Chapter 23: Contract?

Conrart groaned, and buried his head further into his pillow at the sound of a voice other than Yozak's at his window. He so didn't want to deal with this!

: It's really not that bad chosen, I can assure you trainees have done far worse, while learning to control their gifts.: Vanyel piped up in the back of his mind.

Conrart snorted into his pillow somehow he doubted that.

Yozak laughed as Herald Skif, also laughing, replied to his friend's less than serious response.

"Watch it, pup," Skif replied with mirth. "I may no longer be young, but I can still keep up with the likes of you."

Conrart didn't quite catch Yozak's retort, but Skif laughed, and he heard the sound Skif's boots made as the man climbed nimbly in through the window. The sound was so soft he probably wouldn't have heard it if he hadn't already been used to listening for the soft click of Yozak's boots as the former spy slipped into his rooms at night.

"I knew I should have put the desk against the door and used the bookcase to block that damned window," Conrart muttered as he finally unearthed himself from his pillow and rolled over.

The two men laughed heartily at his comment. "Aw, you sound like you don't want visitors, Taisa*." Yozak quipped.

Conrart groaned, grabbed hold of his pillow, and smacked his friend with it. "I don't," he retorted, then added "Not that you ever cared before, so why should I expect you to start now?"

"Ouch, I'm hurt." Yozak retorted sarcastically. "Perhaps I would, if you weren't so inclined to brood over spilt milk."

"This is a bit more than spilt milk," Conrart replied incredulously as soon as he regained his power of speech. Honestly after 123 years, he should have been used to Yozak's gift for understatements.

"So you set some wood on fire," Yozak retorted mildly. "Accidents happen; you curse like the soldier you are and get the fuck over it, Captain." He made certain to emphasize his rank.

Conrart blushed at his friend's subtle way of informing him he was being childish. Whatever he might have said was cut off by the man currently perched on his desk.

"So that was you," Skif said calmly, shifting around so that he sat cross-legged on top of the desk. "Nice— I heard Griffin had to put that one out. I had assumed it was his student… I believe his name is Justin, but since that was you… are you a firestarter as well?"

Conrart closed his eyes briefly, feeling his ears heat up. He must have been redder than Yozak's hair! "No I'm not a firestarter," he said quietly.

"Then how did you -" Skif began asking.

"I don't know." Conrart replied, dragging his pillow back over his face.

A familiar hand patted his shoulder briefly, and he heard Yozak mutter soothing words in their own language, words he hadn't heard in years. After a moment, Skif spoke. "What are your gifts and what were you trying to do when the fire started?"

Conrart sighed and sat up, holding his pillow lightly in front of him. It took a few minutes, but he recounted the tale of what had happened earlier.

Herald Skif hadn't moved from where he sat perched atop his desk; Yozak, however, had moved. The redhead had gone from sitting quietly at the foot of his bed to sitting calmly by his side. The man had also somehow managed to pry the pillow out of his grasps while he explained the situation.

After a minute, Skif spoke. "That's odd; I thought fetching was the ability to transport an object - or if you're strong enough, a person – from one spot to another instantaneously. However, it sounds like you're pulling objects… so if someone with the Fetching gift is simply pulling an object towards them or pushing it away at a high velocity, how do they retrieve things from inside a building?"

For one moment Conrart was beyond confused. He'd never been able to pull anything through a wall. In his experience, if things were in the way they simply got plowed over. With a sigh, he looked up at Skif. "How is that possible?" he asked after a moment's thought.

Skif looked at him for almost a full minute, and he resisted the completely ridiculous urge to hide behind Yozak. Finally the Herald spoke. "Do me a favor, Trainee," Skif said quietly, pulling what looked like taffy out of his pocket. "Fetch this."

Conrart sighed. "Are you sure about that? I might hurt you." He replied, not really wanting to admit to it.

At Skif's nod, he closed his eyes and reached for his gift. After pulling up only the smallest thread of power, he carefully tugged at the taffy, only to have Skif close his hand the second the little candy started to move. He gave a slightly sharper tug, feeling the candy strain against the barrier of the man's fingers.

"That's enough, Trainee." Skif said after a second.

Conrart gratefully ceased his efforts to liberate the candy from the man's grasp.

Skif sighed, "How exactly are you envisioning the candy getting to you?" he asked calmly.

"Well, leaving your hand and coming to mine." He replied. It was obvious, wasn't it?

After a moment, the Herald spoke again. "I think you may be going about this the wrong way, Trainee. I don't have the Fetching Gift, but I've spoken with many who do. From what I understand, it's not the journey, it's the destination. Try envisioning the taffy simply disappearing from my hand and reappearing in yours, and let's see where that gets you."

Conrart sighed; he didn't see how that would work, but at this point he was desperate. Closing his eyes, he did as he was told, imagining the little white taffy simply appearing in his hand, and tugged with his gift. There was a soft pop, and a weight briefly smacked into his palm before skimming off and smacking him lightly in the chest.

He opened his eyes and looked down . . . the little candy had come to rest lightly in his lap. Carefully he picked it up, and gaped at it for a second in stunned disbelief before holding the little thing out to Skif. The Herald smiled and opened his now empty hand.

"Well done, Conrart," he said cheerfully. "Now practice that until what you're trying to fetch stays in your hand."

Conrart inclined his head briefly. "My thanks," he said politely.

Skif inclined his head in return. "So when did the two of you have a run in with an active Change Circle?" he asked.

Conrart glanced over at Yozak who shrugged. "What?" Yozak asked at the same time as his own "I beg your pardon?"

"Your eyes," Skif replied simply, gesturing vaguely at his eyes. "The pupils are slit like a cat's; I'm assuming you weren't born that way."

He glanced over at Yozak again; so much more than mere words passing between them before they both broke out laughing. "Actually, we were." Yozak said after he managed to get a hold of himself. What followed was a lengthy and in-depth discussion of their world and the Tribes that inhabited it.

~~~***~~~

Conrart sighed and closed his eyes; Yozak had helped him to relocate his bookcase several hours before, just prior to Herald Skif leaving the room via the window again. I'Ryn had come over shortly afterwards, and apologized for her earlier behavior. The woman had been a bit alarmed at finding them together – as she had hoped to deal with them on an individual basis.

Conrart accepted her apology readily enough, much to Yozak's amusement. The man had often teased Conrart about his apparent lack of temper. The three of them actually had a nice dinner together – and I'Ryn told them all about the year she'd spent as a journeyman bard. In return, they told her a bit of their lives, and threatened the former bard with bodily harm should any of it wind up in a ballad somewhere.

He shifted around in his bed, trying vainly to get comfortable, and dragged his pillow over his head in a futile attempt to drown out his neighbor's overzealous nocturnal activities. Finally, he got up and left his room, muttering to himself as he made his way down the hall to Yozak's room. Between his neighbors' sex life and his own nightmares it was a wonder he ever got any sleep. The light in Yozak's room was on, but he reached for his friend's mind anyway, receiving a rush of warmth and welcome in return.

He opened the door and slipped into the room, freezing slightly at the sight of Queen's Own Talia, who was seated quietly in Yozak's desk chair. With a sigh, he flopped down onto Yozak's bed beside the other man, eyes half closed with fatigue.

Yozak chuckled. "Your neighbor entertaining again?" he asked.

He groaned in response before muttering, "They're both at it tonight".

"Get some sleep then, Taisa," Yozak said sympathetically, patting his thigh lightly.

Yozak rose from his bed, and Conrart followed suit, standing quietly out of the way as Yozak turned down his covers. Conrart took a step forward, fully intending to curl up against the wall and sleep for a week, only to have Yozak swing around and scoop him up into his arms.

Before he had a chance to even protest, he was in bed with the covers pulled up around his shoulders. He glared playfully at his friend, a yawn foiling his attempt to look annoyed. Yozak just grinned in response. He closed his eyes and rolled over, listening quietly to Yozak and Talia as they discussed Yozak's gift of empathy.

He was comfortable, warm, and above all, he knew he was safe with Yozak. Despite his long cultivated instinct to never fall asleep in vulnerable situation, Yozak's presence was soothing, and before he quite knew what was happening he'd fallen asleep.

He woke slightly less than an hour later to the comforting and familiar feeling of Yozak's arms wrapping lightly around him. He closed his eyes again and shifted around until he was lying comfortably in his friend's embrace.

Briefly he wondered if they were just perhaps a little too intimate… but he fell asleep again before he could give it another thought.

~~~***~~~

Conrart sighed as he sat quietly on the riverbank where Dirk had left him a few hours ago fetching leaves, twigs and small river stones, in an effort to fine tune his newly gained control. He tried his best to ignore the Dessteir swirling around him. The little water elements were more abundant here close to the wide rushing river, and they hovered all around him. They were calling his name, frolicking in his hair, twining around his arms, flowing around his wrists and winding through his fingers like thin serpents of living water.

: Contract,: they whispered repeatedly into his mind, and he noticed the curious absence of Vanyel. It seemed – for the moment at least – his Companion had abandoned him to their mercies.

: I can't. : he replied, sadly.

He'd repeated the same thing every time he came near any body of water larger than a cup since the day he set foot in Valdemar. The little things were persistent though; in Shin Makoku, they had followed him around for as long as he could remember, but they'd never actually spoken to him…

Now he couldn't get the things to shut up!

: Contract.: The Dessteir whispered again, floating around in front of him, foiling his concentration and in general just making pests of themselves.

Finally, beyond annoyed, he snapped : Fine, I'll try it! But it's not going to work, I'm only a half-breed. :

The Dessteir seemed annoyed by the half-breed comment. : Not matter. : One of the little things whispered into his mind as it came forward, alighting on his palm. : Still elemental, we were meant to live as one, Element and Elemental. :

Conrart sighed, and closed his eyes. The Contract between Mazoku and Element was sacred, and the act of finally forging that contract was a very big event in the life of a young Mazoku. It signified the end of their childhood and the coming of adulthood. By law he technically wasn't an adult until that contract had been formed. By tradition, only those who could form an Elemental contract were allowed to bear witness to one. This meant that Nicola would never be allowed to watch her son forge his own contract, assuming that she even lived that long.

He remembered the day Wolfram had forged his contract well.

It was a mark of his own inferiority that he'd been barred from witnessing the event and locked in his rooms by Stoffel, while the rest of his family celebrated the blessed occasion. Years later when Yuri had finally forged his elemental contracts, tradition had barred him from viewing that as well—he'd spent the time doing his best to entertain a very annoyed Greta while his king and country celebrated.

Unable to do anything more than wish his beloved king and godchild well, he was forced to trust in Gwendal's ability to keep the boy safe. He'd never told Yuri that neither he nor Greta had been allowed to attend the ceremonies or the celebrations. To this day, the young king still thought he'd simply missed seeing him because he'd gone to sleep early.

The problem was now, years later, he had no idea how to go about forging a contract of his own – even if he didn't think it was going to work. Closing his eyes briefly, he reached for the little elemental with his mind. : I don't know how, : he admitted after a second, knowing that the little creature would never be able to comprehend what the admission had cost him in terms of pride.

: We show. : the little thing replied simply.

~~~***~~~

An hour later Conrart lay beside the river, his energy completely spent. He was sopping wet from his foolish attempt to prove to the little elemental beings that nothing had changed and he was just as powerless as ever. He coughed and spat water from his mouth while the elements not currently residing within him in the form of the contract itself floated happily around him… he could have sworn they were laughing at him!

Idly, he wondered whether he'd swallowed a fish, when the river rose up in a wave and glomped him.

That was the last time he ever gestured wildly around a body of water!

He moaned and attempted to get up, only to have his knees buckle underneath him. Utterly exhausted he simply lay there, feeling curiously as if he was floating, cradled in the still waters of a calm lake. He shifted around and closed his eyes, wishing the day was warmer. He'd rest for a moment, before calling out to Vanyel and making his way back to the Collegium and his dorm.

He didn't expect to fall asleep.

He woke to a soft velvety nose shoving his shoulder; it was a lot harder than it should have been to open his eyes. He blinked up at Vanyel; he was cold despite the fact that the stallion was curled up around him like he was a foal. He shivered slightly, noting the setting sun, and the pounding headache behind his eyes. He also noticed that it was a lot brighter in the shadows of the little grotto than it should have been.

: You need to get up now, Chosen. If you stay out here much longer you'll catch cold. : Vanyel told him quietly.

He whimpered at the quiet voice in his mind, Shinou that hurt. He rose shakily to his feet only to have his knees buckle again; he grabbed wildly for Vanyel's mane. His fingers snagged hair and the Companion lowered them both to the ground.

Vanyel sighed. : You overused your gift with that stunt with the river. I'm not surprised you're tired. Incidentally, Jissa tells me Yozak managed to put himself in a similar situation not too long ago. You'll be happy to know that the healers have given him a clean bill of health and ordered him to bed early. He'll be fine in the morning. But then again, he didn't attempt to flood the surrounding area. :

: Um sorry…: Conrart muttered in response.

The Companion nickered softly at that. : You have nothing to apologize for, Chosen. It was an accident, and I can assure we've all had our fair share of them. I know of a young herald mage who moved the palace foundations about an inch to the left as the result of a nightmare. :

The distinctive noise of hooves sloshing through mud met his ears and he glanced up, noting that the mare now standing near him was mud-spattered up to her knees. Kerowyn swung down off her Companion, and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Do I even want to know, dæmonling?" she asked.

He laughed weakly at that.

She knelt in the mud beside him, pulling his arm over her shoulder, and wrapped one of her own around his waist. Carefully she helped him to his feet, and he leaned against her, trying desperately not to fall over. Vanyel rose up until he was in the equine equivalent of a bow. Kerowyn steadied him carefully while she helped him to mount. As soon as he was situated, Vanyel rose gracefully to his hooves and waited. Kerowyn swung up onto Sayvil, and together they made the long trek back to the Collegium.

To his utter humiliation, after getting him to his room, Kerowyn proceeded to strip him with a brisk efficiency any military officer would have coveted, and got him tucked into bed with the covers up to his chin before he could finish protesting the indecency of the incident. With that done, she stepped aside and let a very amused Healer Dolan dose him with something foul tasting.

His head cleared, but he was asleep again before he could fully appreciate that fact.

~~~***~~~

A.N. Okay so there you have it another chapter, and both Conrart and Yozak have their Contracts. And don't worry you will be seeing a lot more of the companions. They are after all an important part of a herald's being. Any way read and review please. I'm trapped in suburbia and it's driving me bonkers. So please read and review it makes my day.