The Consequences of Meeting a Dragon

"Thenio? Are you all right?"

Thenio pulled up the towel covering his eyes a little and saw Seyli's concerned face looking down at him. At the same time, he felt something jump up on the sofa next to him and nuzzle his hair.

"Hi, Tava." Thenio lowered the cloth again and reached up to pat the dragon, who chirped softly and started licking his cheek. "I'm okay. I just have a bad headache...."

"He overdid it a little with his magic practice this morning," he heard Ariom's voice say from somewhere nearby. "It's a common side effect of too much mental magic exposure. The mental mage that we're working with said he should be fine if he just rests for an hour or two."

Thenio was currently lying on the sofa in the magic reference library. He and Amisi had spent most of the morning in there, receiving and transcribing enchantment information that Ariom and Mideis were sending them from across the hall in the workroom.

Ariom had said that in order for Thenio to help out with the real analysis, they would need to make sure that he was completely safe from any magic emissions or explosions that occurred inside the barrier. Which meant he would need to be able to do the job in a separate room.

The distance didn't really matter to Thenio, who was getting information from the taua sitting next to him, not directly from the two men in the workroom. But it did mean that Mideis and Ariom hadn't been watching him quite as closely as they had during their previous practice sessions, which had resulted in things running a little too long and Thenio ending up lying on the sofa with a splitting headache and a wet towel over his eyes.

After a short discussion, they decided they'd better ask the Stability Center to lend them a healer or two to keep an eye on him for the actual event.

"Mental magic? What exactly have you two been doing? I thought the job the Royal Guard wanted to hire you for was analyzing an enchantment." Seyli had lowered her voice a little, probably in consideration of Thenio's headache.

"It is. But the enchantment we're dealing with is extremely volatile. We're planning to analyze it inside a magic barrier and telepathically transmit the information to a scribe in another room to record. While we were testing out different setups for that, we discovered that Thenio is surprisingly good at receiving telepathy. So we're trying to build up his tolerance for mental magic enough to allow him to act as our scribe. But we let him do a little too much during our practice today.... Well, I guess going through this at least once is a good experience, in a way. He'll be able to recognize the warning signs more easily in the future."

"Good experience, huh?" Seyli said skeptically. "I doubt it seems very good at the moment.... Here, let me take a look." Thenio heard her move closer to the sofa. "It's all right to use healing magic on him as long as it's just a small amount, isn't it?"

"It should be fine. His magic circuit has actually been tolerating the whole thing better than his body has, so he's relatively stable right now."

That had been another surprising discovery. Thenio absorbed a small amount of the magic that Amisi used to transmit information to him, but it more or less balanced out the amount of power he used up for the clairvoyance, so it didn't cause any particular problems with his magic stability.

He wasn't sure how he ought to feel about the fact that he seemed to be able to boost his own power reserves by 'eating' someone else's magic. But it did significantly improve his magic stamina, which was otherwise very poor compared to the two sorcerers he was trying to keep up with.

Though that improved stamina was another reason why he'd ended up overdoing things that morning....

"Can you move a little, sweetheart? I need to see Thenio's head."

Tava stopped washing the parts of Thenio's face that weren't covered by the towel, and he heard the sound of dragon claws on fabric coming from above his head. He guessed that she had climbed up on the arm of the sofa.

"Good girl," Seyli said. "I'm going to take the cloth off, all right? You can keep your eyes closed if you want."

Thenio felt her gently lift the towel off his face. Even with his eyes closed, he winced a little as the increase in light sent a fresh stab of pain through his head.

"Where does it hurt the most?"

"It's mainly around my eyes."

"All right. Hold still for a minute. I need to feel around that area, and I don't want to poke you in the eye by accident."

Thenio felt her touching her fingertips very gently against the skin surrounding his eyes. It was accompanied by a faint tingling sensation that ran from her fingers down through the skin and bone. She seemed to be doing some kind of magic scan.

"There does seem to be some inflammation here," Seyli said after a few minutes. "I haven't studied human medicine enough to really give you a proper treatment. But it's not very serious, so some general-purpose healing magic ought to take care of it."

She placed her hands on either side of Thenio's face. He was too distracted by his aching head to be as embarrassed as he would normally be. But not so distracted that he didn't notice that her hands were very soft and had some kind of light, sweet scent to them.

"This should ease the pain and help you relax. It's fine to fall asleep if you get drowsy. A nap will help you recover faster."

A warm, soothing feeling spread from her hands into Thenio's head, easing away his pain and tension. He was familiar with the sensation of healing magic, after being treated for magic burns so many times. But this was...different somehow?

Different...but still familiar....

Where had he felt magic like this before...?

Maybe it was because he'd spent so much time practicing his clairvoyance the past few days, but an image rose unbidden in Thenio's mind.

A gentle, warm light...with some kind of movement inside of it. A pale gold shimmer. It was a living creature. Not human, but...what? What was that?

He heard the rustle of feathers. Something soft caressed his face. The light surrounded him, making him feel safe and comfortable.

It was so familiar...so familiar....

He'd felt this before.... He knew that creature...but...he couldn't remember....

Why couldn't he remember...?

Thenio opened his eyes.

He lay blinking up at the unfamiliar ceiling for a moment before he remembered where he was and turned his head to look around. He was still on the sofa in the magic library. Someone had spread a blanket over him while he was asleep.

The last thing he remembered was Seyli using her healing magic on him. And then he saw...whatever that strange vision had been....

He must have fallen asleep just after that.

Mideis was sitting in a nearby chair, reading a book. He looked up when he heard Thenio stirring. "Oh, you're awake? How do you feel?"

"I'm...okay, I think?" Thenio sat up slowly, taking inventory. "My headache's gone. How long was I asleep?"

"Not long. I think it's been about an hour? Lunch will probably be ready soon. Ariom's downstairs working on it. Everyone else is in the atrium. I have to say, Ariom's cousin seems to have a pretty impressive knowledge of magic beasts. Not many people recognize what Amisi is as soon as they meet her."

Thenio laughed a little. "Yeah, she's pretty amazing that way. She's known every magic beast I've asked her about so far."

Except dream beasts, of course...but that one probably didn't count....

After the morning telepathy practice, Mideis and Amisi had decided to stick around until after lunch, both to take a short break from work and to make sure that Thenio recovered properly. Later, Ariom was planning to go with them over to the Royal Guard headquarters to work on preparations for the enchantment analysis.

Thenio, Seyli, and the dragons were going to go to the park near Thenio's house to visit Kleyo and Eteon. It had been a couple of weeks since Thenio had seen them, and Seyli had said she was interested in meeting Eteon and seeing his animal carvings, so they'd already been thinking of visiting the park today. But after the discussion on clairvoyance and mythic beasts' agents a few days ago, Thenio had a lot of questions for the old woodcarver....

This time, he had arranged the visit in advance through Kleyo, who was still dutifully writing messages to his older brother once a day. It would have been even more often than that if their parents hadn't set limits to prevent Kleyo from draining the magic crystal in the family message book too quickly.

Thenio had calculated how many years he'd have to save up in order to be able to afford buying Kleyo a message book of his own. He wouldn't really need one until he began attending magic school, in about seven years, and if Thenio started setting aside a little each month now, it shouldn't be a problem to get one by that time.

That was assuming he could keep working as Ariom's assistant for that long, of course. And that he was able to break the record for the longest-lived chaos morph by still being alive seven years from now...but...well. If that didn't happen, at least Kleyo could have the message book that Thenio was currently using....

"Ah...Amisi says it's time to eat," Mideis said suddenly, interrupting Thenio's gloomy train of thought. "Shall we go downstairs, then?"

Thenio nodded and stood up.

He folded up the blanket, wondering a little who it was that had put it over him. He'd be a bit happy if it was Seyli...but he'd be less embarrassed if it was Ariom or Mideis....

It was probably better not to ask.

Shaking his head a little, Thenio set the folded blanket down on the sofa and followed Mideis out of the room.

The sky was only partly cloudy when they arrived at the park, but Eteon seemed to think it might rain because he had his canopy tent set up on the edge of the market area and was sitting inside it working on a carving when they found him. When he saw them approaching, he set his wood and knife down and stood up with a welcoming smile.

"Hi, Thenio's friend!" Iggy called out, waving to him from his perch on Thenio's shoulder. "We brought Tava and Seyli to see your toys!"

"Hello, Iggy," Eteon said with a chuckle. "It's nice to see you and Ariom again." He turned to Seyli. "So this must be the girl who knows all about dragons."

"That's her," Ariom said. "This is my cousin, Seyli Ayerin, and her pre-familiar, Tava. Seyli, this is Thenio's friend, Eteon."

"I'm very pleased to meet you, sir," Seyli said, stepping forward and holding her hand out to Eteon.

Thenio watched her with one eyebrow slightly raised. He hadn't seen her well enough in the library that morning to notice, but Seyli was back in full princess mode today, complete with formal manners. She was wearing an elegant, dark blue dress that contrasted beautifully with the orchid-colored dragon riding on her shoulder, and her hair was done up into golden braids that coiled around the back of her head.

She looked lovely, but Thenio found the change a little unsettling. Was she that nervous about meeting Eteon? And they hadn't even told her about him probably being a mythic beast agent....

Ariom had said it was better not to tell her yet. Partly because they hadn't actually confirmed it, and partly because it might make her more anxious about meeting him.

Looking at her now, Thenio could see his point.

Fortunately, Eteon took it all in stride. "The pleasure is mine, young lady," he said, taking her hand and giving her a warm smile. "Thenio's always had a hard time getting along with other children, so I'm very glad he's finally made a friend. Ah...a human friend, I mean. Though of course I appreciate his dragon friends, too," he added with a wink at Tava, who chirped and swished her tail in response.

"Tava likes Thenio a lot," Seyli said, reaching up to pat her dragon. "She's been extra excited to go over to Ariom's house the past few weeks." Her expression turned sorrowful. "Thenio is so kind and patient with magic beasts. And he's really smart and good at things like drawing and cooking. I'm sure he'd be popular if it weren't for his magic.... I don't know why it doesn't affect me the same way it does other people, but I'm really glad it doesn't, so I have a chance to get to know him."

Thenio felt his face turn red. He lowered his head, staring at the wooden figurines on the table in front of him and hoping nobody would notice.

It made him happy to hear she thought that way, though....

"Mmm!" Iggy agreed, waving his tail. "Thenio is a nice friend! And he makes tasty things and draws good pictures!"

"Yes, he does," Ariom said drily. "Unnaturally good pictures...."

Thenio glanced back at him. He knew Ariom really wanted some answers from Eteon as well, but they'd discussed it earlier and decided that Thenio should be the one to ask him about the clairvoyance and other things.

Ariom saw Thenio's look and sighed. "I don't see your brother anywhere," he said, changing the subject. "Did we come a bit early?"

"Just a little." Eteon nodded. "School isn't quite out yet. But Kleyo should be here soon. I know he was excited to see Thenio today, so I'm sure he'll hurry over."

"All right. Well. I should get going. Mideis and the others will be waiting for me. Thenio told you that I needed to go take care of some work business, didn't he? Will you be all right looking after him for a while? Iggy's staying here, and it's not a high-magic area...."

Eteon raised an eyebrow. "I've been looking after him a lot longer than you have, you know? We'll be fine."

"Ah...right." Ariom made an awkward expression. Then he turned to Iggy. "Iggy, you be good while I'm gone, all right? Listen to Thenio and Seyli."

"Mmm! Okay! I'll be super good!"

"Good. I don't think it will take more than two or three hours, but I'll send you a message if it looks like I need to stay longer. Oh, and that reminds me." Ariom looked at Eteon. "Thenio said you didn't have a message book?"

"I'm afraid not," Eteon said with an apologetic smile. "I've never really needed one.... Well, I should probably get one now that Thenio has one, shouldn't I?"

Ariom held his hand up, and a small, leatherbound book appeared in it. He handed it to Eteon. "Here, take this."

Thenio's eyes went wide. Did Ariom just hand those things out to anyone? Did he really not know how much message books normally cost...?

Even Eteon looked surprised. "Hey, now...this is too much...."

"It's fine," Ariom said, shaking his head. "They're easier to make in batches, so I usually have a couple of extras around. And that magic technique you showed me last time is seriously useful, you know? It's well worth giving you a message book if you let me use it to consult with you on things like that once in a while."

"Well...all right." Eteon gave a helpless smile. "I'll accept it gratefully, then. And I'll be happy to help you out when I can. Especially since you seem to keep getting involved with projects I have a particular interest in...." He gave a nod in Thenio's direction.

"Seems that way, doesn't it?" Ariom sighed. "That book already has a few contact pages in it, including mine and Thenio's. Oh, and I realized when I was setting it up that I don't know your family name. I'll add it to the book registration if you tell me what it is."

Thenio blinked. Eteon's...family name? That's right...he really should have one, shouldn't he? But even Thenio didn't know what it was. He'd just...never thought about it? Strange....

Eteon hesitated, his expression a bit conflicted. But after a moment, he let out a small, resigned sigh. "Idarin," he said quietly. "Eteon Idarin."

Ariom's eyes widened. "Idarin? As in...?"

"Yes. As in Yohlom Idarin. We're...related."

Thenio's jaw dropped.

"Seriously? Just who are you...?" Ariom shook his head in amazement. "Well, I can see why you don't give out your family name easily."

"Wait...who?" Seyli had her head tilted to one side, looking confused.

"Yohlom Idarin," Ariom repeated. "Better known as the Guardian of the First Rift. Or since you're studying healing magic, you've probably heard him referred to as the Last True Necromancer."

"Oh...him. Right, I've heard of him." Seyli nodded. "So he's your relative? That's...kind of amazing? I guess?"

Thenio and Ariom both stared at her. Such an underwhelming reaction....

Eteon laughed. "Now there's a good response. No, it's not anything that amazing. Yohlom is Yohlom. And I'm me. We just happen to be related. That's all."

Was it all? Thenio couldn't help giving Eteon a skeptical look. Yohlom Idarin was a legend. He was generally considered to be the most powerful human magic user alive. How did you just shrug off a connection with someone like that...?

Ariom put a hand over his face. "Honestly...every time I talk to you, I just keep having more questions...." He sighed and lowered his hand. "But I guess I don't have time to ask them all right now. Here, I'll fix the name for you before I go. Though by this point, I wouldn't be surprised if you told me you were perfectly capable of doing it yourself...."

"Actually, I am." Eteon gave a small, mischievous smile. "But it's not legal, strictly speaking. So go ahead."

He handed the book back to Ariom, who gave him an annoyed look before opening the back cover and using a thin strand of magic to do something to the inside. Thenio couldn't see what it was, but he knew Ariom must be changing the magic formation that contained the name of the book's owner.

He also knew that editing an inscription directly with magic, without using any tools, wasn't something that most enchanters could do.

Eteon wasn't the only amazing person here....

"There." Ariom gave the book back to Eteon. "Now, I'm leaving before you drop any more shocking revelations."

True to his word, he turned and walked away.

"Bye, Ariom!" Iggy called after him, waving his front paws. "I'll be good, okay?"

That was enough to make Ariom pause and turn back to wave at the little dragon with a wry smile before continuing on his way.

"He's honest in spite of himself, isn't he?" Eteon chuckled. "Well, come sit down. Let's chat a little while we wait for Kleyo to get here."

There were several more folding chairs stacked in the back corner of the tent, and Eteon pulled two of them out for Thenio and Seyli. Seyli set hers close to the table, and she and the dragons started looking at the completed carvings, while Thenio set his chair up next to Eteon's so he could watch him finish the newest figurine, which seemed to be some kind of lizard.

"Thenio said you were studying magic beast healing," Eteon said, giving Seyli an encouraging smile. "What classes are you taking this semester?"

Thenio listened, impressed, as Eteon skillfully guided the conversation toward things that would be easy for Seyli to talk about—what she liked about her classes, the details of a topic she'd been researching for an assignment that week, what kinds of pre-familiars the other students in her dormitory had.... As he kept asking questions in his warm, gentle manner, she became noticeably more relaxed and animated, gradually returning to her usual self.

Eteon's conversation skills were their own kind of magic. Thenio had been on the receiving end of them plenty of times before, but he rarely got a chance to see them at work on someone else, and he did his best to observe and take mental notes.

He could interact with Seyli reasonably well by now, but his conversations with Ariom still included far too many awkward silences....

About fifteen minutes later, Tava, who had lost interest in the wooden figurines and had been sitting on the edge of the table observing their surroundings, suddenly turned her head and pricked up her ears.

"Do you see something interesting, Tava?"

Iggy had been playing with a set of wooden animal beads that could be pushed back and forth along a twisting wire track, but when he noticed Tava suddenly becoming alert, he left the toy and went across the table to where she was sitting. When he was next to her, he stood up on his hind legs and looked in the direction she was facing.

"Oh! Tava found Thenio's little brother!" he said, wobbling a little as his waving tail threw off his balance.

Thenio stood up and went outside the tent to look. A number of children were entering the park from the direction of the school, and near the front of the group were two boys walking together—a smaller one with light brown hair and a taller, thinner one with dark hair.

It looked like the dragons had spotted, not just one, but both of Thenio's younger brothers.

"Thenio!" When they got a little closer, Kleyo noticed him standing there and started running over, waving his arm.

"Hi, Kleyo." Thenio laughed and staggered back a step as his brother tackled him with an enthusiastic hug. "Hey, be a little careful, all right? If you get any bigger, you're going to start knocking me over when you do that."

Kleyo grinned at him. "You just need to keep getting tougher so you can keep catching me!"

"Hey, there are limits to how tough a person can get, you know? I can't even use magic to help me...."

"You can't now. But someday you'll be able to! My big brother will be the toughest wizard ever!"

Thenio tousled Kleyo's hair. "I like your optimism, buddy, but keep it a little realistic, will you...?" He looked up at Lem, who was approaching slowly behind Kleyo, and gave him a welcoming smile. "Hi, Lem. Did you come to join us?"

"Uh...not exactly. I have to get home to start on dinner." Lem was standing back a little, looking uncomfortable. "But Kleyo really wanted me to come with him, so...."

"We hardly ever get to see Thenio anymore," Kleyo said. "You should at least see him and say hello, right?"

"Well, I don't want to keep you too long if you need to go. But it is nice to see you." Thenio did his best to keep smiling. "What are you planning to cook for dinner?"

"Pot roast." Lem was staring at the ground. "That's why I need to get home. It takes a long time to cook. And I need to peel potatoes...and cut up vegetables...and...stuff."

"Ah, right. I understand." Thenio nodded, his smile faltering a little. Lem should have known he was coming to visit today, which meant he'd planned a time-consuming menu on purpose.... "Well, why don't I just introduce you to my new friends before you go?"

"Oh, there's a different dragon today!" Kleyo had just noticed Tava and Seyli. "The purple one was Tava, right? Then that's Seyli? Wow, she really does look like a princess, just like you said!"

Thenio's face grew hot. Did Kleyo really have to mention that...?

He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Um...yes. This is Seyli Ayerin, Ariom's cousin, and her dragon, Tava. Seyli, these are my brothers, Lem and Kleyo." He couldn't quite meet Seyli's eyes as he spoke.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both," Seyli said, stepping forward and holding her hand out with an elegant smile.

Ah. She was back in formal mode....

"Seyli's parents are strict about proper manners, like Aunt Suliya is," Thenio said quickly. "You two remember what to do, right?"

Kleyo nodded and willingly put his hand under Seyli's, beaming up at her. "It's my pleasure!"

Well. His manners were a bit rough, but at least he was cute.

Lem hung back, looking very reluctant.

"Come on, Lem." Kleyo lowered his hand and turned to Lem encouragingly. "Just do it like we practice at home!"

There was an awkward pause. Then, very slowly, Lem came forward and raised his hand to just barely touch the underside of Seyli's fingers. As they made contact, his expression changed. He looked surprised and slightly relieved, as though some calamity he had been expecting hadn't occurred after all.

Was he that nervous about touching a girl's hand?

"The pleasure is mine," Lem said quietly, bowing his head. He lowered his hand and stepped back again a bit more quickly than he really should have, but overall it was passable.

"Well done," Thenio said with a rather forced smile.

He wasn't sure if he was praising his brothers or Seyli, who had somehow kept her elegant demeanor throughout the entire exchange.

"Yes...very nice to meet you...." Lem said softly, starting to edge away. "Then...if you'll excuse me...."

"Ah, Lem. Wait a moment."

Everyone turned to look at Eteon, who had stood up and was holding something out across the table in Lem's direction.

"Take these with you," he said, giving Lem a gentle smile. "You said one of your measuring spoons broke the other day, didn't you? I made you a new set. They're okeram wood, so they should last a bit longer this time."

Lem's whole appearance changed. His eyes lit up and he went eagerly over to take the spoons from Eteon's hand.

"You remembered," he said happily. "They look really nice. Thanks, Eteon!"

Thenio blinked, feeling a little confused. Since when had Lem and Eteon been so friendly? He didn't remember Lem ever mentioning going to the park to visit Eteon, like Kleyo did. Had he been coming here secretly?

And...how exactly had Eteon managed to win Lem over? Thenio hadn't seen his brother smile at anyone like that for a long time.

Not since...that day....

Thenio felt his throat tighten. He watched, feeling both guilty and a bit envious, as Lem and Eteon exchanged goodbyes and Lem started to leave again. He was about to pass close by where Thenio was standing.

Thenio swallowed and forced himself to smile again. "Take care, Lem," he said as warmly as he could manage. "I hope the cooking goes well."

Then he reached out to give his brother a light pat on the shoulder.

As soon as they touched, Lem jumped like he'd been burned and spun around to stare at Thenio with a horrified expression.

Thenio stood there, stunned. His hand was still outstretched, now touching only empty air.

"Thenio, I...I...I'm sorry..." Lem stammered. "I...I have to go!"

He turned and ran across the park, heading for home.

There was a long moment of silence.

"What happened?" Seyli finally said, staring after Lem and looking bewildered. "Is he all right?"

"Probably?" Kleyo shrugged helplessly. "Lem's just weird like that."

Thenio didn't say anything. The hand that had just touched his brother's shoulder was now clenched tightly against his side, nails digging painfully into his palm.