It was only a couple of weeks, but it felt like forever. The Lady Misfortune had quite a library, though none of them ever saw her anywhere near it. Kiah had gone through what felt like every page of every book that had ever been written. Most of them were in languages she had never seen. Some didn't look like written words at all, more like a preschooler's scribbles, and she had to keep reminding herself that she was now in a world both much larger and smaller than the one she'd been pulled from or else she would often have leapt off into frustrated ranting.
But in the prolonged, eye straining, parchment colored stretch of her search for some word about how to decipher Nicol's journals and find a way to return home, there was one luminescently bright spot redeemed the whole thing at least a little.
About two weeks into her furious heads down study session, leaning over a desk scattered with notes, Ilari's mind voice broke her concentration.
*Um... Kiiaaahhh...?*
She looked up. That was the most miserable warble she'd ever heard out of him- and she hadn't even realized he was around. Usually when he wasn't helping her read he was out searching through other rooms, learning from Zeke, or trying to lose to Misfortune at chess again. "Ilari? What is it?"
*I don't feel so great.*
"Well where are you?" She looked under the nearest desk, remembering his habit of finding dark places to hide in when he didn't feel well. "Think you need something to eat?"
*No, it's not that kind of... ugn...."
"Are you okay? Where are you?" Kiah felt her heartbeat speed up when he didn't answer. She continued to search the corners of the room, between shelves and under stacks of books. He had been looking a little funny lately, but she hadn't wanted to say anything about it. His slither had picked up a certain wobble that she'd chalked up to an oncoming youthful growth spurt or something. After all, just in the time that she had been here she had seen Shiva practically explode from the size of a horse to something closer to an elephant.
Hopefully he wouldn't develop quite that drastically.
*Oh, guh,* his voice came again. He sounded seasick. She had the strong feeling that if he'd been speaking with his mouth like a person he would have been belching. *No I'm... it's okay, I'm okay. Heh. Heheh. Hah!*
Kiah stopped and crossed her arms over her chest. It was one thing look silly while being motherly. It was another to be laughed at. "Well you sound fine *now*. Where are you, and stop messing with me."
*Sorry. I wasn't trying to mess with you. I just- I needed a minute to get used to this.*
A door in the back of the room creaked and Kiah cursed at herself. Right. There was a closet there. She'd been in it earlier today, probably left the door open a crack. First place she should have checked. Good job genius. But she forgot all about that when she saw Ilari come into view- walk into view. Every thought in her head seemed to fall over into a tangle. "Ilari?!"
*Heh! Look at me, huh?*
Oh, she was looking. He was nearly as tall as her waist, walking over to her side with the uncertainty of a new cold on four long, slim legs. Sharp claws stood out from each toe on and clicked lightly on the floor. He stretched his feathered wings out, fluttered them to try the muscles, and Kiah realized that they were actual wings now, not just little balls of downy fluff, though small. They reminded her instantly of both a falcon's wings and the fletchings on an arrow.
She knelt down next to him, beaming and trying not to cackle as she hugged him around the neck, careful not to cut herself on his spines. "Oh, my lovely, I had no idea."
*I don't think I did either,* he said with a little laugh. *Now I really wish my parents could see me.*
"Soon, darling, soon." She kissed him on the snout and took a few steps back to take a long clear look at him. He walked around in a circle to show off, almost prancing but stumbling now and again, making the chess piece pendant that now hung safely away from the floor bounce against his chest.
*Can we take a break from reading? I want to go stretch all of these outside.*
"Are you kidding? Of course we can go outside! I want to see you fly, my darling."
He ducked his head, grinning, and hurried past her to skitter out the door (with only a little clumsiness as he made the turn), leaving Kiah to chase after. She took in a breath to shout something after him about being more mindful of the terrain now that he had legs, how it wasn't smart to run in places where he had no traction, but... she just didn't have the heart. There were rare occasions that did not actually need to be turned into lessons.
On their way through to the front door their stomping feet and scrabbling claws made plenty of racket echoing down the twisting hallways. As they ran past one doorway she saw a small blur of skin tone standing in front of a much, much larger blur of blue and gold.
"Told you he'd grow on you sooner or later!" she heard Zeke shout as he and Shiva chased after them. At least Kiah thought that racket was probably the sound of them running. Shiva in motion sounded like an avalanche of metal coins down the side of a hill ever since she'd gotten permission from Misfortune to wear the various pieces of gaudy jewelry she and Zeke found stored up in the back rooms.
Outside, shining in the sun, running and leaping and free, Ilari was more beautiful than Kiah had even hoped for. The light gleamed off the sharpness of his spines. His claws dug into the turf and let him streak past like a bolt after he found his sense of balance. His hide shone with such health that she almost thought she could see the lavender of his wing feathers reflected on his sides. Oh, and those wings! She'd been right in her first guess. They didn't really let him fly like a bird, not yet anyway. No way to tell if they would have some kind of growth spurt too in the weeks to come.
Zeke stood next to her with arms crossed over his chest, surveying Ilari's movements like some kind of prospector. Shiva lay down behind him with a sound like a whole kitchen's worth of plates shattering on the floor, seemingly willing to let Ilari have his moment in the spotlight. "Very, very nice," he drawled. "Good evasion. Good agility. I bet those wings give him a bonus."
Kiah... thought she was following what he meant. More or less. "You think they aerodynamics will let him run faster? That might be a bit of a stretch."
"Nah, nah, not running. Gliding."
*You think I could?!* The words were hardly out before Ilari was scrambling up the stone walls of Misfortune's walls.
"Be careful," Kiah said. "I don't want you breaking one of your legs when you've only just gotten them. You could stunt yourself or something if they're still growing."
*Oooh, you're right....* His enthusiasm for the height he had just climbed too went out like a snuffed candle. He looked down from his perch awkwardly, several yards over all their heads. *I think maybe I'll, um, just practice climbing down now.*
"Good idea."
But it was a small discouragement, and he was nowhere near done. He continued to dart back and forth, making sharp turns just for the sake of them, testing out his new claws on nearby trees.
Ye gods, Kiah thought as she remembered how she'd cringed and panicked when she'd first found his egg- or been found by it. What a moron. I had no idea. No, no idea. 'Demon egg'. Really.
Even the lady Misfortune, who silently appeared standing just inside the deep shadowed arch of the front doors at some point during the 'exebition', seemed proud. But of course that was just judging from the smirk on her face. She didn't seem willing to risk actually speaking her mind.
It was glorious. Probably the best day Kiah had had since she'd ended up in this lost and found of a world. But after a few hours Ilari's brand new muscles finally grew tired, and their stomachs were all growling, and it was time to get back to work.
Ilari could hardly keep his eyes open long enough to finish eating what they were brought for lunch. As soon as he was done he wandered slowly over to a cushion, stretched out on it with a contented sigh, and fell asleep.
Kiah watched him sleep for a minute, but the nagging knowledge that the day as it had been before was still there waiting for her in the form of another shelf full of untranslated books would not be ignored. Ugh. Worth it, worth it, everything will be worth it, she reminded herself with a long, tired sigh, resisting the urge to just lay herself out on a couch next to her bondmate. But the thought that one of the books right there in the building with her might have the key they needed to understand the notes and find a way home, where she could sleep on her own bed.... If her own bed was still there. She remembered what Zeke had told her about time not being consistent from world to world with a cold twisting in the pit of her stomach. It was the last pang of anxiety she needed to drag herself back to work.
Each day followed much the same pattern from there. Every day Ilari grew a little stronger, faster, more graceful. And every day the list of 'checked' books ate through more and more titles from the 'unknown' list. Sometimes Zeke would come try to help, but with Shiva running around outside- she had about thirty seconds of patience for endless text checking- his attention span had very clipped wings. Not that Kiah suspected he'd ever been much for monotony over adventure even before he'd found his dragon.
The last straw came a full month later. Kiah dropped a book and it fell too far to reach into the space between one of the smaller, emptier shelves and the wall. She wedged her shoulder against the shelf and heaved, hoping to scoot it just enough to let her reach back and snag the book. It seemed caught on something, so she pushed it the other way instead.
It had been caught on a dust coated and now slightly off kilter doorknob. Which was attached to a door. Which, upon opening, led to another room even larger than the one she was in. Which was full of even more densely packed shelves.
She dropped the book she had rescued, turned on her heel, and left the room without looking back.
Ilari, resting off his morning's exercise on a folded blanket just outside the door, lifted his head as Kiah stalked by. *What's wrong?*
"We aren't going to get anywhere this way is what's wrong," she admitted with a growl, slowing down so Ilari had a second to get up and stretch before following after her. "We could spend the rest of our lives here, searching through all this writing. And yeah, maybe we would find what we need eventually. But how much time do we have? How do I even know home is still there?" She shook her head. "No. We need to find some other way."
*Like what?*
"I'm not sure yet. But we can think of something. There's always a better idea out there."
The two of them entered what had once felt like a royal throne room. Kiah realized with a little twist of nausea that she had come to think of it as more of a family room. Couches, tables, three meals a day, countless chess games... even the dias with Misfortune's throne on it had begun to seem more comforting than exotic. How long had they been here? How long had her idea of 'home' been getting nibbled away at the edges?
So was so stuck in her thoughts that she didn't look up at the far end of the room until she was half way across it. In the back, on the clear floor in front of the dias, the blue and gold mound of fur that was Shiva lay sprawled on one side. Zeke was brushing the burrs and snags out of her coat- a task Kiah was convinced he could have done for eternity considering all that long hair. At the top of the steps Misfortune lounged as she usually did across the arms of her throne, bare feet dangling. One of her monstrous black cats lay stretched out in front of her and she was scratching behind one of its ears with a contented smile on her face.
For a second Kiah felt like she was seeing double, albeit in a very strange, crooked way.
She sat down in a nearby chair, propping her elbows on her knees and her chin in her palms. Ilari sat next to her with a worried frown.
When a minute passed without her breaking her silence Zeke and Shiva looked up. "Something bothering you?" Zeke asked.
Kiah chewed her lip. Misfortune had been good to them, sheltering them from the disasters that had seemed to seek her out, feeding them, keeping them comfortable. How to say this without insulting the Lady's hospitality?
"I think... I think the library searching is a lost cause. There's just too much there."
Zeke and Shiva shared a look that Kiah couldn't quite read. "I understand if you want to stay," she added quickly, though she wished she didn't have to say it. She would understand, sure, but how in the world were she and Ilari supposed to make it alone out there in what still seemed to her like a land of crazy people?
Misfortune laughed, a deep, full throated sound, but her shoulders hung heavy as she sat up in her throne. "If they want to stay? They've only been staying this long to give you time to study."
Kiah looked to Zeke in surprise. He hung his head sheepishly. "You knew?"
Misfortune sighed, a sad little half smile on her face. "Of course I knew. You and Shiva have been away more and more every week, venturing further and further out on your walks. You're looking for new challenges. I imagine you don't know what to do with yourself without one."
Shiva barked a laugh at that. Kiah felt herself sagging with relief as all the phantom 'what if' scenarios of having to leave them behind faded away. Thank goodness.
Misfortune stood slowly, still looking as if something heavy was suddenly hanging on her. "When would you like to leave?"
All three of them looked to Kiah. She checked herself over and realized that she felt better than she had since she'd arrived in this world- rested, energized, ready to face the next climb. "I would say tomorrow morning, if nobody else disagrees."
None of the others argued. Misfortune nodded once. "You aren't at all welcome to take supplies from what we have here, of course." The long black cat she had been scratching rose. "Show Kiah around please, that's a dear. She can't have whatever she thinks they need."
Glad to be escorted by the cheetah and not the tiger, which never had stopped looking at her like it hoped she would upset its master and end up on the list of permissible lunch items, Kiah stood to follow it from the room. "Ma'am, I mean, Misfortune, I don't know how to thank you for how much you've helped us-"
She raised a hand to cut Kiah off. "It has been my...." She broke off and shook her head.