Lovers in Madness

by Shila

This is the story of two children. They are young and pure, eyes wide open to the world and unreality. In their belief is power; in their vision is truth. And in truth, there is madness.

2. And so shall their roots grow together b...

Lovers in Madness
a tale by Gabs and Shila
Kieran hated sneezing. It messed up his work, his books, his spells - it was AMAZING what could backfire when one sneezed - and he was getting tired of it. So he'd come here, to this little shop on a side street, on the recommendation of one of the infirmary personnel. She'd told him that this shop had precisely what he needed to stop those sneezes. He looked up at the sign, hanging still in the deepening twilight. The moon hung in the sky, half full and eye-catching as he pushed open the door to the shop, stepping inside quietly.

The shop was small, almost claustrophobic, and smelled strongly of pungent herbs that weren't unpleasant, but tickled his nose even more, prompting a bevvy of sneezes before he could look around. Everything was made of dark wood and besides the jars and boxes containing unmentionable spell componants, there was jewlery, a few books, gemstones, and candles of all shapes and sizes. The counter was low and blocked off a doorway that showed a set of stairs going up, and as the door swung shut, a set of chimes made ethereal, haunting music.

Kieran sneezed into his wrist, tiny, funny sounding sneezes that left him narrow-eyed and glaring at nothing in particular. This was getting annoying, damnit, and he wrinkled his nose. The shop was fascinating, though, more than enough to distract him from his dilemma as he turned, peering around in indomitable curiosity. The shop had an air of magic, but not magic as he knew it. No, this was different somehow, and it felt heady, like there was more than just a shop here. Kind of like a temple, really.

There was a thumping on the stairs, as though someone was taking them two at a time, and then Dwyn burst into the shop, looking breathless and eager. "Merry meet!" he called. "How can I..... OH." His eyes widened and he pulled up short, but his smile returned quickly, even if it seemed a little forced. "Hi there," he said warmly, seeming to forcibly calm himself down. "Can I get you something?"

Kieran looked up, having been entranced by the loops in a knotted piece of jewelry. His eyes widened, and for some reason, he couldn't help but be glad to see the other again. His strange meeting with Dwyn had been something different in a long stretch of monotony. "Y-yes, actually," he said softly. "I'm looking for - ah... ah..." His words were lost as he sneezed again, covering his nose and looking decidedly put out. "Something for these bloody sneezes," he finished irritably.

Dwyn laughed. "Aw, looks like you've got that sinus thing that's going around," he said sympathetically, seeming more at ease when kieran didn't immedietly bolt for the nearest exit. "Here, come on over here." He motioned to the gap that led behind the counter. "Let me take a look at that."

Kieran trailed after Dwyn, rubbing his nose. It was frustrating, really. He'd already rendered three sheets of parchment useless by sneezing all over them, and he didn't really want to recall the charred remains of his lantern after he'd sneezed while trying to light it magically. He would have taken relief from a demon without complaining.

Dwyn motioned him up the stairs, bounding up them ahead of him, taking them two at a time just like it sounded like he had coming down. "MOM!" he called. "Somebody's here!"

Kieran hesitated before following Dwyn up the stairs. It felt too much like invading their home, and he bit his lip as he delicately picked his way upward.

"Customer or friend?" came the alto voice. If Kieran had had to give it an adjective, 'strong' would probably have been the first one in mind. Dwyn stopped and waited at the top of the stairs, smiling at Kieran. "Somewhere in between," he replied. "He's got the sinus thing. Where's the yarrow?"

"By the stove."

He was considered a friend? That confused Kieran, who usually had to struggle to keep the word "friend" defined in his thoughts. He really didn't do the whole friend thing. He kept going, pausing on the landing to peer toward that voice.

He was looking at a wall. The stairs went straight up and then the hallway curved around, possibly to provide a sound-trap. "Come on," Dwyn encouraged. "Come meet my mom. She'll have just the thing for that cold of yours. Yarrow tea... tastes like cat piss." He wrinkled his nose, still grinning.

"Badmouth your mother's brewing. That's a GREAT way to get grounded," that voice came back, sounding darkly amused.

"I'm.... not going to ask how you know what cat piss tastes like," Kieran murmured to himself, padding along behind Dwyn. His day had already taken on the surrealistic turn that Dwyn seemed to induce, and he found himself minding less and less. At least things were interesting when the golden-eyed boy was involved.

Dwyn motioned him around the corner. "Well, I don't know what it tastes like, but I know what it SMELLS like.... hello Bats," he said cheerfully as a tiny little slip of a black cat wandered over, stretching her lithe frame and yawning to show a little pink tongue. "We've got a bunch of cats. This is Lady Bats, and that gray and black one over there is Smokey," he said indicating an older and MUCH larger cat settled into a comfortable-looking chair. "And you won't see Oregano. He hides from everything. But this one's mine." He swept up a small tourtoishell shorthair with large blue eyes. "This is Tal."

Kieran smiled at the cat, his own tail swaying lazily as he extended a finger to the tortoiseshell. He liked cats a great deal, perhaps due to his resemblance to them; but no matter what, cats seemed to like him plenty in reply, so he didn't mind. Even Cat, in all her prissy decisiveness, allowed him to pet her endlessly. "Kawaii," the boy murmured.

"And don't ask me WHY he named the CAT Taliesin," Dwyn's mother said as she stepped away from the cheerfully burning hearth fire and the actual, cast-iron cauldron placed over it. She was a small woman, only a bit taller than Dwyn, with lucious curves and his exact features, though her eyes were such a dark brown they were almost black. In the flickering light, they LOOKED black... as black as her hair, which was so dark that it had blue undertones. She wore a black velvet bodice that pushed her breasts up and a flowing black skirt, a silver pentacle dangling on a chain just below her collarbone. Tal purred as Kieran extended a finger to him, and Bats rubbed lightly against his ankles.

Kieran looked up, startled. It was all too easy to be distracted, and he smiled apologetically at the woman. He wondered for a moment what it was like to have a mother, then discarded that thought, instead choosing to scritch under Tal's chin. He didn't know what to say to her, so he said nothing.

"It suits him," Dwyn tossed back. "Why'd YOU name the cat OREGANO?" He smirked at Kieran and then dumped Tal into the black-haired boy's arms and headed for the pot-bellied stove in the corner. "I've got it, mom, you stay right there."

Kieran squeaked and cradled the irritated cat, smoothing his fur back down as he stared after Dwyn. The boy was so abrupt, and it put Kieran on edge.

"Start treating me like a decrepit old crone and I'll take a hand to your hide," she scolded him, stirring her cauldron. her eyes were lined in Khol, making them stand out even more starkly as she smiled at Kieran. "You can sit down. Since we haven't been introduced..." she shot a meaningful glare Dwyn's way, "I'm Sabbath Williams. And you are?"

"Kieran Jishou-Aladriss," Kieran said, relieved to have some anchor here. He was highly uncomfortable, in an unknown place with barely known people. Usually, he'd have been long gone by now, but the cat that was purring in his hands made him a bit less eager to bolt. He took a seat carefully, settling the cat in his lap as he looked up at Sabbath. Tal's fur tickled his nose and he ruthlessly suppressed another sneezing fit.

Sabbath smiled kindly.... and knowingly.... at him, dark eyes flashing. She wasn't old, perhaps in her early thirties, and she looked much younger than her actual age, just as Dwyn did. A thin, ragged scar trailed from her right shoulder down her arm, about halfway to the elbow, the only mar on her pale skin. "Welcome to the Witch's Hollow," she said warmly. "Just relax for me, all right?" Her tone brooked no room for argument and she knelt easily in front of Kieran and pressed the backs of her fingers to his forehead.

Kieran held very still. He wanted to edge away, but he refrained, mostly due to the fact that the cat in his lap paid no mind to the woman. Kieran's tail twitched anxiously as he shut his eyes, forcing himself to relax and drop into a light meditative state.

"No fever. That's good. This shit's been spreading like wildfire. But you're so pale, baby," she murmured sympathetically, her words almost harsh, the ease with which she uttered swear words somewhat disconcerting, yet her tone was naturally soothing. She tilted Kieran's head up and her fingers probed gently at the back of his throat, where his jawbone ended. "Hmm. Open your mouth for me," she urged, tapping him lightly on the chin.

Kieran obediently opened his mouth, one ear flicking backward. He wanted to tell her that he was always this pale, but that would have required speaking, which could very well have skewed her assessment. That, and he really didn't want to disobey her; she seemed a quite formidable woman. Then again, any kid like Dwyn would need formidable parents.

She turned his head toward the fire and narrowed her eyes, making a tsking sound under her breath. "Good thing you came," she told him, scratching breifly between his ears before standing up and moving off. She was as limber as a teenager, and as energetic. "All the drainage will have your throat infected by the end of this week. How long have you been feeling badly?"

Kieran shook his head to rid himself of the invasive sensation of being scritched so familiarly. "I feel fine," he said softly. "It's just so annoying to -to..." He sneezed again, an incredibly comical sound, and glared at the floor. "To sneeze all the time."

"Right, and when did that start?" She asked, her tone slightly dry as she folded her arms and smirked at him, one eyebrow hiked in amusement.

"This morning," he told her, looking reassured by the fact that Tal was not offended by his sneezing, and still purred and demanded to be petted.

Her eyes widened. "This morning? Sweet Goddess." She shook her head, looking thoughtful, and plopped herself down in a deep-sinking chair behind a small table on which a few oval peices of ivory were scattered like playing peices. After flipping a few over, she began to spin them in a clockwise circle, muttering under her breath.

"MOM," Dwyn said sharply as he stepped away from the pot he was stirring on the stove. "That's not polite!"

"I so desperately need advice on ethics from you, Dwyn, thank you," she said dryly, still spinning the ivory tiles. "And I'm not peeking into anything private, so fuck off, hm?"

Kieran craned his neck, trying to see what she was doing without being too obvious about it. Curiosity was a driving force when it came to Kieran's worldview. "What about this morning?" he inquired lightly, trying to appear unfazed by the mother and son's interaction.

Despite those callous words, she was grinning, and he rolled his eyes at her and laughed, shooting Kieran a wink before going back to stirring a pot. "Excuse my mom," he said dramatically. "She was a sailor for a while and it still shows in her.... ACK!" He dodged just as his mother leaped up in her chair, spun around, and took a swipe at him over the back of the seat.

"Missed me, missed me," he crooned, backing away even as he said it, and she bounded out of the chair and set after him as he let out a rush of laughter, fleeing from, her putting furniture between the two of them.

Kieran blinked and gaped at them. Dwyn had been right when he'd claimed to be insane, and even more so when he'd mentioned that it ran in the family. He thought about running for it, but it could always have been worse. They could have been dog people.

Sabbath seized her son and threw him into a wall, and he rebounded with a laugh, hands up. "STOP! NOOO!" he squealed, sinking down and curling into a ball to protect himself as she vicious jabbed at his sides...... tickling him. He laughter helplessly. "Mom! Stop it! I'm sorry... I'm sorry.... you're wonderful and all knowing and a perfect proprietous la... la... HAHAHAHAHAH!"

Kieran pressed a hand to his lips, suppressing a giggle. He felt like an interloper for witnessing this, but it was charmingly sweet, and he couldn't help but watch. The cats ignored it as though it happened every day, which, considering, it probably did.

"You're not sorry," Sabbath declared, standing up and smacking him - lightly - on the top of the head. "You'll do it again. But for now, learn your lesson. You interupted my invocation," she muttered, tossing her hair like an affronted lady of breeding and stalking back to her chair, chin high, as Dwyn remained curled into his ball, giggling in the aftermath.

Kieran bit his lip and stretched, gaining an inch or two as he unobtrusively peered at what Sabbath was doing. He knew many forms of divination, but this one was a mystery to him, and he was fascinated.

"NOW," she said sharply, though it seemed that no matter how irritated she behaved, she was laughing underneath. "Where was I before I was so RUDELY interuppted?" She shot Dwyn a glare and he meeped and covered his head. Taking a deep breath, she gave Kieran a conspiratorial smirk as if to say, 'see how I keep him in line?' and resumed spinning the tiles. "They're runes," she explained. "The trademark of the Rus, a people who sailed the seas far to the north of here and settled deep inland, in Rashemen, among other places. Rasheman was my birthplace. They'll show me why you're succumbing so quickly to this infection."

"I'm not succumbing," Kieran protested faintly. "I've just got sneezes." He'd never really caught colds, and to be subject to one so rapidly was a bit unsettling for him. He made a mental note to investigate those runes. They certainly sounded interesting.

Dwyn scampered back to his pot, stirring it rapidly, as she worked her runes. Closing her eyes, she hovered her hands over them, just as Dwyn had hovered his hand over that necklace, and she breathed deeply. Quickly, almost shockingly quickly, she chose one and put it in front of her. Four more swiftly followed in the shape of a cross and she shoved the others away, flipping over the center rune first. "Hmm." She flipped the left and right runes, then the top, then the bottom, examining them and then eyeing Kieran. "You're a workaholic," she accused. "You need to get out a little more, my friend. I understand that the rigors of the University are difficult, but you need to push yourself just a bit less hard, understand? Your immune system is having a hard time keeping up."

Kieran opened his mouth and then shut it again. He'd been trying not to interr himself in libraries so much, and indeed, he'd been managing to keep his weapons-work up to speed with his magic. But maybe he had been pushing himself a bit, what with his tendency to read til his vision fuzzed. And he -knew- that three hours' of sleep wasn't enough, but there was so much he had to -do-...

"Sleep more," she told him firmly, giving him that 'you WILL obey me' look that all mothers had mastered. "And eat better. And we'll start now. You and Dwyn are friends?" She offered him a smile and glanced over her shoulder at her son, who glanced at Kieran, looking uncertain, but smiling anyway.

"I... I don't really have any friends," Kieran said, intimidated by her tone. He looked up at Dwyn, black eyes thoughtful. The other had claimed that they were somewhere in between.

Sabbath shrugged. "Well, either way, stay for dinner. It'll be ready in just a few minutes either way. We'll put something strong in your stomach and see if we can't get a good response out of you," she said firmly. Dwyn shrugged at the denial and turned back to the stove.

Kieran bit his lip. He really didn't want to impose, but he got the distinct impression that Sabbath was only being polite about it to be polite about it and that she'd tie him to a chair and feed him if she had to. So he just nodded obediently, eyeing Dwyn. Would it be so bad to have a friend?

She broke into a smile that outshone the sun. no, really, it was that.... that bright, that happy, that pleased, and chances were good that Dwyn could duplicate it under the right circumstances. Her eyes even lightened in color. "GREAT. You're okay with venison stew, right?"

Kieran couldn't help but smile in return. "Of course," he nodded. He couldn't really deny a woman who smiled at him like that, could he? It was hard, infinitely so.

She bounded up from her chair and spun away. "Icebox," she told her son. "Be back in a few minutes." And then she headed for the stairs. She also took them two at a time, though her steps were lighter than her son's, not as jarring. Dwyn gave Kieran a slightly embarassed, but still pleased, smile. "That's my mom," he said quietly. "She's two different people. One's a kid and one's a Mother and Wise Woman... you get used to it. Y'know... if you try."

"She's very nice," Kieran assured him warmly. He lightly stroked the head of the cat that was dozing in his lap, black eyes thoughtful. "Are we friends?" he asked randomly. "I don't... I don't know -how- to have friends, really. I don't like people."

"Well, I hate people two when they travel in packs," Dwyn told him. "But we're not people. We're different from all that. We don't think like they do." He sounded proud of that fact. "Stronger, less... I don't know. Less restrained. We can dance naked under the stars while they stare in horror and not give a damn." He was smirking now.

"Oh, well, I don't know about that. I usually try to avoid letting -anyone- see me dance," Kieran said with a slight smile. There was something to what Dwyn was saying, though, something that made a lot of sense.

Dwyn laughed. "Our dancing isn't like their dancing," he assured Kieran, golden eyes dancing as he spoke of it. "Witches don't dance just two on two. We dance in Circle, all of us together, as one connected whole. And you're not supposed to look good or impress anybody, you're just supposed to be celebrating."

Kieran stared at him in fascination, looking entranced. "How does this witch stuff go? I've heard some interesting things, but if I believed it all, I'd've ran screaming an hour ago. What do you celebrate?"

Dwyn shot him a grin, spinning in a circle with his hands out slightly. "HER," he said enthusiastically. "And everything. The sun, the moon, the stars, the wind, the water, the earth under our feet... everything's sacred to a witch."

Kieran nodded slowly, a smile curving his lips. Belief was indeed a powerful thing, and Dwyn was wholly a witch in that respect. It made Kieran think, suggesting that there were things bigger than books and spells and explosives, things bigger than him that he could belong to. It was a lofty idea, and its reach gave him a sense of awe.

He spun to a stop, and his tone went serious. "No, really. Everything's sacred. We worship Hecate, the triple-goddess of witchcraft, mysteries, the moon, and the crossroads, though of course we're allowed to worship other gods. We don't force our magick from the Weave, like a Wizard. The land, the innate magick in everything, recognizes us and aids us because IT chooses to."

Kieran bit his lip, tilting his head. He'd never thought of it that way, but the way the Weave had always jumped into his hands as though it liked him laid to rest the forming suspicion that he might have forced that magic to obey him. "It sounds wonderful," he said softly, looking down. "Enlightened."

Dwyn snorted. "Maybe when I'm a crone, I'll be enlightened," he said. "Right now, I'm quite content being a novice. It's not that we're so high and mighty. Actually, it's just the opposite - we're lower than all the other spellcasters, except maybe Druids, because we're so close to them. We don't get our magick from The Weave... we get it from the world, the physical things, the spirits that inhabit them. And, of course, our goddess. Witches are bound to the earth under our feet. Wizards reach for the stars."

"So... you have to use the innate magic in things?" Kieran asked, frowning thoughtfully. That would limit one a great deal, and he could see why it made them supposedly lesser. From the point of view of a spellcaster who could dip fingers into pure power, it was a pitiful thing indeed to have to curry the favour of the ambient magic around them. Kieran saw it as being somewhat less an access to power as to how they used it, though. A witch had what they had to work with, and that was it. It was impressive, actually, what they achieved with what they used.

"Well, there's innate magick in everything," Dwyn explained. "So it's probably not as limiting as you think it is. We don't cast flashy spells, that's true. No lobbing fireballs down the street for us. But then again, we have a bit more flexibility within our confines than you wizards do. Sometimes I need to do something and I don't know the right words, or the incantation, or the correct ingredients to make it happen. And when I don't..... I can always pray."

"And She answers you?" Kieran asked, eyes wide. The concept of a goddess or god actually answering him personally was a bit frightening. He would be much happier not attracting the notice of such powerful people.

Dwyn grinned. "When I prayed to her to help me heal that boy a few weeks ago, do you remember that? She answered me then," he said with quiet confidence and a knowing smile, stirring his water as it began to boil and picking up a morter and pestle. He took a jar and uncapped it, sprinkling something green into it, and began to grind it. A few more jars added to the pestle and the scent of spearmint filled the air.

"I do," Kieran nodded. That had been impressive, to say the least. "What's it like?" he wanted to know. For a moment, he felt bad about being so nosy, but it was just so fascinating, and Dwyn didn't seem to mind.

"What's what like? Talking to the Goddess?" Dwyn shrugged and smiled. "Like touching the divine, like having the moon in your chest. Literally, sometimes, if we've Drawn Down... er, sorry. Anyway, it's like having your grandmother around to talk to all the time. She's not the nicest grandmother, but she helps you if you're good. As long as you don't bring the laws of retribution down on yourself, it's all good."

"Is that kind of like karma?" Kieran asked. He wasa beautiful boy no matter what, but he came to life when he was interested in things, learning all he could and practically devouring the subject whole before he was satisfied. His curiosity lit up his eyes from within. "What's Drawing Down? And what's it all like?" He knew he was being rude, but for once, he decided it didn't matter.

Dwyn shrugged and laughed. "Drawing Down is... something I'm not allowed to do that. It's when you become a vessel... a literal Avatar for the Goddess. And she comes into you and sometimes she speaks, sometimes she gives you gifts, sometimes she helps you with a very important working. I'm too young to attempt it but I've seen my mother do it. And yes, the laws of retribution are like Karma. We have a rule: Ever mind the Rule of Three, what you give out comes back at thee. It means that whatever you do, you'll receive that energy back threefold. So if you do evil, three times that evil will be done to you. And if you do good, like rescueing cute little cat-boys from bullies, it'll come back three times better." He grinned.

It took that a moment to process, but when it did, Kieran's eyes widened and he flushed darkly. "Oro!" he squeaked. "I didn't need rescuing, thank you very much," he said primly, trying to look as though being called cute had nothing to do with it.

Dwyn's tone went serious again, switching emotions with ridiculous ease. "I know, but they were adepts too. They would have managed to hurt you if they really wanted to. It wasn't right, and they only deserve what they got out of it - a lot of pain."

Kieran bit his lip and looked down. "But it wasn't right to hurt them like that, either," he said softly. His tail curled up and twitched, belying his inner turmoil.

Dwyn hiked an eyebrow. "They're not dead. There's no damage that can't be repaired by someone at the University. They learned their lesson... at least, I HOPE they learned their lesson. Have they come after you since then?" His golden eyes turned hard, and glinted... just a bit dangerous.

Kieran hesitated before shaking his head. "No." He -wasn't- lying. They hadn't come after him, just chased him whenever they saw him. "But it's still not right to do bad things to them just becaue they deserve it. I'm no dispenser of justice."

"Listen to what you just said," Dwyn said dryly. "If they deserve it, it IS right to do it to them. In any case, the concern wasn't whether it was right or wrong. MY concern was that they were going to kick your ass if I didn't do something, and my Witch's Intuition said you hadn't done anything to deserve it."

"I -never- do anything to deserve it," Kieran said, rolling his eyes. "I'm just little and make a good punching bag." He sounded all too familiar with the situation, having been picked on all the years he'd been in school. "And I'm not that incapable. I try not to let people kick me around."

"I didn't think you were incapable," Dwyn told him, tossing him a wink. "I just thought you might be better off if the enemy was divided. And all I had to do was hit one of them and you took care of all the rest yourself. It gave you time to get a spell off, see?"

"Aa," Kieran said. Then he smiled shyly. "I guess... we work well together, huh?"

Dwyn grinned at the implied compliment, honey-brown hair falling over golden eyes as a sort of shy substitute for blushing. "Eh... maybe. But if they're not bothering you anymore, you hardly need me around, right? And I don't attend the university anyway." That last bit was said with deep wistfulness.

Kieran didn't miss the tone in Dwyn's voice. "Well, there's all this interesting stuff about witchcraft that you have to tell me, so I -do- need you around, and besides, bullies are a chronic thing. There're always some somewhere, picking on somebody."

Dwyn glanced up at him, and the knowing flash of his eyes said clearly that he knew what Kieran was trying to do. "Mm, but if you don't want friends," he teased mildly, shrugging and dumping his mortar-full of ground herbs into his pot, holding his hands over it, and chanting quietly.

"It's not that I don't want friends. It's that... well, my books are my friends, really, and I'm not good with people, so I just kind of avoid them," Kieran shrugged, eyes on the floor.

"Well, I SUCK with people," Dwyn told him, picking up the pot and pouring it carefully into an old brown teakettle. "Probably even worse than you do. Hell, you're smart and pretty sweet-natured. You could make friends easily if you WANTED to... problem is, you don't want to."

"No, I'd really rather not. People have expectations. Friends are responsibilities. I -like- living in my own little world, and with friends... it's like I'm distracted." Kieran's tone was frank and somewhat rueful.

Dwyn set the kettle aside and folded his arms, leaning back against the counter and watching him. "I know exactly how you feel. My mom's spent most of my life trying to pry me out of one book or another. I don't like people and I've never been at ease around them. They watch you. They have all these preconceptions and they ostracize you if you don't live up to them. Who wants that kind of pressure?" He snorted disdainfully. "But friends are still a good thing to have. I mean, parents won't be around forever. Sometimes they're not around at all."

Kieran smiled slightly. Beautiful irony. "I suppose you're right," he conceded. "Though I don't have garden variety parents, so..."

"Don't suppose I'm right. I AM right," the boy told him, smiling. "And my parents aren't exactly garden variety either, especially from what I hear of my dad."

"I bet he's not a vampire," Kieran said with the slightest hint of a smirk. If there was one thing he liked doing that he shouldn't, it was bragging about his fathers.

Dwyn gave him a dry look. "Are we speaking literally or figuratively? Because I hear he likes blood. A lot."

"He likes blood," Sabbath echoed, breezing back into the room. "Especially bloody knives. And he's a psychopath with a vicious hatred of most dieties. Is that tea done yet?"

"Yes, MOTHER," Dwyn muttered.

Sabbath smiled too-sweetly and patted him on the head. "Good job, dearest."

Kieran jumped and looked up, startled. He'd meant literally, of course, but now he as distracted by Dwyn and Sabbath's banter. It was cute.

Dwyn rolled his eyes and checked the teapot. "Okay," he said finally. "Look. Medicine tastes horrible most of the time. But if you want to feel better, you have to choke it down, okay?" he looked utterly solemn as he lifted the teapot and filled a mug. A very large mug.

Kieran looked up at Dwyn and smiled slightly. "I've been unfortunate enough to consume both medicine spell components and alchemical elements. I'm sure medicine can't be any worse." There was a ring of trurth to that. Iodine was some of the nastiest stuff he'd ever tasted. But he was sure cat-mint would be tasty...

Dwyn headed over and gingerly handed the mug to Kieran, watching him as if he expected him to keel over dead any moment now.

Kieran shrugged and took the mug carefully, lifting it to his lips and taking an experimental sip. That way, if it -was- so nasty he choked on it, he wouldn't waste much. It was a small price to pay for getting rid of these bloody sneezes.

Actually, Dwyn had been jerking his chain. It tasted vaguely of spearmint but otherwise tasted mostly like pungent water. No real discerable flavor at all, and certainly not unpleasant.

Kieran rolled his eyes, shaking his head, and drank it without a word. Really, making him go through all that.

Dwyn snickered under his breath. Over by the fireplace, Sabbath snorted. "Ass," she accused him. "Leading him on like that."

"Oh, don't worry," Kieran said lightly, a smile curving his lips as he lowered the mug. "I'll make it up to you." As a child with three siblings, he was -well- versed in playing tricks and harmless revenge.

"Oooh, somebody's in trouble," Sabbath cooed, stirring her cauldron.

Dwyn shrugged. "Nah, he'd have to actually see me again after tonight if me planned on THAT," he said evenly, settling into a chair. "When's dinner? I'm hungry."

"NOW, impatient hare," she scolded. "Get right back up again, now that you've so conviently sat down, and go get bowls."

Kieran suppressed a small smile and peered up at Sabbath. "Is there anything I can do to help?" he asked, remembering to be polite.

"Keep your cute little tail parked in that chair," she told him firmly, shaking the ladle in his direction. "I'm not that old, for the goddess's sake. I'm perfectly capable of dishing out SOUP. Ye gods."

"I dunno mom, you're getting over that hill," Dwyn called from near the cabinet. "You're what.... thirty-four now? That's WAY up there...."

"You," she said dangerously, eyes narrowing, "Are about to have your ass solidly and thoroughly kicked, young man."

"Gotta catch me fiiiiiiiiiirst," Dwyn sang to her. "And you being so OLD and all, I don't think you're up to it..."

"You don't -look- thirty four. Half that, perhaps," Kieran said, losing track of any sense of tact he once had. It was true, though - Sabbath could easily have passed for a woman a decade younger than she really was.

Sabbath paused in the middle of the scathing retort she'd been able to deliver, blinked at Kieran, and laughed. "Awwww, thank you!" she exclaimed. "That's sweet of you to say.... and I know it's true, anyway. When I was nineteen, you wouldn't believe what I had to go through to convince people I wasn't twelve!"

Kieran smiled sweetly, black eyes sparkling knowingly. "You're welcome." He knew all too well what it was to be mistaken for a six year old when one was thirteen.

"You didn't have much trouble convincing dad," Dwyn pointed out, offering her a small stack of deep, ceramic dishes made of thick pottery, heavy and comfortable to hold.

"Yes, well," Sabbath told him dryly, accepting the bowls and ladeling thick, savory-smelling stew into them. "I think the fact that when he met me I'd just torn the throat out of an attempted rapist somewhat convinced him that I was just a BIT more formiddable than I looked."

"Yeah," Dwyn muttered as he delivered the bowl to kieran. "That's my dad. He sees a girl with blood all over her mouth and falls head over heels."

Kieran tried not to giggle as he took the bowl. "You should be more respectful of your parents," he said softly, grinning up at Dwyn. "Although, you probably -should- just keep teasing your mother. It'd be funny to watch her tackle you again."

Dwyn winked at him. "Yeah, well, I'm stronger than she is. But don't tell her.... she might not have the muscle I got from my dad, but her soul's strong enough to make a dragon shake in his boots." he sounded vaguely proud. "As for my dad, I guess I respect him." He sat down with his own bowl, next to Kieran, and stirred it thoughtfully. "When he's here, I respect him. You sort of have to if you don't want to find yourself on the business end of a knife, even though I really don't think he'd hurt ME. And I even like him. It's just.... ah, nevermind." He let out a snort. "I babble. Which I inherited from my mom."

Kieran nodded slowly, absorbing all this. It was really quite interesting. "What's it like, having a mother?" he asked, sounding rather curious and just the slightest bit wistful. He loved his fathers more than anything, and they were good enough for him, but sometimes he wonderd how the other side lived.

Dwyn tilted his head, and over by the fireplace, where she was curled up in her huge armchair with her own bowl of stew, Sabbath's head turned in their direction. "I don't know. I guess I might as well ask you what it's like having a father," he said. "What happened to your mother?"

"I never had one," Kieran said, wondering just how much it was safe to say. Would they kick him out if they knew that his fathers were... well, both men? Most people who'd heard of it abhorred it, and he wasn't sure that he wanted to see disgust on their faces.

Dwyn nodded. "If you don't want to talk about it, it's okay. It's none of my business anyway. But... she nags me all the time, makes me do stuff - chores, and work in the store, and stuff. But she taught me everything too. And she's kind of like....... mom, get out of here, will you?" Sabbath snickered, stood, and went downstairs.

Kieran tilted his head, dark eyes thoughtful as he gazed at Dwyn. He supposed that good parents were somewhat similar no matter what gender they were; some of that sounded like 'tousan and Daddy.

Dwyn waited for his mother to be out of earshot, even though personally he knew that no matter where in the world he went, she would be able to hear him at any given time. The wind was her ears. "She's like the only safe thing in the world," he said honestly, golden eyes open. He didn't balk at telling Kieran this, as if he had no secrets. Mercurial his moods might have been, but everything he did seemed to come from the heart. "No matter what happens, no matter what I do, I can go crawl on Mom's lap and everything's okay again. She's always got the solution. And whatever she has to say is whatever I need to hear, even if all she says is "I don't have any answers". I don't know, maybe it's just her voice that makes everything all right. But she's strong and she never lets anybody walk on her or me, and she's never, EVER ashamed to be what she is. Everything about her that the rest of the world made negative, she rejoiced in and threw back in their faces. She's unstoppable. She's MOM."

Kieran pressed a hand to his mouth, not wanting to laugh at that. But that sounded so adoring, so wonderfully sweet, and the look in Dwyn's eyes as he gloated about his mother was priceless. He knew how it felt, and he nodded slightly. Daddy and 'tousan were like that for him; an eternal bastion of safety and protection. "You love her a lot," he murmured quietly.

Dwyn dropped his head and shrugged. "It's been just her and me for a long time," he said frankly, without a single note of self-pity in his tone. "And she doesn't make friends any easier than I do. So we sort of learned to circle each other."

Kieran thought about that for a moment. He was sure that if it had been just him and Daddy, or him and 'tousan, that things would be very, very different. "That makes sense," he said slowly, dark eyes fixed on a spot that probably didn't really exist.

Dwyn nodded and shrugged. "But it was probably a lot like that for you and your dad, hmm? Unless he's absolutely nothing like you."

"Well, one is and the other isn't," Kieran said experimentally, watching Dwyn closely. Already he thought it would hurt to have the other boy think his parents disgusting.

"Hm?" Dwyn's eyebrows pulled together and he looked confused.

"Daddy is... well, there's nobody much like Daddy, really. Caden takes after him a lot more than I do. But I'm a lot like my otousan. They're both taller than me, though."

"What's an otousan?" Dwyn inquired with all the innocence of the ignorant.

"It's Japanese - that's the language where he's from - for father." Kieran bit his lip, praying for tolerance.

Dwyn just tilted his head. "Like an adoptive father? Kind of?"

"...No." Kieran sighed softly. "They're married. They used... well, not magic, but -like- magic, to have us. They're both men," he added, a little part of him amused at just how obtuse Dwyn was.

Dwyn's eyes widened, then narrowed, then widened again as his mouth opened, closed, opened, and finally fell somewhat slack, as though he was struggling to find an appropriate response. "Oh," he decided on finally, looking as though he expected to be wrong as he tentetively said, "So your parents are... sodomists? No, wait, I think that's only for people who mess with kids..." He scratched at his hair.

Kieran's ears twitched back and the boy looked as though a little blue drop of sweat would appear on his forehead. "It's called homosexuality," he explained. "And..." here he blushed, "it's not as bad as most people think. It's... you know. -Think- about it." Kieran couldn't make himself put THAT into words.

Dwyn looked properly chastised, flushing slightly in embarasment at his implied thick-headedness, and settling in to go over the process arduously in his mind. His expression twitched several times, and then he shook his head. "That's just..... WIERD. I don't know that I'd say it's bad, it's just..... WIERD. I mean, I.... maybe I'm wrong. I'm just trying to picture kissing... and stuff. And what kind of conversation that must have been like. "Darling, I want to have your baby"... and.... WIERD."

"You wouldn't think it was anything but right, seeing them," Kieran said with a small smile. "They're so blatantly in love, it makes my sister sick and my brother melt. And I guess things would be a bit awkward, yes..."

Dwyn sat back, golden eyes dark with thought, eyebrows drawn together. Then, finally, he shrugged. "Well, it's not my business anyway, so I guess as long as they're happy and you're happy, it's all good, right?"

Kieran nodded slowly, his smile growing. Maybe there were people in the world who wouldn't see anything wrong with it. "Hai. Er, yes. All good. Though they -might- have been nice and not had Kagami..."

"Who's Kagami?"

"My sister," Kieran said with a roll of his eyes. "My incredibly annoying older sister."

"How many siblings do you have?" Dwyn demanded, shifting some of his attention to his stew and gobbling it before it got cold.

Kieran grinned. He always liked talking about his family. His wonderful, crazy, out-of-whack family. "Three," he said proudly. "Corus, Kagami, Caden, and then me. I'm the youngest."

"And Caden's the one who's just like your dad?"

"Well, Caden is Caden," Kieran said, a silly smile plastering itself over his face. "He's got long red hair and indigo eyes and he's always laughing and trying to cheer other people up. He goes in for the whole defend the weak and uplift the hopeless thing. And he's very hyper, like someone gave him too much sugar."

Dwyn nodded, a smile quirking his face again as he listened with almost disconcerting attentiveness.

"He's great, really. I miss him a lot," Kieran added wistfully, looking down into the untouched bowl of stew in his hands, dark eyes distant.

"Eat your strew," Dwyn told him. "Why can't you see him? You have breaks, don't you?"

"I do, but I still miss him," Kieran said softly, making no move to eat. "I live really far away from here, so most breaks aren't long enough to travel all the way home. It's hard to get a professor to send me, most of the time, and there's no way I'm EVER going to try walking it myself again."

"Well, you're going for Yule, aren't you?" Dwyn inquired.

Kieran nodded, brightening. "Hai! And it'll be great fun. 'Tousan said something about a party this year. My cousins'll be there and all my uncles and it'll be one heck of a time. I look forward to seeing my uncle Sky drunk and dancing on tables again."

Dwyn blinked. "Um... okay." He snickered. "Let's just let that one go, shall we? So how are you getting home for Yule then?"

Kieran's face fell. "I have no idea. I'll probably have to help with more meditation classes for Piers-sensei."

Dwyn's lips pursed, and then he shrugged. "Oh well. I'll bet you'll find out a way, huh? Mom and I'll be here for Solstice, obviously, since there's always a big Yule celebration. Everyone in Silverymoon goes wild over Yule!"

"What's it like, to live in a city?" Kieran wanted to know, tilting his head. "Living at school is nothing like home, and I hardly ever really see the city. The inside of its libraries, perhaps, but not the city." The boy grinned.

"Well, I can't just TELL you," Dwyn told him scoffingly. "You'd have to let me show you around."

"Oh," Kieran said, eyebrows lifting. "I guess I'll have to let you, then."

Dwyn shrugged. "Nah, you'd have to leave your library once in a while. And I don't know if I want to chase you out with my staff."

Kieran's ears swiveled forward and he tilted his head. "Staff?" That would be far too convenient. And he could REALLY use someone to practice with. Calli was horrible with a staff.

"Oh, yeah. This." Dwyn jumped up and bounded out of the room, returning after only a breif moment carrying a full-sized quarterstaff. It was made of some blackened, fire-hardened wood and carved with runes that were inlaid with silver paint. "This one's mine," he announced proudly. "It's nothing like my mom's. There's not even any spells in it. BUt it's still cool-looking."

Kieran eyed it inquisitively, the very tip of his tail twitching back and forth. "May I?" he inquired, peering up at Dwyn hopefully.

Dwyn hesitated, chewing his lower lip thoughtfully, then nodded. "Yeah.... all right." He offered the beautifully balanced staff to Kieran.

Kieran stood and set the bowl aside, gently taking the staff from Dwyn. It was noticeably taller than he was, but he didn't seem to have a problem with its weight. "Utsukushii na," he marveled, running a finger lightly over its decorations. It was truly an exquisite weapon, and he longed to give it a spin. He knew better, though, than to be so rude. His own staff was remarkably simple, the same size as this, much lighter in color, and plain elder-wood, but it was his baby.

"I don't know what you just said, but from the tone, I'll assume it was complimentary," Dwyn told him, smirking. And then, "It was a gift. The staff of an apprentice, but servicable enough."

"Oh! Sorry. It's beautiful, is what I said," he explained, still absorbing the feel of the staff. It had a tingle to it unlike any mage's staff he'd ever touched, and he frowned thoughtfully. "Has your goddess touched this?" It felt odd.

"Yeah," he said as though it was no big deal. "It's been consecrated just like most of my equipment. It's not magical itself though. This is." He flashed his hand at Kieran, showing him a silver ring set with a pentacle. "And this." He touched the moonstone brooch. "They help protect me."

Kieran nodded, offering the staff back to its owner. "That's cool. I have a robe that does that somewhere, but robes drive me crazy; I'd rather just wear leathers."

"I've got leathers!" Dwyn exclaimed. "My dad got them for me a long time ago, but my mom's great with sewing and fixing things and she let it out. It's not the best armor, but it's pretty nice. Y'know... does what it's supposed to and holds a bunch of knives. But I do like my robes. I feel... I dunno, sacred in them."

Kieran smiled. "'Tousan swore he'd get me a mithril shirt when I stopped growing. I think he was teasing," the boy added, sounding vaguely disgruntled. "It's not my fault I'm short." He was mumbling to himself, but then he looked up and grinned apologetically. "And I bet your robes don't trip you at the worst possible moment or end up as handlebars for bullies, so..."

"Well, no," Dwyn admitted. "Maybe yours need to be taken in? That's easy to fix."

"I think trying to do anything to them would result in backlash. They're somewhat ornery." If Kieran could have sweatdropped, he would have. "I'd try myself, but the instructors are still a bit cranky over the last time I set my room on fire..."

"They're just robes, aren't they?" Dwyn looked confused. "I didn't think you were progressed enough to have any robes like THAT..."

"Things kind of bounce off of them. I got really lucky when I found them, though I'm still not sure it was worth it. If anyone ever utters the words, 'They're only kobolds' to you, never, EVER trust anything they say again."

Dwyn pictured that and burst out laughing. He started to reply, but then Sabbath's voice rang from the foot of the stairs. "BOYS! COME DOWN HERE A MINUTE!"

Kieran grinned, unable to resist. He turned toward the stairs, somewhat startled, but moved to obey. He resisted the urge to say 'yes, mum'.

Dwyn was up and moving immedietly, as if that voice was the hand that controlled his puppet strings. He scrambled down the stairs to meet his mother. "What?" he demanded, looking vaguely cross as Sabbath pointed toward the shop door. It was standing open, and the air in the shop was cold.

Kieran followed him down and stopped behind him, eyes following the line of Sabbath's finger. He could have SWORN the door had shut itself behind him, but he was about to feel -really- bad for having left it open.

Sabbath, however, was smiling secretively. "Dwyn," she said quietly. "It's snowing."

Those golden eyes went wide and then Dwyn bolted out the door, letting out a whoop and spinning in wild circles. "Oh my gods, it's snowing! It's snowing! It's snowing!' He exclaimed, his spins sending him in drunken circles. "Look, first snow of the season!"

Snow? Kieran was somewhat undecided when it came to snow. In the Savage Frontier, they got plenty of it; he was used to trekking around in three foot drifts at Midwinter. It was cold and wet and froze his ears something fierce, but it was -really- fun to bombard Kagami with snowballs while she was trying to practice. It was a mixed blessing, but he figured he liked it well enough and stuck his head outside, tail swaying.

Dwyn was still running around in circles like an idiot, but he seemed to be enjoying himself, laughing wildly as he grasped and snowflakes and flung his head back, tongue out, in an unsuccessful attempt to catch some. Sabbath leaned in the doorway next to Kieran and laughed quietly. "MOOOOOOM," Dwyn called, "Come ON!"

Kieran giggled, keeping his tail firmly inside. He didn't like being cold, even if the snow itself was appreciable, and so he planned on staying right in the edge of the door frame. Dwyn reminded him of Caden right then.

"Oh goddess, my idiot son wants me to go dance in the snow with him.... a mother's duty is SUCH hardship," Sabbath murmured, sarcasm making her tone heavy enough to lay a dwarf flat. Despite the fact that she wore no cloak and her bodice was hardly cover from the slight wind, she stepped out of the doorway, grabbed Dwyn by the wrists, and joined him spinning in circles, laughing girlishly.

Kieran pressed a hand to his mouth, smiling brightly behind his fingers. The two witches were like nothing or anyone he'd ever known before, and they were fascinating.

Sabbath pulled Dwyn in close to her, hugging him. They were the exact same height, and she swung him around twice. Then his arms threaded around her waist and he swept her off her feet, spinning her in tight, fast circles as she let out a shriek, skirt billowing like an ebony cloud, hair falling in a wanton tangle over her eyes.

Kieran stared, black eyes wide as snowflakes settled into his hair and melted. One dropped right into the shell of his furry, tufted ear, and he twitched, the tiny bite of cold making him wrinkle his nose. Snow was fun, certainly, and as he looked up, glancing at the cloudy, pitch-black sky, he smiled distantly.

Dwyn finally set his mother down and went spinning off by himself as she composed herself and headed back toward the doorway. "Well, the ground froze last night," she said matter of factly. "Kieran, don't you have a weekend in a couple of days?"

Kieran looked down and over at her, nodding. He lifted a hand to brush snow off his hair, not minding much, but still finding it odd. His tail curled around his leg; the cold was starting to get to him. That combined with the fact that he was already sick... He seemed about to say something when his nose curled and he sneezed several times, quite rapidly.

"Oh dear," Sabbath muttered, sliding an arm around Kieran's shoulders and pulling him back inside. "Dwyn, come back inside sometime before frostbite sets in!" She tugged him upstairs, sat him down in a chair and wrapped a heavy, thick, and oddly soft blanket around him, shoving his bowl into his hands. "Eat," she told him sternly. Then, "If you've got a weekend coming up, you should go to the river. The wizards will have frozen it and it'll be beautiful skating before the cold gets bitter."
Kieran nestled into the blanket, enjoying the sensation of being warm, and held the bowl accomodatingly. "Skating?" he asked softly, looking up at Sabbath with wide black eyes. He'd once seen Kagami on a huge patch of ice, training herself to be more agile, but why anyone would do it for fun was beyond him. The idea of using special shoes or metal blades hadn't occurred to him.

She nodded. "They have special flats of metal with bone blades on the bottom. You can glide over the ice like a sylph... or fall on your ass a lot, depending on how quickly you get the hang of it."

Kieran giggled at the imagery and nodded. It made sense now that he thought about it. He wasn't sure if it was something he'd be any good at, but it was hard for him to -lose- his balance at all, so perhaps he wouldn't be too bad.

"Dwyn loves it. He always has. I know I won't be able to keep him in the shop once the river's frozen at the bend. How about you, Kieran? You should get out and get some exercise. You'll be just fine as long as you dress for the cold."

"I get plenty of excersize, really I do. I just don't look like it," Kieran said wistfully. He had been faithfully working with his staff and bow every chance he got, and his barehanded routines were going smoothly. "But I really don't... you know... do things like that. Go places, fall over."

"You should," Sabbath told him bluntly. "You should go out and be a kid. You won't be one forever, and believe me, you'll miss it once it's gone."

"I'm enjoying my childhood," Kieran protested weakly. "I don't need to go try and skate to be a kid. I can do it just as well in a lab, or, better yet... a library. I just like books better than... well, people, for one thing."

"But you like Dwyn," she said easily. "Be careful there, little squirrel. If you let him befriend you he won't rest until he's torn you out of your safe little hole."

Kieran shook his head, ears twitching as he ducked further into the blanket. "He can -try-. My brother's been trying all our lives and he hasn't succeeded yet. I don't think Dwyn would try harder than Caden."

"Mm, I don't know," Sabbath said contentedly. "I don't know Caden. Now, eat before I sit on you."

Looking down, Kieran bit his lip. It would be painfully rude to refuse, and she probably WOULD sit on him. But he wasn't hungry. He was almost never hungry, really, and he didn't eat much.

"Lady of the moon forgive me, but it's for his own good," she said, sighing. "Kieran, baby, look at me."

Kieran shook his head and shut his eyes. "Nuh-uh." He half thought she was going to try and spell him into eating.

As it turned out, she didn't need to meet his eyes. "EAT," she told him, the simple word having the punch of the Command spell behind it.

"Or you won't get any hot chocolate for desert," she added, almost as an afterthought.

Before he really knew what he was doing, Kieran found himself downing some of the stew. It tasted quite good, and he felt a surreal urge to eat and make Sabbath happy. He finished half of it before his stomach started to complain, and he knew he'd have a hard time keeping it down later. He always did. His belly didn't like being fed after days of being ignored. It was ornery like that.

Sabbath eyed him as his stomach gurgled. "Do you have problems keeping food down?" she asked almost clinically. "Or problems with not feeling hungry when you should?"

Kieran bit his lip and avoided looking at her. "Well, I... I kind of forget a lot. And when I remember I'm not hungry. And after a few days it does get kind'a hard to actually eat anything."

She nodded, smirking. "I just got a new plant in from a very distant area," she told him. "It's a remarkable speciman. It will grow from a leaf... all you have to do is place the leaf firmly on some dirt and water it and within days you'll have the beginnings of a healthy new plant. It's a very nice plant in that it will cure just about any problem you could have with your stomach.... from period cramps to lack of appetite. Let me get you a peice and we'll see if it helps."

Kieran nodded and smiled slightly. "Thank you for doing all of this. I don't.. I'm not used to being mothered, as it were."

"Or bossed around, obviously, but you'll get used to it," she declared as she popped up from her seat and vanished again.

Kieran shook his head, somewhat overwhelmed. He wasn't sure he was ready to get used to it. He set the bowl down carefully and curled deeper into the blanket, ears twitching.

"Here," she told him when she got back, handing him a fat leaf, shaped like any other spade-shaped leaf, but fat and somewhat spongy, like aloe vera. "Chew this," she told him. "And swallow the juice, but not the leaf itself. Don't worry, it actually tastes all right"

He took it and sniffed at it curiously before putting it into his mouth. He chewed on it like she'd said, obediently swallowing. Its taste was green and very interesting, though not bad. She motioned to his empty bowl where he could spit out the other part of the leaf. Kieran delicately spat out the rest of the leaf, nose wrinkling as he leaned back into the blanket, trying not to sneeze again.

Sabbath smiled at him. "There there, you'll feel better after a good night's sleep. Speaking of which, it's dark. Unless you plan to stay the night, now would be a good time to go home. Shall I corral my son and have him put some of that overabundance of energy to good use walking you home?"

Kieran was torn. It was far too rude to impose any more than he already had, but he was a little bit afraid that he wouldn't see Dwyn again, and wanted to prolong this odd yet infinitely rewarding night. "I... um..."

"You have a weekend coming up, right?" she said again, hiking an eyebrow at him. "I can't go skating with him. Someone needs to mind the shop."

"But I..." Kieran trailed off. Was there any point to protesting? Now that he thought about it, he could always come back here to bug Dwyn if he got truly desperate for companionship, and he got the distinct feeling that he'd see the other boy again. "Alright. I think I can make it back to the school on my own." He hoped that it hadn't gotten -too- late. They might not let him in.

"Silverymoon is a safe city," she told him, "But I'll not send a fifteen year old wizard out by himself at night. There are too many nasty things out there. Believe me, I've faced them." She stepped to a small cloak rack and took down a voluminous black cloak with an intricately embroidered silver lining, which hung beside an even more beautiful speciman of the same design. "Take this down to him, would you? And don't you have a cloak?"

Kieran frowned thoughtfully, unburying himself from the blanket. "Somewhere under my bed, I think, but it's too worn to do me any good. I usually just.... don't go outside if it's that cold. I left my good cloak at home." He wriggled out of the warm cocoon, standing and carefully taking the cloak from her. He normally would have put up a fight at being escorted, but he really couldn't complain.

"Well, it's large enough for both of you," she said with a shrug, and it was. Large, thick, soft, and beautiful, tumbling from Kieran's hands. "And this." She handed him Dwyn's staff. Both items tingled with magic.

Kieran nodded and clutched them tightly to his chest. He smiled up at Sabbath, a warm, shy smile that made his eyes glow. "Thank you," he said sweetly. "I'd offer to pay you but I think you'd chase me off with a soup ladle."

"No, I'd just smack you on the head. Now, git," she told him prodding him toward the stairs.

He giggled and darted off, a fleet shadow. The last thing to vanish was his tail as he turned the corner and nearly flew down the stairs, much quieter than Dwyn.

Dwyn was still outside, breath fogging the air, shivering hard in the cold but unwilling to admit defeat as he watched the snowflakes spiral down. There was a lantern hanging outside the door to the shop, and it cast a cool, white light that was probably magical. In it, the snowflakes whirled and sparled like gems falling from the sky.

Kieran paused in the doorway of the shop, black eyes widening as he looked out. A thin layer of white had already stuck to the ground. It would probably have melted by tomorrow, but for now, everything was gilded in sivery whiteness. He smiled and ducked outside, hurrying to Dwyn's side and holding the cloak and staff out to him. "Your mother said to bring these to you. She wants you to walk me home," he said with a slight grin. His tail wound itself around his leg and his ears tried to fold themselves in as he ducked his head against the cold. "If you don't want to, it's okay." He would only be slightly dissapointed.

"Oh, no, no, I'd love to!" Dwyn told him enthusiastically, yanking the cloak around his shoulders and shivering vigorously to fill its folds with body heat. "God-d-d-d-d-s, it's chilly out here...." his teeth rattled, but he was grinning. He snuck a hand out to take the staff but seemed unwilling to keep much of his flesh outside the cloak, until.... "Where's YOURS? Oh... you didn't bring one, did you?"

Kieran shook his head,folding his arms over his chest. "No," he admitted with a rueful smile. He wasn't as cold as Dwyn was yet, but the wind was getting faster by the moment and the snow was coming down harder. Already the tips of his ears felt frozen.

Dwyn untied the cowl and swept the cloak around, pulling Kieran under it and against his body before he had a chance to protest. "Two of us.... S'warmer this way anyway. Hold it shut. Let's go." His arm resting around Kieran's shoulders, he struck off toward the University.

Kieran let out a little sound that very closely represented the meow a cat made when surprised as he was claimed by the cloak's warmth. It was much nicer in here and he gladly plastered himself to Dwyn's side, tail winding around the other boy's waist as he tucked his chin into his chest and moved.

Dwyn wasn't accustomed to walking this close to anyone, so there was a lot of stumbling involved, but eventually they made it back to campus and into the dorms where they could shut out the wind and the flurrying snow.

Kieran shut the door firmly behind them and leaned against it, shivering. It hadn't been that bad a walk, and a fortunately short one, but still. He glanced up at Dwyn and smiled. "Thank you," he said softly. "And I'd offer to have you come up and warm up before you go out again, but I think your mum would worry."

Dwyn shook his head. "No. She knows I can take care of myself. I mean... not that I want to intrude! I'm just saying, she doesn't worry about me that much." He gave Kieran a wide, disarming grin.

Kieran's smile grew. "It's alright. I know what you meant. Do you want to, then? Come up?" he asked, dark eyes hopeful. If this was what the whole friend thing was like, maybe it wasn't so bad.

Dwyn didn't answer at first, just looked long and hard into Kieran's eyes, as if studying him. Then he nodded, and smiled. "If you really want me to that badly.... I don't understand why, but I'd love to go see your room."

Kieran's ears perked. "Well, those of us who are too reclusive or too non-linear to have normal friends have to stick together, right?" He offered Dwyn his hand, looking up at him with a warm, sweet smile.

Dwyn smiled deeply, warmly, golden eyes filled with knowledge Kieran didn't have as he folded his own coldly stiff hand around Kieran's and squeezed. "You could say that," he said quietly.

Kieran beamed, suqeezing Dwyn's hand in return. "Yeah! Always look on the bright side," he advised, tugging the other boy down the hall and up the stairs. It would be easy to get lost here, every corridor seeming endless, every door the same. Kieran knew precisely where he was, though, and eventually stopped in front of one wooden panel in a hallway of wooden panels. He held his free hand over the knob and purred something; the door shimmered briefly as he turned the handle and pushed the door open. "Room sweet room." It was small and rather cramped, books covering every available surface but for one tiny table just as cluttered with bottles of odd-looking stuff and small braziers. The room was nice and warm, the window tightly shut and the bed neatly made. He'd somehow managed to fit a midget of a night-table in there, and that, too, was wearing a thick layer of books. Kieran stepped inside and glanced around, making sure that his living space was adequate for company.

"Books," Dwyn marveled, picking one up and running his fingers over the cover. "If they weren't mostly magical in nature I'd beg to stay here for months. But I can't learn magic like this, not well, anyway." He set the book back down.

Actually, only the shelf that was dangerously overflowing above his small bed was magic books. The rest were histories and stories and pretty much anything that could be made into a book, some in the most obscure languages known to any of the sentient races. There were even a few tiny, paper-bound books with writing so tiny that they HAD to be made with magic, in a language that was pure gibberish to Dwyn. Kieran tilted his head. "You like books, too?"

Dwyn made a "Psshh" sound. "My mom's always trying to drag me out of them, like SHE isn't just as bad herself," he muttered, picking up one history book and nodding. "I've read this... I always found the world of history and legend more exciting than day to day life, even in a magical componant shop," he said quietly. "It's like everybody else gets adventure except me, you know? My mom and dad adventured together for a LONG time."

Kieran shuddered and shook his head. "Take it from someone who knows. This whole adventure thing? It's a big hoax to try and get brave people to kill themselves off. It's stupid, and it's nowhere NEAR as fun and romantic as it sounds in the books. They don't mention being cold and wet at night and eaten by bugs and chased by things thrice your size, or being abducted by slavers, or just how many heroes die facing dragons as compared to dragons dying facing heroes. Daddy and 'tousan are big with the whole hero-thing, but really, it's NOT all it's cracked up to be."

"Your parents are heroes?" Dwyn smiled and sat down with a bounce on Kieran's bed.

"Ever heard of the Crosswinds and the Samhain Star?" Kieran inquired lightly. Some people hadn't.

Dwyn hiked an eyebrow. This was, after all Silverymoon. There were bards on every corner, so many of them that the city had begun to beg Foclucan graduates to move away! "I have," he said slowly.

Kieran grinned brightly. "Those are my fathers. And the only person around here I really talk to is the SummerStorm's daughter."

"The SummerStorm... " Dwyn quickly shuffled everything into the appropriate slots in his mind and let out a breath. "WHOA. That's some heavy parentage, and some heavy aquaintence."

Kieran nodded. "Yes, it is. And like I said... family parties are -crazy-. You'd be amazed at how like normal people heroes are when drunk."
Dwyn shook his head. "I don't think so. Heroes pretty much ARE normal people, just with stronger guts and more luck than most. Mom used to adventure, like I said. SHE'S special, though. Really special."

Kieran smiled brightly and moved a stack of books off his bed to the top of another, already-precarious stack to make space to sit. "Daddy'n 'tousan are special too. Maybe heroes just have a little something extra, you know? The touch of the gods, or something."

Dwyn snorted. "Hardly. The gods don't give a shit about people, not MOST of them, anyway. Some of them are all right, but most of them are overgrown children who should be cut out of the sky. Heroes have the touch of something else.... courage, I think, but love even more than that. Heroes love something."

"Love?" Kieran asked, surprised. He looked at Dwyn with a curious expression on his face, tail twitching lazily in the air behind him. "I don't understand. Wh love?"

"Because it's the strongest driving force in the universe," Dwyn said easily.

"People will do even more for love than they'll do for hate, go to further lengths, drive themselves to greater heights."

"Love for what, though? The fame? Being a defender of the weak and saviour of the downtrodden?" Kieran tilted his head, moving more books to a pile that was almost taller than he was. The bed was clear, though, and he plopped himself onto it, peering up at Dwyn.

"It doesn't matter," Dwyn told him. "But it's strongest when it's love for people. The REAL heroes, the ones who aren't conceited and who DON'T do it for glory, go farther and last longer than others."

"Do you ever wonder why people like Lady Alustriel can do one thing and have the effects of that thing reach so far across the face of the world? Do you ever wonder WHY your fathers go out adventuring?

Kieran couldn't help but smile. "I think it's got something to do with wanting to do the right thing because it's the right thing. I guess love can figure into it, though. It sounds kind of romantic, like it's something a bard would say."

Dwyn shrugged. "I think it's just true. They have more love in them, or maybe a greater love, you could say. Anybody can love a friend, or a wife, or a child. But to love other people enough that doing right by them is enough of a reason to risk your life...."

"But there are lots of people like that who never live long enough to be heroes. So what's the difference between a warrior of good with all that love and somebody who just happens to end up famous? Are they any less of a hero?" Kieran asked, thinking of his uncles and the original Heroes Inc.

"No, but there are a lot of kinds of heroes," Dwyn told him. "You can be a hero in a small way. Like helping one boy get rid of bullies. Maybe that doesn't change the whole world, but it changes things for one person, right?"

"And you do it," he continued, "Because you have love enough to want to do right by them even though there's no other real motivation."

Kieran's tail curled as he smiled shyly. "Hai. Like getting rid of one evil man, or helping to save the world. Which would just be a difference of scale, really. And if you loved everything enough, it wouldn't matter if you were doing big things or little things or if you got famous or not."

Dwyn grinned, and yes, he managed to match the brightness of that sunshine smile Sabbath had given Kieran earlier. "You've got it!"

Kieran beamed, ears perking up. "I guess I do." Then he deflaed as something occurred to him. "But I like helping people, and -I'm- no hero."

"Heroes have something else that helps them succeed," Dwyn told him slyly. "It's called confidence. You just need to learn to be as confident facing other people as you are facing down a difficult spell."

"That's not true at all," Kieran said with - surprise - confidence. "'Tousan swears he's a hopeless case and that he's only famous because bards are crazy. He hasn't got -any- confidence."

"Does he have it when he's fighting?"

Kieran leaned back, thinking about that. The very tip of his tail flickered back and forth when he was thinking hard about something, and it did so now, a flash of black against the sheets. "I... probably. He always knows what to do, and he never falters. He just denies it."

Dwyn smirked. "Right. So, there you have inner confidence. Don't worry, Kieran. Eventually you'll get out into the world and see some things and you'll realize you've got a great chance of making a difference if you just put your mind to it."

Kieran bit his lip. "I've been into the world. It's... well, in some ways it's beautiful and perfect and I'd gladly give my life to see it flourish. But at the same time, it's horrible, disgusting, and decadent in ways you'd never imagine, and it makes me want to give my life to see it end. I like the former part better," he said softly.

"You can't be rid of the moon just because it has a dark side," Dwyn said in exasperation. "Same with the world. would you have all the elves and unicorns and people like Lady Alustriel die just to be rid of the trolls and orcs and people like Obould Many-Arrows?"

"No, no, that's not what I mean," Kieran said hurriedly, shaking his head. "It's just... there's just so -much- of everything. And it's not really good or evil. It's both, and it's so mixed up that sometimes good and evil just don't apply anymore. It gets confusing. But it's beautiful, even if in a sad way."

Dwyn smiled then, and patted his shoulder lightly. "You can't worry yourself over all the troubles in the world," he said gently. "My mom says... my mom says that good and evil really only matter when your plans include violence. But when you're trying to heal as many rifts as you can, and help as many people, things like good and evil don't make any difference. I know that's unrealistic. In this world, you almost can't help someone without hurting someone else, and the best you can do is angle your actions so that they help good folk and harm bad folk. But as long as you do whatever you're doing out of LOVE, instead of doing it out of hate or fear, you can at least know that you did the thing, right or wrong, with good intentions. That doesn't count for much in some circles, but for a witch, the spirit of a thing is the thing itself. Maybe someday you'll really, really hurt MY feelings, but I would know you didn't mean to. And because I knew that, I'd forgive you. It's the nature of flawed creatures to screw up from time to time, but She watches and She sees where your heart was, so someday when everything gets straightened out, you never have to doubt that she'll know you only wanted the best thing for everybody."

Kieran looked up at Dwyn with wide black eyes. He'd heard more new ideas today than he had in the last year or so, and he was reeling. But, being wo he wa, he was more than used to assimilating more information in a day than some people assimilated their entire life, so he pulled himself under control and nodded slowly. "People are fallible. So is everything they create, but in that fallibility there is perfection, and the capacity for love."

Dwyn beamed at him. "Yep. Love was the force that created the universe, love will hold it together, and even if you really, REALLY fuck up, love is what gives you the balls to try again. And trying again... over and over and over and over.... that makes a hero too, don't you think?"

"Never giving up? Well, sometimes retreating is the best thing to do, but I once heard that the only real failure is when you stop trying. So yeah... I mean, you can make a strategic retreat, but you can always try something else. As long as you keep trying." Kieran smiled, pushing his hair back from his face.

"I didn't even necessarily mean in battle. I meant in whatever you were doing. Try again, try again, reset yourself and try again.... works as well for an army as it works for a wizard's spell search as it does for making a friend." He shot Kieran a wink.

"I didn't really, either. 'Tousan usually explains these things like a mercenary, so I kind of think of them that way. But yeah. Try til you get it right," he smiled sweetly.

Dwyn just grinned, again, as if he knew something Kieran didn't. "So, anyway, here we are," he said, gazing around the room. "You have more books than the library, Kieran. Seriously."
Kieran flushed. "Well, I -like- books. And there's LOTS of libraries here in Silverymoon and the university. It's the best part about this city. It's always less than a five minute walk to the nearest book. You can borrow some, if you like," he offered tentatively.

Dwyn smiled. "I don't want to take them away from you. Besides, I've got work to do in the store. I wouldn't have time," he protested.

"There is always time for books, but if you don't want to, it's okay. And it's not like I need all of them all the time. While there truly is no such thing as too many books, I'd hardly be desperate to have them all. It was just an idea."

"Besides, I'll be too busy on my day off," Dwyn told him, motioning toward the window. "We're going skating, right?"

"We are?" Kieran asked, eyes going wide. "But I don't know how."

"I'll show you!" Dwyn volunteered immediatly.

"It's SO much fun. Come on, Kieran..."

Kieran bit his lip and twirled a strand of hair around one finger, his tail curling in on itself. "I don't know..." He'd probably end up trampled. Sometimes, being chibi-sized sucked.

"What happened to trying?" Dwyn demanded.

"But that's different!" Kieran protested.

"No it's not," Dwyn protested right back, gold eyes wide and serious. "If you can't try for stupid things, how will you try for great things?"

Kieran just stared at Dwyn, dark eyes unreadable. Even his tail was still as he thought. "I... alright," he finally said, looking down. "You're right. I'll try."

"Oh, it's not as terrible as all that," Dwyn assured him, bouncing up and down gleefully on the mattress. "It's fun. By the Goddess, Kieran, you're more scared of fun than anybody I've ever met."

Kieran looked up at him, looking like a scolded kitten. "I am not! It's just... I don't know. It's just not my idea of fun."

"Well, you'll learn," Dwyn said with all confidence, unable to resist petting Kieran when he looked like that. "And you'll like it. It's like flying, only with your feet on the ground."

Kieran's ears twitched and he eyed Dwyn's hand, nodding slightly. "I guess. I've never flown, or sailed. But I -have- teleported... never again." What had -that- been about?

He shook his head. "Nothing like teleporting," he assured Kieran. "It's like... well, you'll find out. Come to the shop when you wake up?" His eyebrows raised in hope.

Kieran smiled softly and nodded. "Hai. But what about skates? I don't have any."

"Oh, me neither. There's a place nearby where you can rent them, a gnome who has a whole ROOMFUL," Dwyn told him.

"Really?" Kieran asked, black eyes wide. He had the air of a curious kitten, the main difference being... well, right then, there wasn't much of one. Even his tail was swaying back and forth.

Dwyn resisted the urge to scratch at the base of it, like he would have done for Taliesin. "Yeah. You can find a pair that fits you and rent them for the day."

"That'll be... well, I guess it will be fun," Kieran said with a slight smile, tilting his head as his tail swished lazily. He was completely oblivous; half the time he forgot he had a tail at all. Usually, it was a good indicator of his mood.

Dwyn bit down on his lower lip. "I like your tail," he said evenly.

Kieran blinked uncomprehendingly. Then he blushed and twisted, peering down at it. Said tail twitched teasingly. "It was an accident," Kieran explained, looking sheepish as he grabbed his tail. "I was trying to transfigure a puppy into a kitten, and I kind of got myself instead."

Dwyn gently pried his hands away from it. "You shouldn't do that," he said quietly. "Cats really hate it. I don't mind it anyway, even if it curls around me or hits me. It's normal. It's supposed to move." His nails scratched lightly at the base of Kieran's spine.

Kieran's eyes widened and he let out a little sound of surprise that well could have come from a cat. He shivered, eyes sliding shut as he melted. A low, rumbling purr rose in his throat, easily audible.

Dwyn's eyebrows raised. "You like that too?" he inquired, scratching blithely away, not seeming to realize that it could have sexual connotations as well. "The cats love it."

"Uh-huh," Kieran managed, leaning into Dwyn's hand. He didn't care if it was inappropriate; that hadn't really occurred to him yet. It just felt -so- good and it had been ages since anyone had really touched him...

"Mm-hmm," Dwyn murmured knowingly, smirking. "Lie down." He didn't wait for Kieran to comply, simply took him by the shoulders and pushed him down onto his stomach.

Kieran was in no state to resist and flopped over, still purring loudly. "What're you doing?" he asked, having the composure to twist and look up at Dwyn with glazed-over black eyes. His tail swished through the air like a furry flag, twitching back and forth.

"This," Dwyn told him easily, running his hands up Kieran's back and kneeling beside him as he dug the heels of his hands in along his spine, fingers probing and searching for knots in the muscles. He knew where he'd find them - around his shoulders and neck, from so much reading. But he worked his way methodically up Kieran's back anyway, humming under his breath as he did so.

Kieran groaned and buried his face in the pillow. "You can stop that never," he mumbled, closing his eyes and submitting himself to Dwyn's ministrations.

"Do you mind if I move the tunic up? I'll rub your skin raw if I don't, and have to stop sooner," Dwyn told him, knuckles digging with blissful pain into the muscles just beneath Kieran's shoulderblades.

In response, Kieran grabbed the shoulders of his tunic and pulled it up, exposing an expanse of unnaturally pale flesh... and a set of old, thick scars that would be from nothing but a whip in sharp relief.

Dwyn's eyes widened, but from his position, Kieran couldn't see it. He almost said something, but his intuition rebelled against that, so he bit his lip and kept his mouth shut. Instead he shifted to straddle Kieran's thighs and leaned over his back, hands moving firmly and gently from his lower back up his spine, encountering very little resistence, since those were not the muscles that were routinely abused. He continued to hum under under his breath, lips forming half-words from time to time. "'..powers of...... nd and sea, be obedient to me..... powers of ..... blade..... s the charge is ma......"

Kieran had completely forgotten they were there, as he often did, and he just whimpered softly. That felt really good, even if it felt kind of weird. His tail wound itself around Dwyn's leg and he purred softly. He might as well have been a pile of jelly. Kieran had the tendency to turn into a bundle of purring, immobile kitten when touched in the right way. More muscles than Dwyn would have expected to be were tense; Kieran spent long hours with precise experiments and books, but he also trained rigorously with his staff and shortbow.

Dwyn didn't remark on it. He simply continued to hum that haunting, smooth melody under his breath, knuckles, heels of his hands, fingertips and thumbs moving over Kieran's back as his warm weight held him down. He moved progressively up the other boy's spine, leaning into the motions, digging deep.

"Dear gods, this is better than sex," Kieran groaned, stretching out and purring madly. It really did feel good, and as a muscle twinged in his back, loosening tension, it made his whole body feel better. He was a bit too relaxed to pay attention to what he was saying, though. Ever the downfall of the cute and innocent.

"You would know?" Dwyn teased, sounding curious at the same time. He dug his knuckles into the backs of Kieran's shoulders, encountering even tighter muscles there that he worked to loosen. "REALLY wish I had some rose hip oil," he muttered under his breath.

Kieran's eyes snapped open as he realized what he'd said. "Um... well..." he hedged. Was it really that odd to have had sex? He was distracted from the rest of what Dwyn was saying; a bit sad, too, because he had some soothing oils with his alchemy equipment. Of course, if he'd heard it, it would have caused him to burst into giggles, upon which he'd have had to explain what was so funny.

"Oh, you don't have to tell me," Dwyn assured him, laughing. "It's just a surprise. Partially because we're the same age, and partially because you just never seemed social enough. But what do I know? Is there somebody back home?"

Kieran was regretting opening his mouth, but now he was committed. His throat seized up when he tried to lie, but he felt a bit uneasy. When would Dwyn stop asking questions? This was more delicate than perfecting the sigils for a major summoning. "We grew apart," he said softly. "Had to seperate. Knew h- her my whole life, so me being anti-social wasn't much of a problem." His back had tensed up quite a bit and his tail had unwound itself to swish back and forth rapidly.

"Sorry. I won't ask anymore," Dwyn told him gently as he returned to Kieran's back, working without complaint to relax all of those muscles again.

"It's okay. I'm just not really used to talking to anyone about anything important," Kieran admitted softly, systematically forcing his body back into a state of relaxation. The muscles in his back twitched and loosened much more as he put his body into a light meditative trance, a low purr rising from him once again. His tail slowed its frantic twitching and swayed teasingly, tickling Dwyn's hands and arms.

"Well, if you're not going to tell the truth, you really should just not say anything," Dwyn told him. "I don't mind if you tell me it's none of my business. I know I'm nosy," he said a little sheepishly, one hand pausing to stroke along Kieran's tail as it tickled his arms, scratching along the back of it.

"Oh, no, you'd know if I was lying. I'm absolutely horrid at it," Kieran confessed. Or he would have, if Dwyn hadn't touched his tail. Instead, he let out a little cry and shivered, tail curling itself into Dwyn's hand.

Dwyn stroked the tail gently, his other hand having found its way to the base of Kieran's neck and now digging into the sides of it.

Kieran moaned into the pillow, a throbbingly loud purr rising from him as he trembled. At that point, he was rendered completely immobile, able to do little more than breathe... and even that took effort.

Finally, Dwyn unwound his hand from Kieran's tail and pushed the knuckles of both into his neck, rubbing and digging until the muscles were forced to loosen, resuming his little song, sung under his breath as he shifted.

It was probably a good thing that Dwyn stopped stroking Kieran's tail; the boy had been about to go insane. Now he relaxed, tail twining around Dwyn's waist as the wizard let the witch rub him into oblivion.

Dwyn continued humming quietly. He moved over his shoulders, and then down his arms, his chest pressing very lightly against Kieran's back as he had to lean down to reach. "Feel better?" he inquired cheerfully.

Kieran nodded, still purring happily. It had taken no small amount of self control to refrain from making a somewhat sticky mess, but he'd done so and even managed to banish the budding erection that had spawned itself when Dwyn had petted his tail. "Much," he mumbled, still mostly incoherent.

Dwyn nodded and switched from rubbing to scratching. His nails ran lightly over Kieran's back, just barely touching, causing his skin to prickle in anticipation as he picked his fingertips lifting and then brushing over his muscles again.

Kieran shivered and stretched felinely, fingers brushing against the wall above his head as he purred, arching into Dwyn's touch. He really was a tactile little thing, and he liked being touched, in any way.

Dwyn moved all the way down to the base of his tail, scratching around it absently, watching and listening to Kieran's enjoyment of the action. The boy seemed to come to life when Dwyn had him like this. He didn't worry about being rude or about how he looked or sounded, he was so caught up in the bliss. It was nice, Dwyn decided, to see him without armor, so to speak.

A soft moan rippled forth from Kieran's throat and he rubbed his cheek against the pillow as his tail loosened its hold on Dwyn to sway lazily in the air. It had been far too long since he'd been petted, and he missed it dearly.

Dwyn's hand closed loosely around his tail, fingertips scratching the top of it as he worked his way to the tip, nails digging in harder so they could get through the fur at the base as his other hand stayed there to scratch.

Kieran moaned louder, the tip of his tail flicking back and forth as his purr grew louder. It really wasn't a good idea to let Dwyn do this, but gods, that felt so good... and he could make him stop before anything got out of hand... mmm... purrrr....

"Awwww, kitty," Dwyn chuckled, his hand roaming back up Kieran's back and scratching at his head gently, fingers moving through his hair.

Kieran leaned into Dwyn's hand, black eyes tightly shut. He was still in control of himself, wasn't he? He didn't want to lose control and do anything stupid. But it was rare that anyone touched his tail or petted him like that, especially now that he was away from home, and he didn't want the other boy to stop. Ever.

"So you feel just fine in them?" Dwyn inquired softly, his fingers moving up Kieran's head, nearer and nearer to his ears. "That's amazing."

"In wha?" Kieran mumbled, somehow managing to speak through his purr. One ear twitched, but Kieran didn't seem to mind. Yet.

"In the ears and the tail," Dwyn said. "You have full feeling in them, just as if they were supposed to be there." His fingers scratched between Keiran's ears.

"Actually, they're... mmm... much more sensitive... than the rest... of my body," Kieran said softly, words slurred as he melted completely, tilting his head into Dwyn's hand.

Dwyn complied with the tilt. he had lots of practice with how, exactly, to massage a cat's ears and he rubbed the base of one of Kieran's. But, heeding the statement that they were VERY sensitive, he did it gently and skillfully, thumb rubbing along the base, the muscles that allowed them to swivel and turn.

Kieran froze, his eyes opening wide. "Don't," he said helplessly, a shiver in his tone. "Gods, not... not the ears..." he whimpered, trembling. He could feel every little twitch of Dwyn's fingers, could feel the blood pulsing under the other's skin. His ears were incredibly sensitive indeed, usually to the point of pain when touched. He'd never let anyone touch them, not even Caden or his fathers, though they'd been accidentally touched, or yanked on by bullies. He was surprised to realize that it didn't hurt now.

Dwyn's hands immedietly moved off. "Did that hurt?" he asked quietly, though there was a certain tone of disbelief in his voice that said he wouldn't quite believe it if it did. After all, he hadn't even rubbed the the thinner, more delicate parts.

Kieran thought fast. He was sprawled over his bed and Dwyn was sitting on top of him. So far, he'd been completely vulnerable and let the other boy do whatever he wanted. But touching his ears was something nobody did, no matter how vulnerable he let himself be. As he thought about that, he frowned. The reason he didn't let people touch them was because it hurt. When Dwyn touched them, it didn't hurt. Didn't that make his reason for disallowing it pointless? "...No," he admitted in a tiny voice. It had actually felt quite good, and that scared him. Was it something to do with Dwyn's being a witch?

Dwyn breathed a sigh of relief, but didn't try to touch them again. "Okay, good." His hands left Kieran's head and tail and moved back to his back, thumbs brushing over the lines of scar tissue.

"What're you doing?" Kieran asked, craning his neck to look back. He felt somewhat relieved that Dwyn had chosen to let his ears alone. He wasn't sure what he'd do at this point.

"Nothing, really," he admitted, rubbing along the thick line of one scar absently. "This doesn't hurt, does it?"

"No... I can barely feel it. Almost tickles," Kieran said, sounding confused.

Dwyn nodded. "Okay, good," he said again, fingers rubbing along them, drawing his nails along them once or twice to see if Kieran felt that or reacted to it.

It did kind of tickle, and Kieran twitched once or twice. "-What- are you doing?" he demanded, struggling to bend his neck so he could see.

"Just fooliing around," Dwyn told him, sounding confused that Kieran was so adhemant about it. "Sorry. I'll quit." He eased his weight off of Kieran's legs and sat on the bed again, knees drawn up.

"No, it's okay. I'm just trying to figure out..." Kieran started, then trailed off. He sat up and twisted to look at Dwyn, an apprehensive look on his face. He'd remembered just what was on his back. "Never mind," he mumbled, looking down and pulling his tunic over them.

Dwyn's hands folded in his lap and he rocked back and forth slightly, eyeing Kieran troubledly.

After a moment, Kieran turned, peering up at Dwyn. "I..." he said. Then he realized that he didn't know what to say and shut his mouth, ears flattening back against his head. What had he done wrong?

"I wasn't going to ask," Dwyn assured him quickly. "I just..... I don't know. I was just playing with them. A restless thing."

"So what's wrong, then?" Kieran asked in a small voice, dark eyes wide as his lips curved into a pout.

"Well, it's just.... you didn't seem to mind before. So.... 'what's wrong' is kind of what I'd like to know." He looked a little guilty.

"I... kind of forgot about them. It was a long time ago. But it's... I don't know... humiliating?" Kieran sounded unsure of himself. "To have them. If I'd remembered, I wouldn't have... you know... made you..."

Dwyn blinked. "You didn't make me do anything! If I didn't want to give you a back rub, I'm old enough to SAY I don't want to. Besides, what's so humilating about them? I didn't make anything out of them."

"When I remember that they're there, I remember how I got them. It's not you, really. And it is kind of shameful... to think that I couldn't, you know, avoid it." Kieran sounded somewhat despondent.

Dwyn scoffed. "Why? You're a kid. There are people out there who are bigger and stronger than you and there's nothing you can do about it, so why care? Obviously you got away or something like that, so why not just.... move on?"

"I did," Kieran protested. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything." He looked down, tail swaying still in a rather subdued fashion.

"It's okay," Dwyn assured him, voice soft. "I just didn't know why you were embarassed. You don't have to be, around me."

Kieran glanced up, a light in those black eyes. "Thanks," he said softly, a shy smile teasing his lips. He really wasn't good at the whole friend thing.

"For what?" Dwyn asked dryly. "Treating you like a person?"

"No," said Kieran, and this time the knowing smile was his. "Just thanks."

Dwyn shrugged and smiled at him, still rocking back and forth on his bed. "Well, you're welcome," he said, accepting the lack of explanation and not pushing Kieran any harder. "Now, relax. I'm not going to bite you. Do you want me to go home?"

"Well, I.. I've had a lot of fun talking to you today, but it's getting late," Kieran said, glancing at the tiny stone whose magically-cast shadow told the time. Then he looked at it again. "Oh, dear, late is an understatement. It's past midnight. I've got a class in seven hours. But," he held up a finger, looking comically imposing, "you're not leaving here without at least one of these books. I'm sure you'll find the time to read it, ne?"

Dwyn smiled deeply. "We'll see," he said noncomittally. But since Kieran had finally given him an order, he took it, sliding off the bed and wandering through the stacks of books before selecting a history of a city he'd never heard of.

Kieran smiled brightly. "And you're still going to drag me skating, aren't you?" he asked, just a hint of a tease in his voice. "Come on, I'd better walk you out. You'll never find your way on your own." Indeed, the trip up here had been like a picnic in a labyrinth.

"Okay," Dwyn agreed, clutching the book to his chest and pulling his cloak around him.

Kieran ran a finger along the doorframe, and it sparkled with little black flashes of energy as he opened it. He nearly bounded out, wired with energy even at this time of night. His tiny body was silent on the floorboards, though, and he grinned back at Dwyn. "We've got to be quiet. It's -way- past curfew," he murmured tonelessly, gesturing down the hall. Dwyn nodded and followed him in absolute silence.

Kieran led the way, a small, fleet shadow. Only every thirteenth lantern was still lit, and it was a long way down the twisting corridors to the door. He kept quiet, and the trip there was surreal, and had no concrete sense of time. When they reached the door, Kieran frowned. They'd locked it, but it was a small side door, the lock easily picked. Or, in Kieran's case, spelled Open. He drew a fingertip down the lock and its tumblers clicked open, prompting a smile from the boy. He turned to Dwyn. "Good night," he purred softly.

Dwyn smiled at him, cloak still wrapped around him. "Merry part," he said quietly. "Until we merrily meet again." He leaned forward and brushed his lips over Kieran's cheek, then forged his way out into the snow before Kieran had time to react to it.

A blush blossomed on Kieran's cheeks. The nekojin stared out the door for a very long time, black eyes wide, flummoxed.
chap two end Back to part one / On to part three
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