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Aurin holds his mother's hand as she leads him from the street to his aunt and uncle's house. He's been here only a couple of times, and can't remember most of them distinctly; they're sort of awkwardly related, his dead father's half-brother and the wife thereof. But now they have a baby parunia, and that means there is a dragon related to Aurin who is not too far from his age, only thirty-one years younger. This is apparently the sort of relation that it will be particularly enriching for Aurin to meet. They can do this now instead of waiting a month, because parunias don't die when they're babies; this one is safe, unlike the miscellaneous cousins on his mother's side he's never met because they are all in too much danger to get attached to (and have all succumbed to that danger). So here they are. Even though it was a very long flight and he couldn't ride his mother for takeoff and landing when she had to be a heron, only for the middle part.
Alys knocks on the door.
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He tries it.
"That is less gross than my potion," he pronounces.
"That is less gross than my potion," he pronounces.
"But it's pretty gross," says Aurin swiftly.
Mial giggles. "Yeah. Thanks, Aunt Alys!"
"You're welcome, Mial," says Alys mildly, slicing off a bit of the cheese for herself and then putting it away.
"Your house is really pretty!" he adds. "It's the prettiest house! So far. Maybe there's a prettier house and I just don't know it yet! I wanna go all the places and see all the things. What are some good places to go?"
"I believe Baveria is nice this time of year," says Alys.
"Thanks, Aunt Alys!"
And he hugs her leg and merlins and zooms off to find his father and tell him about Baveria being nice.
And he hugs her leg and merlins and zooms off to find his father and tell him about Baveria being nice.
on-my-word
His father is amenable to this suggestion!
They go to Baveria. And everywhere else. Avar leads the expeditions to countries that don't speak Leraal as a primary language; the ones that do are Koridaar's domain. They invite Finnah along whenever it's convenient, which is most of the time.
They cannot go to Iraam, because none of them practice the state religion. They cannot go to Ryganaav because none of them is an unremarkably unmagical human and that state religion therefore thinks they are all evil. They cannot teleport to Erubia because wizardry is "unnatural magic". They cannot go to Egeria because dragonishes have a terrible reputation there on account of some dragons once going there and pretending to be gods. They cannot go to Ertydo because Ertydo has some kind of complicated political beef with dragons that spills over into the merely dragonish.
Mial is annoyed about there being all these places he can't go.
There's still plenty of places left, though, and visiting them is very occupying.
They go to Baveria. And everywhere else. Avar leads the expeditions to countries that don't speak Leraal as a primary language; the ones that do are Koridaar's domain. They invite Finnah along whenever it's convenient, which is most of the time.
They cannot go to Iraam, because none of them practice the state religion. They cannot go to Ryganaav because none of them is an unremarkably unmagical human and that state religion therefore thinks they are all evil. They cannot teleport to Erubia because wizardry is "unnatural magic". They cannot go to Egeria because dragonishes have a terrible reputation there on account of some dragons once going there and pretending to be gods. They cannot go to Ertydo because Ertydo has some kind of complicated political beef with dragons that spills over into the merely dragonish.
Mial is annoyed about there being all these places he can't go.
There's still plenty of places left, though, and visiting them is very occupying.
greatcomposure
And while her son is occupied, Koridaar starts really getting back into the swing of research. Transportation spells are her specialty, but it has occurred to her now that she has so much spare time to wonder what the state of the art is on shrens.
There are a few very careful, very hopeless publications by an "Ehail", who publishes mostly in Munine but occasionally generates her own Leraal translations.
The journal which has most recently published a Leraal translation of her work is willing to disclose her location as being on Kep Island, Petar. Koridaar will have to find the building herself. But that's not really a challenge, considering.
greatcomposure
Indeed.
Koridaar goes to Kep Island, and visits the shren house there.
Koridaar goes to Kep Island, and visits the shren house there.
An obsidian woman opens the door, looks at her hair and her ears in that order, guesses Leraal, and says, "Can I help you?"
greatcomposure
"Possibly. I'm looking for a wizard named Ehail who published some research about shrens."
"Why?"
greatcomposure
"Because I'm a wizard researcher with an unlucky parunia son, and I want to see if I can help improve the available body of knowledge."
"I'll ask her. Wait here."
The door shuts; there is a delay of a few degrees.
Then a short silver woman opens the door.
"I'm Ehail," she says.
greatcomposure
"I'm Koridaar Retaan. Do you have some time to talk about your research?"
"Yes. Do you want to come in?"
Ehail stands aside.
There's a roomful of screaming babies to the right. Ehail goes right past it down a long empty hallway.
There's a roomful of screaming babies to the right. Ehail goes right past it down a long empty hallway.
Ehail leads Koridaar to a little office with a lot of papers in it.
"I can borrow a chair from the night empath's office," she says. "If you want."
"I can borrow a chair from the night empath's office," she says. "If you want."
greatcomposure
"That'll be convenient if I'm here more than a few degrees," she says. "Which I think is likely. So yes, thank you."