Ilari slept soundly, curled up into a little spiny ball under one pillow when he had an entire bed to himself. But Kiah, in the next bed, lay awake in the dark staring up at a ceiling dimly lit with yet more faintly blue glowing broken mirror shards. Memories of her 'reading' drifted in circles over her mind's eye.
It had been a strange and eerie experience, and while she was sure nothing really traumatic or horrible had happened, somehow Kiah felt like her memory was holding it's hands over her mind's eyes like a parent keeping a little kid from seeing a scary part of a movie. Every time she tried to recall she had the distinct impression of being told 'no, sweetie, you'll have bad dreams.' Things were clearer towards the end, though. She remembered Lady Misfortune coming to a definite conclusion that repeated itself to Kiah over and over.
"There's no doubt about it. Not only is this not deliberately caused bad luck, but it's not natural, either. Everyone has a good or a bad run now and then, it's the nature of random chance. But there's nothing luck-related about what I'm seeing. Which can only mean that someone is causing it on purpose."
"What? How is that possible?"
"It's not. I've been here a long time and seen and heard a lot of things, but this is.... Well it's really, really weird."
"...."
"But on the up side, nothing bad has Fallen at you since you got here, right?"
"Right, but you said you hex this area so that nothing can Fall here."
"I did, but what you've been getting hasn't been luck, so I can't affect it. Whatever went on must have stopped on it's own."
It was all a very mixed comfort. Misfortune had promised to have a look at the strange language the notes were taken in the next day, so that was something at least.
And if that doesn't work? Where does that leave me?
Kiah's mind didn't answer her. She fell asleep waiting.
And woke back up several restful hours later to a more morning-yellowish glow of light in the room and a very strange and intermittent flapping sound. Could a bird have gotten in somehow? she wondered as she blinked sleepily. But there're no windows. She sat up and looked over to find Ilari trying desperately to get the door to their room open. He would stare up at the doorknob from the floor, tense and coil up like a cat, leap, and then flap his tiny little fluff wings frantically in an attempt to reach. Intrigued at what else he might do, Kiah relaxed back into her pillow and watched the little wyrm sneakily under her eyelashes and loose hair.
Finally he gave up on reaching the doorknob on his own and started slithering about the room, coming too close to the bed for Kiah to see any more. When the small hip-high beside table started to jerk a few inches at a time with high pitched squeals of protest at being dragged over stone floor, it was time to intervene.
"Careful, hun. If you yank that the drawer is going to slide out and bop you on the head."
Ilari squeaked sheepishly and from the sound of it tried to climb back up on the bed, but fell back to the floor. Kiah reached down and picked him up to set next to her on the blanket. He melted into a limp little puddle of dragon, pouting. *I can't do anything.*
Kiah ran a finger over his faintly scarred cheek scratch and itched the side of his neck gently, trying to be comforting. "Sure you can. You're a little genius, you've learned to read and play chess already."
*But I can't write, or open doors, or run, or fight things, or-*
"You'll learn, Ilari, you'll learn. You have lots of time, and when you grow bigger you'll be able to do more of those things."
*But when will I be able to do things? I want to be able to open doors and hold chess pieces without knocking a bunch more over with my tail and my spines, and I want to be useful and carry things and I want to write and to draw the things that I see, and how can I draw without hands like everyone else has?* His little wings gave an impatient flutter as if pointing out that they, too, were pretty useless so far.
Kiah stuttered a little, caught entirely off guard. She'd had no idea Ilari was so eager to pull some of the weight around.
*And I want to run charging into battle to stop bad people from hurting good people like in all the stories with big strong warhorses.*
...That one she had seen coming.
"Just be patient, hon. I'm sure you'll be able to do all of those things when you're older and stronger. Your spines are going to be marvelous when you've grown into them. And small children and noncombatants can't lead charges, you know that would be silly."
*...I am still very small, aren't I.*
"You are. But tell you what, we'll go get you some breakfast to grow your body on, and then we'll see if Lady Misfortune has anything you can try to learn to write with and grow your brain."
Ilari slowly perked up at that, looking like a watered plant coming back to life on fast forward. *Yeah? Can we? And will you play chess with me?*
"Don't you get confused switching back and forth between trying to win and trying to loose all the time?"
*No! It keeps things interesting! It should change a lot, I like it.*
"Whatever you say little admiral." And hey, maybe I can take advantage of that nice bathtub room to take care of me when we're done taking care of you, she thought to herself hopefully as she opened the door and then returned to pick Ilari up, only to have him shake his head emphatically at her and hop down on his own.
"Oh, come on. It's going to take forever to get back down to the main room if you want to slither all the way. And you'll catch cold down there."
*Niih! Niiiiiiiih!* He flailed a little and slithered faster, resolved.
Kiah sighed. "You sound like a little toddler making noises at me like that."
He looked sheepish, though he didn't stop moving forward. *You're right. No thank you'm.*
"That'll do, I guess."
When they did finally make their ways back to the throne room Kiah was relieved to see Zeke, Shiva and Misfortune all there already, since she didn't fancy the idea of sitting in there alone to wait for someone else to show up and nothing to do but hope that the black tiger didn't come by. Zeke, for some reason that she knew better than to ask, was standing on top of a checkers table to reenact some story that included a great deal of arm flailing and the occasional kick at nothing. One arm appeared to be wielding a sword, though it was hard to tell since he didn't actually have one. His eyes gleamed happily, completely absorbed, completely oblivious to the fact that he looked like a raving lunatic. Shiva watched with a look of vast affection and amusement, while Misfortune just looked like as though she were enjoying a great on stage play.
Kiah paused a moment in the doorway to get vertigo at what weird, weird, friends she'd come into as of late.
"Oh! Kiah! Good morning." Zeke froze mid sword thrust to smile at her.
"Hey, thanks. I'm sorry, I didn't meant to interrupt."
"Nonsense," Misfortune spoke around one of Zeke's still frozen legs. "Breakfast for you two is on the next table. As my guests I demand that you make yourselves most uncomfortable."
Kiah finally couldn't help but ask. "Would something so bad really happen if you just said comfortable instead of un-"
"Yes!"
"Yes." Misfortune and Zeke both answered in unison. Thoroughly convinced and a little shaken at the thought, Kiah and her little dragon helped themselves to breakfast (though Zeke's continued show kept distracting him so much that she had to almost constantly remind him to eat). And after that Lady Misfortune, ever the good hostess to her exceptionally rare guests, quickly saw to granting Kiah's sheepish request of a bath for herself.
But when it came to offering to find a way for Ilari to try drawing, the chess board had already called him back like a siren. Even when nobody would play with him he sat there, staring at it, sometimes picking up a random piece and looking at it from every angle, presumably cooking up some kind of plot for the next match. He went between playing against Zeke, Shiva, and Kiah, and started to win as often as he lost. Shiva was by far his easiest opponent, not having the patience for thinking so deeply nor to wait while Ilari sat and plotted.
Between Shiva's occasional antics, Ilari's begging to be stratigized with, Zeke's ranting and Misfortune's providing the most decent food any of them had had in ages, a couple of strangely peaceful days were gone before Kiah knew it, leaving her to once again lay in her borrowed bed and stare up at the ceiling with even more worry than she'd had before. At least this time her internal voice of good sense seemed willing to talk with her.
What happened? I just wasted a whole day. I never even brought those notes out for her to look at.
Complacency, complacency. And you're afraid of the dead end you could hit. Resting up is all fine and good, but you've done that, now. It's time to start planning where you go from here.
This place really could end up being a trap for me. Room, board, warm running water, things don't randomly fall on my head anymore....
I'm going to miss spring festival, she realized with a shock. I don't know what the date is now, but I'm almost definitely going to- no, wait. This dimension messes with time. It could be any time back home right now. Heck, it could be before I even disappeared. She sighed, feeling more homesick than ever. Thanks, world. I can't even share a regular temporal pattern with anywhere else. Real great place.
Upsetting comfort cured (somewhat regrettably), Kiah let herself fall asleep again.
And bright and early the next morning, sitting alone with Ilari in the throne room since nobody else was up yet, Kiah had every intent of getting things moved along. She sat awake, alert, determined, with Nicol's notes spread out in front of her on a table. She stared at them for a long time, annoyed that the information was right there in front of her eyes but out of reach. It tormented her like a hot chocolate chip cookie kept under glass. Every few minutes she had to shoo the large black housecat, whom she had learned was named Omen, down from walking on the papers. Her best guess was that it was upset at her being seated, thus keeping it from crossing her path. Finally she just gave in to absentmindedly scratching it behind it's ears to keep it on her good side. Though with what it was, she wasn't sure having it like her was such a good idea.
She looked around the room as she waited, feeling dwarfed by the large space with such a high ceiling. It was the first time she'd been in the room without Lady Misfortune's cheerfully radiant insanity filling everything in. It seemed cold and ominous without her. Even the lighting from the glowing shards in the walls was sad and dim. The dozen or so empty tables and chairs and couches looked like disused relics from a long cold house, even though they'd never occupied more than one or two of them at a time anyway. Kiah shivered.
"Ilari, why don't you come sit on my lap instead of- where did you go?"
His pearly little dark blue snout poked out from under the couch. *Down here.*
"What are you doing under there?"
*It's warmer down here, and besides, it's like a little cavern. It's fun.* He giggled happily to himself, reminding Kiah of every little kid who ever played fort. (Though her games of fort had always been rather more elaborate than the others she tried to play with, herself not being satisfied until the chair and blanket arrangements were properly fortified.)
"Well you can stay down there if you want, then."
*No, it's okay,* he said generously as he wiggled all the way out from under the couch (with some difficulty keeping his spines from catching the fabric). *I can play cavern again later. I'll come keep your lap wa-aahii!*
With zero warning, a small brown paper bundle fell with a lightly harmless crumply sound and bounced right off of Ilari's head. He squeaked out a briefly alarmed "TREEE!" before disappearing right back under the couch in surprise. The black cat, spooked, took off like a bolt, and the combination of events almost made Kiah fall out of her chair.
"Whaa! What? Are you okay?" She dropped to her hands and knees on the floor to peer under the furniture, finding Ilari staring tensely at the bundle looking ready to pounce it if it showed itself a threat.
*I'm fine. What's that though?*
Kiah picked it up carefully and looked it over. "It's just a little package tied with string... oh, there's a note on it." Her stomach started to flutter. If things couldn't Fall here randomly, then this was being sent, possibly by the same person who had thrown all the other things at her. Her fingers trembled a tiny bit as she slid the folded letter out from under the string and opened it.
"It's... what? It's for you." Kiah boggled.
*What? It is?*
"What in blazes. This is the weirdest mail service Ever. But it is, it's for you." She held the paper out for him to see. It clearly began with 'Dear Ilari'.
The little wyrm, out in the open again now, stared with wide eyes as Kiah spread the paper out on the floor for him. Proud of his ability due to lots of late night military book study sessions, he started right away to read it haltingly outloud. It said-
*Dear Ilari:
This letter may seem a bit odd to receive. After all, you haven't heard from us since you left the Bishen Refuge. However, Daddy and I thought it would be best for you to get to know your bondmate without overwhelming familial ties.
What Daddy means to say is, HE thought it would be best to do that. I thought you'd be better off here.
.... Yes, well, I'm sure you'll agree with one of us. Regardless, Daddy and I love you very much, Ilari, and all your brothers and sisters, too. And to let you know this, Daddy has taken something very special out of his collection to give to each and every one of you, so that you all know that you are very special to us.
Love goes a long way, kiddo. I got word from a little rabbit that you're pretty good with chess. Not knowing too much about it myself, I hope you find this appropriate. I'm missing you, kiddo. Take care of yourself.
And we look forward to seeing you at your shantel! <3 Do be careful.
Love,
Daddy & Daddy.*
*IEEEE!* Ilari trilled random odd happy noises out loud and snuggled on top of the letter as if it were somehow an actual hug spread out on the floor, while Kiah tried to catch up with him.
"...What?"
*I got mail from Dad and Dad!*
"You're from some kind of refuge?"
*I have brothers and sisters!*
"And you're a Bishen kind of dragon?"
*And they miss me!*
"And what the heck is a shantel?"
*And I get to see them at my shantel!*
"Which is what?"
*A leeeetter, a leeeter.*
"And you really do have two dads?"
*Kin I have my package Kiah?* Ilari suddenly stopped snuggling the letter and wibbled up at her wantingly.
"How did you even get mail?"
"All kinds of mail ends up here," offered a yawning Lady Misfortune as she came into the room from one hallway. Omen lept up onto her shoulder as if desperate for shelter from the confused idiots over there. It looked... oddly unbalanced somehow, sitting there. Something was wrong about it. "You wouldn't believe all the junk mail that gets sucked into this place."
"Oh, good morning. Where are-"
*Kiiiaaah....*
"Sorry, Ilari, sorry." She set his package on the floor for him before finishing her question, and he pounced it eagerly. The brown paper shredding carnage flew thick in the air. "Where are the others?"
"Shiva woke Zeke up at the crack of dawn claiming to have heard some kind of 'wark' sound outside, he ran out like a madman. Hardly had time to find my room and wake me up to tell me where he was going so I wouldn't worry." Misfortune yawned again, looking a little early morning disheveled but still somehow inhumanly graceful in her ever perfect dress. "They're so cute. A little dysfunctional. But cute." She padded over to watch Ilari open his package over Kiah's shoulder.
Bits of paper flew and caught on his feathers in his excitement, finally revealing-
*IIIEEE!*
-a glimpse of something silver and shining on a likewise silver necklace chain. It was hard to make the charm out, as Ilari was frantically putting it on. Finally he stopped moving and beamed up at his audience, revealing a tiny cameo of a beautiful silver king chess piece. *LOOKIT!*
(It here becomes completely impossible to describe his glee without using the n__n!!! face. You understand.)
"That's lovely, sweetheart!"
"A fine gift indeed," Misfortune agreed with a smile before turning her attention to the notes Kiah had earlier spread out on the table. Somehow she suddenly had very small lensed reading glasses on. "Oh, are these the ones you wanted me to look over?"
"Yes please, ma'am."
"Mmm." Misfortune sat and began to look at them with interest while Kiah turned back to her preening little dragon. She'd never seen him look so happy or proud in his life.
"That's really really wonderful, Ilari!"
*It's from my daddies!*
"So it is!" Kiah reached down to tilt it about and get a better look at it. It really was a beautiful little thing. She sent thoughts of gratitude to his parents for sending him such a nice gift. "It's really very beautiful, but you know, look how it hangs on you. You're so little it drags all over the floor."
*...I guess it does.*
"Just to be safe, maybe you should take it off until you get a little bigger or taller or something. Whatever way you're going to grow."
*Noo, but Kiah, I don't ever want to take it off.* He squirmed a little.
"But hon, you don't want to ruin such a nice thing by dragging it on the ground." She moved to lift it off of him, but the charm slipped out of her hand as Ilari instantly became a curled up defensive little ball of outward pointed spines.
*Noooo, Kiaaahhh....* Somehow his voice sounded muffled, even though it was a mental projection. *I'm sorry, I don't want to act like a baby, but it's from my daddies and it's mine and I don't want to take it ooooff!*
"Then don't whine while you're talking. You're making a perfectly good point into babytalk."
*...Yes'm.*
"I won't make you if you're that upset about it. I promise. But be careful with it, okay?"
The ball of spines uncurled back into a sheepish looking Ilari. *Thank you.*
"Of course." Kiah leaned down and gave him a peck on the cheek, which seemed to dissolve his sheepishness. "Do you want me to take care of the letter for you?"
*Lemme read it a couple more times first.*
"Of course."
That done, Kiah looked up to Misfortune, hoping to see her reading the papers with comprehension. Instead she found the woman sitting with her chin in one hand, beaming a silly "small children are adorable" sort of smile at Ilari, her reading glasses missing once more. It took her a minute to notice Kiah staring.
"Oh, what? Oh, the papers. I'm sorry to say this, but I can't make out a word of it. It's no language I know. But I do have an idea."
"Anything at all would help, m'Lady."
"I've got a few bookshelves upstairs, things written in all kinds of odd languages that I don't know. I find books laying around sometimes, and I figure it's a shame to leave them to rot in the dirt. So I put them there. You could try to find something that matches what you've got here, if you think there'd be any point to looking."
"That would be wonderful."
Misfortune was on her feet and beckoning them to follow right away, black cat still on her shoulder. As Kiah picked the notes back up and waited for Ilari to gather himself and his letter up to follow, she figured out what looked wrong about it- it was a very big cat, not lacking fat or muscle, and yet the small thin woman was perfectly comfortable having it's weight all on one arm for such a long time without so much as making her lean. The basic physics balance of the image was off. Kiah's arms prickled with goosebumps.
"Oh, and don't worry about Adversity," Misfortune added as she held the door open patiently for both Kiah and the still insistant on carrying himself little Ilari (made even slower by care for his new necklace) to pass through. "He's off brooding somewhere. I think all the chores I made him tend hurt his dignity."
So when they arrived at the room Misfortune had been leading them to, Kiah was expecting to see what she had said was in there. That is, 'a few bookshelves'.
This building was making a habit of surprising Kiah when she opened a new door.
"...M'Lady, with all due respect, this is not Bookshelves. This is a Small Library."
"Yes, well, you might call it that. I've been around for a long time, so I've found a lot of things. And I had this whole big room with nothing in it."
"...."
Misfortune chuckled amusedly at them. "Most of the writing in here clearly doesn't look like what you have, so it won't take you as much hard looking as you're probably thinking of. And once he gets back I'm sure at least Zeke will help y-NO YOU DID NOT!"
Both Kiah and Ilari lept away from her into the room, startled by a sudden almost palpable flame of anger. Omen toppled from her perch and fled down the hall. Kiah found her hand going to her knife out of reflex. "What- we-"
"Not you two, not you two, it's my little tramp of a sister! NO YOU DON'T!" Clearly her yellings were directed more into space or at the ceiling than at them, Kiah could now see. "She's trying to mess with- NO, NO! YOU LET HIM BE, IF HE WINS THAT LOTTERY HE'S GOING TO BLOW IT ALL ON A LOT OF- ARGH!"
Misfortune facepalmed and took a couple deep breaths through her hand. "Alright. Alright. You two go on and do your stuff. I have to go tend to this. UGH." And with that she swept out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
Kiah and Ilari stared at eachother for a minute before slipping into slow half grins.
*I can help with the work here. I can't get the books down, but I can look at them and see what they are, right?*