The kitchens weren't busy, per say, but there were quite a few people rushing in and out. The castle cook, a male with green wings and tail who went by the name of Zuren, greeted her.

"Hello, little empress," he welcomed her. She knew that he called her empress without a capital 'e' to remind her of her ever-present duties and every-present future. Like she needed be reminded. She was the equivalent of eighteen now, and her mother would very soon be starting to look for possible marriages. Just what she needed. Thankfully, there weren't any other clans that had to have political marriages, otherwise she'd have been stuck in one of those. Which left her in the state of mind that she had to find a lover who she liked. Soon.

Her culture was very bizarre in such a way. They only took one lover once, and once they had sex with him or her, they were bound to him for life. As such, when one of the pairing died, the other committed suicide, not being able to survive without the other. As such, they were very careful about who they slept with. And Shay'Telnira was in a trickier spot than most.

" 'Lo, Ren. Do you think you could scrounge anything up for me to steal?"

"In other words, 'Hello, Zuren, unprecedented cook that you are, would please see if you can find a bit of spare time to fix me up some sort of palatable sustenance since I was too busy with my training to find food at the proper hour?' "

Shay'Telnira's mouth twitched. "Actually, I was answering my mother's summons when I was about to eat, but you get the idea. And a little heavy on the self-praising, don't you think?"

Zuren laughed. "In this castle? Hardly. But hang on a sec. I'll get you something." He vanished to the back of the kitchen for a moment, then returned carrying a platter with a chunk of meat done rare, but quite warm. Shay'Telnira breathed in the smell with a smile.

"Ah, thanks, Ren. This smells as good as always."

"Do your little companions want anything?"

She glanced back at the vampires and could see, pale as they were, that they seemed just a bit paler as they looked at the food. Raziel shook his head.

"No, thanks, Ren. I think that's it, but—"

She was suddenly interrupted as a masculine voice roared from the depths of the castle, "SHAY'TELNIRA!!!!!"

"Oh, Pillar's Curse," she swore under her breath. Zuren took the platter out of her hands and shook his head as he sighed.

"Go. It'll be waiting for you when you get back."

She grinned a thanks and darted out the door. After a moment, the opposing doors slammed open and Ker'orin went streaking by shouting, "SHAY'TELNIRA!!!" and with . . . yes, with PINK hair. It wasn't just pale pink, either. It was a drop-dead, hot neon pink. The brothers blinked after him for a long moment. Then, Zephon sighed as if immensely pleased.

"I think I am going to like our new hostess."

Raziel glanced at him. "You would."

Zuren shook his head again and addressed the vampires, saying, "She'll be back in a second. These things happen all the time. She's constantly annoying the hell out of her Guardian. Sit down over there." He indicated toward a table. The brothers sat and Zuren stood nearby to see if they needed anything.

"Excuse me," Raziel began. "Zuren, I believe?" When he nodded, Raziel continued, "You just called Ker'orin her . . . Guardian, right?"

"Mm-hm."

"What is this Guardian? He called her his partner, as did she."

Zuren laughed broadly. "Ah, yes. I have no idea how that relationship got started. You'll have to ask Mistress Prankster herself that. However, Ker'orin is what is called a Guardian, a person devoted to her for life. If it ever becomes necessary, he is to give up his life for her."

"Relationship?" Turel piped up.

"As in their . . . hm, how to put this?" He fell silent a moment.

"They're lovers?"

Zuren looked shocked by the idea. "Love— Oh, Pillars, boy, no!" He laughed again. "Relationship as in their time and travels together. They don't have any interest in each other."

Raziel took the conversation back over again, not particularly interested in hearing about Shay'Telnira's love life. "How does Ker'orin like knowing it might be necessary to be a martyr?"

"How would you?" Zuren retorted. "But he's accepted it. Pillars, it was what he was bred for. And Shay'Telnira and he have practiced long and hard both magic and metal so they always have something up their sleeve. Shay'Telnira would never forgive herself if Ker'orin had to give his life for her."

Silence fell for a time as each let the new information sink in. Zuren moved suddenly and set the platter down on the one spot left vacant on the table. A second later, Shay'Telnira dropped down into the seat, slipped the napkin into her lap, and proceeded to eat, letting memories of etiquette drilled in her head for years rise to the surface. When she was done, she cleaned off the plate and put it away, placing the platter on a stack. She indicated for the brothers to follow her again.

They returned to her room and she settled down in her chair again.

"When are you boys leaving?"

"Later today," Raziel replied. "Kain said he was here to discuss a treaty, or something."

"Treaty," she corrected absently.

"What?"

"Treaty with a capital 'T'. Or, at least, it is to us."

"By the way," Dumah interjected. "What did you do with Ker'orin?"

"Oh, the five hundred pounds of silver and pink also known as my Guardian? I tripped him and had him land in one of the lakes. He's out there cooling down."

Cut to-

Ice cold lake out on the reaches of Dragon Mount. Ker'orin is chained to one of the rocks, cursing his fate, Shay'Telnira, and his lack of looking up. With each muttered curse, the rock cracks a little more and he'll eventually be out of it, but it will take long into the night.

"You will pay for this, Shay."

On the plus side, the hair die hadn't been permanent, and it had washed out of his hair from his solid dunking.

Melchiah tugged on Shay'Telnira's hand, getting her attention. She looked down at him.

"I'm hungry," he whimpered softly. She sighed, but was too touched by him to say no. Granted, he was a vampire, but he was cute. And she dealt with scary and unpredictable things on a daily basis. And if anything, there was one thing reliable about vampires; their hunger for blood.

She used her sharp nail to cut into the skin on her wrist and offered it to him.

"Feed as you like," she told him. He smiled up at her in thanks and she turned her face away before she felt sharp little fangs prick into her skin. She looked up to find the brothers staring at her.

"Yes?" she asked patiently.

"He can kill a single human from drinking."

"And the rest of you can kill more, as your hunger is much stronger." She shrugged. "It matters little to me."

"Your death doesn't matter to you?"

She laughed then, a long, rippling laugh that was somewhat like the laugh they heard the vampires whose Gift relied in charms make. It seemed like a living place and touched every part inside you, as if nothing was hidden from her.

"There is no way this little one could drink my dry of my blood. For one, I have too much for him to drink all of it, and two, he'd become too tired after a while to keep feeding."

She could feel Melchiah's feeding had slowed and he yawned widely before crawling into her lap. She rubbed a hand on his head and watched him, a gentle smile on her face. The vampires went back to their game except for Raziel who sat down next to her, eyeing Melchiah worriedly. She glanced down and watched his body twitch slightly, enacting the dreams in his mind. She looked back at the eldest.

"Don't worry. He's merely dreaming."

"Of what?"

"Of what it's like to be one of us."

After a moment, Melchiah yawned widely and blinked sleepily a moment, then looked up at Shay'Telnira.

"How was it?" she asked softly.

"Oh, it was fun! And you were there, and you were teaching me, and, and—"

"Shh," she interrupted, putting a finger over his mouth. Fully aware of the five other brothers watching her, she said, "Let's keep what I am a secret between you and me, okay?"

"All right!"

As expected, his affirmative was met with a demand aimed toward her of "What are you?!" She grinned impishly at them and said nothing. She stood as someone knocked on her door.

"Yes?"

The Empress opened up the door, and behind her stood Kain.

"And here they are," she was saying. Shay'Telnira cocked her head to the side slightly.

"Are you stealing them back?"

"Stealing?" both the Empress and Kain repeated, amused by her word choice. Shay'Telnira opened her mouth to say something, decided against it, and shut it again. When she had her thoughts better organized, she tried something else.

"Are you going to be taking the vamplings?"

"Vamplings?" Dumah repeated, sounding relatively insulted. She glanced back at him.

"Yes, vamplings. As in, little vampires."

"I am not little!"

She stepped up to him, and he had to fight to not step back away from her. He stood just barely to her chin. She grinned mischievously and ruffled his hair while commenting, "My vampling."

"I am not your vampling."

"For as long as I'm going to be stuck baby-sitting you, yes, you are going to be my vampling."

The Empress shook her head slightly in amusement as she interrupted, "Yes, the . . . vamplings are leaving."

"Oh."

"Why? Are you saddened by the fact?"

"Well, sort of," Shay'Telnira responded honestly. "They were amusing."

Kain indicated toward the boys and they silently complied, filing out of the room.

"It seems you will have to taunt your partner more if you'd like to be entertained, then," Raziel murmured to her before walking after his creator. The Empress and Shay'Telnira saw them off, then the Empress turned to her.

"What do you think of them?"

"I don't know," Shay'Telnira answered carefully.

"Let me rephrase myself, then. Would you mind if they came back?"

Shay'Telnira looked back where the vampires had disappeared for a moment, aware of her mother's eyes on her.

"No," she finally stated with a smile. "No, I wouldn't mind if they came back."

"SHAY'TELNIRA!!"

"Oh Pillars! It's Ker'orin!"