"I like to know things." And she's pretty sure it is ILLEGAL for Urtho to be making baby gryphons' medical decisions overruling their actual parents. "How old are you guys?"

"I'm twenty-sseven," Kythtar offers. "Helath is twenty-five."

There's a bit more parting chatter and then Skan can fly her home. It's dark and too late to go see the Healers tonight, but they can fit it in around her classes tomorrow and Skan's happy to pick her up and fly her over for that as well.

She will put it in her to-do list! And the next morning she sees Ma'ar in class as normal.

He smiles at her. :What were you off doing yesterday afternoon? I was at the library a lot and I didn't see you:

:I went to the gryphon eyrie to talk to them about being gryphons. We're going to talk about created species later in ethics, I got a list:

:Oh! That's a good idea, getting a list. Was it interesting?:

:Yes. It was very interesting:

:Mmm. I'd like to hear more about it later:

The teacher is arriving and there isn't any more time for conversation unless Azabel feels like multitasking.

She wants to concentrate on the math, but afterwards she can follow up. "Girl gryphons are infertile by default and Urtho has a spell to let them have babies, and he doesn't do it whenever they want, and for some reason he's making medical decisions for their babies instead of them which I THINK is illegal so I'm going to Healer's today when I have a bit to check."

"That - oh. That's...a lot of things. - What sort of medical decisions."

"A lot of them are born so they won't live very long and he's telling the Healers to give them painkillers and otherwise just let them die, which, like, should be allowed but he's not their parents? Their parents are right there and he got to pick them and at least sometimes they'd rather take care of the baby for as long as they can, I asked."

Ma'ar looks dubious. "I - don't get why the parents would want to do that. If the babies're going to die anyway, it seems like a waste?"

"I wouldn't do it if I had a baby that was going to die for some reason but if Ranara showed up and the Healers all listened to her instead of even ASKING me I would be REALLY MAD."

"Oh. I guess that'd make sense to be mad about. Is it illegal? I...sort of would've thought the gryphons were just Urtho's to work on how he likes."

"...well, owning humans is illegal, and if he owns the gryphons he should probably be obliged to say that in public so everybody knows that he is a people-owning asshole, instead of nobody thinking about it very much."

"Huh. I wasn't sure how much owning people being illegal is - a real law, here? I think it might supposedly be illegal in Predain too but everyone ignores that." Shrug. "Although I guess at the Tower people don't seem to go around having slaves, so...it'd still be Urtho doing something different."

"Yeah. If the Healers tell me they let him do that because he owns all the gryphons I will ask him to confirm this. In front of the whole class. And then I will bother him about how much it would cost me to buy them all and set them free. Also I think I might hide in the eyrie and watch him cast the spell so I can learn it and it's not just him. - he does have it written down but still."

"Wow." Ma'ar looks somewhere between impressed and worried. "Are you not, uh. Scared of getting in trouble with Urtho."

"...what's he going to do about me asking him awkward questions and hiding in the eyrie, expel me? I'm a prodigy. Also a Mindhealer. With a perfectly clean disciplinary record. I'd need to find at least three things that disruptive to do before he'd consider it. And if he does I'd probably be able to get Lionwind to quit in protest."

Ma'ar still seems confused. He nods, slowly. "I - wish I was as good as you. At not being scared. I'll - help, if I can, just..." He hugs himself a bit. "I am scared of getting in trouble. And I don't have anyone who'd resign in protest about it either."

"And you don't have a spotless record. If I think of anything particularly safe that I could use help on I can tell you though."

He nods. "Good luck."

"Thank you."

She visits Healers' when she has time between classes.

It's pretty easy to locate the gryphon section; it's the one that has a withdrawable canvas roof so it can be accessed from the air, and a very wide door at ground level that can accommodate adult gryphons comfortably. It's also entirely open space inside, rather than divided into rooms or curtained cubicles.

A couple of adolescent gryphons are there, being examined and groomed. One of the Healers waves to Azabel.