine that would depend on when Rhysel is ready to recieve us. Has she completed her research, and is she ready to give us the necessary demonstration?"

"She hasn't said anything to me about it, so I'd imagine not, but I'll ask," she said, closing her eyes and pinging Rhysel. <Rhysel?>

<Keo? What do you need?>

<I just summoned your Master, and he'd like to know if you're done with your research so we can summon the rest of the people he's bringing.>

<He's here? Where? And no, not quite done, but probably before the end of today.>

<In Kanaat's office.> To Revenn the dragon said, "She's not done, but expects to be before the end of the day."

<Don't send him back yet!> Rhysel nearly screamed the thought into Keo's mind. <I want to see him!>

<Okay, okay!>

"Did she provide you with any details on what still needs to be done?" Revenn asked curiously, still inspecting the chalk lines.

"No. She's on her way, though, so you can ask her for details."

He smiled. "Ah, excellent."

After a few more moments, the lift opened. Hardly touching the floor, Rhysel threw herself across the room into her Master's arms, crying "Master!" in a joyful voice, and held him tightly, tears streaming down her cheeks at seeing his familiar face.

He hugged her back with a smile, patting her back in a fatherly gesture for a moment before she released the hug. "It's good to see you too, Rhysel," he said cheerily. "I wasn't expecting you to be quite so exuberant about it."

Keo and Kanaat stood back and observed this display with identical raised eyebrows.

"I've missed you, Master. And home. And everything. It's all so different here." She smiled as she indicated Keo and Kanaat. "They're wondeful people who've helped me out a lot, and given me an amazing opportunity, but it's not the same." She hugged him again, and he accepted the embrace indulgently, stroking her head for a moment like a parent calming a child. He gave the pair a helpless expression while he did so.

"You know," said Keo, "we could have done this before. Why didn't you just ask?"

"Because he has his apprentices, and it's not fair to them to yank him here just to appease my need for a taste of home," Rhysel said, as she let go again and stepped away, looking for a place to seat herself. Revenn, meanwhile, freed from her hugs, finished his juice before something else caused him to nearly spill it..

Keo sighed. "Anyway. Are we summoning more people now, or waiting until later?"

"What do you have left to accomplish, Rhysel?" Revenn asked, standing easily, although he did move a few steps away from the circle. He examined the books briefly, until he realized he couldn't read any of the titles.

His student replied promptly, falling into her years-long habit of pupil speaking to instructor. "I've acheived the correct results for each aspect of the working individually. I've also perfected the particular warding required, as you've seen me demonstrate previously. All that remains is that I ensure that all four aspects work properly in conjunction with each other. At which point I could perform the working at a time of your choosing. I would ask, however, given the nature of the working, that you work around the schedule of the other participant, as he is an instructor here and has other demands on his time as well as the academic."

"Of course, of course. Given the rather unique nature of your situation, I've arranged for several days where we can be at your disposal." Revenn looked to Keo. "Perhaps we should arrange a time. Then you can send me back for now, and you can bring us all through then."

"Sure thing," said Keo agreeably.

Rhysel said, "I wanted to do it late evening, as it would ensure Ar Kithen will be available. We're not exactly on the same time though. It's later in the day here than it is on Barashi, Master. It's nearing noon. So I would assume it would be early afternoon back home when we wanted to do this. I don't know if today is good, though." She looked to Keo and Kanaat at that. "As there's something going on tonight that shouldn't be postponed."

Keo considered. "We could cast the summons just after the ceremony - they don't take that long, and we can use the same circle for all five people."

"What time is the ceremony at? I forgot to ask," Rhysel said.

"It's right after dinner," said Keo. "We're having dinner with Kanaat's family - you're welcome to join us if you like, Rhysel, I'm sorry I forgot to mention it earlier."

Rhysel nodded. "I'd enjoy that, thank you." She mulled things over in her mind. "Ar Kithen should be free a little after nine tonight, I believe - although he doesn't need to be there for the interviews and so forth." She looked to her Master for a moment, who nodded agreeably, then continued. "I understand there's a staff meeting tomorrow morning, Kanaat? Depending on how badly it hits him, he may or may not wake up on his own in time for that, although I expect he should make it all right."

"His presence isn't essential," said Kanaat. "We can excuse him this time."

She nodded. "Well, he may make it there anyway. I expect eight hours of sleep will have him back on his feet again, although he probably won't want to do anything strenuous for a few more hours in the morning."

Revenn interjected, pointing to Kanaat, "Why can I understand you, Keo, but not him?"

"Because I'm speaking Martisen," said Keo. "Dragons can do that. Kanaat's an elf - if he really had to speak Martisen he could borrow my knowledge, but he'd have a really awful accent."

"I see." He started to ask another question then stopped himself with some effort. "Fascinating as that line of conversation would be, we'd best stick to the matter at hand. About what time should we expect to be brought across, what means of identification do you need to bring us - do we all need to learn your song? And is there any way for you to give us advance warning so we can all be prepared?"

"I can't contact you without going to your world or bringing one of you to ours," she replied. "And I can act as focus to summon you, and then you can act as the focus to summon everyone else who's coming."

"About how many hours from now would you be bringing us through?"

"Oh, about eight or nine," she said. "I can pin it down if you like but I'd need to allow more leeway."

"No, that's fine. With a rough idea, I can get the necessary people together in the same place. And one of our number will be going back as soon as the magic has been performed, but the rest of us will need to stay until Ar Kithen awakens so we can ensure he does have the magic. Will that pose a problem for you, since you're bringing us over?"

"That's fine," she said. "I'll cast the spell on the person who's returning right away, but it's no trouble to undo the magic. Kanaat will be summoning you, since I'd be acting as the focus then just as I did this time, and we can have Ar Kithen and Narax and Narax's wife Samia summon the rest of you."

"And they'll all be around the next day to return us?" he asked.

"Certainly. And even if they were somewhere else, I could contact them and have them reverse the spell - they don't need to be in the area to do that."

Rhysel added, "And you can all stay at my tower for the night, Master. I was already planning on that."

"And we have empty dorm rooms, if there's not space for everyone," Keo said.

Revenn said, "I think it would be preferable if we all stay together for the duration. Do you have room for four Rhysel, or should we prevail upon Keo's dorm rooms?"

"I can fit everyone. It will be a little close, but we'll all fit," said Rhysel.

"They're more Kanaat's dorm rooms," said Keo. "He's the headmaster. I'm technically a secretary. I'm just doing all the talking so you don't have to listen to him try to speak Martisen with borrowed knowledge," she said with a grin. Kanaat looked at the ceiling.

Rhysel's master laughed heartily. "My apologies, Master Kanaat. Well, then. Anything else we need to arrange, or can I return to my meal?" he asked with a grin.

"Kanaat can send you back whenever you like," said Keo. "I think we've covered everything."

Rhysel asked Kanaat and Keo, "When you bring them through, could you bring more books with them? I'd like to get several more. If you're willing to let me use them, Master." she added respectfully.

"They'll come with whatever they're carrying," said Keo. "I'm not sure if there's a convenient way for them to carry around books for the entire window of time in question."

Revenn spoke up again. "That's easily solved. If I put the necessary texts in a sack or two, then when you bring me over first, the others could pick up the bags then - if we gave them, say, two or three minutes after I disappear. Keeping all of us in the same room for an hour or two, so they see me go, shouldn't be a problem."

"All right then," said Keo. "That sounds sensible."

The visitor smiled cheerfully. "I guess I'm ready to go back then."

Rhysel leapt up and gave her Master one more hug, then let go and stepped back.

Kanaat undid the spell and Revenn vanished.

---

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