They were bored. Daine and Numair sat side-by-side, with the bars of their cages separating them, staring at the wall in front of them. They had long run out of things to talk about, so they now just sat.
"I need to do something," Daine muttered, "I'm going insane."
"I'm already gone," Numair muttered dryly, and Daine got up, suddenly having an idea. "Magelet?" he asked, then blinked in surprise when Daine shape-shifted into a small bird and tried to get through the bars of her cage. He had not thought of that.
Numair watched as she whizzed around Narsa's room for a while, then zipped back into her cage, grabbed her clothes, and then went into his cage. She changed back and put on her tunic and pants.
"The door and the window are closed," she explained, walking over to sit next to him. He arched an eyebrow in a silent question.
"Well, it was worth a try!" she snapped. He smiled gently and put an arm around her.
"It's nice to be together, again," he whispered, changing the subject.
She sighed in agreement, and leaned into his side, nuzzling her face into the crook of his arm.
They were silent.
"So," Daine said, breaking the silence, "any idea on how to get home?"
"You asked me that ten minutes ago, and the answer is still no," Numair sighed.
The door to Narsa's room opened, and, panicking, Daine gave Numair a quick kiss on his cheek, shape shifted and fled back to her cage.
---
Culpus snickered softly as he walked into Narsa's room. He'd show her for breaking his video game! Quietly, he climbed the stairs of Narsa's loft bed. When he crawled up into his sister's bed, his eyes locked with those of her pet humans'. He grinned. That was the one he'd played with in the store.
Excellent. He would move it into the other cage. They'd mate and Narsa would soon have too many humans to count, and, knowing her, she'd want to keep them all. Mother would be furious at her.
Culpus opened the cage and reached down for the human. He didn't know if it was Ain or Mn-aur – who could tell the difference, anyway? They were just animals.
---
Numair had gasped in fear when he saw Culpus reach for Daine. He remembered what the rat had done to her last time, and prayed that the rat wouldn't hurt her again. He heard Daine give a soft squeak, but then she frowned, concentrating. Numair closed his eyes, hoping that the rat would hear his Magelet.
---
Culpus lifted the human from her cage and dropped it into the other's cage. Smirking at his success, he walked from the room, not realizing that he had accidentally dropped the coin that was in his sleeve into the cage.
---
Daine fell from the top of the cage with a shriek, followed by a huge metal something. Gasping, Numair reached out with his Gift and snatched her from the air before the metal thing could squish her. He jerked her into his arms.
"I thought," he growled into her ear, "I told you to never do that again!"
"Do what?" she sounded dazed.
"Get snatched up by a rat, that's what!"
"I couldn't help it!" she said angrily. He held her close.
"Magelet, you nearly scared me out of my skin!"
"I said before, I couldn't help it!"
Numair sighed, and cuddled her close, assuring himself that she was in one peace. Daine closed her eyes and shivered. Numair held her comfortingly as their heart rates slowed, then looked down at her. "I don't suppose that he answered you?"
Daine gave him a flat look. "Yes, Numair, I asked him to drop me."
Numair gave a sheepish smile. "Just making sure." He hugged her tighter for a moment then released her and walked over to the metal thing that Culpus had dropped. Daine followed.
It was one of the rats' odd, star-shaped coins. Daine opened her mouth to tell Numair so, when he exclaimed, "Mithros, Mynoss and Shakith! It's a Via!"
Daine blinked. "A what?"
"It's a Via, a road!"
"A road?"
Numair circled the coin. "It's what I was working on when we got here – or, a similar version of it, anyway. See, look." He pointed to one of the four points of the star. "It has all the different directions – North, south," he pointed to another point, "east," he pointed, "and west."
"And this helps us how...?"
Numair shook his head. "Help me get it upright."
Daine gave him a questioning look. He sighed.
"It's written in Old Thak – or something like it, anyway. The markings on the side of the points say two different things: the direction on the compass, and... the direction in general. Help me set it up and I'll show you."
Numair looked at the markings for a while, then, with Daine's help he pushed it up so that one of the points dug into the wood chips on the bottom of the cage. Upright, it was a little smaller than Daine. "Look," Numair said and pointed to the point on the left, "this one says 'sunrise,'" he pointed tothe one on the right, "this one 'sunset'" the one on the bottom, "this one says below, and the top one says--"
"Above," Daine guessed, and Numair beamed at her.
"Exactly. If we do it right, we can use the 'above' point to guide us away. Because, In old Thak, 'above' and 'away' are the same word."
Daine stared at him, then rushed into his arms. "We're going to go home!" she cried, laughing up at him. He grinned back and buried his head in Daine's hair.
"Back to Tortall, where we belong," he said, now grinning, "and we'll get to see everyone again! What a tale we'll have to tell them!"
She laughed. "Think they'll believe us?"
"Not likely," he grinned.
She laid her head on his chest, and closed her eyes. She said wistfully, "We'll see Cloud and Kitten and Ouna and Alanna again, and George and Evin and Miri and -"
"Classes," Numair groaned, and Daine laughed. She kissed his nose. "I think it's worth it," she said.
Numair grinned back. "A small price to pay," he said mock-dramatically, and Daine playfully hit his arm.
---
IN TORTALL:
Kitten stared at the star-shaped thing, realizing after a moment of thought it was what Tkaa had told her about a while ago – a Via. A road. She leaped up onto it, trotted over to the "Away" point, and gave a loud trill – a command spell that Grandda Dimondflame had taught her.
WHERE IS MY MA! she demanded of the Via, and it glowed brightly. The Draconian words "where is my Ma" echoed around the room, then translated into Human language, somehow. Kitten stared.
---
THE PLACE OF THE RATS:
Daine was still rapped up in Numair's arms when the Via suddenly glowed brightly. They both stared at it, when they suddenly heard a sound, like a dragon's trilling. Then the trilling translated into Common: "WHERE IS MY MA!"
They stared at each other, both recognizing the trillingvoice before it had been translated.
"Kitten!"