"She'd like that."

"He probably will too if he lets himself."

    "What's his story? She's curious."

"Mm. I'm not sure how much I should say. But you've probably noticed all the references to the Slayer refer to a 'girl' right?"

"Yes, this language doesn't have very good vocabulary for that sort of thing."

"It doesn't help that as far as Ira can tell, every Slayer before him has been a girl. His parents were pretty certain that he was a girl as well, even before they found out he was a...uh, what they call a 'Potential', someone who might be called if the Slayer dies. It just got worse once they found that out. Then he was Called and well...I don't know exactly what happened, you might have noticed he's pretty prickly. About all he'll say was that he was protecting Ant, and that they're not going back." (There's a flash there, of Ant's nightmares, of a bloodsoaked hallway, and two mutilated corpses.)

Deskyl doesn't seem disturbed by this in the slightest.

    "That's reasonable. Some people shouldn't raise children."

"No," Shin agrees, relieved by Deskyl's lack of reaction, reassured by it even. "They shouldn't. But apparently the universe just fucking sucks sometimes."

    "It does. But it seems like he's done well enough for himself, considering."

"He is. But that doesn't stop him wishing he could give Ant more." Pause. "Even if ey seems pretty certain he hung the damn stars."

    "It's good that they have each other. How did they meet you?"

Shin gives a sheepish smile. "I tried to eat Ira's head. He laughed, and somehow it ended with us talking. He has form for inviting dangerous people home."

    "It seems like that's working for him, anyway."

Shin laughs. "Yeah. And why change something that works?"

    "Exactly."

    "Is there anything else we should know about?"

Shin pauses, and then far more seriously than the words might seem to require: "Don't make wishes."

DZ and Deskyl sign back and forth, obviously more than simple translation would require, and then Deskyl nods solemnly.

"Thank you," he says, equally solemn.

    "She'll wait for Ira and Ant to come back, before she goes very asleep; it seems better not to surprise him with it." But the Sith re-settles herself anyway, and nods off again.

"Probably wise," Shin agrees, settling back in to read his book. "I mean, he's okay with surprises, but he's more comfortable when he knows things. Ant'll be back soon, not so sure about Ira."

"That's fine. A few hours won't make much of a difference."

She goes back to the internet; she'll be more useful if she has a better idea of what the local culture is like.

And fairly soon after, Ant returns. Ey drops eir bag and flops face first onto the bed next to Shin.

"I swear, if that old witch calls me 'Miss Becker' one more time, I'm gonna...I don't know. Do something."

DZ looks up from her reading when Ant comes in, but goes back to it when she's not addressed.

"Do me and Ira need to arrange something?"

Ant pushes emself back upright. "You're not allowed to kill my teachers!"