Party Time chapter 3

A swirl of colors was what met Haesh's mind-eyes, when the five of them were joined up. Mirage was most closely situated beside Lam, Juvon closest to Haesh. Vionn was somewhere in the middle, and provided a link.
When that link solidified, Haesh's mind went blank for a moment. Then all the colors in the world, all the scents and memories, everything that they'd all seen and been thinking for the past few minutes came clearly into the man's head. Then nothing.
He was alone with Lam, in this her mind. A tunnel vision framed by three telepathic minds, them at both ends of it, and either open to the other's.
She ran over the images, she'd obviously been doing this fortelling bit for many years, and had had to make sense of it from the start. Practice, she recalled in his mind. Practice makes everything easier to take.
A strange sadness went through their mind, but Haesh left it alone and concentrated on this image he was seeing with Lam's third eye. A white room, large with a high ceiling and a low step surrounding the middle of it. The window was on the west wall, the sunlight was coming almost directly in, meaning it was still day but barely, wherever it was that Mihr was. Then -- fragmented feelings of fear, surprise, anger, and a very odd wash of elation and hunger, arousal and then blackness. Mihr moved out of the picture without ever being in it. She was a pretty girl, Haesh thought, tiny and slender, all shades of yellow and pale orange. There were people around her, large people, but there was a strange field around them, so he couldn't see them in detail.
Then he caught sight of this vase Lam was talking about. It was on a small glass and metal table, true, and it did have a large dried flower in it. But what he was amazed by, was that he could sense it, even through Lam's mind and memories!
A flow of power, he reached out to 'touch' it in her mind. He didn't have to, proximity was all that really mattered to his power, but --
Maybe not. When his spirit-hand met the smooth surface of this vase, it told him volumes. Thick porcelian like this was made only in the rough lands of Stetil. It was made by the hands of a Slave and sold by a FreeWorker, to someone who then took it and put it on that table...
That table provided far more information than the vase. Haesh shook out of the vision.
"She was in Kelen, there's a medical office she shares with a number of others, it's a health clinic, not a Breeding office."
"That's the way," Juvon said, finally able to make sense of Lam's confusing mindscape. "We're going."
The mental contact faded, with this knowledge finally passed. The five shook off their hands, and mentally did so with their thoughts, in as much as only three of them could.
"Not so fast," Mirage said. "If we can't stop her from being kidnapped, it won't do us any good to go there. What did you see before, Lam, with him?"
"I think the machines he was using would be available anywhere for Breeders," Lam said. "And I would be hesitant to use this new ability on people rather than objects."
Osh looked from her to his brother. "Why?"
"Because I don't know how this all looks, when I see something. I mean, from the other side of it."
He pondered briefly. "There was something," he said. "A sensation I'd never felt before. Like I was being seen." He paused, "unless that was just you doing something," he said to Mirage.
"You'd know the difference, I only looked at you superficially," she said.
Lam nodded. "That would be my vision, then, I suspect. I don't want to make them aware of us."
"Then we still need to figure out where he is," Vionn said. "Look, I think we can narrow it down. It won't be at a gambling house, or the Bond agency, or the Steed boarding locales, those are way too public."
"So one of the mansions or the homestead?" Kenya said, looking over the list and enlarging the images of those most in question. With each press of her finger on the screen, the larger of the mansions grew in detail.
"Perhaps we could ask Aeroch what he heard," Lam said, her fingers pushed into her chin.
Vanya reacted oddly to that, but perhaps Haesh thought he was just being --
He wasn't just being crazy. Amaranth was Aeroch's daughter with Mirage, this was a well-known fact. Ten was her undisclosed brother.
And he was pretty sure that that tail had to come from somewhere -- that somewhere wasn't Mirage.
Haesh got a strange sick sensation in his gut, but didn't share his revelation with anyone.
Vanya looked at him, sighed, seemed to know what Haesh had guessed, and leaned against a wall. "He's probably settling down to watch this wretched race of yours, Mirage. You could call him."
"I ought to call him more often, my love," she said, "after all he was my husband for seven years."
"Lucky man," Vanya said, quietly. But Mirage seemed less interested in playing games.
"Luck had nothing to do with it, he was perfect." She paused. "And he was the perfect gentleman, he didn't ever refer to my affliction as heat."
The BreedMaster winced at that, looked away, and said nothing more. Haesh moved his head slightly, waited for Vanya to be watching him as he knew those bright blue eyes would.
He then mouthed the words, if he's so perfect, why isn't she still with him? And waited for the response.
It was for the tall Breeder to smile widely and privately, a small victory over a social disaster.
Haesh suddenly worried that he was getting dangerously close to liking this man.
Mirage had moved to the console and started summoning lines to her former lover's home. One of them, presumably, would have him there. She dialed three times, one for each of the places she had used to haunt with him, and the fourth offered his pleasant face.
"Mirage," he said, "what a wonderful ... something's wrong, what is it?"
"Amazing," Osh said, closer to his brother now. "He can read her pretty well."
Aeroch was a dusty blue color, with a dilute shade of black hair pulled back into a ribboned tie behind his head, and sea-blue eyes, narrow when he looked over Mirage's beautiful shoulder at the others in the room with her. Haesh had to bite his tongue.
Ten was clearly his father's son. More heart-shape to that boy's face, eyes larger, but otherwise they were obviously the same stock. The boy could be just a pale vat-grown clone, for all he knew.
"Well," Aeroch said, placing his chin onto his hand. He had very long, dark blue nails, claws really, on those fingers. "I'm only empathic dear, I can't read your mind over the viewer."
Mirage finally was able to say what the matter was, it seemed to the others that she too was unable to formulate the right words upon seeing him. While she was hesitant to say it, she did tell him what their problem was, and his immediate response was a distasteful grimace and uncomfortable squirming.
"That disgusting ex Breeder has a way of making everyone's lives miserable. I know this much: while I was overseeing the land purchase in Skein, there were hidden people talking. You and I heard them, already, Lam," he spoke over Mirage's shoulder and Lam acknowledged it. "But I did hear other things. There were at least four other Breeders there, and one of them had had a strange request for supplies. I don't know what kind they were, that isn't my field. But it did occur to this Breeder that whoever was asking wasn't the right kind of person to be doing so. I could ask her, if you like."
"I don't know, Aeroch," Mirage said, quietly. "I'd like this to stay in our circle, for the time being."
"Are you sure? If it's about the exile, it's important."
"Is she friendly?"
Aeroch paused, and the others began to get uncomfortable. Vanya, Darkhanis and Lam in particular. Finally, Aeroch nodded. "I believe she can be made that way. Or made to understand the situation."
"Or made to forget it," Mirage muttered. Darkhanis raised that eyebrow of his, again, and huddled in closer to the woman.
"But that wouldn't be possible at a distance, young man," he said, smiling. Young? Hardly, but most everyone beyond Osh and his friends knew that he was also a product of Darkhanis Paveh's Breeding labs. As was Mirage. Of course they were perfect. And perfect with one another.
"Perhaps that won't be necessary," Aeroch said. "Look, where this deals with my angle, I can make it certain that all parties remain quiet. It's Lady Breeder Boschka. I know you don't get along with her but --"
"But she's one of mine," Darkhanis announced. "She'll keep quiet for us."
"I'll have her contact you," Aeroch said, "perhaps that would be best, if she knew that I was in on this."
"Are you?" Mirage asked, and he looked back at her. There was the clear strong love in his eyes, and the smile which echoed it. Of course he was still in love with her.
Everyone was still in love with Mirage. She could be exiled, and everyone would still be in love with her.
"Naturally," Aeroch said. "If you need me, I'll be available for you."
"You always are," Mirage sweetly said.
They made a minute of small talk, somewhat to the distress of those present, but finally Aeroch looked over Mirage's shoulder with his camera view again, and nodded. "You've picked up a few new faces, haven't you?"
"They're going to be very helpful," she said. "In fact Master Haesh has already done so. You'll get along with him, I think."
"I'll be getting on the line with Boschka," Aeroch finally said. The look on his eyes was very slightly accusatory when they fell to Vanya's, Haesh was apt to notice this now, more than ever.
The communication line went black, and Mirage indicated they should all get more comfortable in the nearest room while they waited for this other Breeder to call them.
"It's a good thing this all won't happen until later on," Bepa said, "I'd be worried we don't have time to do this."
"Perhaps not much time," Lam said, taking the girl's hand. "But we do, in fact, have a little. Come and tell me about your Raising. I heard you were tested recently."
Bepa and Kyoh and Lam went to the next room and onto one of the low leather couches found there, others went to their favored groups and corners. As the large group filed out, Haesh felt cool fingers on his shoulder and neck. Momentarily shocked, he stood quite still.
"Say nothing," Vanya said, a whisper into the small man's ear. It was no command, it was a plea.
Haesh met the blue eyes which were too close to his own for his comfort, and said honestly, "I wasn't going to. You needn't worry, BreedMaster."
Vanya straightened, leaned against the doorway.
"He knows," Haesh said, of Aeroch, indicating the dark screen behind him. Vanya nodded. "How could he not know? I don't understand."
"He knows that his contribution to my collection has been used. He knows that if he ever wants me to do anything for him again, he'll probably use this against me. Use Ten, I mean."
"Ten is a Slave, isn't he?"
"Yes, mine."
"And this Aeroch, he's--"
"A High Holder, like Mirage."
"Then who could the boy's--"
"He doesn't have a mother, Haesh Chanay," Vanya hissed. "I grew him for my own use. He has another father in my collection."
Haesh stood mutely, wondering if he ought to ask. "It wasn't him that you and Amaranth were speaking of, then, before."
"It wasn't." Vanya was about to say something more, when Haesh held up his thick hand and waved it.
"Don't say anything more, Vanya, it's all right. I don't think I should know any of this. The less I hear the less confused I'll be."
"Whatever you say, Master Chanay, whatever." Vanya motioned his long arm through the doorway and indicated the hall, and the other room which was situated almost directly opposite theirs.
They milled with the rest, waiting for the chime back in the communication room. Juvon passed them, and Vanya asked him quietly what his 'range' was.
"You've seen it," Juvon said. "Half a fucking continent, Sengihr. No less than that."
"But I've also seen you become a complete basket case at that distance, Juvon," Vanya said. "And speaking of basket cases, I don't believe how quickly I've volunteered to go on this outing. You know how well I travel."
"Not," Juvon laughed. "That was great work, Haesh," he turned his attention onto the younger Chanay. "Your brother dances with his body and you do it with your mind. Got another brother? Maybe you could take this act on the road."
"You've been hanging out with those musicians too much," Vanya said. "My son is as well, isn't he?"
"Marten is working hard on their studio. They've got him lugging their equipment around."
"Then he might have to kill whoever sabotaged that speaker, eh?"
"I love them, they love me." Juvon winked, it couldn't have been he who would have broken it, it would only have been bad luck. "Who wouldn't love me?"
"Your sister perhaps?" Vanya suggested.
"Strawberry wine," Juvon reminded him.
Haesh was inclined to agree.

When the call came, it was Kenya who answered it. She watched the Breeder on the other end of the line ask for Mirage, and waited rather impatiently for the request to be carried out.
Kenya was close to outraged, but then Boschka and she also didn't much get along -- the Breeder knew her from her Slave days, and paid little attention to the fact that she'd been Raised years ago. Mirage went to explain, while the others listened in with the practiced ears of High Holders and intrigue-ridden underlings.
When all was said, Boschka came through for them with a statement that she had heard at another -- undisclosed -- location. That the requests for these machines and chemicals were being routed into the peaks of Ka, somewhere it was difficult to move them into and out of. Boschka's unnamed source had told her that the machines had already sustained one break and had to be replaced along the way, and whoever was funding this Breeder was certainly rich enough to afford decent transportation if they were willing to replace the whole machine instead of having it fixed on site which would be the normal option.
Boschka and Darkhanis exchanged words of a short Breeder's nature, after Mirage thanked the woman and went back into the other waiting room. From what Haesh and his brother could see (they were both hovering closest to the doorway of the waiting room and peering at the flat screens with difficulty) Boschka was a pretty white skinned and green-yellow haired woman, with what appeared to be an attitude a continent wide. Her expression betrayed her distaste at being called in on this whole event, but both brothers assumed correctly that it was only because her own Breeder was there -- and that her contact for this all was Aeroch, a judge known for his ferocity and completeness.
She'd remain quiet, as long as she remained cowed by those facts.
And given Darkhanis' formidable charm, that could be a while.
Haesh and his brother huddled together and spoke quietly.
"I cannot believe all this," Osh said. "It's amazing."
"Isn't it? Just wait, I think it gets better."
They sighed, as they would normally do.
"Okay," Osh said, grinning. "Who's had the better night so far?"
"I think that would be me, Osh," Haesh said, licking his dark lips. "For the fact that I've tasted that strawberry wine and cat fur that Juvon has mentioned. And you have been in the presence of her mother and not once told me what she tastes of."
He almost got hit, at that, but Osh broke his scowl and laughed loudly. They were summoned to the middle of the room, soon, where they helped gather the couches into a sort of square, to talk and plan more formally.
"That large mansion in Emer," Vionn said, holding up a printed paper with the locale and the legal description of the Hold which he'd made in the meantime. "It's the only one in the Ka mountains. And Healer Mihr's clinic you found, it's in Kelen, down on the coast."
"Then Emer is where this breeder is being set up," Darkhanis spat.
"Paveh," Vionn said, casually leaning on the edge of the couch nearest him, he was seated on the floor, "what exactly is your stake in this? I mean, you've got all your own projects, why mess with --"
"Because Mihr is one of mine," he said, "and honestly if he hadn't gotten to it first, Vanya would have been as well. We were competing before he became exiled."
"I'm one of the exile's first," Lam said, the words coming out like broken glass from a bad cut.
"That's news to me," Kenya said. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Dearest, it shouldn't mean anything," Lam said, but her tone was sad and she knew it.
"It means some of us have much more in common than we thought," Vanya said. "I didn't know either, Lam. Did he consider you a success?"
There were strangled gasps from most present, but Lam was not producing one. She sighed.
"I don't know, honestly. He was busy with others by the time I knew better. I was old enough to have been in my Degree training when he started working on you. With you," she said and offered him a soft look, "he was obsessed."
"I am well aware of how he was with me," Vanya said, hard. "You obviously got out easily. You would be much more worried if you knew. It makes me sick thinking what he might do to Mihr."
"It gives you a break from thinking about what he'd do to you, my Master," Ten said, appearing at the doorway and startling all but Vanya. "The music was getting too noisy, and I couldn't find you upstairs."
It occurred to Haesh that the boy wasn't going to even ask if he'd interrupted anything important. It was clear that he took after whoever it was that his parents really were. The boy moved gently to Vanya's side, knelt on the floor beside the couch, and they spoke without words.
"We know where to go," Vionn said, uncomfortable suddenly with the mental air in the room. "We know it's got to happen soon, if Lam's vision is the way it usually is."
"It was going to be at around sundown," Haesh put in, and Lam nodded. "And if that clinic is where she's being taken from..."
"It'll be a few hours before sunset tomorrow, and the flight time from Kelen to Emer isn't very long," Osh said. "Shall I get a hoverjet ready?"
"Do it," Mirage said.
He moved immediately into the communication room, feeling rather full of himself. He leaned back, punching in his office's codes. "How many are coming on this, I'll need to know what size jet to charter."
Mirage looked again at each one present. Her eyes dwelled on her son first, again, who nodded and moved to the doorway. Darkhanis went with him, as did Vionn. Mirage looked at Vanya and Ten, sighed, and said, "it would be best if you kept him close to you, Vanya."
"I know that," he said.
"I wouldn't leave you," Ten promised, and Haesh didn't like the way he said it.
"Kenya, you stay with Lam, and you'll both be staying here," Mirage said.
"Are you going?" Vionn asked, and Mirage shook her head.
"I have a party to run, I'm afraid. I would be missed."
"What about us?" Bepa asked.
Mirage looked the Animal Master up and down, a strange thrill moved through the woman's body and mind as she did so. Kyoh was next, and Osh had already had this experience (he ordered up a jet to be ready for transport to Emer, seating twelve at the most, figuring that would just cover it and to the sea with extra seats and complaining pilots). Haesh wondered why Mirage started back the way she did, when she gave him this treatment.
"You're rather talented, young man, whyever did you go into Bonding? You could have -- still could -- do almost anything with those powers."
"I already told him that," Vanya said, smiling, but Ten nudged him gently and he looked away.
"Mirage," Darkhanis said, "might I suggest telling them what they are? Clearly they haven't had their genes explained to them properly. I'll get on their Breeder about it."
"You ought to know," Mirage said, as she walked closer to the four newcomers, "that what I know about and do with your powers, might frighten you at first. I can sense them, and even though I'm no Breeder I can identify certain things. High Breeder Paveh here has taught me how to do it, we've discovered quite a few things about people this way. You've got to be relaxed, and sure of yourself when I look."
She took Kyoh's large hands in her own delicate ones, first. "Oh, Haesh, Lam, remember that strange presence around Mihr's attackers?" It was a wavering of heat-haze, it seemed to Haesh. "This boy can do something similar, it was a field, impenatrable. I believe it will be your strongest power. And I also believe that it's nearly ready to show itself. You're very young, aren't you?"
"I'll be twenty next summer," he said, looking down. He more than anything wanted to gaze into those beautiful violet eyes, but his training as a Bayaran told him that to do so was to challenge her superiority. She moved his face to look at her anyway. She was slightly taller than he, but he was clearly stronger than she.
"There is something like Vionn's ability with machines... No, it's metals. That would take some explaining, so I'll move on." She spoke and Kyoh was in a daze. "You should be able to float things, levitating them. Something else, Darkhanis will have to figure it out. It's a physical thing, I'm not good at those. It's an innate ability, how you're made or some such. Possibly your bones or joints."
"I've always been flexible," Kyoh said, and Mirage grinned at him with slightly more than a HighMistress' professional courtesy. "Thank you, HighMistress," he stammered, but Mirage smiled at him with the glorious loving lips that graced many a magazine cover and advertisement.
"It's nothing unless it's useful," she reminded him. "Think hard about what I've said. The others might have already been able to use things at their disposal, but you've obviously got some practice ahead before you'll get the hang of yours. But don't worry. We'll have a trial by fire soon enough."
How pleasant she made it sound, Kyoh thought to himself as she moved to Bepa.
"You've got the empathy with Steeds," Mirage started, and Bepa smiled widely.
"I can change small things into other things, too, HighMistress, alchemy, they called it in my youth," she said. "And like Haesh there I can figure where things have been and what they've been through by touching them."
"It isn't as advanced as his psychometry," Mirage said, "but still useful. And have you tried changing your colors, yet, dear? Why not ask Darkhanis about that?" Mirage flickered her gaze at the Breeder, who harrumphed and took the laughter from the older people in attendance. "That may in fact be very useful, once you learn to control it."
"Disguise isn't my strongest suit," Bepa said. "I like being seen as who I am."
"I like being seen as whoever I want people to see me as," Darkhanis said, and when she looked at him, he'd changed even his height and girth to a portly looking red-skinned man, braided brown-rust hair falling in unimpressive plaits to his shoulders. "And yes, it's quite all right to stare, young woman. It's--"
"It's the attention he loves to get and doesn't like to admit to," Vanya said, and rolled his head with a small jibing punishment from Ten. Or it could very well have been from the shapeshifting Breeder himself, Haesh wondered if he would ever know enough about Darkhanis to really judge.
Osh came into the room and back under Mirage's scrutiny again, and she again deferred to Darkhanis' wisdom regarding his innate physical abilities. "Your main abilities seem to lie in your health and longevity," she pointed out. "But also you could learn to control your own size. Not like that, Vanya, just shut up. Ten, do something."
"How about Haesh doing something," Vanya said, laughing. "I swear, Mirage, I said nothing."
"His horns are much larger than his brother's," Juvon said, and Osh bit his lip, tapped his fingers against his thighs, and waited for this embarrassment to be over and done with. Size, he thought. Definitely counts.
With this crowd, he thought, of course it counts.
"I can also predict the weather," he put in, finally. "The storm here isn't going to last very long, it is heavy and dark but it's not got enough power to last the night. It'll give the riders and their steeds something to think about, though."
Mirage drew her fingers across Osh's jaws before releasing his face: he hadn't even realized that she'd been doing it again, this holding on to him. He flickered his eyebrows at his brother, thinking that there wasn't anything better than this, even prefunctory, touch.
Haesh bowed his head a little when Mirage came to his side, and he simply said, "I've been given a talent of knowing objects, everybody knows that now. And that I can speak to animals pretty well, that too is known by my friends at least. Amaranth and I were discussing the one we have in common, this astral ability." He turned and looked at Vanya who still sat roguishly draped into the corner of a seat, and with Ten at his side to provide elegant contrast. "I've been told that I can harm people with a power, but I wonder if I ought to allow this to be used at all, if I can't control it yet."
"And that you've got the ability, as I do," Darkhanis said, "to remove yourself from people's memories." He'd gone back to his normal, stunningly handsome, appearance.
"Is that how you do it, Darkhanis, or are you that dull?" Vanya said, and this time Ten didn't bother to mentally do anything: he smacked his Master across the back of the head, perfectly timed so that when everyone had turned to see if Darkhanis was going to respond to this insult they wouldn't be watching him. Haesh saw it, and Juvon, and both of them knew it was a joke anyway.
"No, Vanya, I must remove it lest I be followed by masses of worshippers, bent on basking in my veritable godlike presence," Darkhanis announced broadly, and while everyone was laughing, Vanya clapped slowly, watching his rival with eyes suddenly (and Haesh thought, crazily) mirthful.
Mirage ahemed, and looked deeply into Haesh's powers. How she did this was known only to her and her Breeder, but there were others with this ability. If she weren't already a successful photographer and model, and High Holder herself, Mirage would have been the perfect Breeder with it.
She assisted those she liked, constantly.
"There is a visual ability," she said, "you could talk to Vionn about that one, I believe it would work with pictures on a screen better than on paper." Intrigued, Haesh wondered if he could get a deeper explanation of this later on. He counted on it. "You can survive in high pressure areas, have you ever been to the Low Desert, in Le'ret?"
"I'm afraid I haven't," he admitted.
"It's a dismal place, perfect for those photo shoots where there can't be anything but yellow sand, but Lords the place is hot and disgusting. Anyway," Mirage shook from the image, and smiled to herself. "The climate there is a strange pressure-cooker of a place, you'd do just fine there. And perhaps going along with that, you seem a little... Out of focus. Oh, how to explain it?"
"I can't expect you to memorize the whole mutation chart, Mirage," Darkhanis said. "Out of focus, you mean in what sense?"
"He's blurry around the edges," she said simply.
"Density. If you concentrate, you may be able to move ... through things," the Breeder said, with some amount of hesitation. He cast about the room, found what he was looking for, and picked up a piece of parchment. With expert hands and knowing eyes, he held it up before Haesh. "I want you to relax, Master Chanay. You don't have to concentrate very hard to do this, I suspect you'll find yourself concentrating not to, soon enough. Place your hand here, on the paper." He did so, his hoof hand on display like this -- how hard it was to stand there, under the eyes of everyone in the room, and Haesh desperately attempted not to wipe their minds of him right then and there.
"Close your eyes," the Breeder suggested, and Haesh obeyed. "Now, do you feel the paper?"
"It's milled in Cla," he replied, and Darkhanis nearly laughed.
"I don't mean feel it that way, boy. Just touch it."
"That's hard."
"For anyone else," Osh muttered to Kyoh.
"Relax." Darkhanis muttered words of encouragement to the Membayar, and to the rest of the people in the room his hand suddenly appeared to have situated itself in the paper held in the Breeder's hand. "That's it. Carefully, open your eyes and remain calm. Ten, you might be of some assistance here."
When Haesh did finally move his eyes open, he was immesurably glad that the gene-spliced boy was there with them. He had to fight with his own response to panic, when he saw that his hand had really stopped being in contact with the paper. With Ten's careful and artful commands, Haesh's tight throat loosened and his breathing went back to normal.
Haesh told the group that he could feel the paper, in the middle of his palm. Finally, more at ease with it naturally because it was in fact a part of him now, he asked Ten to remove his influence and let him get the hang of this by himself.
He would spend most of the night with that piece of paper stuck in his hand painlessly, he was far more amused with himself when he couldn't get it off him, than when he could.
"So we're ready," Osh said, "are we? The jet should be fuled and powered, are we really doing this?"
"Excited?" Juvon said, darkly and with a fang-bearing smile.
"In fact, yes," Osh replied. "Really, breaking and entering into a High Holder's mansion to expose an exiled Breeder seems like the very thing I'd been expecting to do at this party."
"Who all is with us, then, Mirage?" Darkhanis asked, and she offered them a head count.
"You, Vanya and Ten," she said, "Vionn and Juvon, the Chanays and their Bayaran Kyoh, and Bepa. That's all you'd be able to get into a place without attracting more attention than normal, Darkhanis."
"We need a map of the place, if there is one," Osh said.
"That's possible once we get there," Vionn said. "I can get it from their security -- which if Zerrik's doing this he'd damn well better have a security system on."
"Will you be able to disable it?" Kenya asked, "I wish you'd tell me to go with them, Mirage."
"I need you here," Lam said, looking away. "You've been such a tremendous help so far. We shall keep an eye on them, shan't we?" She winked, and Osh approached her.
With a deep (and emminently careful) bow, he took the woman's hand and kissed it. "I want to apologize for any embarrassment I've caused you my Lady," he said, surprising his brother and their friends. "For I admit that when I first saw you performing your power, I was shocked and your wonderful friend HighMistress Mirage gave me the valuable lesson in politeness I needed. I would be honored if your visions included me in the future."
He rose and turned, smiling smugly to himself and his brother. The rest of the group could do nothing but follow him outside to the carriages waiting their transport to the airfield. They muttered at each other, but said nothing to his face.
Kenya Dahash sat carefully beside her mentor as Mirage joined her friends, and they giggled the night away, after that.

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