Thanks again to my steadfast reviewers. :D I hope Raistlin is not too much OOC in the next chapters.

Guan: Nobody seems to know for sure it seems. We had diverging opinions about it. My feeling for English word-formation is not very trustworthy. Finally Dally (the beta-reader) and I agreed on "kender" as a plural. I think as long as no one objects, I will just employ that for the story. Otherwise I would have to do a lot of correction work and as long as nobody really minds...

So, by the power of Typo the great god of creative-writing I hereby declare "kender" to be the official plural for this story and for this story only...

11- Making Friends

"Honey are you sure, you are not hungry? Young people have to eat a lot. Especially when they have been attacked by wizard thingies."

"No." Raistlin said for the fifth or sixth time during the last ten minutes.

The first moments had been awful. The moments following the confused introduction had not been better. Things couldn't have gone more wrong. He was trapped. Surrounded by kender. And caught in a gods' cursed kender's body. A female kender's body, whose mother persistently tried to feed him like a baby by wielding a spoon in front of his face.

"No."

"But-"
"NO!"

Kender! They just didn't seem to grab the meaning of 'No'.

"Leave me alone."

Rasitlin closed his eyes and lied down again. He needed time to work this out. To rethink the situation.

"Oh, Honey, if you want to sleep more, you should have told us."

Raistlin bit off a sarcastic comment about Kenders and their abilities to understand and just ignored the annoying female.

Finally, they left him. He breathed deeply. Kender. He disliked these annoying little creatures at first sight.

His mind focused on the overall riddle. What had happened? He remembered the last moments in his own laboratory. He had activated the wish. His half of Orsany's Crystal. His formulation to the wish had been clear and simple. 'I wish to have your counterpart in my study'. It had been more than easy. Orsany's Crystal was a neutral wish. Not good, not evil. Just a wish. A wish that fulfilled your desire literally and instantly. Not like a wish of evil that fulfilled a desire in the most corrupt way possible, while on the other side, good wishes performed their magic in the best possible way. The neutral just did what you wanted it to do. He had hoped that the other half of the Crystal would just appear in his laboratory, but he even had calculated being transported somewhere. He had expected ruins, dungeons, even another sphere, but not a kender home.

A transport had been performed, oh yes. But why had the spell affected his shape and turned him into a kender? He shook his had.

What if the wish had taken his command too literally? If he had understood the female kender's chatter correctly, the girl had had an artifact that had exploded. What if she had been wielding the counterpart and the so called explosion was just the manifestation of the spell-energy? He cursed. If that was true, the wish had transported him to the counterpart, but it had forgotten to transport his body in addition. Why had it left out the material component?

He needed proof if his theory was right. Raistlin stood up and looked around. If the girl had been in charge of the second part of Orsany's Wish, than maybe the part was here in the room still. He found it lying on the table. The stupid kenders had of course forgotten about it.

He looked at it. It looked exactly like his part. A milk-white stone. Or maybe it was his part. If the wish had transported the counterpart to his laboratory as he had advised it, then this had to be his half. Nevertheless it could very well also be the kender's half, while his crystal was still in his tower. None of the two possibilities did explain why it had transported him into the girl's body.

Deeply in thought he took the milky crystal and let it absently slide trough his fingers. Years of incessant studies of magic had made him sensitive for the flow and feeling of power. His fingertips prickled. The stone practically pulsated with energy. Raistlin stared at it in surprise. This artifact was different to the one he had tested in the past weeks. The power had nearly doubled. Then it couldn't be his half. That half should have spent its magic after having been invoked. Still, he felt the intense touch of energetic power. How was that to fit into his theory? Raistlin had to admit that he actually was confused.

Which half was that now? And what had happened to it?

If he still considered the possibility that it was his old half that had been transported with him, some magical energy must have flowed into it. He had seen the magic manifest and leave the crystal. If it was the kender's part, then the wish had failed completely, then his part was very likely in his study still. Maybe the connection between both wishes had been closer than any living mage could have expected. What if the energy of his wish had not evaporated like normal spell energy, but had been transferred into the other half? Which now contained the whole power of Orsany's Wish?

Raistlin let the crystal glide into one of the many pockets a kender tunic contained. He had to study this object further. He needed to rest his theory on facts and he had to find out why the wish hadn't worked.

Suddenly he noticed that somebody was near. In the next moment he felt a slight sting in the back of his head. Hastily he turned around. Nobody was in the room. He was alone. Still, he had the feeling that something was not like it should be. He observed the floor. He saw a tiny pebble lying there that hadn't been lying there before. When he bent down to investigate the pebble he felt the stinging again. He had been hit by another pebble. Who dared to attack him like this? If this was a joke...

Raistlin decided he would teach his unknown torturer a lesson. The pebbles had hit him at the back. So they must have been thrown at him from the outside. From the open window behind him. He sneaked to the window as silently as he could. It was interesting how easy sneaking was when you were a kender. No wonder they were all thieves and scoundrels. It came to them naturally. A few soft steps had brought him near to the tiny window. He positioned himself next to it, pressed his back to the wall and waited...

He didn't have to wait long. Only seconds afterwards a little red head appeared in the window obviously searching for somebody in the room. In a fast move Raistlin flung himself upon the head and entangled it with both arms. He had decided he wouldn't waste precious spells in that situation. This could be handled by physical means alone. After catching his prey, Raistlin allowed himself to study the intruder more closely. The head belonged to the body of a gnome. His head was inside the room, fixed by Raistlin while the rest of him dangled out of the window. He clung to the windowframe in order to prevent being gagged. It looked like an uncomfortable position. Raistlin smiled when the gnome produced choking sounds. The gnome was small, even for one of his kind. His red hair stood like flames from his head and his large eyes were bulging out from lack of air. He seemed to be a young specimen.

"Nima.." the gnome cracked. "Let go of... me."

"Why were you eavesdropping?" Raistlin questioned the gnome without making an attempt to let the struggling youth go. "And why were you shooting pebbles at me?"
"Don't be so mean." the gnome answered suffocating. "I wanted to say 'hi'. ... And test your alertness."

"Well, did I pass?"

"Yes! But... but you were slow... only got it at the... third time... Let me go now?"

Raistlin pondered that murder wouldn't probably be the most inconspicuous behaviour, but he still had to teach the imp a lesson. He had not made up his mind whether to let the gnome go or not when he suddenly jerked and lessened his grip around the gnome's neck. The tiny youth had only waited for that moment. He wrangled himself out of the grip and jumped back on the round. He stood under the window taking the time to laugh at Raistlin. But when he saw the expression on Raistlin's face he slowly retreated.

"Ahhh... Nima... don't look like you want to kill me..." He took one step backwards.

"You will surely not mind a little tease among friends... you know, you can really frighten people with that stare..." He took another step backwards.

"You know what, I'll get back when you've cheered up a little bit." With those words he turned and run.

Raistlin still stood behind the window and fumed. The impertinent boy had dared to tickle him!

Brilliant! Years of dangerous adventures and hardest study, finally rewarded with the title of master of past and present, only to become a target for an idle gnomish prankster. Could things become even more humiliating?

As if the gods wanted to prove him that they could, the door opened just at that moment and a handsome human gypsy girl climbed into his wooden refuge.

"Hi, Sweetheart. I need your advice."