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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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Ehail goes out and comes back with a chair. She sits in it.
greatcomposure
And now they both have chairs.
"I've read everything you've published in Leraal, but my husband's been too busy to translate the Munine for me. What am I missing?"
"I've read everything you've published in Leraal, but my husband's been too busy to translate the Munine for me. What am I missing?"
"Not very much. I don't have very much. There's - nothing, really."
greatcomposure
"So, more confirmations like the one that temporarily turning off the effect of down magic in an area or on a specific person doesn't count as flying? That's not completely nothing," she says. "My specialty is teleportation spells; I spend a lot of time ruling out things that don't work."
"I - well, I spend all my time thinking of silly ideas that don't work. Most of them don't even get published in Munine."
greatcomposure
"It's not the best kind of progress, but it's still progress. Do you write them down somewhere, if nothing else then at least so you don't end up testing the same silly idea twice?"
"Yes, I have notes." She gestures at the office's copious quantities of paper with its tiny handwriting.
greatcomposure
"If you have the time, I might like a Leraal translation of the whole list. So that when I'm coming up with silly ideas of my own, I can check if they've been done already. And if I think of anything new, I'll tell you."
"I can get that to you," nods Ehail.
"You're welcome."
greatcomposure
"It's occurred to me to wonder if there's an actual underlying difference between infected shrens and hatched shrens," she says, "but I haven't found any answers about that. Which makes sense, considering how rare they are. All the obvious things are the same, and nobody's ever had the resources to start really digging into non-obvious things. I don't even know if the knowledge would be practically useful, if we had it."
"I don't know either," says Ehail. "I've never had a chance to look at even a dragon, let alone an infected shren."
greatcomposure
"Well, if you want to meet my son and my husband, that can be arranged. But I've seen all three and I don't know that I can point to any non-obvious differences. Except how Mial had unusually bad side effects from his painkiller, but there's only one of him, so there's no way of knowing whether that's an infected shren thing or he's just doubly unlucky."
"I - if your son and husband would meet me maybe in a few years I could come up with some kind of analysis, and - see if there's anything to see."
greatcomposure
"I'll mention it to them," she says. "There shouldn't be any problem. Kep Island qualifies as a place and therefore Mial will be happy to come here - he's feeling a little bottled up after twenty years in the same two houses - and Avar is very reasonable."
Ehail shifts uncomfortably in her chair but nods.
greatcomposure
"I'll give you my address so you can send me that list." She writes it out.
Ehail nods and stashes the paper according to inscrutable organizational system.
"You're welcome."
greatcomposure
"I look forward to hearing from you."
And she gets up and teleports home.
And she gets up and teleports home.
on-my-word
Avar agrees to meet the shren researcher if Koridaar thinks the meeting would be productive. Then he keeps right on bringing Mial (and Finnah) to visit every country in the world from which none of them are explicitly banned.
When they get to Moyet on the list, Avar discovers that it contains a newly opened water park. Mial is intensely excited about the water park. Avar decides to invite both Finnah and Aurin, suspecting that they too will be excited.
When they get to Moyet on the list, Avar discovers that it contains a newly opened water park. Mial is intensely excited about the water park. Avar decides to invite both Finnah and Aurin, suspecting that they too will be excited.
They are slightly less excited than Mial (they are red groups; and, in general, they are less excitable than Mial) but they would like to go.
Alys suggests with utmost Alysly delicacy that Avar and Koridaar might just borrow Aurin.
Alys suggests with utmost Alysly delicacy that Avar and Koridaar might just borrow Aurin.
on-my-word
That is a completely reasonable suggestion. They borrow Aurin and go to the water park - Avar, Mial, Aurin, and Finnah. (Koridaar declined in favour of working on a new teleport spell.)
It's a pretty amazing water park. There are many things suitable for children! Even small children! Even teeny children! Which is good, because Mial continues to be teeny.
It's a pretty amazing water park. There are many things suitable for children! Even small children! Even teeny children! Which is good, because Mial continues to be teeny.