Favorite phrases: "dances with the dodo" and "spattering of ethereal dust".

Danny smiled ridiculously as he headed toward the two females, swinging his turban around one hand.

"Why, good night to you both, fair ladies."

"Hmph. Danny. You're back."

"Why yes I am, and at a good time for-" A flash of motion caught Danny's eye. "Hmm."

"Danny? Danerik? Anyone home?" Valerie playfully waved her hand in front of Danny's face and got him to snap back to reality.

"Oh, sorry there Valerie…didn't mean to interrupt….whatever it was you and Desiree were doing. I have to…attend to something."

Leaping up in the air, he transformed with a burst of light and hovered, scanning the shadows with his glowing eyes. He cautiously floated into a hallway, disappearing as he did so, in order to follow the movement he had seen before. Desiree, unimpressed, simply muttered, "Only a day and he's got the vocabulary of a prince."

Valerie had, on the other hand, let out a small yelp, which Danny ignored, and instead she turned to Desiree. "Did you…I mean, is he…?"

"Oh. That. Yes….well." Desiree glared after the absent figure, sighing as she faced Valerie again. "Since he's decided to leave the long explanations to me…"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Earlier that day, as Danny and Sam began their flight, Vladimir had commented on his Sultan's…almost cheerful attitude.

"Sir, I presume from your attitude that affairs with the Princess are proceeding well?"

"Yes, yes, Vladdy, and you didn't even have a hand in it! She's met the most humble young man, who's sure to accept her…fiery personality, and-"

As Sultan Masoniar babbled on, Vladimir mused despondently to himself. This could be a problem. A new prince, another crown to suck up to…and if she marries this blueblood? Why, my career would reach a dead end! Princess Samantha harbors no sympathy for me, and if Daddy dances with the dodo…I need to maintain this position to keep my financial properties intact! Without them my research is worthless!

With a distracted wave of his hand and a breach of the oldest laws of the land, Vladimir muttered to his Sultan, "I need to think." and stalked off without a comment from the shocked Masoniar.

0o0o0o00o0o0o0

Hmm. He seems…cocky. Overconfident. He will be no match for my great intellect.

Vladimir watched the interchange between Danerik and Valerie from behind a pillar, not recognizing the young boy he had left in the desert only a few days ago. He looked down on the trappings of elegance and style that surrounded Danerik and cringed, preferring the dark reds of his laboratory. Noticing that the moon was beginning to rise, he deemed it time to return to his comfortable chambers and stalked off, his cloak swooshing elegantly behind him.

As he walked purposefully ever deeper into the palace, he felt a foreign pair of eyes on him, searching. He ignored it, and instead strode through a confusing maze of corridors, intending to baffle his pursuer. However, as he reached his lab door, he continued to feel the-the presence, but gave no indication of his alarm. Standing straight, he began to reach for the door-

-then spun around with amazing quickness, facing bright green eyes as surprised as his own.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o00o0o0

Valerie stared, glassy-eyed, as Desiree concluded her explanation.

"So…he's a ghost? Or whatever you call it?"

"Yep."

"Ah…can I have a bit to process this? I don't-"

"Oh, yeah, the whole human 'privacy' thing, and 'time to yourself'…um…I'll just go, then?" Shooting upward, Desiree left Valerie in a spattering of ethereal dust.

"Bye. I guess." Standing up, Valerie brushed herself off and headed for a small cluster of lanterns by a fake pond, part of the courtyard allotted to Danerik's procession. Faint music drifted from somewhere within the palace, and she gazed into the inky water, contemplating…Danerik.

If she was totally honest with herself, she would admit that she had had feelings for him…but he never returned the impression. It was really a crush, an insignificant crush, but she still cared about him….they were practically siblings, growing up in the Palace Yateem together. And to go and get himself messed up in this whole palace business-what was she doing here? A week ago she was foraging for bread crusts in the marketplace, and here she had had to turn away offers of roasted partridge and figs! She couldn't even-

A quiet sound interrupted her musings. She couldn't identify it at first, but eventually recognized the sound of pages turning, a common sound when she robbed the homes of scholars. Quietly, with the tread of a footpad, she crept towards a small curtained pavilion where a faint glow flickered. Unfortunately, she tripped on a cobblestone and tumbled into the silky partition, upsetting something that clattered loudly and gave her a good knock on the head.

When she bothered to look up again, a skinny, dark skinned boy stood over her, holding a lamp in one hand and a book in the other.

"Who-"

"What-"

"You-"

"Whoareyou and what are you doing here?" Tuck finally gasped.

"I'm Valerie. Um, Courtier Valerie, assistant to Prince Danerik, and I believe these are our courtyards. Who are you?"

"I-I'm Tuck. Tuckenkahmen, to be precise. I am one of the few servants personally assigned to Princess Samantha."

"Samantha? Really? From what I've heard around her, she's a bit temperamental, to say the least."Valerie stood up and yet again brushed off invisible dust, regaining her composure.

Tuck snorted. "A harsh mistress? Only to those who can't handle her temper. I was going to be a priest…back in Egypt. If I, or you for that matter, had been delegated to the temple of Sekmet, we would find her a much crueler mistress. Samantha throws priceless pottery? Sekmet uproots entire cities."

"You still believe in the gods of your land?"

"Yes…for now. You are not from the motherland, I see. Nearer to the Shri Lankan empire, then?"

"I-I don't really know. I was born here in the city. So, ah…if you're one of Princess's retinue, why are you down here? And what are you reading?"

"She, I mean, the princess has retired for the night, and she gives me leave to go where I please. Most of the time she's awake longer than I am, though, so it doesn't much matter. She dismissed me rather early tonight." After staring thoughtfully into space, he became aware of Valerie's obviously annoyed glance directed at him. "Oh, yes. What I'm doing here. Well, after the princess 'retires', I don't really have any access to lanterns so I can read. I came down here because…there were a lot of lanterns. And no one seemed to be using it, so I…set up shop. Speaking of which-"

"Oh, yeah! Sorry about that…here." Valerie carefully stepped off the scarf-like divider and set it back up, surrounding her and Tuck with white. Tuck picked up his chair, which Valerie had knocked over, and gallantly invited her to sit down. Ignoring his gesture, she sat on the floor, and he awkwardly sat across from her, setting the book on the chair. "So what are you reading?"

"You can't read the title?" Tuck blurted, then cringed as her face colored violently.

"No. I can't. I can't read."

"But you're a-"

"I know, but it's really complicated-"

"I can teach you."

"-and I don't want to ex-what?"

"I can teach you to read. At least the language of this nation. I was able to learn it pretty fast."

"What?"

"I'm reading the lineage and patronage of our beloved Sultan. Not the most interesting of works, but…alright."

"What-Why?"

"Why am I reading it? To hopefully understand my princess better. Why am I offering? 'Cause you're different…if you don't mind me saying. Cm'here." He picked up the book and waved her over to him. Still stunned, she scooted over to sit beside him and gazed reverently at the paper. Snapping back to reality, she squinted and pointed a finger at him.

"Don't get any ideas, mister. I've broken men's arms for getting closer than you are now."

"Don't worry, Valerie. Scribe's honor. Now, this here is the 'e' sound, this squiggle here…"

0o0o0000o0oo0o0o

As Danny slipped into invisibility mode, he also activated his intangibility, just to be safe. And not a moment too soon, apparently; as Vlad, whom he only knew as "creepy guy", took a complicated series of passages to reach his chambers. Danny found it easier to simply go through the wall, and watched the strange character pause with a gentlemanly smoothness. Danny approached him cautiously, careful not to let his eyes shine out in the darkness, and eager to see what lay behind the large wooden door. Despite his ability to go through it, he was intrigued by the sorcerer, and clung to the human idea that a door was a door, and impossible to go thought without a key. He waited, floating ever slowly closer-

until Vladimir whirled around to look directly into Danerik's startled eyes.

Yeah guys, I don't think I'm gonna go with the whole Vlad/Sam angle. Just imagining it should make you cringe enough. Sorry Mak (I can call you Mak, right Mak? Great! Thanks!) but my brain shorted out from the creepiness. And it would be really hard to write.

On another note, I really liked this multi-POV method for this chapter. Don't know if I'll do it again in this story, but this was one of my first times trying this. How'd you like it?