Chapter Thirteen

Disclaimer:  Yada yada yada.  No soup for you!  Blah blah blah.  Adios, muchacho!  Happy Festivus, everyone!

            "We need to talk."

            "O-kay…"

            Jander was 'enjoying' one of Nire's increasingly rare visits, a couple of day after Azrael had discovered his secret.  Her first visit in almost a week.  Jander had learned early on in this change not to visit her anymore, that she would usually be in a bad mood.  As soon as she appeared, he brought up the issue.

            "Little one-"

            It was an attempt to soften her up, but it didn't work.  "Don't call me that!" she snapped.  "My name is Nire."

            "S-sorry," he stuttered, surprised.  She had always let him call her little one, had seemed to like it.  It was a tiny connection to him that she had that was slightly stronger than to the others.  He wondered why this bothered him so much, but quickly pinned the reason.  Nire was the first mortal to totally trust him, no secrets, for a long time.  To top it all off, she was a child, innocent…

            "What did you want to talk about?"  Nire's voice broke him out of his reverie.

            "What's wrong, Nire?"

            "Nothing.  Why?"

            "There has to be something amiss, l- Nire."

            "Well, there's not."

            "Nire, you're drawing away from everyone.  I've noticed, Azrael's noticed, Raistlin noticed.  What have we done?"

            "I am not, and nothing.  God, what is up with you people?  Raistlin's already tried to have this conversation with me.'

            "Cut the bullshit, Nire.  At least tell one of us, just so we know.  Please."  It really bugged him that he didn't know, that nobody could tell him because nobody knew, because Nire didn't talk to anyone.

            "Fine.  You really want to know?  Do you really?  You know, being around the three of you, it really fucked me up.  You guys pretend to be my friend extremely well."  Jander wisely kept his mouth shut.  "All my defenses…" She shook her head in derision.  "Well, I was reminded of the lesson life has to teach us all.  People… you can't trust them.  The only thing anyone knows how to do I hurt others before others hurt them.  I'm not a fool.  I'm not going to get involved and patiently wait for you guys to burn me.  I'll slowly pull away, and it's been working."

            "Li- Nire, we wouldn't…"

            "Don't fuck with my.  If I can't trust people my own age… You and Raistlin are adults, as is four years older than me.  To the three of you, I'm just this little kid you put up with.  One day, that will end.  It does, every time.  Trust me, nothing has ever gone my way, not in this lifetime.  I'm the person everybody comes to when they're in trouble, and then dumps when their old friends take them back.  I'm the one that you drop out of contact with when you move.  My class has never had anything fun, but Kerry's gets all the luck.  This will eventually turn on me, too.  As soon as you find someone else who will accept you, knowing what you are, you don't need me anymore.  As soon as Raistlin finds a wife and has a daughter of his own, or finds a new student to tutor, I won't be needed.  As soon as Az finds a real family, I'll be dumped by the wayside.  Just because I've grown used to it doesn't mean I'll allow it to happen.

            Listening to her, Jander was saddened by the fact that someone so young could be so jaded.  "Nire, we would never do that to you."  Jander could understand why she didn't trust him.  Who would?  But the other two were perfectly trustworthy.  "Nire… A couple years ago, I took this big gamble.  This little girl was offering me…well, possibly offering my friendship, even knowing what I am.  Children…they have the greatest capacity for love and kindness.  But, they also have the greatest capacity for cruelty and evil.  And yet, I took the chance, and was rewarded with one of the best friends of my life.

            "Not every person you meet is going to hurt you, Nire.  I have at least a little inkling of how you feel.  Once in a while, you'll hit on someone who's different."

            "Yeah, right," she interrupted.  "Maybe once in a lifetime.  Do you know how different you are from me?  You're charismatic, good-looking, friendly…and I'm the opposite."

            "Yes, but once someone gets past the cold exterior, they find a caring, intelligent person.  That counts for more in the world."

            "Jesus, Jander!  What rock have you been living under?  That counts for shit in the real world!  Looks and charisma are everything.  We are all alone in this life, and it's best not to delude ourselves."

            "Nire, what do I have to do to convince you that you're wrong?"  Jander usually tried to judge Nire's feelings and emotions by the miniscule cues she gave.  Over the years, he had learned to, basically, tune out his nose.  Now, however, he began to pay attention.  The first thing that assailed him was a deep tiredness.  That was the only way to describe the array of emotions.  Nire, although only twelve, was world-weary.  Beneath that was her monthly flow.  If only that was the explanation for her behavior, if only it was so easily solved.

            "Nire, how are you any better than any of those people?  How is what you're doing to me, to Azrael, to Raistlin any different?

            "I never said I was.  I never said it was any different.  I hurt you before you hurt me.  That's how it works.  Hopefully, I get you first.  That protects me.  You're all on your own."

            He took note of the slight shininess of her eyes.  "That's not how everyone operates, Nire.  Maybe you've just had some bad luck."

            "Bullshit.  I can't trust my own family.  Why should I trust me friends?  Are you trying to tell me that they can be more trusted?"

            "At times, yes.  That's exactly what I'm saying.  Why can't you just try to trust us?'

            "Because I can't."  Her voice cracked on the last word.  "Nothing lasts forever/Even love's a lie/A tool for manipulation/There's no God beyond the sky.  What do you want from me, Jander?  Change the word love to friendship, and the lyrics still hold true.  What are you using me for?"

            "Why do I have to want something?  Why is that the way it has to work, Nire?"

            "Because.  Life's a bitch.  That's how it works."

            "What do you want from me?"  Jander was suspicious now.  He didn't think she would put herself in that category, but…  "Do you have some ulterior motive?"

            "Of course I do."  For some reason, the look of shock on his face didn't bring her the usual pleasure.

            "Then what's your motive?" Jander could not say that he wasn't surprised, but he knew that she wasn't, and that her response was true, also.

            Truthful for once, Nire said, "Somewhere to run when I can't handle my family.  Somewhere to belong for an hour or so at a time.  Yeah, I'm using you."  She blinked back tears, trying to hide it.

            "Nire, that's what friends are for.  That's the point of having friends."

            "Okay, fine.  Maybe I Haven't figured out a use for you yet, but I will.  Unless you sue me and discard me first."  Nire was willing herself not to cry, as she had taught herself to do.

            "Nire, remember that night during the summer, when you sat with me all night and listened as I told you my problems?"  Reflecting back on that night, he must have been insane.  People just didn't tell things like that to children.  "Let me be there for you.  Okay li- Nire?"

            "I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier."  She felt guilty for yelling at him, and knew it must have hurt him.  She had an inkling of how important that little bit of extra familiarity she allowed him was.

            "That's okay, little one."  He watched her eyes, and saw a flash of happiness.  Perhaps she was not just letting him call her that for his own sake.  "What has been happening in your life since your birthday that's made you lose all faith in people?"

            Nire shrugged.  "Life is being life.  Life sucks, then you die.  In the meantime, everyone hates you.  I've learned to live with it."

            Jander had been keeping his distance, thinking it wiser.  Nire had taken her usual spot on the end of his bed, and he had stayed in a chair.  Now, however, he moved to sit next to her.

            "You are just a wealth of depressing clichés, aren't you?" he said, slightly amused.

            "Hell, yeah."  Without thinking about it, so used to letting her barriers down around Jander, she leaned against his side.  However, Jander totally fucked up any progress he was making by moving to put an arm around her.

            Nire jerked away, sliding back to the far end.  At first, Jander thought, as was typical of him, that she did not want a vampire touching her.  But hw quickly realized it was Nire being Nire.

            "Damn it, man!  You know I don't like people touching me!"

            It still hurt, but Jander refrained from pointing out that she had started it.  "Nire, why can't you trust me?  Why can't you trust again?"

            "Because I don't remember how!  That's why!  Is that what you wanted to here?  The truth?  I don't remember, I don't think I ever learned how.  I've been fucked up ever since I can remember.  Yeah, you're right.  I can see in your eyes what you're thinking.  'Old beyond her years.  How sad.'  Well you're right.  I am and it is."  Nire's eyes blazed with anger and something else behind that.  Jander would guess she was struggling to hold back tears.

            "People fuck you over the first chance they get.  It's one of the fundamental truths of the universe.  It ain't happening to me anymore.  Get used to it."  Her voice cracked a couple times through that statement.

            Jander moved to kneel in front of Nire.  She was the closest thing he would ever have to a daughter, and he didn't want to lose her.  "Nire, why do you have to be so invincible all the time, like nothing touches you?  You're only twelve.  You're allowed to have hurt feelings, to be wrong, to cry.  You can't sail through life untouched, and touching nothing else."  He offered her comfort and sympathy through telepathy.

            Nire had been fine up until that.  If he hadn't touched her mind with emotions, she would have been fine.  But now, one tear trickled down her face, then another, and another, and another.  Part of her cursed herself for being so weak.  Another part was glad she had a friendly shoulder to cry on.  Jander hugged her, held her, comforted her, the works, until she was done.

            "Sorry," she finally muttered, pulling away and scrubbing at her face.  She began to shut down and move away, but then Jander could see her physically trying to control what she was doing.  "It's become a reflex now.  I…ah, fuck, I'm so screwed up.  Why do you people put up with me?  Look, I can't promise anything.  But I'll try, okay?  Call it an automatic defense system, but I'll try to defuse it, okay man?"

            Azrael chose that moment to walk in.

            "Hey, Ja- oh, hey Nire!  Hey, what's wrong?"

            "Nothing.  Bad day.'

            "That sucks.  Hey Jander, can I have some money?"

            "What do you do with your own?" Jander asked exasperatedly.

            "I got a really bad poker hand.  Please?"

            "Who would let you in on a hand of poker?" Nire asked and grinned.

            "If you got money to bet, they don't care.  C'mon.  Just because you don't need to buy food doesn't mean I don't."

            Jander sighed and tossed over a couple of coins.

            "You better be lucky Jander's loaded."  Nire grinned.  "Can I join you/"

            Surprised, Azrael nodded and Jander handed Nire some money.  "I already got money, dumbass."  She handed it back.  "I don't need to be taken care of when I come here."

            Jander's eyes smiled.  "Sorry for forgetting, little one."  He watched them leave, praying that his little one would return.

*  *  *  *  *

            "All right, Nire.  What'd I do?"

            Nire looked up from her food, surprised.  "What do you mean?  Man, you guys are strange tonight."

            "Yeah.  Look, you've been avoiding me for weeks.  What'd I do?  Whatever it was, I'm sorry."

            Nire shook her head.  "Nah.  Nothing you did.  It's just me being me.  Look, Jander already talked to me.  Some of my other friends already tried.  Ah, shit, I gotta go apologize to him, too.  So, I'm sorry.  If I start pulling this shit ever again, smack me one and tell me to stop being a bitch.  'Kay?"

            Azrael nodded.  He wasn't quite sure he believed her, but that was all he would ever get.  "All right, Nire.  I'll remember that."

            "Yeah, so what's been up witchoo lately?"

            "Nothing much."  He wondered if Nire knew about Jander.  She must - they had spent so much time together.  But… He knew that Jander and Nire could talk to each other mind-to-mind, and wondered if he had the talent.

            Hey, Jander?  Can you hear me?

            Azrael?  Is that you?

            Sweet deal!  This is cool!  Hey, does Nire know…about you?

            Yes, she does.  Why?

            I'm just wondering.  Damn, this is so cool.

            "Hey!  Come on Az!  Stop spacing out on me!  Or at least learn to double-speak.  And to choose to send to only one person.  Man, who woulda thunk.'

            "O-kay.  Wait, you could hear that?  Double-speak?  What?"

            "Yes, I could hear you.  And I bet everyone else in this room heard you, and I thinking they're crazy.  Double-speaking.  That's when you're carrying on two conversations  at once.  One in your head - telepathically - and the other out loud.  I do it a lot."  Like right now.   "I dunno about Jander, though.  Am I gonna have to start teaching you the semantics of telepathy now?"

            "Well, if you wanna."

            "Sure, man.  There's little else for me to do.  I bet it'll help me reconnect with reality.  Which I know would make Jander happy."

            "Hey, Nire…" Azrael lowered his voice.  "How long have you known about Jander?"

            "Since the day I met him."  Nire had done a surface scan at that statement, making sure Jander knew he knew.  "Don't worry 'bout it.  You're safer with him than with anyone else, cuz you got all the…extra shit on the side of the good."

            "You lying?  Would you lie to me about something like this?"

            "No and no.  Trust me on this, Az.  He's one of the good guys.  Fighter of evil when he finds it."

            Nire sent out her mind, making sure no one could hear them, and they couldn't.  "Look, man, I'd love to stay for longer, but I had only planned on staying for a couple minutes, then going back to my house and finishing my homework.  'Cause those fucking asshole teachers give us tons to prepare us for next year.  Assholes."

            "Okay, Nire.  Talk to you late?"

            "Yeah.  I'll be back tomorrow, I bet."  Nire dropped some coins on the table and walked back up to Jander's room.  She found him quickly wiping bloodtears off his face.  Guess I'm not going home after all.

            "Hey man, what's wrong?"  She came to stand in front of his chair.

            "Nothing, little one."  But he wouldn't meet her gray eyes with his silver ones.

            "Dude, I so totally just told you things about myself nobody else knows about.  Man, you think anyone else knows about my self-defense mechanism?  So what's up?"

            "And when will be the next time I'll see you, Nire?  Two weeks?  Three?  A month?"  His voice was laced with bitterness.

            "You've got to be kidding.  You mean it actually des bother you when I don't show up for a week or so?"

            "And when I come to visit you, and I'm not welcome anymore.  Yes, it does bother me."

            Nire was shocked by the fact that she had actually hurt Jander.  She stepped forward and wrapped his lithe form in a hug.  "Jesus, I'm sorry Jander.  Nobody ever cares when I pull shit like that.  They just drift the opposite way."

            Jander wrapped his arms around Nire's chunky frame, holding her tight.  "Don't do that again, Nire.  I need you around.  I need something stable in my life."

            "What about Az?  Isn't he stable?" Nire fought not to stiffen in Jander's arms, winning the battle for now.

            Jander let her go, knowing she would soon become uncomfortable.  "Nire…look, when you're around me, it's like I'm normal again, for a little while.  You don't fear me in the slightest.  But, Azrael, he does.  He fears being alone again more than he fears me, but I can still smell the cloying scent of fear surrounding him, now.  You can't understand how important it is to me that you don't…" He paused and sighed, shaking his head.  "Never mind.  I'm sorry, Nire.  I…  Go on home now."

            "Hey," she said gently.  "Would it make you feel better if I brought my homework here tonight?"

            Surprised by the offer, wondering if she had read his mind - he did want her relaxing presence around for longer - Jander still said, "Only if you want to, little one."

            "And that is Jander-speak for yes.  If you make me a gate, I'll grab my books.  Okely-dokely?"

            Jander's eyes smiled.  "Okay, little one."

            Nire grabbed her backpack and a pen, then hefted it back through Jander's portal.  It weighed a ton.  She thumped it down on the floor and stretched out beside it, starting to pull out her books.

            "These teachers are so fucking stupid.  I mean, oh my God.  I swear, if they give us this much homework next year, I'll kill myself.  This is insane.  I have no time for anything anymore.  I'm in this independent learning math thing - I'm farther ahead than all of the other special kids.  But Mrs. Coder is an idiot.  She never has the tests ready for me.  It is so annoying.  And I completely hate Mrs. Martinelli…." Nire kept up a steady stream of chatter as she worked.  Occasionally, she would interrupt herself to ask a question.

            "Hey, if 2x+y=7 and 7x+2y=1 then what would I do?"

            Jander would begin to respond.  "I don't know, little one.  I have no idea…"

            "Thank you!" she would say brightly before he finished.

            When questioned, her response was, "I'm thinking out loud.  When someone answers me, that starts the wheels a-turning.  I don't expect you to know the answer, just to respond in some way.  Of course, if you did know the answer, that would be helpful, too."  Nire grinned up at him.

            Jander moved from the chair down to the floor next to Nire, so he could see what she was working on.  It was gibberish to him, even with the potion that let him read the words.  Being able to read it did not mean it had to make any sense to him, just as he sometimes did not understand the idioms Nire used.

            "What's that?" he asked.

            "Math," she replied absently.

            "That looks like gibberish."

            "It is, unless you know what it means."  She turned to him and grinned, slapping the book and notebook closed.  "A'done."  She shoved that book set out of the way and pulled out another one.  "Ya know, school really sucks.  Think about it - six and a half hours a day, five days a week, a bit more than nine months a year.  And then, that's for at least twelve years of my life, plus kindergarten, preschool, and college."

            Jander's mind was half-reeling.  He tried not to question Nire overly much about her own world.  She preferred to come to Faerûn to escape from everything.

            "Run that by me again, little one?"

            Nire cocked her head; puzzlement passing over her face before understanding lit it up.  "Whoa, shit, I think I just realized how different our worlds are.  Okay, um… Ah, Jesus.  My world is no longer agriculturally based, which means that us kids don't have to work in the fields, which means we can go to school for a longer period of time.  As far as I'm concerned, until I go to college to learn how to do the job I want, school is merely a government run institute for controlling the masses.  It's a place for busy parents to send their kids to be babysat for free."

            For Nire, that was a signal that she was done talking on the subject.  Jander was satisfied.  Nire had talked more in the past half hour than she had in the past year.

*  *  *  *  *

            "Hi, Raist."  Nire shifted back and forth on her feet.

            "Nire.  What a…pleasant surprise,' he said coolly.

            Nire ran a hand through her hair.  It was getting long.  She could feel the anger rising at his tone, and fought to sublimate it.  But she felt as if she were some random child, intruding on his privacy.  "Look, I was just coming to apologize for acting like a total bitch the other day, but, forget it."

            "What?  You, apologize?  No."  His voice dripped with sarcasm.

            "You know, fuck off.  This is why I'm not nice to people.  I try to be nice, and look what happens.  High-and-mighty self-centered shit heads like you made me who I am.  I'll be back some time later to clear out my stuff."  Nire was gone in the blink of an eye.  Raistlin began to regret his quick judgment.

*  *  *  *  *

            Raistlin stood; patiently waiting in the room he had given Nire in his tower.  Jander had given him the heads-up that she was coming to pick up her belongings.  Time for him to rediscover the art of apologizing.

            Nire popped into existence.  "Don't worry, I'll be cleared out in a little bit.  It was fun."

            "Nire, wait.  Look… I'm sorry for snapping at you the other day.  I wasn't thinking very clearly, lass."

            Nire was all set and ready to snap back at him, but the 'lass' stopped her.  He hardly ever called her anything but Nire, and when he said it, he was serious.

            "I'm sorry, too.  I shouldn't have totally gone off on you when you were trying to talk to me.  I seriously didn't know I was pulling away, though.  Jander knocked some sense into me."  She shrugged and spread her hands.  "What can I say?  It's not like you missed me."

            "And how do you know that, lass?  Do you live in my mind?"

            Nire rolled her eyes and stuck out her hand.  "Whatever.  Friends?"

            Raistlin smiled, his hourglass eyes lighting up in happiness as he took her hand.  "Friends."

            "Well, my good buddy, now that we're buddies again, I need your help.  You know Jander, you know what it is.  How well can you keep a secret?"

            "To the death."  Raistlin pulled up a chair.

            "Good, 'cause if you tell anyone, I will kill you.  Now, I asked Jander what he wanted for Christmas-"

            "That's not for almost a year in your world," Raistlin interrupted.

            "Last Christmas, dumbass.  Anyways, 'mortality' slipped out of his mouth.  Now, I know I can't give him that.  Hell, I wouldn't want to.  But, is there something I can give him?  some spell or potion I can weave to give him a semblance…"

            Raistlin began to shake his head.  "Not without killing us both.  Something that big requires a major sacrifice, a life force, as a catalyst.

            "That sucks."  Nire gazed around the room.  This meant she would have to do it on her own.  Wonderful.  She couldn't get mad at him, though.  He was right, and she knew it.  Perhaps the sacrifice of her life would be enough.  None of the worlds had anything left for her.

*  *  *  *  *

            Nire wandered the streets of Waterdeep.  Today had been one of the worst days of her life.  Nothing had happened, really, she just felt deeply down in the dumps.  Not wanting to burden her few close friends with her constant depression, she decided to go see what was happening in Waterdeep.

            She meandered her way into a shop for antique books.  People were talking way back in the shop, but it didn't register on her brain.  She was immediately engrossed in looking through titles.  Disappointed, most of them she couldn't read.  She made it halfway through the first bookcase before smacking herself in the head.  The spell she had done - that damn foul-tasting potion - should allow her to read them.  She was an idiot!  She concentrated briefly, and there was a blink!  Now, she understood the particular titles and all the titles in the same language.  She could still understand the few titles in Common, too, because that had been a separate spell.

            She moved among the shelves, slightly happier behind her dour face.  She blinked! every couple books.  Most were boring, histories of realms and such.  Once in a while, she would come across an interesting one, take it out, and carefully flip through the pages.  The blinks! were making her dizzy.

            Nire got bored in the specific row she was in, and moved farther back in the shop.  Instead of reading every one of the titles, she now looked for one with pretty colors and fancy writing.  The first she blinked! on was Curses of Old and Cures.  Opening it, it was the first book with a table of contents.  She quickly scanned through, realizing for the first time that other people were in the shop with her.  She hated shopping with people around, so she scanned quicker.  Down at the very bottom, one word caught her eye - nosferatu.

            Her eyes almost passed over the word as people came closer.  Luckily, her brain caught it and her eyes flicked back.  She carefully, quickly flipped to the page.  She read quickly, scanning.

…The curse of the nosferatu, being not truly a curse, has no cure per se.  However, the symptoms of the affliction can be somewhat alleviated through the one-time drinking of a specially prepared potion.  Unfortunately, due to the level of danger in the preparation, the directions cannot be published here.  The great mage Azazel of Belasarius developed this potion after his wife was bitten by a vampyre…

            Nire sighed, but took out the pen she always had on her, scribbling the name of the mage on her hand.  This was something she would look in to, just in case.

            "Hey!  Put that back!  Don't touch any of these books you little-" An irate shopkeeper stormed toward her followed by none other than Khelben Blackstaff.

            "She's okay."  Khelben calmed the man as Nire quickly and carefully replaced the book.

            "Well, then, she better be leaving with you.  Children are not allowed in here."

            Nire's eyes narrowed as Khelben said, "Come on, Nire."

            She bit her tongue and followed him out of the shop.  "Asshole," she muttered to herself.

            "Can you blame him?" Khelben asked her.  "Most children would destroy the priceless books in there.  He can't tell at a glance that you're not like the rest."

            "Yeah, yeah, yeah."  Nire rolled her eyes.  "I know that.  Doesn't mean I can't call him and asshole behind his back, though."

            Khelben smiled in amusement.  "We haven't seen you around here often, lately, my young friend."

            "Perhaps because I have not been around here lately," Nire said sarcastically.  As the words left her mouth, she remembered what Jander had told her. Perhaps these people would fit into the category of he, Azrael, and Raistlin.  Nire made herself a quick promise right then.  Not to totally drop her defenses against friendship with these people, but to perhaps send out an exploratory team.  "It's been a busy time for me."

            Khelben nodded.  "As it has been for us all.  Were you looking for anything particular in there?" he asked as they walked down the street.

            Nire shrugged.  "Not really.  Just for something interesting to read.  Didn't really find anything.  Obviously."

            "What are you doing right now?"

            "Walking down a street, talking to you."

            Khelben chuckled at that.  "What about when you're done doing that?"

            "Nothing that's planned.  I'll probably wander 'till dark, then go bug Jander for a couple hours."  Nire threw that in to see the reaction.

            Khelben only showed the barest hint of a surprised look.  Nire had to mentally commend him for that.  "Then what do you say to coming with me for a visit?  Laeral's been after me to find you and invite you back."

            Nire cast her eyes skyward, considering as they walked.  "Ah, what the hell, why not.  Sure."

            Khelben smiled.  "Laeral will be pleased."

            As far as Nire was concerned, these people were crazy.  "Yeah.  Say, have you ever heard of Azazel of Belasarius?"

            Khelben nodded.  "Yes, why?"

            "Just a name I happened to come across.  Sounded interesting.  Who was he?"

            Khelben couldn't see the lie in her eyes, but figured she was still lying.  "Well, he was a very powerful mage from before the Time of Troubles.  He was known for his eccentricity and his paranoia.  What exactly do you want to know about him?"

            Nire shrugged.  "I'unno.  Stuff.  Like, where'd he live?"

            "Deep in the heart of the Tethyrian forests.  No one actually knows for sure - his home has never been found."

            "He was paranoid?  How paranoid?"

            "Extremely paranoid.  The one person he trusted was his wife.  It's one of the most famous romance stories of Faerûn.  He trusted nothing and nobody.  The tower he lived in was said to be surrounded by traps of his own invention, which would last for thousands of years.  They are impossible to get by, unless you knew the specific path.  And the path changed seemingly at random.

            "Whoa.  Back up a couple steps.  Run this by me again.  So, nobody knows exactly where this place is, no?"

            "Right," Khelben confirmed.

            "And yet, people know about these traps, no?  And I'm guessing there's stuff about inside the tower, too."

            "Of course."  Khelben nodded.  "It's a legend."

            "All legends have basis in fact, which brings me to the conclusion that someone must have gotten in and out.  And I guarantee there's a legend about that."

            "Very good," Khelben said admiringly.

            "So, what are these traps?" Nire cocked her head and looked up at the mage walking beside her.

            "Well, the outside defenses are normal, common magical defenses. The entire thing is inside a labyrinth of closely packed trees.  And the trees move, so the way is always changing.  The first wrong turn leads you to a trap of flying swords.  Next, topiary appears out of the walls and attacks.  Beyond that, are invisible holes in the ground

            "As you get closer to the center, everything becomes more intense.  Why do you want to know?"

            The sudden question didn't throw Nire off; she didn't even blink.  "Because it's interesting.  I'm too young to go searching for the place, if that's what you're thinking."

            Khelben continued to tell her of the traps and dangers of the place.  Seeing a gleam in her eye at one point, he began to compound the dangers to scare her off.  He realized that it had been a mistake to tell her.  But he began to get into the story, when she asked him of the legend of the man who got through.  When Khelben led her into the tower, the two of them barely noticed Laeral, so engrossed were they in the conversation.  Khelben led her to his private entertaining room.

            "So, that's the first level of the tower.  The entire second level is an area of null-magic, riddled with warrior-traps."

            "Hold up a sec.  Null magic?"  She left the question open for him to interpret.

            "An area where no magic works, the object it emanates from is usually the center of a sphere of null magic."

            "You have to be bullshitting me!" Nire exclaimed.  "That's not possible!"

            "How so?"  Khelben expected something frivolous and childish, if she had an answer at all.  Once more, he was underestimating her.

            "You got the thingamabob this area of null magic is emanating from, no?  So, that means all magic on the second level would be void, including the object.  So it wouldn't work, and magic would work.  But, wait, that means the thing would work again, making all the magic go away, but that would make it not work and the magic come back on and on in an endless cycle.  But wouldn't somehow the two forces cancel each other out, leaving the area unaffected?"

            Khelben was surprised at the logic behind that.  "Logically, yes.  However, magic isn't always logical.  Honestly, no one knows exactly how such enchantments work, just that they do."

            "Maybe it's all psychological.  You don't think your spells will work, therefore they don't."

            "Possible," Laeral said, and both their heads snapped to where she was standing in the doorway.  "But what of people who don't know that they're in a null-magic area?  Anything magical they try to do still does not work, and they aren't aware of why."  She walked the rest of the way into the room and sat done.

            "The most accepted belief is that the object itself can do magic, and perhaps a little, infinitesimally small area, is not affected.  The object projects…rays, I guess you could say, of the magic annulling type outwards, to a finite distance."  Khelben waited for Nire's response to that, interested to see what she would have to say.

            Nire mused for a moment.  "Okay, but what's to stop the force from continuing outward and dispersing further until the effect is negligible, like when you put a drop of paint in a lake?  Perhaps… perhaps it's more like a vacuum - sucking all the magic in, so it doesn't work.  That would mean, when there's no magic around, it's doing nothing.  The magic it sucks in would also provide its power.  And the reason why it would have finite limits is because it's only powerful enough to pull from a certain distance."

            Khelben smiled.  "Very good, very good.  That is quite possible."

            Laeral, too, was smiling.  "But your reasoning is slightly flawed.  The effect wouldn't be so much pain in water as light from a candle.  Using your logic, it means a candle would give off no light, that the light would disperse too, and the room would remain dark."

            "And how do you know that the candle isn't sucking the darkness in?"  Nire ginned evilly.  "Ah ha.  How's that."

            "Not bad," Laeral said approvingly.  "Not bad at all."

            Khelben made eye contact with his love.  There's a brilliant brain in there, his eyes said, and hers agreed.