Seto was doing his best to try to help Mokuba remember what to tell and not to tell when asked. It was going easier than he expected it to as he tried to keep as many facts as he could.

"Now again what do you tell him when he asks how we met?"

"I f-found you and y-you w-were hurt and I w-was l-living in my cave and t-took care of you there. I r-ran away from my s-step m-mothers house b-because t-they w-were m-mean to me. I-is that right, Seto? Why are w-we lying?"

Seto should have known he'd ask that. "Well you see kiddo, technically what I did could be considered kidnapping and I'm sure Mahaado is anxious to throw that in my face and cause trouble."

Mokuba cocked his head and he understood about half that.

Seto saw the look, "What?"

Not wanting to admit he didn't really understand what was said he shook his head.

Seto by now had learned to read the boy's expression over what he actually said or did. "I'm not upset. I don't want you to be afraid to ask me something. If you have a question or don't understand what me or someone else has said or done I don't want you to be afraid to come to me and ask me. I'm sure there are a few questions like what Noah was really doing that I might not want to answer. But knowing you have to get the answers from other people because I stubbornly refused to tell you hurts. I'm not blaming you for it. It's the natural curiosity of a child."

'Especially one like you that has seen little of the real world, always locked in your own.'

"R-really?"

"Yes, I can't promise you that I can or will be able to answer all your questions. But I can promise that I will try harder to at least give you some kind of an answer or find a way to get you an answer."

At that Mokuba smiled and hugged him tight. 'Seto's so nice. He didn't lie and say he knew everything like my stepmother did.'

Almost as if Seto had heard Mokuba's mentioning of his stepmother, Seto said, "Unlike your stepmother who didn't want to know you were around, I do want to know you're around. I love you so much. I want nothing more than for you to be happy."

"Th-thank you Seto!"

"Now I don't normally approve of lying, but this is what is called a white lie. Don't ask why it's called that, it just is. It's something told when you just don't want to hurt someone's feelings. It's also for like cases like this, where it's none of the other person's business what the truth is. But there's no other way to get around it. Mahaado is determined to get the truth one way or the other. I'd rather us lie to him and give him an answer than to have him ask other people and no telling what they will tell him. It could be the truth or it could be what they heard through rumors and those rumors could exaggerate and be totally wrong and make it seem like I'm a monster or something."

Mokuba giggled, though he didn't understand all of what Seto said he got enough out of it to understand. He figured it meant that if he screwed up and said the wrong thing Mahaado might force him to go back to his stepmothers and he didn't want that.

"Seto, what does kidnapping mean?"

Seto sighed, it seemed he would have to go back and explain what he had just explained!

x-x-x-x-x-x-xx-x-x-x

Yami meanwhile found Yugi organizing things.

"I'd have thought you'd have had it all organized by now."

"Oh I did, but then Master Dartz has been kind enough to send Krystyn with copies he made of his spell books and scrolls. She told me that he'd been working on magically copying them all just for us to use. She said he specifically asked me to be sure that you had the chance to read them. Well since the spells are all in magical scrolls and even Krystyn said that his magic may be great but she couldn't guarantee with it being magically copied that it'd last forever. So I know that scrolls are more troublesome for you especially when you're forced to travel. So I thought I'd just copy all the scrolls by hand and put them into books, one for you and one for me."

"Isn't that a bit much Yugi?"

"Yeah, but it'll be worth it in the end. I'll have the spells memorized. And it'll save you the trouble of having to worry about and keep up with scrolls."

At that Yami laughed, "I get it, I get it. It's alright. I understand, you don't want anymore scrolls returned damaged in some way. I always take good care of them but sometimes…"

"Oh it's all right." Yugi quickly corrected not wanting Yami to think he was upset about the few that were torn up. Sure he was angry at the time, but he knew Yami didn't do it intentionally. He was just glad Yami wasn't angry with him for mentioning it. He dug around his desk and came up with a big spell book. "I found these books at a magic shop on the way back from Master Dartz place. They were magic books but they were blank, they were according to the man at the shop made specifically for magic users to safely place their spells in. I'm still stunned that after everything that happened in the battle with Pandora that Master Dartz invited me to train with him!"

Yami laughed, "It's more likely he wants you as my replacement. You see he's angry that I keep turning him down about going to stay and train there and live there permanently. He can't understand that I want to be here, with and for Seto and now more importantly to see Mokuba and Maura grow up."

"Well he hasn't asked me yet and though it might be nice to stay and train, I'm not sure I'm ready to just pack up and move there permanently."

"I think he would have but Krystyn knows not everyone can pick up and move. I'm guessing Dartz was the kind of person who had few friends and for some reason no feelings when it comes to things like responsibility and family. He feels that learning magic and taking over for him are the most important and the only important thing in this world. I never understood how Krystyn put up with him all these years."

"Yeah, I noticed that too. Well here I bought a bunch of small magical spell books and have a lot of the scrolls copied."

Yami flipped through them, "Yugi you didn't do all these by hand did you?"

"Yeah, they're not bad are they? You can read them, can't you?"

"No, there's nothing wrong with the writing itself," At that Yugi sighed with relief, "Yugi there are six books here all written out. This must have taken you months!"

"I'm a fast writer. It was good exercise for my brain really. I thought about casting a copy spell but since that's the reason I'm having to copy it I was a bit afraid to do that. Most of the spells are short so it wasn't that hard. I alternated the colors between blue and black and used red to mark a line between spells. Um, would you mind if I borrowed the spell book the king got you for Christmas? I'd like to copy it."

"After all you've done for me in the past, plus helping Mokuba out and now all of this, how could I refuse! I'll see about sending Mokuba or someone down with it tonight."

"Thanks, oh I forgot to ask why you were here. We got sidetracked a little."

"Oh I almost forgot myself. You know about the blizzard raging outside now, right?"

"Yes, I've heard it's getting worse by the minute."

"Well we want to try to shield the castle from it as best as we can. Not just for our safety but the safety of everyone in the castle. Ideally I'd love to protect the whole country or at least the whole town. But I know that's not going to happen. Even combined it'd be too much trouble to really do. But another reason is we're planning a New Years party and we're afraid that the storm might interfere with it. Plus I can tell Mahaado is itching to show off. But the problem I fear is that once he leaves the spell would go with him and who knows what damage the storm suddenly being released from a shield might cause!"

"I can understand that. Well I can't right this moment, if we're going to do this I'll need to look for a spell or find a way to contact Master Dartz and see what spell he suggests. In the meantime here's a spell that will open a special doorway to a magical world. In that world there are glowing rocks. These rocks can retain a great deal of power. If we can get a lot of these rocks and cast a spell on them and then bury them around the castle wall it will create a barrier to keep the storm out. This way it won't strain us trying to keep the barrier up. I don't really know a lot other than these rocks are made to hold, retain and strengthen any spell placed upon them."

"Thanks, Yugi, I'll go study this and let you know when I have the rocks."