A/N:

I still don't own the characters of "Tales". I considered whether or not Saphir's actions are out of character here, but hey, everyone has a wild side. : ) And no, Vilo isn't bipolar: he's just a really mercurial kid.

Lots of cookies those who have commented. Chocolate chip, white chocolate, oatmeal raisin, and peanut-butter (guaranteed salmonella free!)

Chapter 10

The problem with being the youngest in a large group of people was that everyone tended to talk over you, or think that you couldn't possibly understand what was being said, or that when you did try and interject something intelligent that people would exchange "Oh, he's just adorable" expressions while completely dismissing everything you said.

On the plus side, it made it pretty easy to slip away without being noticed.

Vilo was lying on his back in the grass outside the borrowed house, his hands behind his head, wanting to fume but not able to really find the energy to work up to a really good and satisfying one. A partial one would have to do.

Sure, Tear got to be the hero…errr..heroine today. Granted, it was Tear who had managed, after a few hours of studying Vilo's technique, to completely remove the blight from the crops. And it was Tear who, after doing so, had fainted dead away in the middle of the tomatoes and had to be carried back into the house by Guy. It was Tear that everyone hovered over, and praised, and thanked.

Well, goody for Tear. If Vilo hadn't been the one who showed her how to do it, she couldn't have done anything more than stare at the fields and look gloomy about it. Sure, his father had praised him for doing a good job, and sure they all seemed grateful, but he'd just been a…what did Saphir call it? A catalyst. Yeah, he'd been nothing but a catalyst.

He didn't even have Willy with him for comfort right now because Guy had begged to borrow him to "study" and Vilo had given in. Truth be told he liked Guy; they'd met before briefly back in Grand Chokmah and he'd always gotten a kind of cool, big-brother vibe from the man. But still, Saphir had taught him enough that he should be able to build his own damn robot by now if he wanted one so all-fire badly.

He was just settling comfortably into his bout of self-pity when the door of the house slammed shut so hard it made him nearly jump out of his skin. Saphir went stalking by, stopped when he saw Vilo, and flopped down on the ground next to him, growling.

"You too, huh?"

"Idiots. Absolute idiots. I've seen pickles with more common sense. I hope Pea-Brain never does convince that so-called princess to marry him, because within a day of taking the throne any offspring of theirs would trade the entire kingdom for magic beans. Not that my opinion counts for anything: I'm not a Fonist, you know. I'm just expected to sit there, and keep my mouth shut, and jump for joy whenever your father commands me to build something."

Vilo dug around in his pocket, pulled out a piece of rock candy Ruby had given him, and offered it to Saphir. The man accepted, biting it in half angrily. "Thank you. Plus, no one understands exactly how awkward it is being expected to work with people you once tried to annihilate. The princess is horrid: if anyone knows how to hold a grudge it's that one. She just keeps giving me this suspicious, beady-eyed stare. It would serve her right if I invent a machine to bring her father's traits to the forefront. Won't that be a fun morning look in the mirror?"

In spite of his own black mood, Vilo giggled at the thought of a horrified Natalia taking in her new-and-improved reflection. "If you decide to, I'll help, but Dad would kill both of us."

"Probably." Saphir sighed. "Sometimes I really do think it's too bad you didn't know me in my glory days. You and I would have had such fun together."

"Yeah." Vilo leaned back on his palms, looking at the sky. It was ugly tonight: rain clouds had gathered and the flashing colors behind them were muted, gray, and somehow diseased looking. "I would have made an awesome God-General."

"Vilo the Wolf. You asked me once what your name would have been. I would have called you Vilo the Wolf."

"Cool. I like that."

They sat for a moment in silence, watching the clouds roll restlessly across the sky. "Saphir?"

"Yes?"

"Do you miss it?"

"Sometimes." He sighed. "I miss the freedom of being able to go where I pleased and do as I wished, without having to always answer to someone else."

"I miss it too. My mother was great, but she didn't care if I just went out and had fun. I used to spend all day playing with my friends, and hunting in the desert, and just…being. No one cared if I couldn't read very well, or that I was eating the right kind of stuff, or if my clothes were clean. Maybe we didn't have a whole lot, but…I didn't mind. I liked my life okay."

"Are you really that unhappy with us?"

"No. Not really. Are you unhappy?"

"No, not unhappy. Just… not always happy. A good deal happier since you arrived." He admitted.

"Guess we can't always be happy, can we?"

"I suppose not. My life didn't exactly turn out as I anticipated."

He glanced over at the boy. "When we were children, your father and I used to sit outside all the time and watch the Northern Lights. I'd always make a wish on shooting stars, and he'd tease me about it. I think throughout this entire thing, I miss the stars most of all. It feels like years since I've seen stars. I think Jade and I took a lot of things for granted before this mess with Lẽtum started."

"What was he like back then? He doesn't like to talk much about it."

"Have you ever been outside during a storm, with lightning flashing all around you? It's beautiful and exciting and terrifying all at the same time. Part of you wants to run screaming for cover before you're blasted to bits, and the other part of you can't bear to go inside because you might miss something. I can't describe it any better than that, but that's what he was like. I doubt you would have liked him much."

As if responding to Saphir's words, the sky above them flickered with electricity, and a few seconds later they heard the angry roll of thunder in the distance.

"Do you think it's going to be okay? I mean, this entire thing with this Lẽtum? Dad's pretty sure he's going to throw a major tantrum on account of us spoiling his fun here."

"On that, I think your father is right. Annoying, isn't it? That's he usually right? I'm not going to promise you anything. All I can say is, we'll certainly do what we can. You did a fine job today, young man. I'm very proud of you."

A fat rain drop hit Vilo in the middle of the forehead, then another.

"We should probably go inside."

"Most likely."

"We're going to get soaked."

"Yup."

The rain fell faster, but neither of them moved, watching it run in rivers down the slope of the dirt path in front of the house.

"Excuse me." Vilo finally got his feet. "There's something I have to do." He had no idea how much in that moment he sounded like Jade, but the impression was short-lived. The boy ran full tilt to the path, threw himself on top of it, and slid down the muddy hill with a whoop of joy.

"Come on, Saphir."

"I will not! The very idea…"

"Come on…" Vilo was laughing, pushing muddy hair back out of his eyes. "I bet you never played in mud in your entire life, right?"

"Of course I haven't. We didn't have mud, at least not back then. We had snow."

"Well, what if you never have another chance? What if Lẽtum turns us all into worms tomorrow or something?"

"Then in that case I shall have plenty of time to roll around in the mud. Get into that house."

"Come get me." The boy taunted. "You want me to go inside? Come get me."

Saphir, rain dripping down his face and over his glasses, marched over to the child, but Vilo quickly ducked away and jumped back. "That the best you can do, old man?"

"When I get my hands on you…"

"Careful. My Dad will get jealous."

Before Saphir could sputter out a response to that, the boy lowered his head and ran forward, knocking Saphir off of his feet and right into the mud.

"Saphir?" Vilo bent down. "Hey, you okay?" The man was lying flat on his back in the rain, not moving. "Aggghh!"

Saphir had reached out, grabbed his ankle, and knocked him off balance so that Vilo landed on the road next to him. They looked over at each other, and burst out laughing.

"What in the world is going on here? What are you two doing?"

Saphir's glasses were useless. On his back in the mud, he peered over the top of them to see a wet, blurry vaguely Jade-shaped image glaring down at them.

"It should be perfectly obvious what we're doing." Saphir snapped, and then paused for effect. "We're making mud angels." Next to him, Vilo roared with laughter. The look on his father's face was the most priceless thing he thought he'd ever seen.

"Mud an….get up at once, both of you! Have you lost your minds? Get inside before you both catch a cold!"

Saphir lurched to his feet and helped Vilo up as well. Giving Jade a defiant look, he put his arm around the boy's shoulder, and together they strolled toward the house.

Inside, the small group stared at them in shock.

"Vilo?" Natalia jumped to her feet. "What happened to you? You're a mess! What did you do to him?" She turned on Saphir.

"I did nothing. He started it."

"As if I'd believe that!"

"Ah Saphir, she was just worried about me. It's cute. Thank you, Natalia!" Before the princess could respond, Vilo had thrown his muddy arms around her waist. Natalia let out a blood-curdling scream and tried to pry him loose, but he just clung tighter.

"Vilo!"

The boy finally released Natalia and gave his father a wicked grin. "What?"

Another burst of thunder made them all jump. Jade frowned at the window.

"Well, so much for flying back home tonight. Looks like we're here for another evening. Both of you, go get into dry clothing before I beat you black and blue. Anyone who can swim can head for the Albiore IV and sleep there; the rest of you will have to just make do with what you can find. There are plenty of spare blankets."

Florian, he noticed, kept frowning down at his bed, but said nothing.

"Master Vilo!" Willy rolled forward, making ticking noises of disgust. "Come at once and get into your nightclothes. If you catch pneumonia and die everyone will blame Willy and I'll be turned into a clock."

"I'd never let them do that." Vilo assured the little robot, following him into the washing area. "You'd be a pretty rotten clock. A frying pan, maybe."

**************************************

By midmorning the rain was still going strong, which Jade found incredibly annoying. He had hoped to be back in Grand Chokmah by now, updating Peony on what he had learned and trying to anticipate what Lẽtum's next move might be. Hell, for all he knew this was it, and the damn thing had decided to just drown them all.

Bored sitting around the house, Vilo had begged to be allowed to go outside and play. At first Jade had refused because for all of Willy's skills the little robot wouldn't have survived two minutes in a downpour like this. However, he'd finally relented as long as the boy promised to check in regularly. He'd seen Vilo a few minutes ago go racing down the street barefoot, followed by a pack of Engeve children.

No one knew that the boy had been instrumental in healing the damaged crops, and Jade preferred to keep it like that for now, as much as Vilo would have liked to take the credit. While he'd been able to teach the technique to Tear without too much difficulty, he'd had no luck with Natalia. Being only one of two functional 7th Fonists in the world wasn't that much better than being one, and until there were a steady stream of them again Jade had no intention of letting the cat out of the bag. The child had sulked and pouted about it, but had finally promised not to say anything to his new friends.

Honestly, it was refreshing to actually see him outside and playing like a normal child. He'd tried to encourage that back home; it simply wasn't healthy for the boy to spend every day down in the basement with Saphir. It wasn't healthy for either one of them, actually, but the boy was the bigger concern. He needed people his own age to interact with.

Part of that was his fault. His reputation was admittedly off-putting. He still frightened the wits out a good portion of the children in Grand Chokmah. Part of it was Vilo's fault, because the boy had established his own reputation as a hair-trigger almost immediately. No one wanted to be goaded into a fight with the son of the Necromancer; the consequences might be too frightening to talk about.

Maybe things would be different now.

He could hope anyway.

There was a knock on the front door, and Ruby stepped inside without being asked, her face worried. "Good, you're still here."

"What's wrong?"

"We just got word from St. Binah. They're getting the rain even harder than we are, and they're starting to flood. Some of them are headed this way, but heaven knows what we're supposed to do with them; it's not much better here. I have a feeling your young friend's efforts on our behalf are going to be lost unless she has another miracle up her sleeve."

"Jade, we have to do something." Anise spoke up. "We can't let it just get washed away. Do you think it's Lẽtum?"

//Not I, Necromancer.//

Jade paused, and held up a hand for them to be silent.

"Oh? It certainly sounds like something you'd enjoy."

//I am enjoying it. I'm just not responsible for it. Let's play a game, Necromancer.//

"Wonderful. I'm rather fond of games."

//Everything I've done, or will do, you have the resources to stop. You figured out my little riddle in Engeve. You haven't do so well in Keterburg, but that one is tougher. If you can figure out how to make it snow again in Keterburg, I'll give you a reward.//

"A reward?"

//I'll give you a clue about how to find me. Because you solved Engeve, I'll tell you a secret. I'm going to play with Sheridan next, three days from now.//

"And what kind of fun do you have planned for the good people of Sheridan, if I might be so bold as to ask?"

//If I told you, it would spoil the surprise.//

There was feeling of something moving through his head, and then out of it, and then silence.

I wonder if this is how Luke felt all those times, wondering if he was going mad. Maybe that's what's happening here. Maybe there is no Lẽtum. Maybe I'm just going insane. Wouldn't that just be the perfect ending to all of this?

"Jade?" Saphir was touching his arm. "Are you alright? Was it Lẽtum?"

"Oh, yes, he dropped by for a brief chat. No, he's not responsible for the rain, but only because it appears he didn't think of it first." He quickly filled the others in on the unusual conversation. "Seems he's got Sheridan in his sights next, however he seems keen on getting me back to Keterburg as well."

"We should head there next, see if we missed something. We still have a few days before he moves on Sheridan. Should we have them evacuate? I can get word to Noelle." Guy offered.

"Let her know what's going on, but tell her not to panic. There's no sport in destroying it, and right now he's just toying with me. It's not my decision to make anyway; it's theirs. I was planning on going back to Grand Chokmah, but it seems that will have to wait. I'm not inclined to sit around here any longer, however. The Albiore IV can move over land and water, and I want to get to Keterburg as soon as possible.

What did he mean, I have the ability to bring back the snow? Perhaps he was lying, but I don't think so. He's…testing me.

And unfortunately, it seems I have no choice but to play along.