Welcome to Gaia! ::

Being mind-quiet was very different. It had startled almost everyone, whether they could feel the stillness of himself or not; Merlyn sort of thought that might be because he didn't need to be quite as loud anymore. When the world wasn't leaking over into his SELF, he didn't need to mark his boundaries with yelling outward.

He felt balanced, like he was when he climbed or ran; lightly poised within himself, like the feeling of perfect equilibrium that sometimes came when he practiced with staves. There was no easy way to put the feeling into words. English didn't have the vocabulary for it. Neither did the bit of Old High Dream that Dad had taught him. It was a peaceful feeling, a fullness and sleek sense of inner containment. He liked it.

Miz Leila had indeed been startled. She had studied his new state carefully, and then started him on lessons two levels up from the ones he had been studying. Reverie had told him, wordlessly, that he had an odd mental accent. That was not really any kind of surprise. Vati and Blue had been a little unsettled by Merlyn's sudden quiet, as had their parents. But everyone had gotten used to it.

He still couldn't read very well with his eyes open, and there were few books that had the depth of sensory presence that the books in the Library held. If he looked, he could see-feel the faint glow of attachment, but mostly it wasn't present enough to allow him to read what lay within. The journals in Dad's study glowed fiercely, and Merlyn thought he could probably read them. But that would be an invasion, and he had come to respect and prize the need for privacy. In spite of his curiosity, he left the journals alone.

He had found Teratus and K'tah roosting on the headboard of his bed several mornings in a row, watching silently over him, their demeanor thoughtful. Both the Dream and the Nightmare refused to tell him why they were there, but he found their presence comforting.

[main thread RP with Kaioto_Katsuma, transcribed]

Screek, whoosh. Screek, whoosh. Screek, woosh.

With a final pump of her legs, a certain winged little girl launches herself from the swing and is propelled through the air. Her grin stretches from ear to ear as the wind whips her face before THWOOMP - she comes back down to earth, sand exploding around her feet.

She lets loose an excited whoop of delight. Who said she couldn't fly?


Merlyn applauded and shouted, "Bravo, bravo!" It had been a good jump, after all.

Akasha sighed softly and settled down under a tree, winding herself in her nest of tails and watching her young charge.


Taking a step from her perfect (If you ask her) dismount, Kiana whips her head around to the source of the applause. Solaris was off captaining the jungle gym (Oops, sorry... magnificent pirate ship) and Therlia was quietly keeping an eye on the two of them from a nearby bench. So who...?

Oh! A boy, around her age! She smiles and sweeps into a bow, then back up again. "Thank you, thank you!" she exclaims dramatically.


"Do you do daily performances, or was I just lucky?" Merlyn hopped down into the play area and made his way over to the swingset. Blue was studying, Reverie was off at class and probably wouldn't be home till late, and Inua and Vati had gone off somewhere. He'd been bored, and uninclined to do his homework, so he'd come out to the park instead.

Akasha angled her ears towards the woman watching the girl. A caretaker, probably. She rose and made her way over to the bench, settling nearby with a companionable and long-suffering sigh.


"I'm on a world tour and decided to display my incredible skills in this park for lucky people such as yourself to see." she declares mock-seriously, nodding her head to accentuate her point.

Therlia smoothes her skirt reflexively upon the arrival of Akasha. She'd agreed to take the twins to the park as a treat for them doing well in their studies (With only minimal complaints for the end of Summer...), but still wasn't the most social of creatures. Still, not to be rude to the fox-like creature... "Hello," she says quietly, continuing to smooth her skirt.


"Do you give lessons?" Merlyn grinned and went over to claim a swing, settling onto it with care not to trap his tail. "I'm kind of an amateur."

Akasha nodded gravely, flicking an ear at Therlia. She would be a good conversational partner for a not-too-social individual.


Kiana thinks about this for a second before responding. "Well... I guess I could take time out of my busy schedule..."

She follows him back to the swings and sits herself down on the swing next to him. "Y'see, my secret is the push off." she declares, a hint of pride creeping into her voice. "If you push off like this-" she continues, kicking against the ground to propel the swing back, "You get a super boost so you can get extra high!"

Seeing the creature nod at her greeting, Therlia gives an internal thanks for her self-control at not petting the fox creature when it arrived next to her. If living in Gaia had taught her anything, it was that it generally wasn't a good idea to pet an animal that might be almost-human. It could lead to awkward questions...


"I see," Merlyn said gravely. He kicked off, starting the swing into motion and leaning back to get it to swing higher and faster. "Ah, it works!" he shouted, laughing.


Kiana grins, enjoying being able to teach what she knows. "And you just ...pump your legs...like this...until you get...really high...and then...you JUMP!"

She lands in the sand once more, a few inches shy of her first crater. Well, it is harder with an audience...


"Working - on it!" Merlyn swung higher and higher, getting the swing to near horizontal, then leaped at the top of the arc; yelling gleefully, he flew in a high parabola and landed hard in the sand. "How's that?"


Now it's Kiana's turn to applaud. "You got it!" she exclaims. "Maybe if you practice, you can join me on my world tour."


"It's a good skill for a ninja to learn." Merlyn nodded very seriously, but with a gleam of humor in his eye. "You never know what might be helpful when you're ninjaing around, doing ninja things."


"A ninja, really?" Kiana asks before an idea strikes her. "So if you're a ninja...did you know my brother is a pirate?"

Oh yes, she went there. The immortal pirates vs. ninja debate.

"It's true. He's right over there captaining his magnificent ship." she continues, pointing over towards her oblivious sibling.


"Is he really?" Merlyn pretended to pull out a piece of paper and scribble something down on it. "There. He's been added to ... " he paused for dramatic effect, " ... The List." He nodded seriously.


Kiana peers down at the imaginary piece of paper. "The List?" she repeats, questioning.


"You know. The List." Merlyn hadn't really expected to be questioned about that. He wiggled his fingers in the air, attempting to look mysterious and dramatic and mostly looking silly. Time for a Distraction. "So where's his eyepatch?"


Distraction successful.

Kiana puts her hands on her hips and tries to imitate her brother. "A good pirate must watch the sea with both eyes, to better spot treasure!" She giggles a little, and drops her arms again. "If you ask me, he should go with a peg leg or a hook hand. Those are always good."

She pauses for a moment, then adds "But the again, if you ask me, I'd rather just be a ninja. They get to hide in trees and be all sneaky and...ninja-like."


"I guess a lack of depth perception wouldn't be very useful in a swordfight," Merlyn allowed. "A hook hand would be tough too. he should go with the peg leg."

He grinned and puffed his chest out. "Yeah. Ninjas are just naturally awesome. Hiyaaaaaaaah," he added, and did some kind of ridiculous karate pose. Not that he'd even taken any kind of karate, but he'd seen movies.


"But if you had a hook hand, you could hang stuff on it. Like...shopping bags!" she says, the image of dragging her brother behind her in the bookstore to carry her purchases coming into her mind. She chuckles slightly to herself, highly amused.

But her thoughts were interrupted by Merlyn's display of 1337 ninjaness. "Oh, you really are a ninja!" she exclaims in pretend shock. "With your awesome ninja skills, how can I possibly beat you?? Unless... I'm secretly a ninja too!"

Kiana, too, strikes the sort of pose that could be unbalanced by a butterfly landing on her arm, trying in vain to hold a serious I'm-a-ninja-who-means-buisiness facial expression.


"Do pirates use shopping bags?" Merlyn asked, a little dubious about that one. "Loot & Plunder, Inc.?"

"Oh no!" he exclaimed. "But now your secret is out! We must battle!" He did a series of quick hand signs, shapechanged into his wolf-cub form, and struck a mock-ferocious pose.


"Well..." replies Kiana, thinking about it for a second. "They need provisions and stuff. I betcha they shop at H. AARRRRRR Wesley!"

"Battle we shall!" she declares, but before she can make her first move, she finds herself facing what-used-to-be-a-catboy-but-now-isn't.

...that is either really cool, or somewhat frightening.

She'll go with cool, for now.

"Woah!!" she exclaims, forgetting for a moment that ninjas are supposed to remain calm, cool, and collected at all times.


"Oh gods. You won," Merlyn declared, his voice a little less clear but still unmistakably his own. "I can't fight the mighty pun." He toppled dramatically over onto his side, flailed his paws feebly in the air, and lay still.

Akasha pointed an ear towards the children, sniffed the air, and sighed. The child had always had a flair for melodrama.


Kiana blinks at the sudden end of the "battle", but quickly recovers to strike a victorious pose. "Ha HA! Of course, your puny skills were no match for mine! The mighty ninja Kiana is victorious once again!"

Then, a moment of realization. She hadn't actually asked the boy for his name...

"Tell me, fallen warrior, what name shall I add to my list of the defeated?"

Therlia smiles, recognizing how Akasha felt. However/Whatever she was, Therlia guessed that she, too, is there as a caretaker, presumably of the cat-now-wolf child. This is good; an extra pair of eyes without the added burden of having to converse in words.


Merlyn sat up, wagging lazily. "I'm Merlyn," he introduced himself. "You're Kiana, huh? Nice to meet you." He offered a paw to shake, lolling his tongue out in a grin.

Akasha glanced at Therlia and lay back down, one tail thumping quietly in recognition of the shared feeling.


Kiana hesitates for a minute, unsure about how to go about shaking someone's paw. But not to seem rude, she goes ahead and shakes it like she would any other hand, despite getting the feeling that she's just shaken hands with a rather warm teddy bear.

"Nice to beat you," she retorts, unable to resist.


"Kpthhhhblbblllt," Merlyn retorted, wagging harder. Kiana seemed fairly clever, and maybe a little cute. He stretched and rose to his feet. "Do you throw sticks? I fetch," he offered.


Kiana giggles a little, having never had a friend tell her they fetch before.

"Oh really?" she says, giving a quick look around for a good fetching stick. "I bet I could throw sticks really good if I had one to throw."

Quick correction. "Really well." There, her language tutor would be proud. Kiana knew her grammar, even if it was a pain to keep it all right when she was excited.


Merlyn nosed around for an appropriate stick to throw, and found one under a nearby tree. "'is'll 'oo," he said around it, politely presenting the unslobbered end to Kiana. If it had been one of his brothers, he wouldn't have cared, but this was a new friend, and a girl besides.


"Thanks" she says, taking the proffered stick. "Well, here goes!" she says before throwing the stick as hard as she can. She'd never really done this before, but she was pleased with how it tumbled end-over-end. A pro-football player she might yet be!


Merlyn bounded obligingly after the stick. It was much like playing catch, except, well, fourlegged. At least sticks didn't taste disgusting in this form. The sense of amused delight coming from Kiana was encouraging him to goof off and be doggish, whatever his more usual shape; he retrieved the stick and trotted back, ears up and grinning around it. "'Ood arm," he mumbled.


Kiana grins back at the wolf pup, incredibly amused by the game. "Thanks!" she says. "You're pretty good, yourself! Wanna go again?"


"'Ure," Merlyn said around the stick, and offered it back to Kiana, wagging slightly.


Kiana takes the stick again, despite it being decidedly more slobbery than the last time.

'I wonder...' she thinks before swinging her arm back and letting the stick fly underhand. It doesn't go as far as the first time, but look at the height of that parabola! Not bad!


Merlyn trotted after the stick, head up to watch it; he nearly tripped over a root, but regained his balance in time to jump for the stick. His aim was off, however, and he missed it by several inches. "Mental note, practice catching like this," he said, and picked it off the grass to bring it back.


Kiana saw him hit the tree root, and hoped he hadn't hurt his foot- er, paw. Still, his excitement was contagious; Kiana had half a mind to jump for the stick too, and it seemed like her smile was plastered on her face.

"Not bad!" she calls to him in encouragement. "Bet you'll catch it next time!"


"M 'ood at extherthize," Merlyn said. That was the one problem with being fourlegged. If you wanted to carry something, you had to grab it with your teeth, and that made conversation difficult. He brought the stick back and dropped it. "I can climb really well."


Despite having the difficulty of the stick in his mouth, Kiana was still pretty sure she'd caught what he said.

But more importantly...

"You climb?" she repeats, feeling more and more thankful for the trip to the park every minute. "I love climbing trees! There's this one back at home that's got this perfect branch for sitting and reading, and it's nice and shady for when it's hot, and Solaris can't really interrupt me 'cause he doesn't really climb as well."

Therlia couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the pup, who was now having his furry ears talked off. Kiana might usually be fairly softspoken, but when she got excited...watch out.


"Yeah. There are some good trees in our garden, and more in the Forest, and claws help," Merlyn said proudly. "And I'm good at balance. I can do a balance beam cartwheel." Sometimes. The rest of the time he fell off, but this was bragging, so there was no need to put that in.

"My brother Vati likes to climb trees and read up there," he added.


Kiana looks down at her none-too-manicured nails. "Yeah, I bet claws would help... but I can get up pretty well without 'em. And besides," she adds, flapping her wings a little. "Soon I'll be able to just zoom up there!"

She would. Her wings would grow bigger eventually, right? After all, her mom's were plenty big enough...

Wait... "You have a brother too?" she questions, unable to resist picturing a cat-wolf hybrid in a pirate outfit. Because all brothers in the world clearly had a thing for pirates. Of course.


"I kinda wish I had wings," Merlyn said wistfully. "Flying looks like fun. But none of my shapes have 'em, so I can't. Not by myself, anyway."

"Yeah. I have five," Merlyn said, grinning. "Two of them are grown up, though. I'm an uncle."


Kiana had to agree with him there; it did look like fun, and to say she was impatiently waiting for her wings to grow big enough for her to fly was a HUGE understatement. Maybe if she could shapeshift like Merlyn she could make them bigger.

She had been just on the verge of asking him what other shapes he could become when his last three words stopped her. "You're...an uncle??" Was it even possible to be an uncle at his age? She couldn't imagine herself being an aunt... Of course, her only older brother was only so by several minutes, but still...


"Yeah." He grinned proudly. "My big brother Anen has a kid. I haven't seen her much, though," he added, a little disconsolately. "She has to be with her Guardian."


"Wow. I can't imagine anyone ever calling me Aunt Kiana." she says, wrinkling her nose a little at the thought. "Well, at least you have 5 brothers you can play with, even if you don't see your niece much. I've just got Solaris. We're twins."

She may not be something as unusual as a shapeshifter, but being a twin is still pretty uncommon, right?


"My brothers are pains, but I wouldn't want to be without them." Merlyn thumped his tail once to emphasize his statement. He couldn't imagine what life would be like without his large and occasionally noisy family around, and didn't really want to.

"You're twins?" he said, interested. "I don't think I know anybody who's twins."


HA! +3 to coolness, Kiana.

"Yep, we're twins! Technically he was born first, but yeah. We've been together forever, I wouldn't wanna be without him either." she replies. It really was true. He annoyed her sometimes, but twins are twins, and there's always that weird bond between them.

Solaris had met another twin girl a while back, but Kiana didn't want to make them seem any less special. She really wanted Merlyn to think she was cool. "We're pretty rare, I think. I don't know any other twins, either."


"That's pretty cool." Merlyn got up and stretched, deciding he was tired of being a wolf if they were doing playing fetch. He shapechanged again, returning to his humanoid self. Talking was a little easier and clearer this way, anyway.

He tilted his head curiously at Kiana. "How old are you guys? I'm two years old, my birthday was in July."


Kiana wasn't quite as surprised at the transformation this time. She supposed she was getting used to it.

"Uhhh..." she started, trying to do the calculations in her head. She knew time ran kind of weird between her home and here... one, four, carry the two...

"We're three." she finally declares, fairly confident. "And hey, our birthday is in July, too! July 12th!"


"Mine's the 24th. I had a chocolate cake." Merlyn grinned. "And fish for dinner. It was awesome."


"Ooh, chocolate cake, yum. We had ice cream cake, with that tasty cookie crumble center layer." she replied. Oohhhh, she loved that cookie layer.

"Don't you wish that birthdays came more often? The cake, the presents, the fun... I definately wouldn't mind having two, maybe three birthdays a year!"


"I'd like cake more often," Merlyn mused. "That'd be cool. But how would you be born three times in a year?" That was an interesting brain twister.


"Well... I think me an' Solaris should get two 'cause there's two of us. And then you could get one more. Like... a half-birthday! You could get half a cake and...half a cup of tea?" she finishes out slightly lamely. "I was watching Alice in Wonderland on Sunday..." she adds, hoping it explains the last bit.


"Zoe had an unbirthday party," Merlyn said thoughtfully. "I like soda better than tea, though. I'm not allowed to have catnip tea till I'm an adult, either." He tucked his hands into his pockets.


"Ooh, an unbirthday party sounds fun!" she says, glad Merlyn must have at least heard of Alice in Wonderland.

"I'm not sure I've ever had catnip tea..." she says thoughtfully. It doesn't sounds very appetizing to her, but she doesn't want to be rude to her new furry friend. "Soda is good, yeah, but the best drink in the world is apple cider. You can only really get it in the fall, and it's like apple juice but warm and spiced and better!"


"I think I had some of that last year," Merlyn said thoughtfully. "It was sort of weird, but good. I like hot chocolate."


"You should try some of the cider we have at home!" Kiana suggests excitedly. After all, Fall was creeping up on her, and with it came the season for good apple cider...and an excuse to invite a new friend to come visit her. "I promise it's not weird."


"Sure!" Merlyn liked visiting new places, anyway, and it was all the better if there was food, really. "You should come see my house sometime. Our yard is awesome."


Kiana's yard was...big, if nothing else. But while Kiana wanted to impress her new friend, somehow declaring she lived in a palace seemed like beyond overkill. Most people didn't, she knew.

"With good trees for climbing and being ninja?" she questions, glad he'd agreed to come to her house sometime. It wasn't often enough she got to play with kids her on age, other than Solaris.


"Lots of trees, yeah. We live near a forest." The Subconscious Forest, actually, but that could be explained at some future point, it being a confusing concept and one somewhat better explained with the assistance of one of the Dreams.


"Really? Me too! But I usually stay out of the forest, because, well..." she replies, leaning in towards Merlyn conspiratorially. "...there are centaurs in the forest. And some of them aren't too friendly."

As though Therlia had Guardian!sense and knew Kiana was bringing up something that shouldn't really be mentioned (it wasn't as though she couldn't, but it wasn't the best idea for a bunch of little kids to know about a very proud, powerful, and easily-offended race living in the nearby forest...), it was time to go. It was getting late for a weekday anyway.

With a nod to Akasha, Therlia gets up from the park bench to go relieve the Dread Pirate Solaris' ship of its captain.


"Cool," Merlyn said, interested. Forbidden things were generally interesting, anyway. His ears drooped slightly as he saw Therlia getting up to retrieve the twins, though. "Aw, you have to go? Tell Red your number!" He produced a little mechanical creature with an antenna from his pocket.

It was a good idea; they had been here some time, and dinner would be soon. Akasha likewise got up and padded over towards her young charge.


Kiana likewise looks over at Theria and replies with disappointment in her voice, "I guess I do...". But disappointment aside, this "Red" thing was enough to keep her attention mostly off of her guardian. So cool!

"771-612-0407" she tells the creature-phone-thing, hoping Merlyn really did mean for her to tell it her number out loud.

Then, likewise, she pulls out her own cellphone from an inside pocket in her clothes. She'd been very proud to get it for her last birthday, though, admittedly, she rarely ever used it. It was more a point of pride that she was allowed to have one. Handing it to Merlyn, she says "Here, you can give me your number too. And there's a camera so you can take a picture of yourself! That way, I know it's you when you call."


The little phone automaton chirped, "Number registered!" Merlyn put it back in his pocket and took Kiana's phone, putting the house phone number into it. Then he made a ridiculous face, sticking his tongue out and squeezing one eye shut, pointed the camera at himself, and took a picture. "There," he said, and handed it back, grinning.


Kiana laughs at the goofy face Merlyn made, and stows the phone back in her pocket. She wouldn't tell him this, but his was the first non-family number she'd gotten in her phone.

"Have your people call my people, and I'll see what I can do about you joining me on my amazing world swing-jumping tour!" she says jokingly before joining her brother and guardian. She doesn't really want to leave, but at least she's leaving having made a new friend!


"I will!" Merlyn waved to Kiana, then turned to follow Akasha back out of the park. There would be no escaping setting the table. Unless he could bribe one of his brothers into doing it. Hmmmm.

joint?

Blue was acting weird since he'd woken up again, and he hurt, a deep and cringing ache that he couldn't keep inside himself. Merlyn had taken to staying out of the house as much as possible, keeping away from his brother. He felt bad for that. But he couldn't help it. The roil of pain and fear and doubt that hung around the Tale like a cloud was just too much to take, even with the quiet calm of Merlyn's own mental boundaries. He spent a lot of time up in the trees or out in the woods or at the beach. It was too cold to swim, and the winter undertow at his favorite beach would have made it dangerous anyway, at least for anyone without gills.

Kher went out in it still sometimes, walking into the waves and disappearing for an hour or two. Merlyn accompanied his older brother to the beach on a few of these excursions, spent the time waiting in exploring the dunes and building things out of driftwood and rocks. There was something really nice about the winter beach, empty and chill and grey, fierce salt winds whipping his fur around and freezing his fingers and toes. He chased birds, still, taking only slightly guilty glee in the way they exploded off the sand at his approach and lifted screeching into the sky.

Merlyn liked people, but he liked solitude, too. Too many people at once were still a little overwhelming. He had a big family, and that had gotten him accustomed to the quiet murmur of habitation, but big crowds were a different matter. He'd have to get over that someday. Soon, too. His lessons were getting past the point where he could take the correspondence and home courses. He'd be attending Reverie's school, Dad said; Blue would too eventually, but nothing had been said about that recently, not with Blue drifting around the house with haunted eyes and a cloud of shivering pain around him. Merlyn wanted to know, and didn't want to know. It hurt.

It hurt that he couldn't go to Blue and offer comfort, either. They'd been close since they were small, but Blue didn't want to be touched or kept company lately, mostly. He exuded a kind of prickly defensiveness when anyone approached, said very little at dinner, vanished off into corners with only books and Neira to keep him company. Merlyn had thought about asking the Librarians, but come eventually to the reluctant conclusion that this probably wasn't something that the enigmatic guardians of the Library could help with. They'd taught him and Reverie; but Blue wasn't an empath, and nobody really knew what his ghosts were, or what they meant.

He collected a pile of stones from the tideline, carefully picking out ones with odd patterns, or startling colors, or holes that had been bored right through by water and sand and time. He'd leave them for Blue later. Blue would like that, and if Merlyn couldn't do anything else, he could do that.

The world felt different. Merlyn yawned cavernously and peered under the covers; was the weirdness the onei's fault? Had she been a dream too? Though he did have to admit that the nightmare of laughter and fighting hadn't returned to torment him again. That suggested - well, something, anyway.

"You stupid," said a cheerful voice from the headboard of the bed. "Not a dream, see." Merlyn looked up, and was gifted with a faceful of wingfeathers as the wine-colored onei flopped clumsily down onto his pillow. He sneezed and mumbled an incoherent curse, and was rewarded with her clicking laughter.

"You can quit calling me stupid," he told her, and was momentarily shocked into silence by the sound of his own voice. It was deeper and rougher than he was used to. He sat up. Way up. "Whooooooa."

"Yes, yes, got bigger, give me name now," the onei demanded. She tilted her head to peer up at him with one jeweled eye. She was small, Merlyn noticed, barely adult size at all. He studied her thoughtfully. "Lilith," he decided. He wasn't entirely sure where he'd heard that name, but it seemed to fit.

"Okay good." The newly named onei lost interest and began to preen one wing. Merlyn laughed and swung himself out of bed; the new height and balance gave him trouble, but only for a few minutes. It was still himself; he regained his equilibrium quickly.

There was a problem, though. None of his clothes fit. He hauled the sheet off his bed, wrapped it around himself, and opened the door to his room. "DAD, I NEED CLOTHES," he shouted down the hall.

Behind him, Lilith clicked laughter again.

Three needles, a set of paper tests, and a scan later, Merlyn emerged, rubbing his arm and vaguely wishing he'd still felt like he could demand a lollipop as compensation for his troubles. That was for kids, though. He flipped through the sheaf of papers in his hand curiously.

Age, fifteen; no pathogens or unusual conditions found; height, weight, ears and nose normal; psychic abilities tested steady, no increase; return for vaccination in two weeks, when physical condition was definitely stabilized. Retest on vision next visit.

Merlyn rubbed at his eyes and closed the folder. He could see just fine, he reflected a little crankily. It wasn't a big deal if letters wiggled around on the paper sometimes.

Merlyn meets Keeta

Merlyn slouched in one of the chairs in the waiting room, one foot tucked up on the seat, the other stuck out in front of him. He ignored the assorted magazines on the tables; he'd seen all of them. He wasn't sure if the clinic ever got anything new to read. He'd certainly never seen anything fresh since he'd been able to read. Instead, he had taken the little robot that served him as a cell phone out of his pocket. He was amusing himself by giving it simple commands and watching it hover back and forth on its tiny wings.

Today he was scheduled for another set of tests; before he could enroll in the school he was transferring to, he needed a few more vaccinations and aptitude verifications, most of which the clinic could perform and certify. Personally, he wanted the tests over with as soon as possible. These things were never particularly interesting, and tended to take up most of an afternoon.

Keeta walked in, waddling a bit, seeing as she was approximately six and a half months pregnant at this point. She hoped she'd be able to see the doctor this time and get some of her questions answered, as Dr. London had been unavailable the last time she had come in.

After signing in at the now familiar receptionist's desk, she took a seat in the waiting area near what appeared to be a cat-person, perhaps in his teens. Keeta was a little confused as to why a teenage boy would be in the clinic, but shrugged it off, figuring there was a legitimate explanation whatever it may be. After several minutes of silently watching him play with his robot, she spoke.

"What is that thing you have there? It looks rather interesting. Where did you get it?" Keeta hoped she wasn't being a bother, but sitting quietly seemed to make waiting take that much longer.

Merlyn glanced at Keeta as she came in; unlike him, it was pretty obvious as to why the elven woman was here. She must be pretty far along, he figured. She seemed uncomfortable. He went back to toying with the little robot, so as not to stare and seem rude.

When she spoke, however, he looked up. "It's my phone," he explained, and picked it out of the air, holding it up so she could see it. "It responds to voice commands," he added cheerfully. "I got it when I was little, so if I got lost or something it could call for me." He paused a moment, then asked, "You're having a baby, huh?" Well, that was a pretty dumb question; but if his phone was more interesting than the ancient magazines, conversation was more interesting yet.

"I've never seen anything like it," Keeta said, leaning closer so she could see it better. She was surprised when he told her it was a phone. If anything she had thought it was just some kind of toy.

"I'll bet it comes in handy some of the time. I haven't gotten myself a phone yet. Maybe I should, one of these days, but I don't know how often I'd use it." She didn't even use her phone at home very often. There was something decidedly impersonal about hearing someone's voice, but being unable to read their facial expression or body language, she thought. Keeta would rather just take the time to see someone in person.

"And yes, I'm having a baby, in just a little over two months," she said in response to his question, not treating it as though he had spoken the obvious. "And what brings you here, if you don't mind my asking?"

"I don't remember where it came from," Merlyn said, shrugging. "It's pretty useful. I can tell it a number to dial instead of punching it in. You don't have a phone?" He sounded faintly surprised. Most people had one, if only for emergencies.

"I need to have a couple of tests done for my school records," he explained. "They've got all my other tests from here, I just need a few more pieces of paper." He made a wry face. "Are you gonna have a boy or a girl, or do you know?"

"No, back where I come from, phones don't even exist, so I'm not in the habit of using one, though that is slowly starting to change, as the culture of Gaia encroaches upon my previous life." Keeta almost sounded sad, but the mural in the baby's room and Ceres' standing invite to her island helped take the edge off her homesickness.

"I hope the tests aren't unpleasant, I know from recent experience that getting poked and prodded can get trying after a while, even if you know it's for a good reason. And I don't know yet. I'm trying to decide whether or not I want them to tell me on this visit. It's later than they usually say, because I turned down the offer to tell me last time, but it's getting to be harder and harder for me to wait." It was strange that at the beginning, she hadn't even wanted to be pregnant. It had been such a surprise, but as time went on, she was embracing the idea more and more.

"You're not Gaian?" Merlyn asked. "What world do you come from?" He seemed more curious than surprised.

"Nah. They're just scans and screenings. I don't like getting blood drawn, but the nurses are pretty good, most of them. It doesn't hurt much." Merlyn sat up straighter and put his other foot on the floor. "You have two more months, huh? It must be hard to wait," he mused.

"A place called Evin. Technology there is not nearly as advanced, and in a way, I like it better. Life goes slower and you can enjoy the little things more." Keeta shrugged. "I don't think I'll ever go back though."

"And yeah....two more months or so. It is and it isn't hard. In a way I want it to be over and meet this little person in here, but I'm also scared, so part of me wishes he or she would just stay in there." She rubbed her buldge before looking back up at him and smiling a little.

"Guess that's something you won't have to worry about though. You being a boy and all."

"It sounds like a nice place. I'd like to see more worlds someday," Merlyn offered. "It'd be interesting to travel."

Her returned her smile. "I guess not," he agreed. "But I can sort of understand, I think. I mean, not completely, but it makes sense in a weird way." He bit one of his claws thoughtfully; he could sense an echo of the contradictory emotions as she spoke about them. It was something to think about. The feelings were opposed, and yet they coexisted. That wasn't uncommon, but it was always fascinating.

"I'm not sure that I even understand what I'm feeling, so it's completely understandable if you don't. It's definitely complicated and almost always changing at least a little bit. But maybe it's just part of motherhood in general?" She paused, letting out a deep breath, before going back to the subject of travel.

"So....any place in particular you want to visit? I'm not much of a traveler, myself. I would have never left Evin if it hadn't been for my friend Tess. She's the closest thing I have to a mother or father anymore, and she was leaving, so I followed her. Totally changed my life." Keeta thought about what it would be like to travel again. She'd always stayed so close to home. Not even the occasional job took her very far, but such was the nature of their level of technology. Here, you could hop on a plane and travel many times the distance one could have traveled in Evin, in the same amount of time. "I might travel some within Gaia when I've been here longer, but for now, I'm pretty much content to stay put. The only place I might go is to visit a friend. She's invited me to her island."

Merlyn nodded. That also made a kind of sense.

"I don't know," he answered thoughtfully. "I've only really been in Gaia and Dream. It'd be interesting to see more of the multiverse. Maybe Cylau; Lune's told me a little about the City, and I think I'd like to meet it." Of course, the other teenager had also warned him that the planetary AI was dangerous. But that made it more interesting. "Traveling in Gaia would be interesting too," he added. "It'd be cool to see places other than Barton and Durem." He waved a hand expressively. "Not much to do here."

Dream? Cylau? I'm not familiar with them. But then again my knowledge of places is still rather limited. I don't think I even knew Gaia existed until shortly after we came here." She pictured the maps in the school room when she was younger. They consisted little more than of what the terrain in a 100 mile radius of her town was like.

"What is it you find the surrounding area lacks, that you say there's not much to do?"

"Dream is Dad's world," Merlyn explained. "I'm part Dreamborn. And Cylau is a tech-world. It's my brother's boyfriend's homeworld - he's living here for school." He was unfazed by the concept of multiple worlds; just a fact of life, really. He had visited Dream from time to time since his infancy.

"Well, I guess there is stuff," Merlyn conceded. "But it's all stuff I've seen before, you know? It'd be nice to go places I've never seen."

"I guess I can understand that. Even if I wanted to go somewhere though, I probably shouldn't for quite some time. I'd like to wait until this one is at least walking before I try to take him or her anywhere far from home. Tell me a little more about Dream. I wonder if it's anything like Evin?"

"I guess it'd be tough to go places with a tiny baby," Merlyn said thoughtfully. He'd never really considered the matter; he'd always been the youngest in the family, and had no personal experience with babies.

"Dream ... it changes a lot. You can get lost easily if you don't know where you're going or don't have a strong mind." Merlyn flicked his tail. "I know my way around, and I have Lilith, my nightmare onei, so I haven't gotten lost for a while." He didn't mention that he'd managed to get very thoroughly lost last year when he'd tried to run away for a while. That wasn't very impressive, and it was last year, anyhow. "It's awesome," he said, eyes going briefly distant. "I like the Forest. It's like every wild forest, all combined."

"You've never done it? No siblings or anything? Well in all honesty neither have I, so I guess that makes us even." She laughed a little.

"It changes?" Keeta's eyes opened wide at that. "I'm assuming you mean something different than the regular changes that any place undergoes from weather and whatnot. Must be strange knowing a place will be different ever time you go there. Makes for no sense of stability I would imagine..." she mused, half to herself. After a moment she turned back to Merlyn.

"I like forests too. You feel so much closer to nature and so much more at peace in a for-" She paused suddenly.

"You know we've been talking this whole time and never introduced ourselves. I'm Keeta."

"I have five brothers, but I'm the youngest," Merlyn explained. "I don't know much about really young babies. Just how to annoy big brothers." He grinned mischievously.

"There are places that are always the same, but the rest changes. I never really thought of it that way," he mused. "It's what it is, even if it does change." Maybe it would be different if he didn't know it so well. The thought surprised him, and he understood suddenly why dreamwalking might be more frightening for other people. Well, huh.

"Oh, yeah. I'm Merlyn," he offered in return. "Merlyn Sarihe."

"Nice to meet you Merlyn," she said with a smile. "Five brothers, huh? Goodness sakes. I was an only child, although I wouldn't be surprised if there were some half siblings out there that I'm not aware of." She shook her head. If her father had gotten her mom pregnant and run off, how many other women had he done that to?

"Well I'm glad you can handle your father's world just fine. But it probably does help that you're part dreamborn like you said." She smiled and an empty silence filled the room, as she was searching for another topic to discuss. When would the receptionist call one of them? Not able to think of much, she pounced on the first topic that came to her mind. School.

"So...you said you were here to get tests for school. What's your school like? I know it's a long way off, but I figure I should still be informed of what's out there, so I know for when this one's old enough." Keeta hoped she hadn't annoyed him with the topic change. She knew not all kids were fond of school.

"What's it like, being an only child?" Merlyn asked thoughtfully. He'd always wondered. Less crowded, for sure; you wouldn't have to share your stuff or your bathroom. But lonely, maybe.

He wasn't sure how to respond to the next comment, and was still searching for an appropriate response when she spoke again, saving him from having to figure it out. "I was homeschooled when I was younger," he explained, "but I'm going to be enrolled in the Helios Academy for the higher-level course stuff. It's a six-year school. It takes Gaian kids and outworlders, there's dorms for the kids who aren't from here. It's supposed to be pretty good. It looks cool," he added with a grin. "I visited last week. It'll be weird, but I'm looking forward to it. The science stuff especially. We'll get to do lab work."

"Well my perspective is probably a little different from that of other only children. I didn't have a 'normal' childhood, growing up with two parents that were there to support me. I was raised by the people in the local tavern. My father disappeared before I was born, and my mother was always off doing whatever someone would pay her enough to do. It meant I was passed around from employee to employee, whoever could take me for the moment, spending the occasional day or week with my mom and then she would be off again. When I was 17 she left on a job and never came back. So pretty much from my understandings of some of Gaian society, I was in Evin's version of a foster care system."

"Your school sounds interesting, but I guess something I'll have to wait for quite a while before I even consider trying to get my child in. I could try the homeschooling thing I guess, but with my work schedule it'd be easier on me if I could enroll them in some kind of public school. I'm sure there's plenty of them around here. Again, the baby's not even born yet though. Getting a bit ahead of myself."

"Oh. Um, I'm sorry?" Merlyn offered lamely. It sounded rather sad to him. He was used to a big family, and he could barely remember not having two parents around.

"He'll grow up eventually. Or she," he said more cheerfully. "I bet the baby's gonna be cute." That, at least, was a safe topic.

"Nothing to be sorry about. The people from the bar are really like my family. One of them more or less officially took me under her wing when my mom disappeared, and I ended up following here over here to Gaia. She's the closest thing I have to a mom now, but it's what I'm used to, so it really doesn't bother me." Keeta adjusted her weight in the chair. It was so hard to get comfortable nowadays.

"Yeah...but not too fast I hope. I don't think I'm ready to deal with a teenager or anything, anytime soon...no offense." She looked over at Merlyn to make sure her comment didn't bother him.

"Oh - okay." Merlyn still wasn't quite sure what to say to that. It was a very different situation from his own, and he hadn't given a great deal of thought to things like that before. He was starting to think that maybe he should be thinking about it. He'd be meeting a lot more people in school, anyway, and odds were good that there would be a lot of things he wasn't used to; and if he didn't want to feel awkward and weird every time, it would be good to be less ... well, surprised ... by it.

"Not offended," he answered, smiling a little mischievously. "I'm a pain in the tail sometimes."

"Oh, how's that?" Keeta asked, raising an eyebrow, an amused expression on her face. She tried to imagine what kinds of things this teen did to get himself in trouble. She hoped it wasn't anything too bad, because then she would have to worry about her own kid getting him or herself into trouble in the future.

"Oh, I bother my brothers, I sneak off instead of doing things I'm supposed to, things like that," Merlyn said lightly. There wasn't a great deal he had to confess beyond annoyances; anyway, those things were not the sort of things one said to strangers, or near-strangers. Some of them were his own secrets, some were not, and if there was one thing he was good at, it was keeping real secrets to himself. And Keeta seemed nervous enough. She didn't need other things to worry about. Merlyn sighed very quietly, tucked his tail around himself, and made sure his smile hadn't wavered with the brief, melancholy turn of thought.

"Ah, I see. I suppose I did some of that when I was your age, with the other village kids, but by that time, I was already working, in a way. I was also training and improving my fighting skills, so a lot of my mischievousness and creativity went into that." She shrugged, a little sorry she didn't have more similar life experiences to compare to his.

"What kind of fighting do you do?" Merlyn asked, interest caught. He leaned on his elbows, ears coming forward to listen. "Unarmed or with a weapon?"

"Well more what I used to do. I really haven't done much since I moved here, although I suppose I could get back into it when I'm no longer pregnant. Might be nice. Anyways...I'm most proficient with a staff and throwing knives, although I can hold my own reasonably well in unarmed combat. The tavern I grew up in, in Evin, was also home to a fight club, where people competed for money, honor and titles. Naturally I started picking things up and got involved as the years went by. Even held the championship title myself for a while." She smiled a little, pleased to have found a subject that interested him.

"You do any fighting yourself?"

"I've trained with a staff," Merlyn answered. "Since I was little. I was supposed to learn glaive, now that I'm taller, but turns out that I'm going to have to learn to use a sword." He shrugged and grinned, not looking particularly sorry about it. "What's it like to fight in a tournament? Is it exciting?"

Any particular reason you're 'going to have to learn to use a sword' over a Glaive? As for the tournaments, they were pretty exciting, but sometimes not as much as you might think. There were periods where not many people were traveling through my area, so there wouldn't be much in the way of actual competition. Sometimes the owner would choose to do things in a 'Royal Rumble' fashion too, where everyone is in the ring at once, and the last man, or woman, standing wins." Her eyes went a little distant for a moment as she remembered those days.

"The weapon that'll be mine someday is magical," Merlyn explained cheerfully. "I didn't know it could change forms, and it seems like Dad didn't either, but for me, it's a sword. So I've been practicing the wrong style."

He listened interestedly to Keeta's description of the tournaments. "It does sound exciting, for when it was running," he said. "I've never done anything besides practice sparring." He privately had some doubt as to whether he could fight efficiently, if it came to that; the one time he'd been involved in anything resembling violence, he'd been able to sense pain from the others, and it had shaken and distracted him badly after the initial burst of adrenaline had worn off. If it ever became necessary, though, he might need to know how. He shook off the tickle of doubt. If nothing else, tournament fights were interesting for the skill and athletic prowess the participants had to have.

"Interesting," Keeta remarked, a little surprised at his weapons ability. "Well at least you can know about the other weapon too, though. Who knows, someday the knowledge may come in handy. Probably better you don't have to deal with real fights anyways. They may sound exciting, but sparring is a far cry from battling for your life. I've only had to do it two or three times, myself, back when I was doing the odd mercenary job, and let me tell you. It's not fun." She shook her head, recalling the time she had been involved in a feud going on between two powerful leaders in Evin, named Morigan and Dorwan. It had been dangerous to say the least, and had really tested some friendships and loyalties.

"It's something I have to learn, either way. And I want to." All thoughts about heritage and honor and bloodline aside, the sword had just felt right in his hands. It didn't matter as much whether he ever used it with serious intent; it was still important that he know how.

He nodded slowly, sensing the edges of what Keeta felt when she remembered fighting. "I believe you," he said after a moment, eyes serious. Perhaps there would never be any call for it. The Blade Court had fallen, after all. "I still enjoy sparring," he added, steering the conversation back onto the safe track.

"Haven't found any competitive outlets for fighting with it though? You'd think with everything else here, they'd have some kind of arena. Who's teaching you?"

"I have lessons once a week, and I practice at home with Dad," Merlyn explained. "I haven't been old enough to try out for any of the arenas I know about. Maybe I'll be able to, now that I've grown." He ran a hand through his hair and pulled the ends of it back thoughtfully. Maybe he should cut it, he reflected; it had been getting in his face when he was active.

"Well I'm glad you have someone at home to help you out. I was fortunate to have that in a way, myself, growing up among all the fighters.Be sure to have some other people give you tips though. While I'm sure your father is very skilled, it's important to have a well rounded education, with knowledge of several different styles and from different people, so you can make your own style." Keeta smiled. "You don't base your morals and values in life on what you learn from just one person, right?" She watched him, waiting for a reply. It was her hope that she wasn't coming off as presumptious.

"No, I guess not," Merlyn answered thoughtfully. "It'd be pretty biased." He tucked one foot up under himself. "Gotta have a place to start, but then you have to have a place to go from there, too," he observed.

Keeta nodded. And turned when she heard the door to the back open.

"Ms. Harding?" A nurse stood there with a pleasant smile on her face, glancing towards Keeta. "We're ready for you."

"Well it looks like it's my turn, Keeta said to Merlyn. Perhaps we'll meet again. If not, good luck with your training." Keeta smiled at him, before awkwardly getting out of her chair and heading towards the door.

"Good luck with your baby," Merlyn said, and watched thoughtfully after Keeta as she vanished into the hallway. She'd given him a few things to think about, at any rate, and a couple of ideas. She'd seemed interesting. Maybe he'd talk to her again sometime. If she hadn't been pregnant he would have asked if she wanted to spar with him sometime - but - well.

He settled back to wait, sighing. How long was this going to take, anyway? The ancient magazine seemed much less interesting now. Oh, well.