"Reah, don't scare us like that," Teeg settled on the side of the bed.
"I need to go home," I said, trying to move around him and get off the bed.
"No, Reah, stay." Nenzi was begging.
"Sweet man." I held my arms out to him. I had him and Farzi in bed with me in a blink.
While Farzi and Nenzi snuggled on one side, Teeg slipped off his shoes and wriggled in on the other. "Go find a sandwich," Astralan said to someone. I was eating in Teeg's bed not long after that, with Teeg's arms around me while I ate and Farzi huddled against my side and Nenzi curled in my lap as lion snake. I was stroking his head between bites and then kissing Farzi once in a while. I missed my reptanoids.
"I don't know where it came from, or why it's coming now." Lendill pointed his finger and a square of silk cloth went up in flames, turning to cinders in a blink. This was one of many exercises his father had set for him when he was small, attempting to coax out any ability Lendill might have. Norian stared as Lendill went through exercise after exercise. He burned things. Made water out of air. Pulled objects to him. Sent them away. Made them disappear.
"Have you tried folding?" Norian stared at Lendill.
"I'm afraid to—in case I only do it halfway. I could kill myself."
"I don't think it works that way," Norian almost smiled. "I didn't succeed the first time—you have to picture where you want to go. If it works, you go there."
"All right—how about over by that chair?" Lendill pointed to a chair inside his office—the one he kept at Ildevar's palace.
"Do it," Norian nodded. Lendill focused on the chair. Nothing happened.
"Close your eyes and picture it," Norian suggested. Lendill closed his eyes. And in a blink, he was standing next to the targeted chair.
"Holy gods," Lendill muttered in shock, frantically checking to make sure he still possessed all his limbs.
"I don't know why it's coming now, either," Norian shrugged. "Maybe you should practice a little more, then tell your father."
"What am I supposed to tell him? That I can do a child's tricks now? Since I'm two hundred forty-six? That'll impress my brothers."
"Better late than never, don't you think?" Norian chuckled. "Surely they're not that bad."
"You don't know Faldill and Reldill."
"You're right, I don't," Norian said good-naturedly. "That's why you need to tell your father first, and ask him to keep it to himself if it'll just shame you in your brothers' eyes."
"Easier said than done," Lendill sighed. "My father has always been an open communications proponent."
"You mean everybody blabs everything at the dinner table?"
"You don't understand, Keef." Lendill used Norian's last name—he'd done that since they were best friends in college. "My father is older than the dirt on Wyyld, I think. Nothing embarrasses him. He talked about sex when I was six. Went into detail when I was eleven. I think my mother threw food at him over that conversation."
"And there I was, looking up p**n ography on my comp-vid at that age," Norian grinned.
"What, with all those faked sounds and everything?" Lendill slapped Norian on the back.
"It took me months to figure out that the woman was supposed to be having a good time."
"Then you would have benefitted from my father's explanations," Lendill laughed.
"Come on, let's see you burn something else," Norian snickered.
"Reah, wake up, sweetheart."
"Huh?" I was warm and comfortable. I didn't want to wake up. I was in a cocoon where nothing might harm me and pain was far away. Waking would bring it back.
"Sweetheart, I want to talk to you." Teeg.
"Teeg, what do you want?" I turned my head to look at him; his arms were still around me and Farzi and Nenzi, now both lion snakes, were coiled and pressed against my other side.
"Reah, I've stepped back. Given you room. And all that does is make my heart hurt. I don't know how much longer I can stand this. Constantly worrying about you is making me crazy."
"You mean you're upset because your pet slave isn't here to stand in front of you?" I snapped, louder than I meant to. Farzi and Nenzi stirred. Lifting a hand, I reached out to slide fingers down smooth scales. Farzi blinked a slitted eye in my direction. I stroked his head.
"Reah, you were never that. Never. I needed your help, and I kept you with me the only way I could. After we parted on Birimera, I knew you were upset. Rightfully so. I wanted to get you away from there and away from here, because upheaval was bound to follow. It took the better part of three years to get this place anywhere near safe. And then Zellar pops up and starts tapping cores. I know what that can do—he and his Green Fae apprentice tapped Le-Ath Veronis long ago. They would have killed it, too, if something hadn't intervened. Did you ever wonder what happened to the Green Fae? Corent is one of the two who survived. The rest emptied themselves, trying to repair what one of their young did, after he listened to Zellar. If Le-Ath Veronis hadn't been repaired by an unseen hand, the planet would have died, just like Cloudsong and Thiskil. You were the one who might get me close to Zellar's trained brood, right after we were lucky enough to get a lead on him and kill him. I wish I'd known you were coming after him, too. I'd have stood back and let you have that filth. Instead, you were handed back to me, and I'm sorry to say I used you shamelessly."
"You might as well have shackled me, Teeg," I said angrily. "With that stupid chip, and then pretending you had Chash."
"I did have Chash. Always and ever. With me. Inside me."
"Yet you wouldn't tell me the truth. What kind of relationship do you hope to have, Teeg? I can't trust you, can I? From the moment you took my friends away after Arvil died. Then planting that chip and threatening my friend. You knew I was pregnant, and you didn't say anything. You think I can just look past all that and say sure, all's forgiven?"
"What were you going to do with them? Your friends?" Teeg held a hand over Farzi's head.
"I was going to take them to Niphrin. I was going to turn them loose, Teeg. Let them choose their own lives. Arvil bought them from Zellar. Did you know that? Don't you think it's time they had their freedom? Choose what lives they want to live?"
"Niphrin was a good choice." Teeg lay back on the pillow next to me. "A mix of jungle and civilization."