Istvan - Male, age 19 (post Treatment)

Istvan, Alexander and Reynate

"Izzy! Izzy is - is a froofy poofy!" Yelled one of the teenagers who clung to the fence just beyond the school yard. Two others laughed and chanted "Queer Izzy - Queer Izzy" until Reynate turned her fierce gaze on them.

"And, you would know this because...?" She tilted her head, but before they could get another word in, the brunette stomped over to them and pulled their leader down close to her beautiful face. "Because only someone as inadequate and insecure as yourself would want him to be. You think he's so queer, why not ask me about it?"

She bared her big teeth in a very unfriendly smile. The pair of cohorts that the bully had brought along were nowhere in sight by now. A vague path through the tall grass showed their direction of hasty exit. Crossing Reynate would be deadly one day, they were sure of it.

The bully boy, a young man named Klegstrom, pushed Rey's hand off of his loose shirt and turned away from her fiery gaze. "Shut it, wench. You're just his friend."

"And who are you to guess what else?" She spat. "Go home to your toys, Klegstrom, you're nothing more than a whiny little brat without a girlfriend."

"Better off without one if they're like you, she-beast," he muttered, still not meeting her eyes, and he left the scene with Rey feeling mighty tall. Her expression changed when she saw Istvan standing limply against the fence. He didn't stare hard, just looked at her with those beautiful eyes of his.

"Van, I-" She started but Istvan hardly wanted to hear it. He put his hand in the air and she went silent, but she still went to his side.

"You didn't have to tell them that," he said, quietly.

"She couldn't resist," Alexander said, nudging Istvan's shoulder and plopping himself between his sister and their best friend. "Besides, if ol' Kleg had a taste of what you're like, he'd be bragging too."

Though he was almost embarrassed enough to blush already, Istvan turned the feeling into a smile and went with it. His friends were always able to compliment him back into a good healthy state of mind.

The fourteen year old boys and their year-older companion left the school grounds together, as usual. When they got to the big broken fence near the even bigger old tree, overlooking a fallow field, they stopped and climbed onto their all-so-typical posts, side by side. All three of them were given to reminisce, deep thoughts or sky-gazing looking for Draks in the air, so they were quiet for half an hour before anything changed.

*

Their friendship was cited by some as the perfect picture of innocence - usually by adults who didn't know the trio very well. It was cited by those who might want to sully the reputations of the Sanger and Rheinmann families, in a negative manner. Did people know what those children were doing? With each other?

Much of what was said behind closed doors about them was untrue. Contrary to any belief, Alexander had never touched his sister in an intimate manner - mostly because (the rest of the rumors were true) he was interested only in other boys. Istvan did not have that limitation on his activities, apparently.

When the Rheinmann family helped Istvan's parents move to the safety of the large township of Windresh, it was out of the goodness of their hearts. It didn't hurt that the elder Rheingold was still enfatuated with Istvan's ... father.

One didn't speak of such things in either household, while any of the women were around. Reynate seemed to be the exception to the rule - she was perfectly comfortable with whomever was there, and she knew from the start that her father and Istvan's were, well, "close".

But it hurt more when the kids at the school would start in. Coming from a poor background as they did, the Sanger family spent most of its energies in labor and works of mechanical aptitude, rather than intellectual pursuits. Istvan was a smart boy - Rey's father knew that was one reason he had to get the family out from the boondocks and frozen mountainside village where they had been, and into a proper school where his mind would be allowed to flower.

The rest of the nearby locals didn't think much of the family - other than that they did appear to appreciate when Mama Sanger would prepare their children treats and Pavel would bring home trinkets and make small mechanical toys for the younger kids. Istvan watched his father work, when he could, but his interests lay elsewhere.

Even at the age of 8, some two and a half years after coming to the city, Istvan began to build models and engineering feats out of the same scraps from the ship yard that his father could only hope to make small toys from. But at the same time, Istvan became an outcast in his own home - his older brother Pyotr had little tolerance for the attention that was doted upon Istvan, and jealously tried to get more of it whenever they were in the same house together. Fortunately that was rare - for Pyotr was 6 years older, and had a steady job working for a foundry, and didn't have much time to remain at home.

Reynate and Alexander were, convesely, extremely close siblings. Rey always had her hand in several pies at once - she wanted to read every book ever written, she wanted to become a musician, everything she'd ever tried that was fun or challenging she wanted to make a career out of it. Her keen eye for people's moods kept them safe from a variety of taunts and jibes as they grew up.

Alexander had little head for much other than abstracts. He loved music, but not the way Rey wanted to play it. The closest he'd gotten to pure ecstasy in his short life had been when Istvan promised to help him build a music-making device, one which would be able to produce a perfect set of notes on command. Alex's love of philosophy carries him through the days with his head in the clouds.

As they were born to richer parents, in a more well-to-do way, they had always enjoyed more of a pampered lifestyle than their peers - but they remained more than civil, to those who liked them. Of course, liking them meant they had to like Rey's intensity as well as Alex's propensity to drift during conversation.

It was clearly a healthy match for the two of them to strike up a friendship with their father's buddy's kid. Why not? Everyone their age was stuck up or rude or stupid - in their eyes. Istvan was none of those things. Well, he was vain and a total perfectionist, but he was far easier to deal with because they could talk to him, and he'd talk back instead of starting a fist fight.

So the three of them grew up together. Trusting one another with secrets and gossip that they could share with no one else. They supported each other unconditionally - though they would not lie for each other, they'd even made a pact not to do things stupid enough that they'd have to cover for one another with a pack of lies.

Reynate grew into a beautiful young woman quickly, Istvan shot up to almost 6 feet tall within a year of his twelfth birthday. Alexander followed their maturity a little slower, losing his childhood plumpness in trade for his healthy form at the behest of Istvan. Chasing the quick raven-haired youth was pointless for even Alex, as Istvan was both intelligent and athletic. As Rey matured, her brother became keenly aware of the other boys in the area - staring at her, they made fools of themselves. But he shortly realized that the other girls in the area were growing just as pretty - and he wasn't interested in any of them in the slightest.

So when they were sent to the more advanced school, one that would teach them maths and history and sciences, the trio realized that they were fantastically well suited to any activity they could imagine. When they imagined finding a girl or boyfriend (in any of their cases) they couldn't find anyone who possibly fit the bill.

It was in this manner that they managed to lose their collective virginity to each other (siblings excluded, of course) with the last month. In the midst of this experimentation, they maintained their studies, excelling at their preferred subjects (people, philosophy, and physics), and kept their friendship without losing anything in the process.

All this from a group of young teenagers.

Istvan watched his friends, with a kind of distance that they could never quite defeat. They were true to him - the truest things he could ever have, in fact. But they were going to have to learn sooner or later...

He drew in a breath, and said, quietly, "my parents have found a place that will teach me."

"But," Alex said, after a moment, "you're going to school here. What's wrong with our school?"

"Nothing," Istvan said. "But... They got... I don't know - There's something else going on, that they aren't telling me. They talked to someone. You remember," Istvan looked at Alex, "about two weeks ago, you know how they were on that trip?"

"I remember," Alex said, grinning. Of course, he'd never forget that day. Reynate sensed her brother about to distract the conversation into some discussion about sex, and cleared her throat to keep him on course. He surprisingly obeyed. "Well, what were they doing, then?"

Istvan slid down off his perch on the wooden fence post. The grasses up on this part of the hill had grown wilder and long, turning pale tan. He shuffled back and forth until Rey stuck out her leg and stopped him. "What?" She said, flatly but with concern on her eyes.

"Apparently they were arranging to send me to this place, where I'd be in some," he shook his head, unsure, "experiment or something. They said they needed me, I'd been showing promise or something." He looked away, gazing at the field which only last season had been the site of the local harvest's bonfire.

Concerned, and suddenly catching a flutter of his heart, Alexander dropped to the ground. "Experiment? What kind of experiment?"

"Something about intelligence," Istvan said, and drew in a breath. "I thought I had enough of that, but apparently there's more where that came from..."

Only Rey gave a bit of a chuckle at Istvan's slight attempt at a joke. He was obviously distrssed about this development. "When, Van?" She asked.

"Next month," Istvan said, with a faint, vacant smile on his thin lips. His eyes though, were red. "I never wanted to leave here..."

"We could try and convince them not to-" Alex started to say, but Istvan spun.

"You don't think I already tried? They act like it's the best thing that's ever happened to them - getting rid of me!" At that, the tan-skinned boy sped off down the hill into the dry field, where his friends watched for only a moment before setting off after him.

It would take them half an hour to reach him, once his energy finally gave out. His strong legs and healthy lungs brought him more than four miles away from the fields, out near the river and stone bridge. Alex and Rey found him below it, arms tight around his knees and face buried between them.

Reynate approached, put her hand out on his shoulder and he was too tired to shrug it off. "Van, they don't hate you. You know that."

"Then why else would they send me away?" He moaned, muffled by his arms. "Pyotr probably suggested it. He's always muttering about how he can't keep up with me."

"Van, no one can keep up with you," Alex said, sitting down on the damp moss next to his friend. "Not even me. Maybe there's some information about this place they're sending you, and we could look it up?"

"I won't have time for that," Istvan said, raising his head. "I'm supposed to finish the school quarter and go."

"In a month? But school's just st-" Rey said, interrupted by Istvan's hard, "I know!"

The pair of siblings leaned over their precious, fragile friend, and sobbed with him.

(was page 2)

The month went by all too rapidly for the trio. Reynate did some looking into this Institute that Istvan was to be sent to, but she could only locate a small amount of information.

Istvan put everything he had into the studies he was required to pass, even though Alexander suggested that perhaps if he failed a couple classes he might be re-evaluated and rejected for this "experiment".

The thought that he might just stop learning never sat well with the raven-haired boy. Instead, Istvan spent his time carefully divided between his friends and his work. He avoided his family, with a deep resentment that only a teenager could truly understand.

Alexander grew worried, when Istvan's face ever-more-rarely had a smile on it. He was used to the wry smiles that Istvan gave when he joked about something - and he'd missed seeing it on him for two weeks now. Reynate noticed it too, but didn't bring it up for fear of driving more of a wedge between them than existed.

Apparently Istvan's mother finally cornered her young son and attempted to explain the situation - which made it impossibly worse. When she showed up at the Rheinmann house unannounced and in a panic, Alexander and Rey knew what she was going to say.

"We'll find him," Reynate said, flatly, and brushed past the stout, hoary haired woman. "Whether he wants to be found or not."

It only took a short time for the pair to find him, of course. Deep in the forest, on a gulley edge where two large tree limbs made a natural 'uneven bars', Istvan was standing on one of them peering at the other with a predatory look.

He lept from one to the other, catching the lower branch and vaulting back over it, and spinning to the ground.

"Keep that up and we'll sell you to the circus," Alexander said, and Reynate looked at him in horror. How could he say that after -

"Too late," Istvan said, a grim smile on his face. He looked much older than he ought, with the worry on his forehead and the long creases by his lips in a permanent frown. "They would have to compete for me, and apparently I've been paid for in full already."

Reynate sighed, and clutched her arms across her chest. "Istvan, you must come back. Your mother is frantic."

"My mother sold me to a laboratory." Istvan spat. He spotted the higher branch from below, and lept straight up once, catching the branch and gripping onto it with long, strong fingers. "I could run away to the Mobs, but I don't think they'd appreciate an egg-head like me in their ranks."

"I hear the ninja are hiring," Alex said, trying to lighten everything up. "Istvan, come down here and come home with us."

"She just wants you to be more of what you're capable of being," Rey said. "Now get down here."

From the dappled darkness of the tree branch, Istvan glared down and then finally crouched. He dropped to the ground without a word.

"I wanted to be in that race next week," Istvan said, a hint of a pout to his voice. "You know, they were bringing in Racers and everything. I could have won, there's no one here that can run as fast as I can."

"We know that," Alexander said, rolling his brown eyes. "We've had to chase you enough..."

"Sorry." Istvan said. "I'm sorry."

Rey put her arm over his shoulders, reaching a bit because while she was taller than most girls her age, she was still much shorter than he. "You don't have to apologize to us. Just come back and stay with us for the next few days. I don't want to miss anything."

***

Istvan didn't budge, however. He glanced at the two siblings and a familiar smile moved over his lips. "I'd rather stay here for a little bit. With you guys. Let them think I ran halfway to the next Territory."

They laughed, and clung to one another. Even though it was a fairly teary-eyed moment, Alexander found it in his impish mind to ask, "does this mean we're gonna have sex?"

*

When the caravan arrived for Istvan, it looked to be one of the richer vehicles ever to come through these parts. Even though Windresh was a large place, it was still surrounded by farming communities that supplied the central town. In turn, the machinists and forges made fine ploughs, carts and the like, and sold lots of items to other trading caravans. Living on the community's edge as the Sangers did, they and their neighbors usually saw everything that came into Windresh, since they often had to use this main road to get there. Every fall, the University would reopen, and dozens of rich kids were brought from their homes and into the town - swelling its population again.

But no one had seen anything like this. The caravan was still pulled by two horses, but they were extremely large, and darkly impressive. The cab was closed, painted in a rich black lacquer. Red and silver trim accents were drawn around edges of the doors and wheels, and the horses' tack had similar color schemes.

It was a most impressive ride. Even Istvan had to admit that he'd like to be seen in this thing. The large driver (who seemed to be matched for looks to the big black horses, though he was bald and didn't have a sharply cut mane on his head) took Istvan's three bags (clothing, books, and 'stuff') and carefully laid them in the back of the cab, and patiently waited for him to get in.

That lasted a while, because Istvan really didn't want to leave. Not even in such a fine cab.

Even Pyotr turned out, and he hadn't even known about this until the week before. Any resentment or jealousy that he had for his younger sibling was long gone, if it had really been there in the first place. "You'll do well and come back a hero, won't you?" The forge assistant said, "and cut your hair, you're going to catch it on things."

"Only if I'm not paying attention to it, and you know that's impossible." Istvan said, cracking a smile. His mother dabbed at tears in her eyes, and father Pavel beamed with pride - laced with paternal worry.

"We'll write, but you have to write first because we don't know where it is you're going," Reynate said, hugging him until he choked.

Alexander came to Istvan's side, and Istvan leaned his forehead on his first love's shoulder for a moment. "I'll see you again," he whispered. Alex nodded, unable to speak.

He got into the black cab and it pulled away quickly, leaving in a burst of stones and dust. Heading west, along the main road. It veered north toward other Territories, that was one clue, and Reynate tucked it away into her mind.

When the cab was no longer in view, and the others who came to bid Istvan farewell had wandered off to their duties, Reynate glanced at Pavel and Inilla, who still stood watching the western horizon. The way that Inilla clung to her husband told Rey something was bothering them both, ever so slightly. She had always been exceptional at reading body language in addition to verbal.

"How much was his presence worth, really?" She asked, and didn't wait around to hear the answer. She only heard sobbing anyway.

*

When the first letter came, Alexander read it through and then passed it lovingly along to his sister. They'd both waited by the communications center of Windresh every day after school, for three weeks.

"He's only just got there?" Rey demanded of the page she read. The parcels in the communications office were usually delivered by Drak or even Fairydrak in the case of personal letters. Bulk came in bags upon the four-winged Draks. This letter had come alone, delivered by a strangely dark fairydrak - the attendant at the Communications post even commented on it. Reynate peered at Istvan's immaculate script, it was a bit muddy at the top where the date and area were meant to be marked, and she couldn't read the post-date on the thick envelope. She couldn't tell if it had been a week, two, or yesterday when it was written. "At least he's okay."

"But can we get a letter back to him?" Alex wondered aloud, grasping at the envelope and looking at it closely. "I can't read this. I don't know where he could be."

"Well we can always look at a map. Where would it take him, if he were three weeks on the road?" Rey said, and they drifted back into the school grounds. The library would be open, it was always open. A map room was tucked away somewhere, and they shortly located it. But their skills at cartography left a little to be desired - that, and the maps were all in different scales.

Eventually they determined that he'd have to have traveled west until the road turned north, that was almost a thousand miles away. The terrain was largely flat and easy going, most of that way. Quick time, in a nice cab like the one he was riding in. They were headed toward the Svaha'ren Territory, the middle of freaking nowhere according to any accounts that Reynate could find.

"No, here," Alexander said, waving his hand at his sister. He was hovering over the maps which had most recently been copied and bought by the library. "Look here. Right on the coast, there is a place marked. Maybe we could ask about what it is. It's a 'university' marking," he pointed out the logo which matched the one where they currently stood. So many miles away...

The next day they did ask, and got a worrysome response from the elder charter at the library.

"That's a newer place, all right. Too new for most traditional scholars like myself to work at and respect themselves."

"What do you mean by that?" Rey asked, sharply. "What are they doing that's so new?"

The older man narrowed his time-worn eyes at the young lady. "I've only heard rumors, and I don't like any of them. And young Istvan was sent there..." He shook his head. "I can't say I like that either."

Worried, that did neither sibling any good.

*

"Losing sleep, Rey?" Alexander asked of his sister, whose room was still lit with a pair of clever battery-operated lights. Istvan had made them for her.

"I notice you're not resting much," Rey quipped, rubbing her eyes. "We've got to just hope that our letters get there."

They sent fifteen letters, each one month apart. The first time, they got one response back. It was a curt, strangely phrased letter that only served to provoke more worry than ever. It seemed like Istvan was far too busy to communicate - either he was enjoying himself immensely or he was being worked to death, and the Rheinmann siblings didn't want to think about either option.

After that one letter, though, no matter how imploring their own were, they got no further response.

And on the fifteenth month, Istvan's parents were found dead in their home - Inilla had been garroted, and her husband had been strangled.

Reynate let the cold grip of fear claw at her heart finally. She could refuse it no longer. When Pyotr got back from work it had been two days already, and he had grim news as well.

"Someone at the factory tried to push me into a smelter, I'd never seen him in the forge before." The older, burlier echo of Istvan watched their faces, "but then, neither had the foreman and he made sure the guy wasn't allowed back in. So someone wants us dead."

"I've a feeling I know who it is," Reynate said, eyes tearing up but her jaw was firm. Her brother stood mutely, staring at the twin graves. "I suggest that we all be more careful about who we allow near us, in the future. You especially, Pyotr."

Though he was five years her senior, he dutifully nodded, as it was good advice.

What was better advice, however, came late in the evening that same day. Pyotr could not bear to stay in the house where he'd grown up, so he went back immediately to the forge dorms in the city. Perhaps that saved his life.

Alexander was in a half-sleep, disturbed by memories and angry dreams, when he felt a presence near him. He froze, and the catch in his breath alerted the killer.

"So, you're awake at last, little boy." The voice said, it was dark and hard, like the knife which had found its way to Alex's throat. "I will give you a moment to reflect upon. Stay clear. Keep to your own path. You can't do anything to help your friend. If you do, I'll be sent for you instead of his brother. Do you understand?"

Afraid to move, especially around the feather-touch of the knife, Alex twitched his head once.

"Good. If your sister feels similarly inclined to keep at it, I shall enjoy killing her."

The motion of the Mob killer exiting his room left Alexander out of breath and sobbing.

*

Things never quite returned to normal for Reynate and Alexander. There was a cold, silent agreement between the two of them that they did not speak of the things that happened that night. Pyotr moved everything out of the Sanger house and into a new place, which he did not mention where it was. Just one day, the Sanger house was empty.

Reynate studied intensely and found that she wanted to become a Peacekeeper. Her ability with words and people lent itself to that goal. And though she was a woman, rare in that field, no one was going to stand in her way. She stood strong and tall, amber-brown eyes glaring harsh from a now-stern face. Three years of study brought her ever closer to her legal position.

Alexander became more introverted than ever - and since the single other boy who tolerated his advances had been sold off he'd not bothered to find another lover since then. Devoted to his work organizing historical documents and attempting to teach, Alex grew farther and farther away from his exuberant, fun loving youth. As a scholar he was expected to take on students and he did his best. In fact he still did better than most others his age, but he was always just slightly distracted. As if there were no meaning to the words he used to love.

Until one day Alexander found a piece of university-related studies. It was labeled "Renaud Institute for Higher Ascention", and detailed a number of procedures that someone was working on. He took the paper and sped to Reynate's office in the legal department of the University.

"This is where he is," Alex panted, having run all the way. Reynate took the paper, ignoring the glares from the other students and the sole instructor.

"This is meant to be a private study time," he started to say, "intrusions are seriously det-"

"Stuff it, old man," Reynate growled, and stood. "Can we get a ride?" She asked of Alex.

"You're asking the wrong person," he said. "But I know of someone who could take us there right now. There's a Drak and Knight in the comm flats."

Reynate wasted no time in grabbing her bags of books, and rushed out of the room, leaving her instructor positive that women just should not be allowed to be there. That fruity brother of hers either.

Outside, it was easy to spot the Drak because of his size, less so to find his rider. The Desert drak's colors and long horns showed he was from Lav'intay - both Rey and Alex knew that much from their studies. Rey spotted the knight.

With her professional strength and ability with people, she approached him and inserted herself into his conversational circle. The Drak turned to look at her, his spiraling horns making a long curve in the air. Alex was stunned by the beauty and grace of the drak, but too curious about the conversation to stand there dumbfounded by him.

"Have you been to this place?" Reynate asked, a professional, demanding edge to her voice. Perhaps a little too desperate as well. The Knight looked the paper over, and narrowed his eyes.

"Yes. Foul place. I'd rather not head there again."

"Our friend is there. We need to know if he's okay." Reynate said, straight and to the point.

"Then he's probably not okay," the Knight said, darkly. "It would take too long to travel on foot for you. Let me ask leave to get another pair of free Draks. They can take you there, and protect you if you need it."

The first glimmer of hope in four long years started to show in Rey's face. Alex was less enthusiastic. "Wish we had some weaponry," he commented, but the Knight and his drak were already communicating with their Armada.

Shortly, a brown Mud drak and his smaller, younger Fire counterpart flew overhead and landed on the communication area's patio. The three Draks barely fit there together, people had to make room for them.

"What, right now?" Alexander said, and his sister gave him a wide-eyed visual nudge. Instead of heading to the drak, he took Rey's book bag, along with his own, and handed them to the Communication post's resident supervisor. "Deliver these to our house, I don't know if we'll be there to pick them up."

That done, Alexander hesitatingly got a lift from the Mud drak, while his sister (predictably) was offered a ride on the Fire. With their resonant voices, the transport draks bellowed, as if warning people below to stay clear.

When they were airborne, Alexander opened his eyes to find that he was already more than a hundred yards into the air. Yet, the ride was surprisingly smooth - the four wings he thought would get in each other's way worked so well that there was practically no jogging or extra motion at all.

"Wow..." he breathed, and looked at his sister who was obviously relishing her ride. She clung on to the brilliant mane of the drak, but looked around her with interest.

The Mud announced, "hold on tightly, and hold your breath. We will Portal now. The coasstline awaitss."

They arrived over the Institute with a pop of their ears, and racing hearts. They just traveled more than two thousand miles in less than a minute.

And instantly they knew they'd arrived to the right place. For below lay a sprawling black cancer of a building. It was one large structure, but spread out over what might have been miles of land. Several tall spires went into the air, while tendrils of smaller passages and covered hallways led down to the rough sea to the west. Though the rest of the landscape was a pale tan and brightly green in places, this area was just plain dark. There was a pall of what looked like smoke - it was smog - over the whole building, and Reynate shuddered.

"How are we ever going to find him in there...?" She asked, but the wind stole her voice.

The Fire drak she rode however, had an answer. "Perhapsss it iss that one down there... Running."

(was page 3)

What Rey and Alex saw below was a dark-haired and richly tanned form, moving across the jagged landscape to the east of the Institute, on foot.

He was followed by two ... creatures... the likes of which neither sibling had ever set eyes upon. They looked like human-sized Nex Necis. Their many limbs rippled below them, and the Draks above gave off worried sounds.

"He iss being chassed," the Mud drak said, "we musst help."

"Wait," Reynate said, still watching. "Look."

On the ground, as the draks circled lower, Istvan - or someone who looked rather like him - sprinted over a boulder and onto a patch of gravel, where he slid to a halt. He wore no shoes, and his slate-colored pants showed signs of having been broken in comfortably. His long hair was tangled, as it whipped around. He looked at his pursuers, and crouched.

When he lept up to strike, he was much quicker than any man Alex had ever seen. And while Istvan had always had good athletic reflexes, this was something more.

The pair of tiny Nex (were they merely immature? or were they something else? mature Nex were meant to be three or four times the size of a man, and these were barely taller than Istvan) converged, each trying to swipe at the moving man with their deadly forelimbs. Neither got anywhere close.

**

Istvan hit the ground, rolled, and came up behind one of the Nex. He grasped its spiked tail and pulled it off - literally off - and proceeded to pummel the carapace-backed Nex until it didn't move.

Its companion ran back to the Institute building. Something was terribly wrong here. It opened the door with one pair of limbs, and scuttled inside. That was certainly not typical Nex behavior.

Istvan's breathing indicated that at least he was exerting a lot of effort, but the dead Nex below his bloodied hands served as a warning to anyone wanting to come near. As the draks landed, he turned rapidly and prepaired for another fight.

His blue eyes were still blue - but they were wild and darkened. There was no white left, somehow his eyes had been blackened by whatever the Institute had done. His hands, though covered in blood, were still long and nimble - but now they had long dark nails, nails as black as his eyes. His skin was darkly tanned, much more so than when he had been younger, his slender body had filled out with maturity and had more muscle on it than either Rey or Alex had ever seen on a man. He'd lost his boyish innocent look, and his long face was lined deeply in a permanent frown and narrowed eyes.

But he recognized Rey and Alex, after a moment. He swept his hair back over his shoulder, leaving a bloody mess in it and on his skin. Blinking, looking down at the Nex and his hands, suddenly his face turned to a mask of fear.

He bolted away, having the presence of mind to head away from the Institute building instead of into it. There was very little ground cover - what might have been there before was stripped down, very likely for events just exactly like this. Escapees would have very little recourse on where to go. He headed east, away from the brittle coast and the black building. Away from his friends, and into the scattered boulders. Traps had been placed long before he ran through them, but he avoided every one of them as if he knew just where they sat.

"He isss very fasst," said the Mud, "mosst impresssive."

"I sshall retrieve him," the Fire responded, but Reynate gripped his mane and jumped down.

"No - no, something has happened to him. Let him go." She stared after him, losing sight of him as he darted between the large stones.

"Let him go?!" Alex yelled, still clutching the neck of the Mud drak. "He's been here almost five years and we see him like this and you say let him go?"

"Alex," Rey stated flatly, "he's afraid of us. Leave him be. I want to speak to this Renaud character."

She turned and motioned toward the building, which had a long, low extention and a forbidding doorway near by. Without hesitation, she faced it, and began walking. Alex lept from the drak's back, and tried to stop her.

"Rey - Rey, you're not a Peacekeeper yet, you can't go in there."

"I'm not going in as a Peacekeeper," she growled. "If you're not coming in, I hope you're waiting outside for me when I come out."

"If you come out!" Alex was frantic. The situation was prevented from getting any further out of hand when the big black doors opened abruptly.

The Nex was standing in them, but it was accompanied by ... A human? Standing and looking quite annoyed, a burly-shouldered man with pale blond hair and a deep red tan gazed out at the scene beyond.

What he expected to see was still there: a beaten and quite dead Nex. But he also saw two Draks and two humans. And they were obviously not in his plans.

The blood came to Renaud's face quickly as it left. He calmed before saying even one word.

"This is... An honor?" He half-asked, half spat. "We do not often get Drak visitors." He gazed with a caustic stare at Reynate, "or uninvited guests."

"Well you have them now." Reynate said. She was every bit as strong as this older man, at least in attitude. Seeing this, Renaud reassessed his situation again. He stepped out from the doorway and made a motion to the Nex that it remain where it was.

As he approached, Alex thought he heard something behind him, but he didn't see anything except the Draks who seemed to be conversing quietly to each other in their own language.

"Well, well... then who do I have the honor of addressing?" Renaud asked, turning on a charm which reeked of practice, yet was as stunning as his proud, handsome face.

Reynate met his eyes, something that he was clearly not used to. Hers burned with a chilling anger. Renaud's seemed to have the energy of a storm brewing - along with the colors, algae laced with lightning. He pursed his lips, and narrowed those eyes, as if appraising a new object.

Reynate spoke first. "You should know who I am. You sent a Mob assassin after us four years ago."

"I send so many," Renaud quipped, gaining a smile to aid his mask of charm. "How could I know you? If I didn't go and do it myself?" His pale eyebrow flickered up, Reynate caught the look and interpreted it - correctly - as a threat.

"Then you need to just look at your handiwork and try hard to remember." Rey swept her hand back, to indicate the Nex and the empty landscape where Istvan had apparently escaped.

"I am afraid that you'll have to be more specific. I only see a Nex which - by the way - cost an immense number of hours and investments to create, dead at the hands of your Draks."

"What?!" Rey suddenly broke out of her professional mode, her mistake. Renaud turned a casual facade on, and walked toward the Nex. To do so, he passed Alex, who backed up a couple steps and avoided the man's gaze at all costs.

Renaud investigated the remains, his eyes carefully following what little trail Istvan's feet left in the dusty gravel. He straightened up and glared at the Draks.

"You two are certainly not welcome on my property. I suggest you leave." He said to them, but neither of them moved to fly away, as if they were either ignoring him or pretending they didn't understand his words. He turned away from them, disgusted. It was clear that he didn't much care for Draks. Or women, by the way he looked at Reynate.

But he approached her again, and lifted his hand to the air, "Please, forgive any initial confusion or hostility. I am Professor Julian Renaud, and this is my Institute. Would you care to come in and talk about why you are here? It's hardly fitting for such a well-mannered woman and her companion to stand out here in the dust when there is wine and comfortable seating inside."

While she certainly did not trust anything this man said or did to be truthful, Reynate had in fact been brought up to accept hospitality when it was offered. She turned to Alex and indicated he come along, but the moment that Renaud's hand casually met her shoulder to escort her inside, something else interrupted everything.

A blur of brown, slate and black, hissing through the air like an arrow. Istvan flew past them, carrying Renaud several feet away with a tremendous blow. He regained his feet before the older man could even register what had happened, as Reynate spun around with the impact - untouched.

"You stay the hell away from her, beast," Istvan snarled. He was so feral, crouched like an animal himself, his eyes wide but black.

Reynate realized long before Istvan did, that that had been a mistake. If he'd merely blown through to start a fight that would be one thing. But he'd given away information - that Rey and Alex were precious to him.

Rey figured this a little too late, and as she started to back away from the scene Renaud lept to his feet and grappled his arms (thick, muscled and dappled with heavy blond hair) around her body and neck.

"Come and take her, Van," Renaud chided. "Come along. You killed another one. You know how expensive they are. They cost more than you. You'll owe me more than you do already, for that one."

"I owe you nothing," Istvan said, but his head had dipped down, in a posture that Rey interpreted as fear. His eyes remained burning and fixed on Renaud, however. His body was frozen in place.

"What have you done to him," Rey spat, before Renaud covered her mouth with his powerful hand.

"Do not speak, bitch," Renaud warned. His distaste at actually having to touch a female was eminently clear. "Do so again and I'll snap your neck."

Reynate believed him. Her heart was pounding.

What she did not know was that Istvan could hear it pouding in her chest. He could hear the slight sounds she still made, little throaty fear-induced noises.

Beyond her and Renaud, Alex stood looking helpless. He was far from a coward, but there was something extremely frightening about this Julian Renaud, something that he could tell was the same thing that had preyed upon his friend Istvan for the last five years. Renaud was a monster. A beautiful, blond, monster.

"Let go of my sister," Alex finally stated, "Or I'll ask these Draks to rip your head off and throw you in the sea."

Distracted momentarily by this intrusive whine, Renaud turned to look behind him - all to the effect of allowing Istvan to leap again. From his perch slightly below the pair, Istvan sprang into the air and gripped Renaud's wrists, wrenching both of them off of Reynate and over his head. That done, he began to strike at Renaud with deadly, accurate hands.

And each time he struck, his hand was batted away by Renaud's. Blow for blow - matched evenly in speed and strength. They fought too quickly for the pair of siblings to follow. Were they landing blows or just slapping each other's hands away at every opportunity?

Alex grasped at his sister and hugged her to him, pulling them both away from this. Their friend had been replaced by ... what?

A fierce battle brought attention to itself, as Istvan and Julian fought. They were silent, but their blows and scuffling on the loose gravel still carried over the sound of the distant waves below. At last, Istvan and Renaud's hands clasped, and they literally stood at a standstill gripping on to one another. Blood streamed from each hand, and it was plain that Istvan wasn't holding back using those long, black nails of his. His hands were already bloodied from the Nex carcass, so it was hard to say how much of the red on his hands was his, or Renaud's, or the Nex's.

They did not move when the black doors to the building opened again, and the Nex was framed by two small, young boys. One of them gasped, but the other held his tongue. "Come away," he said, his voice was airy, breathy ... spooky. The pair of men broke apart, almost as though the Draks had pulled them, and stood panting and bloody, glaring at one another.

Without turning his storm-cloud eyes at the boy, Renaud said, "come here," and the boy obeyed immediately. Istvan straightened and snarled.

"Using the child as a shield will only last so long, Julian," Istvan said, very darkly. "I'll not come back in with you this time. I have better things to do with my time than perform for you."

"Then you had best bring your little friends with you, and pray I don't find you again." Renaud warned, and kept the child between himself and Istvan while he walked back to the building.

Alexander noticed with a grim tightness in his throat that the pair of boys ... could have been Istvan when he was a child. Olive skin, black hair, and blue eyes which shone over their strangely sallow faces. The child which had come to Renaud's side had dark grey eye-whites, the other's were still light, but obviously both of them were serving their purpose to the blond man's needs. Alexander wanted to vomit.

Istvan stood before his old friends, unable to move. He started trembling, and glanced around as if there were eyes upon him other than the two humans and the two Draks. He wanted to hide.

"There iss a sstream, ssome wayss into the Territory," Said the Fire Drak. He nudged at Reynate and the young woman stepped forward to see if Istvan would flinch or run. He did flinch, but he stood his ground.

"Let's get you cleaned up, Van. The Draks will keep us safe." She said, and though it took another ten minutes of silent waiting, he finally moved toward the draks. He clearly did not want anyone touching him, but Alexander realized that it was because Istvan thought he was (and justifiably so) filthy. He'd been cut several times, but more had some scrapes on his back and arms from where he'd spun on the ground and had some gravel stuck in his skin. His feet were bloody, though there were callouses on the soles of his feet they were no match for sprinting along grit and sharp gravel. Obviously, the terrain had been well designed.

The Drak offered his leg out, and Istvan stared at it blankly. Reynate sighed, tisked her tongue and said, "silly, we aren't going to walk all that way over this ground. He wants you to get on his back."

"I ... can't do that-" Istvan said, quietly and with worry in his eyes. "They -"

"They are safe," Alexander supplied, "they brought us here. They're riderless, but they're part of an Armada."

"The Net of Wingss armada," The Mud drak said. "We help you humanss communicate."

"Well we don't have voices that carry as far as yours," Rey said, smiling and attempting to pass everything off more casually. It seemed to have a very slight effect. The Fire drak put his neck down, and at last Istvan accepted the leg up. It was obviously distressing to him, but Rey climbed up behind him. She held on to him tightly - but she felt that he was stiff because he didn't want to fall.

"It iss jusst nearby..." The Drak said, and they sprang back into the air after Alex had gotten onto his attendant Drak. They were only in the air with still wings for a moment, then they began flapping the foursome of wings. The humming of their wings brought them over to the eastern edge of the plains in a short time, and only a few minutes after that, they were nearer to human habitation.

"This is nearby?" Istvan shrieked, clutching on to the Drak's body tightly with his strong, runners' legs, and even more tightly with his white-knuckled fingers.

"I'd think you would want to be as far as you could away from that place," Rey said, a whisper. He heard her clearly, over the wind and over the gigantic humming noise that the wings behind him made. The noise was loud to him, no one else.

With an excruciating expression, Istvan turned to look at Rey. The tears in his eyes were whipped away, but the pain remained. His thin lips were so used to ... what, frowning. Screaming? Certainly not smiling, and not even Rey could resist being brought to tears by his face.

"You've come for me," he cried, "I didn't think you even cared any more..."

When the draks landed, it was near a hilly, pleasant lanscape of lush grasses and Racers which grazed upon them. Several Draks also circled, of different breeds - some had horns, like the Lav'intay, others had short ones, yet further had none. None of them held any interest for the trio of humans, for more than a brief moment of recognition that they were there.

To Alex and Rey, the presence of the Draks circling over head meant security and the knowledge that they could shout and have a quick rescue if need be.

To Istvan, the Draks were clearly a source of deep distress. When they landed, he sprang off the Fire's back, and looked as though he was going to just start running and not stop. But he paused, and turned, and looked like he wanted to help Rey off the drak. She needed no such help, of course, and when he took a look at his bloody, hair, gravel and spittle covered hands, Istvan let them drop to his sides.Too vain, still, to wipe them on his pants, Alex noticed.

"There's the stream," Reynate said, and started walking toward it. The draks were already lounging on the grasses, watching their bretherin in the air.

Istvan silently walked with the siblings, taller than both by more than half a head. Yet his head was bowed, he didn't look like he was particularly proud of himself. He knelt down, and pushed his hands and arms into the chill water. Clumps of drak hair, Renaud's hair and skin, gravel, blood and Nex parts all fell away into the water. The Draks had wisely chosen to place them downstream from the village nearby, rather than upstream.

Istvan's dark skin gleamed in the sun, and he tossed his head down into the water, cleaning his hair off. His suede pants wouldn't do to be wet, but he clearly didn't feel like removing them just now. Alexander looked at his friend with an eye for details. What he saw was a lean, jumpy, feral young man that he barely recognized.

He also saw two long marks across his back, older than the fresh scrapes which Istvan dabbed water over. With his long arms, it seemed that Istvan could reach easily pretty much everywhere that had a cut or scrape. Fresh gouges in his side matched Renaud's finger spans, but the two long marks looked more like... Whip marks?

"When did he give you those?" Alex said, gazing down at Istvan's back. Istvan turned, peered over his own shoulder absently.

Blinking, his face turned a little cold, but not for the obvious reason. "Yesterday," he said, finally. Alex and Rey looked at one another, surprised. The marks looked mostly healed - and deep. They looked to be at least a week or perhaps even a month old, not just a day.

Their silence brought words to Istvan's tongue. He stared at the water before him, without lifting his head. "Yesterday. The day before. Last week. Last fortnight. A month ago. Two. When hasn't he given me them? You'd never know. They heal really quickly." He spat out the last, an indication that he didn't want to speak about it. "You wouldn't know that a month ago he broke my wrist. Or last year he stomped on my hip so hard it broke. I don't limp." He continued to stare at the water, as it ran over his hands. "He's given me so much. A deep, deep understanding of anatomy. The opportunity to add to it with machinery - I declined on that one. I didn't much need a sawblade for an arm."

Reynate's gasp finally made him turn.

"Why didn't you come to me when I needed you?" Istvan pleaded, without emotion in his voice. He'd probably asked himself the same thing thousands of times.

"We ... didn't know!" Rey said, "we sent letter after letter, but we didn't get anything after the first two."

Istvan's shoulders slumped, "that would figure. Then I suppose that I should apologize for presuming too much. I got nothing from anyone, after a month anyway."

"Istvan," Alexander said, crouching next to him and very carefully putting his hand on his broad, taut shoulder, "tell us what happened."

"You want my story. You won't like it."

(was page 4)

When Istvan's skin was basically clean, and had already started to dry below the Svaha'ren sun, he leaned back and put his feet into the water, oblivious of the damage to the suede pants, and certainly ignoring what must have been tremendous pain.

"When I left Windresh I thought we were going somewhere a lot ... nicer than the Institute. But it wasn't as awful looking as it is now, they have added a lot of mess to it since then." He started his tale, and it became obvious that he wanted desperately to tell this story - and then forget it all happened.

*

Istvan had watched the countryside go by with a child's interest. The trip from his family's cold mountain origin was too dim in his memory to match to this - his first real outing ever. The interior of the coach was dark but lush - soft cushions and fabric-lined walls, a cabinet for relieving oneself, food and water stored under the seats.

All in all, the trip there was quite nice. The driver said nothing, even when Istvan tried talking to him as they packed down for the rare night's rest. The horses pulling the cab did not really seem to tire, though they were unnaturally large and burly they did stomp their hooves into the road and seemed to enjoy being off the hitch to the cab to graze. They ate too from bags that the driver supplied from above the cab, possibly from the same compartment where he slept because he didn't sleep with Istvan in the cab.

**

The road north into the savannah was surrounded by tall umbrella-topped trees bare of branches for a hundred feet or more. The plains animals grazed, and were chased by their predators. Istvan even got the chance to see such predation and was predictably thrilled. But the thrill was lost once he realized that the driver wasn't going to talk about that either.

As they finally made their way through the savannah after more than two weeks travel, Istvan could smell the ocean. They had passed over the bulk of the Svaha'ren territory's southern edge and over to the west coast, where a massive structure loomed over the cliffs and bled onto the grassland to the east.

When Istvan got out of the cab he was a bit scared. He had written parts of a letter he wanted to send, decided it wasn't worded quite right, so he discarded it. As he got to the grand entrance to this great black building, the driver scuttled his bags up to the wall and vanished with the horses and cab. Without a word - and Istvan suspected a week before that he somehow could not speak anyway.

There was a greeting party outside, consisting of two young clean cut teens about the same age as Istvan, and one impressive older man.

Upon seeing Julian for the first time, Istvan's reaction was one of unrivaled lust. He and Reynate had often discussed the benefits of having a handsome blond boyfriend - to the dismay of Alexander of course who was hopelessly not blond.

Julian held out his strong hand, and Istvan shook it with a sudden pleasure. This might be an adventure to look forward to after all.

"Istvan, you've finally made it. Boys, please get his bags. He's had a long trip." Julian's voice was hearty, full, and had an edge to it that Istvan didn't yet recognize as one filled with forboding. The two brown-haired youths dutifully grabbed a bag each, and left Istvan one.

"Call me Van," Istvan said, distractedly. He followed the trio in. They entered and Istvan was stunned. The interior of the building was well lit by electric lighting, all but unheard of in smaller towns, and still difficult to come by even in Windresh - hence his creation of battery-driven lighting for work late into the night.

"Sir, if I may ask, what exactly am I going to be doing here?" Istvan asked, and Julian turned with a smirk.

"You'll be given a dorm, and set in comfortably first, and then we'll see what you're made of." Julian tapped Istvan's forehead, and smiled a wide, overly-pleased grin. "Then we'll improve upon it."

"I've been told I'm rather perfect the way I am," Istvan said, glancing away. The two boys chuckled to each other, and Julian gave a loud guffaw.

The first few days were busy, but Istvan was given a room which had its own toilet and bath, narrow bed and wide desk, and was filled with shelves - he put his books on one near the desk immediately.

Though there was an edge to the place that Istvan didn't really like, he did clearly feel that his intellect was going to get a work out. And, bonus, he'd actually be appreciated for using his brain to his full capacity.

He didn't yet realize that that wasn't what might be expected of him, not until after the laboratory was through with him.

Istvan penned several letters: one to Alex and Rey, another to his mother, a third to their teacher at school. This was all so new to him that he really didn't know what to make of it all. And shortly, he wasn't going to have time to worry about it.

He was put through several tests which seemed to measure his intellectual aptitude. Maths, basic language skills, mechanical and chemical, ever more complex tests. He conquered most of them with quick ease. Language and math came quickest. Istvan learned rules rapidly and kept them in mind.

Next up were a series of physical tests. While he enjoyed seeing how far he could push his body, Istvan realized that some of these tests were a little strange. They threatened to break his arms, when he was given too-heavy weights to lift. His breath came in fits and starts when he'd been run literally all day long. Collapsing into his bed that night, he wondered what was going to happen next.

And without pause, after the exhaustive sets of physical testing (which he appeared to impress the group of analysts as much as those administering his intelligence exams), they brought him to a large surgical theater.

Nervous, of course, upon seeing a tray of needles and several vials of odd looking liquid, Istvan turned to see Julian and two larger men framing the door, apparently in case he decided to leave abruptly.

So he cooperated. Istvan sat in the large leather-covered chair, and allowed himself to be strapped in uncomfortably snugly. His head was braced, arms at the bicep as well as wrist, and legs at the knee and ankle. Trussed up, biting his thin lips, Istvan waited. There was no explanation coming, however, just Julian and a number of long, shining instruments.

The first injection went into his arm, burning. "You've got such lovely blood vessels, Van," Julian said, "but you don't need to flex quite so much for them to show up. Relax."

He gave a little chuckle, and attempted to do so - but the second injection was apparently meant to go into his temple. He started to squirm, but Julian's strong hand restrained him further than the head brace did. "Stop moving," Julian warned, his nostril flaring. Istvan obeyed instantly - closing his eyes and waiting.

When the first injection's contents finished circulating and went through his brain, Istvan realized that he could barely feel his skin any longer. Woozy, whatever drug he'd been given was making him rather sick. But before he could say or do anything, the needle at his temple literally drove deeply through the bone and directly into Istvan's frontal lobe.

When he came to, Istvan's head hurt in several places, his arms had bruises where the restraints had apparently been needed to keep him down. There was a welt on his arm where the needles had repeatedly been applied. Istvan didn't dare stand up, even though he was in his own dorm again and could try aiming at the bathroom. He simply vomited on the floor next to the bed and someone would have to clean it up - he wasn't going anywhere.

Throbbing in his head kept him from sleeping. Slowly, he guessed either overnight or over the course of the next whole day, Istvan recovered from this strange treatment. His skin itched, in fact everything itched. His eyeballs felt dirty. When he was finally able to stand and look at himself properly in the bathroom mirror Istvan was horrified by what he saw. There were gigantic bruises on his head, and they'd ...

"You bastard," Istvan whispered, "you didn't say anything about shaving my head for this shit."

But they had to have access to his temples, and more, the back of his head was tender to the touch. Behind his ears, in fact at regular locations all the way across his head, there were marks where apparently he'd been either injected with something, or some object had been driven down into his skull.

"It will grow back," Julian said, startling Istvan and making him almost slip and fall. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I thought you might have a poor reaction if you knew."

"Well, I look hideous. Thanks." Istvan said, growling. He was so used to the weight of his head, no wonder he felt so odd. It was of no comfort to him that 'it would grow back'. It shouldn't have been cut off in the first place... But there was nothing for it now but to wait it out.

When Istvan was introduced to the rest of the dorm inhabitants, many of them looked him over with a slightly annoyed expression. It wasn't that his hair was gone and he could no longer impress people with it. There was something else about him that they didn't like. Or more, resented. They'd had the treatments, as well, so it wasn't that.

Istvan noted that of all the people in the dorms, only two of them were female - boyish ones at that. There was nothing really strange about it, some universities didn't even accept women as students. Stupid. Their loss. Istvan busied himself with learning where places were in the building, and what doors to remain away from. Less than a week later, eight days after his treatments, Istvan had his first seizure.

"It's normal," someone said, dabbing a cool towel onto Istvan's forehead. "It's normal. Relax. You're fine. You'll get used to it."

Someone else muttered, "they don't usually come on that soon," but no one else elaborated. Istvan blissfully passed out again, and woke an hour later in the dark. Of course there were no windows leading directly outside, anywhere in the building. There were some decorational windows here and there, but they usually led only to views of indoor courtyards or rooms with conference tables in them. Never outside.

He didn't feel like being indoors. Cooped up like this. His ears buzzed, and his eyes hurt like crazy. Istvan rose, and staggered out of the infirmary, back to his dorm. The image of himself with a frizz of thick black hair less than a finger-width long and holes lacing his scalp was less than appealing to him, so he didn't bother looking in the mirror at himself.

Had he done so, he would have noticed that the whites of his eyes had started to darken.

Several letters came and went, Istvan happily wrote a bunch of them when he could finally concentrate again. How were things at the forge? Was the machine shop still running smoothly? Did the kids get the chance to try your cookies? Did Klegstrom ever have the guts to admit how much he wanted his guy friends? Chuckling, Istvan sealed the letters and handed them off to the man behind the counter at their postal area.

When Istvan went back to study, he found that he was breezing through texts like they were nothing. Child's books. Some things seemed so obvious - mechanical priciples and chemical formulae... Istvan went back to a book which had a number of complex cyphers in it. Blinking at the page, it was as if he didn't need to read to even know what the script said. The random letters and symbols mixed into a mash of words - words which he simply knew how to read.

His stomach grumbled, and rather than worry about why he was suddenly apt the way that some geniuses might be, he found something to eat instead.

Julian seemed remakably pleased at the results. So much so that he nudged Istvan toward a more close mentorship with him. There were indeed many things that Istvan didn't know about - he wasn't much of a literature buff, but he wanted to know more about biology - and that was something that Julian seemed all too quick to teach.

Testing became more of a game for Istvan. He seemed almost unaware of the process that Julian and his attendants were using to test his reflexes and his intuition. Both physical and mental aptitudes were exceeded into ranges that only Julian believed possible.

And about every eight or nine days, Istvan had a devastating seizure. Five months in, and Istvan finally wrote another letter - wondering where the kind words and the questions and the support had gone? He didn't even get any from his parents... They'd been paid, he thought bitterly, and now they're best off on their own. He didn't bother writing to them again.

But he did keep sending ones to Rey and Alex, in the hopes that they'd respond. But they did not. And Istvan soon found that he didn't much have time to worry about even that, since he was being given the opportunity to learn how to become a surgeon.

Medicine on Icarus was a difficult matter, at best. But some things had been retained since the time of the crash - in theory if not in substance. And theories of why he kept having his seizures flew through Istvan's mind when he got to tomes about the brain and nervous system. He realized that his brain and nerves were growing at an astonishing rate - the same rate that they might if he were still in the womb, in fact. His eyes and fingers got the brunt of it, but he soon found he could feel his intestines, heart and lungs... His own heartbeat threatened to deafen him one night - until the morning when he had yet another seizure that 'adjusted' his brain to the changes. Each time, he did the math, he became incrementally more intelligent, and his nerves were growing exponentially in his body.

He was seventeen when Julian decided he'd been lax enough. Though Istvan now knew more than enough to fix almost any injury or diagnose and treat nearly every disease on Icarus, that was not the problem. Not according to Julian.

The problem was that Istvan was trying to 'date' some of the other boys. And that just wouldn't do. When Julian cornered Istvan in the dining area, the young man smiled with a bit of a sultry look. His hair had grown back - richer black than before if that could be believed. Of course, it matched his blackened eyes and his dark nails now. Istvan played with an ice cube from his drink - he'd helped create the refrigerator it came from anyway - and watched his 'benefactor' sit down across from him.

Because it soon became apparent that Julian was at last interested in starting some kind of more intimate relationship with him, Istvan relaxed into a role of flirtation that he'd been missing for a long time. But now, he could read certain physical aspects better than before - unconsciously. At this point, he hardly knew why he felt so aroused by the way Julian looked at him. It was the scent coming from the older man, the way his pulse brought testosterone to his skin... It made the blond man all that much more appealing to him.

And their relationship started with quite the bang. Julian didn't even bother to keep it from anyone else, he almost paraded Istvan around. And Istvan went for it - like he went for other things, privately. He didn't know how to resist the charm of Julian's eyes, even when the man wanted him to do painful, somewhat embarrassing things for him.

It was that blind permissiveness, Istvan's natural desire to please his lover, that led to the eventual realization that he'd become something he really didn't want to be. He was Julian's slave - in all manners and forms. He never questioned Julian's requests. He never declined to do anything. He was required to call him "Master", so he did. He was asked to put on a gag and be bound, he did so.

So when Julian told him to fight - he fought. When he told Istvan to lay still, and be silent, he did. When he was told not to cry out when beaten, he did not cry out, even when the beatings were done with metal objects and wires that brought his skin open wide within moments. Painful, but for some reason his wounds healed quickly enough that no one believed him even when he said something about it. Plus of course he was more than well versed in healing arts, so he could just fix himself up with a bandage or a salve without anyone even knowing.

But he was also being trained to enjoy it. And that bothered him even more. Yet there was nothing he could do to stop it. Perhaps when he attempted to slit his wrists the first time, he ought to have learned: his wounds healed much too quickly to simply die from them.

It was when another black-haired, blue eyed boy was found dead in a pit that Istvan was meant to be filling with dirt, that Istvan had another horrifying realization. He was not the first of Julian's many lovers - and he was not going to be the last. There had been several other similarly black-haired, blue-eyed tan skinned boys coming to the Institute for treatments. They rarely saw one another - they were kept busy in different parts of the building complex.

He didn't dare speak of this directly to Julian. He knew that to say anything disagreeable would certainly condemn him to a day or so in the Room - a dark cube with a door and a drain, and chains. Just the thought of spending time there led Istvan to remain quiet for another number of months. Putting his efforts into designing new equipment and clever objects for the physics department, or helping out in the infirmary which he did love to do, Istvan became aware that he did not find Julian the same enfatuating object of desire he once knew.

Rather, he was appalled when he thought about it. The man had administered drugs and things into his brain that caused him immeasurable pain every week or so, with the bonus that it had in fact brought his intelligence to a godlike portion and his reflexes to the point of instantaneous.

Given a moment to reflect, when he was just barely eighteen and his seizures had fallen to once in a month or slightly less often, Istvan realized the full extent of his situation at last. He was a prisoner, an experiment. His parents and friends had forsaken him, even if they had once loved him. His last private pleas written to his friends had gone out several years before and never been responded to. Alone, despised by many at the Institute for his position of elevation near Julian, and terrified that that position would surely kill him like this boy he helped bury, Istvan began to think that he might escape.

Once he was finsihed with the pit, he got a look at the outside of the building. It had been modified - loudly - over the couple years of his habitation, in fact he had helped design one spire which contained a certain kind of hydrolic pipe for pressure in the rest of the building. But the place was isolated and in a completely bad spot for running. The road as such was grit, the place was perched on the cliffs overlooking the sea - and Istvan had never learned to swim.

When he tried to get out the first time, that fact became clear to Julian. And he used it rapidly to his advantage. Inviting Istvan back inside, pouring on the charm as he was apt to do, Julian made sure that the next time he and Istvan were alone, there was a swimming chamber quite nearby and he used it to cow Istvan into terror yet again. With the lie of 'I'll teach you how to swim', Julian lured Istvan into the pool. Submerging the young man until he almost drowned, then 'rescuing' him, Julian asserted his dominance quickly. Teasing him, pleasuring him, and bringing him back under his tight control.

Istvan later began to fight, but that was only to the delight of Renaud. When he put up a fight, Julian decided that it thrilled him even more, and would go to great lengths to make it so Istvan would fight back before being subdued and raped again. How long had it been since they had simply made love? Perhaps never, Istvan didn't like to think about that.

*

"Since then, it was ... well, sixteen escape attempts and five more suicide attempts. And then this." He waved his hand at Alex and Rey, and the Draks. "This made seventeen. I found two more dead bodies that could have been my twins. He meant for me to find them."

"He made you call him 'master'?" Alexander said. It was late, the sun had set and they had barely moved from their spot near the stream. They had made themselves more comfortable, but Istvan seemed less inclined to move even out of what might have been a cramped perch on the ground.

"He made everyone call him master," Istvan spat. "Some of them more than others, and some could not take it. I didn't want it any more."

"You have escaped," Reynate said, tilting her head and trying to make out his dark expression in the evening light.

"Yes." Istvan said, expressionless. His whole story had come out, but without a hint of the pain and terror that it must have caused him. He'd bottled it up inside, it came out by the way he gripped a pebble so hard that ... he broke it.

They heard a noise, and Istvan looked at it in his hand. His palm was cut, but it would soon heal.

"You should rest. We'll find something to eat, there is a village near here, and they might have something." Reynate said. "Alex, stay with him. I'll go."

The fire drak and Rey went to the town, and by the time they returned, Istvan had collapsed into a fitful sleep. Rey put down the supplies she'd gotten, and sat next to her brother. They looked at Istvan as he slept, peaceful for perhaps the first time in months. But even his sleep wasn't restful - he was so tense, quivering and occasionally his voice would open up and he'd let off a faint scream or moan.

"Don't tell him about his folks," Alexander said, simply. "He can't take that. Not yet."

"What are we going to do with you, Istvan..." Rey said, thinking twice before drawing her hand over his cheek. He would have snapped at her and possibly killed her - had she actually touched him.

(was page 5)

In the morning, Alexander had fixed some breakfast from the food that his sister had gotten. The smell of it brought her awake first, Istvan was still crashed out and more unconscious than asleep.

"He's been like that all night. I hope he's okay," Alexander said, chewing on a sausage. The fire he'd made would have to be put out soon because the grasses might catch.

At last, Istvan roused and sprang into a fully-aggressive fighting stance as he did so. His eyes darted back and forth around him. Seeing the stream, draks in the distance, and the pair of his old friends brought him slowly back to reality.

With his head hanging he apologized. Rey held out a sausage that had been sizzling on the end of a twig. "Here, eat. You'll be okay. No need to apologize to us. You know that."

"Do I?" Istvan said, quietly. "I'm sorry... I'm not hungry. I don't eat much."

"With that body?" Alexander laughed, "no way."

The look that Istvan leveled at him stopped that laugh halfway in his throat. "I don't need to eat. He taught my body how to consume everything it was given and live on it."

Alexander didn't question what it was he'd been fed at that point.

*

The draks stood up and bugled for attention, as another pair of their kind dropped to the ground. To Istvan's inexpert eyes, the Draks were monsterous. Fur and skin and too many limbs... To Rey and Alex they were Mi'ihen draks with soft manes and sweet faces. Their Knights - both had riders - dropped to the ground and walked toward the humans near the stream, as their draks went to the others to gossip.

Istvan openly stared at the draks, in the time he'd been at the Institute draks had never been allowed near it. Though it would have meant quicker travel, they were to be avoided at all costs. The only mention of Draks were in the bio department where it was assumed that at some point, Renaud wanted to dissect one.

"What's this all about," said one of the Knights. He rode an Ore drak, who was busy watching them instead of preening like the other three. "We've been getting all kinds of interest from the draks about you three."

"Sorry," Alexander said, "We didn't really mean to keep the draks this long." He indicated the pair of communication draks, but the Knight shook his head.

"No, they're not even ours. But they've been babbling about you three all night. They wanted me to come see about Judging you."

Reynate stood up, surprised. Half on impulse and half because it ought to be done, she tossed dirt on the fire to put it out as if that was all she'd stood to do. "Really. To judge us? But we're already kind of spoken for. I'm headed to be a Peacekeeper. And my brother is a philosophy instructor."

This, the rider took in stride. He looked from Rey to Alexander, then to Istvan. "And you? What are you doing that is so important you must miss being judged as an Aspirant?"

Istvan gave off a bitter laugh, but said nothing. He looked away. Finally, he said, "I'm terrified of heights, and draks are dangerous. Why would any of them find me interesting?"

"Well, they do," the Knight announced. "There is certainly something about the three of you. Perhaps not all at this nest, but surely at a clutch soon enough, you'll have to stand as Aspirants at Mi'ihen. It's not very far away. Do you have to collect any belongings? We can get them on the way."

"I am not going to pair a drak," Istvan said flatly. "I do not want to. I barely want to be around them."

"Then get used to it." The knight said curtly. "These two can get your things, if you wish," he said to Rey and Alexander. His drak had apparently told him of their flight from Windresh's university. He turned again to Istvan. "I don't know what it's going to take to convince you, but you're going to be an Aspirant."

"Whether I want to or not, huh? Story of my life." Istvan stood and walked around to get the ache out of his limbs. He realized that most of his bruises and cuts from yesterday's fight had all but vanished.

"Istvan, what else is there for you to do?" Alexander asked. "Renaud will be looking for you. But from what you've said the last thing he'll do is look at a Castle."

By this time, several other draks and their Knights had arrived, and it was discussed among them. They would take the trio to Mi'ihen, but the local Dun Keiba riders wanted to know about this Institute on their coast. Since it was in their Territory, they should have been asked permission to build it in the first place.

Istvan got a dreadfully angry look on his face, and they stopped talking about it. "I'll inform the Prince that you'll eventually come and speak to him about it, if I may?" The Knight said, hoping that Istvan didn't up and kill him right then.

"Do that. I will want to. The things that go on there are filthy. But I would expect to encounter some resistance. He's bred small, obedient Nex you know."

That led to an animated discussion among the riders, and another glare and silence from Istvan. Finally, as the sun had come up a little more and the draks were eager to fetch things and go, Istvan agreed to be taken to Mi'ihen and become an Aspirant. He had nothing else left to him anyway. He assumed that his family had abandoned him, and never once questioned about it, even when given the opportunity.

That guilty secret was one that Rey and Alex would have to keep for themselves, until the right time.

For now, with the Judge carrying Istvan gingerly on his drak, and the other two helping get what few things were required by Rey and Alex, they headed to Mi'ihen.

(was page 6)

After spending a few days at Mi'ihen's wonderful castle, it became a goal for the siblings to get Istvan to stop jumping at everyone.

Though he was outwardly calm, the young man obviously had some issues to deal with - and not the least of them was to stop trying to kill anything that got closer than 'across the room' from him.

"Istvan, are you coming to dinner with us tonight? The dining hall is really fancy. Not like the college or our dorms at Windresh." Alexander suggested, softly.

He watched as Istvan tilted his head, then slumped his shoulders. "All right..." He sighed. "I will go," he said without any excitement.

Alexander's eyebrows shot up, he wasn't actually expecting him to accept the invitation. "It's this way. Since you keep yourself holed up in here all the time, we got out and explored."

Istvan grunted, standing, and his expression did not change in the slightest, as he walked silently to his old friend's side.

"... Rey's already there, I think she's picking our seats. Remember when we used to go exploring in the woods? And you found that gulley?"

While they walked, Istvan said nothing. He nodded slightly, but remained his typical reserved, grim, self.

They arrived to the dining hall, and true to form, Rey had already scored their seats. The room was elegant, large, and probably one of the first to have been finished in the new Castle. It was filled with the soft hum of people talking, laughing, and clinking of silverware upon dishes.

The smell of roast, spiced vegetables and freshly baked rolls came to Alexander's nose and he inhaled the smells with gusto. He noticed that Istvan was either cringing, or trying not to breathe.

"What's the matter?" He asked, and Rey waved her arm impatiently from across the room, waiting for them with her own plate already piled high.

"It ... I do not eat very much, told you already... It is very loud in here, for me. But - it does smell good. It has been a long time since I... had this much food in front of me and permission to eat it."

Alexander furrowed his eyebrows in concern, as Istvan walked toward the serving table. A plate was handed to him, which he accepted without flinching. Apparently his urge to eat had momentarily conquered his fear of people. He took only small portions of everything offered, and a glass for water. Alexander was more tempted to take a lot - but tempered himself unconsciously. Two rolls instead of three...

"You made it out of that room," Reynate smiled. "Nice to see you in better light."

Istvan somehow found it difficult to reply with something about how he'd been able to see perfectly well in the dark of his room, but he managed. He flickered a half smile over his thin lips, and sat down next to her, with Alexander on his other side. They correctly assumed that he would feel safer that way.

Eating mostly in silence, the trio was stared at only as much as anyone would normally do so to Aspirants. Everyone knew who the Aspirants of this small clutch were, so they kept tabs on them. There were not all that many people around, really, for a Castle. But Istvan was still rather jumpy, even with a belly full of well-cooked meat and tasty breads.

"Did you maybe want to see the nest we're going to stand at?" Reynate asked. "The mother is quite protective, but it's getting close to time to view them anyway. The hatching might even be soon."

"I cannot see why I must," Istvan said. "I am hardly fit to pair with anything."

"But you've been Judged, and some day you might pair, just like us. I'm excited about it," Rey said, in that jibing tone that she used to use long ago. It would normally have made Istvan irate enough to conquer whatever it was that he was balking at doing.

What it did now, was cause him to visibly deflate into a submissive, tame state, and say, "all right, I will go with you. I ..." He lowered his gaze again, looking at the remains of his meal. "Julian taught me that Draks were monsters. Fierce, man-eating things." He looked up and met the hard gazes that the nearby Knights gave him at that, and he clearly heard the protests that were muttered under the Knights' breath. "But I know better. We used to wait for them to come through Windresh, I remember. Too few of them did, really, because I think if I'd seen more of them then, I would have questioned his 'lessons' about them."

"Man-eating?" Alexander said, taking their plates, "that's insane. Draks never assaulted a human, in our entire history on the planet."

"History was never my strongest subject," Istvan said.

They left the dining hall and wound their way down to the deepest of the caverns - where a warm blast of air met them and they heard voices. The mother of the clutch was there, of course, but also her mate and their Knights. Istvan almost froze at the entrance, but they were beckoned inside by the Knights. It turned out that even Istvan knew that the woman who rode the dam was the High Princess of the Castle - Cywen.

"Ssso there you are," said Water Zaythiel from her mound of hot sand. "I will want sssome privacy for my hatching, sssoon."

The eggs were magical for Alex and Rey. Less so, obviously, for Istvan. There was something clawing at the back of his mind, the whole time he was there. Something that he felt would condemn him to a misery he couldn't yet concieve.

***

When the High Princess announced she'd been shooed out of the Deep hatching Cavern, she made a point of gathering the Judged Aspirants. There were seven, and only six eggs - and it was always possible that more than one egg either might not hatch, or might not bond at all. She examined the Aspirants as they came in, while her drak was busy watching her eggs hatch.

When the time finally came, Zaythiel moved the young hatchlings into the main room where the Aspirants were standing. With an excited hush, the few people present were able to watch as they were examined by the hatchling Draks.

There were some extremely strange people - and dragons - at this hatching. Istvan remained as far from them as he could. Even Alex and Rey stayed clear of the two headed dragon which bonded a night and a day drak - how very odd.

The prize of the hatching, apparently, was a beautiful mutation - a fire opal. She paired eventually, but that was after a male Fire drak insisted upon being named and sent to the Aspirants. He was called Gwaelyn, and his mother told him, "you sshall be Gwaelyn, little flame of impatiensse."

He bounded over to Reynate. It was no surprise to her brother, or to most of the others assembled in the cavern, that she bonded a bold Fire like this. "They took forever, didn't they?" the drak muttered, his voice soft but bright - brighter to Reynate because she could hear the echo of the words in her mind as well. "I know you wanted to be a Peassekeeper," he said, matter of factly, "Now I think there'ss a different kind of peasse to keep."

The little drak looked at Istvan, followed by Rey's eyes, and then they returned to each other's. The fire opal paired, and a few moments later a Rain drak insisted she be named - right after she ran headlong and pounced into her pair.

Then, a quiet voice asked the dam a moment after the Rain had been named, "and mine?"

The Night male, patient and reserved, waited as his mother told him, "Khymelyn, I think."

The last of the clutch looked at the pair of young men - Istvan and Alexander - and chose Alexander. Suiting his personality was important, and Istvan was obviously not right for him. He walked up to Alexander, who was thrilled - but he was also worried, and that worry was a subject that the pair thought intensely about.

Istvan watched this with an air of pained wonder. His friends were happy - it was plainly obvious, and it was as it should be. They'd been Paired to two fantastically beautiful young Draks. But it left Istvan ... alone? Yet again.

No surprise to him. He knew he wasn't set out for this, it was just not time. He was still thinking about how much it would hurt him to have to share anything more, after having had everything he was ripped away from him... When Alex and Rey and their lovely hatchlings came up to Istvan, they had little to say.

"Your trainers will be wanting to talk to you," Istvan said. He tossed his head and turned away.

The transport chief of the Castle, Drendari, would be helping Alexander out in his training. Her forest drak was well suited to the job as well.

"Oh!" Said Reynate with a little surprise, as the High Prince Daon approached her as her trainer. "This is quite an honor, sire."

"I know," Daon said with a grin.

Reynate was sure this was going to turn out great, for her training...

(was page 7)

While the siblings were busy tending their Draks, learning how to command and take commands from others, and doing that sort of hard work, Istvan had but to sit by and watch.

He did that for all of four days. Whether it was because he hadn't Paired, or because he was just bored without a Drak, Istvan stopped sitting in on the lessons.

It took a few days for Rey and Alex to notice, and their Draks noticed first. Especially Rey's Gwaelyn, who commented, "why iss the sstorm so angry? He lovess you but he cannot tell you that."

Worried, but too busy to really do anything about that situation, and told by their Trainers that it was common enough among unPaired aspirants, Alex and Rey watched Istvan go.

It wasn't as though he just up and vanished, however. Istvan busied himself well by seeking out the infirmary staff, or the builders or technicians. He would put in time working to repair broken arms or sew gashes in skin back togther. He helped out lifting in the sections of the Castle that needed fixing. Istvan wandered through Mi'ihen without making much noise but certainly impressing a lot of people with his skills and his flexibility.

But he wouldn't come near the Deep Caverns again.

*

Gwaelyn asserted his personality strongly when Alexander and his Drak Khymelyn suggested they ought to start dragging Istvan into the heat of things again.

"I do not think that iss much of a good idea right now," Gwaelyn announced. "He iss not happy, even now. I have grown up enough to know that he will not accept your offerss."

"Well I hardly think that it's right to just ignore him," Reynate said. It was Alexander's Drak Khymelyn again, who argued.

"He is in need of friends, and you are his best friends. Let us go find him. He is not nearby." The Drak tossed his head. He was an adolescent, the pair of humans were merely Squires at this point still, but they could still fly short distances - and that was what Khymelyn insisted Istvan required.

"I think that asking our Trainers would be a good idea, though," added Alexander. Before we go jaunting around the countryside.

"I'll go," Reynate said, and because Alexander knew better than to stop her, she bolted away out of their shared quarters and into the High Prince's.

It wasn't long before she convinced him to allow them out. There was no current threat of Nex outside, so he made her promise that they would not try to use a portal to do anything. Reynate assured him that they would do no such thing - they hadn't been properly trained, and Gwaelyn reminded her mentally that he would not try working the portal power until he was grown and used to flying.

Alexander had outfitted Khy with his riding gear. He helped out with Gwaelyn's until Rey got back, and they took off outside. There were patrols flying overhead, and the Draks got bits of information from them about the whereabouts of the missing third of this group.

"He iss there, running," Gwaelyn said, "He sseemss to do that a lot."

"He always had... He's a runner, not a fighter." Rey told her pair.

"Even though he fights like a banshee," Alexander commented, overhearing this through his Drak. "He's always loved running. I wonder if he's ever thought of just being a currier around here."

"But that iss our job!" said Khymelyn with distress. Alex calmed him with a laugh.

"I mean on the ground, silly."

"I knew that!"

***

They located Istvan as he sprinted along the rocky grounds near Mi'ihen's local shore. He remained at a wary distance from the waves, but ran deftly over the stones and around trees. Whether he did so because he was angry and needed to work off his emotion, or because he was bored and wanted exersize was only something that could be answered by asking.

Not that he'd be willing to talk.

They hazarded landing near where he would run, the pair of impressive young Draks using their humming wings expertly already. Istvan slowed up, and stopped when he reached them. It didn't even look like he'd broken a sweat.

"How long have you been out here?" Alexander asked.

"About an hour," Istvan said. He was panting a little, that was all. "Did you need something?" He glanced up at the pair on their Draks. Alexander dropped to the ground after loosening his riding straps.

"We just wanted to see you. We hardly see you any more." The young man said.

"Well, you have to look after your Draks, you are Squires after all." Istvan said. There was precious little emotion in his voice. "You are quite busy."

"And so are you!" Reynate said, cheerily. She slid down along the furry neck of her Drak and walked toward Istvan with a smile on her face. She sought his eyes, but he wouldn't meet hers.

"Well, now you have found me." Istvan said.

You see how angry he is, Gwaelyn mentally spoke to Reynate.

Privately, with a spare glance toward the big gold and red fledgeling, Rey told him, I see how lonely he is. That is all.

The drak huffed, but said nothing more. Rey hesitated, but then approached Istvan. "Would you like to come see how we're going to change out our old riding gear for the new ones?" She indicated the leather and metal stirrups.

Istvan let out a breath, perhaps having hoped they were on some other quest regarding him. "I would rather-"

"You know you'll be needing to know this stuff when you Pair, Istvan," Alex said, abruptly. "And we'll be there to assist. You know we will."

"Yes, because you've always been there for me." Istvan said. The anguish from when they found him was still strong. But now it was punctuated by a jealousy and sharp anger.

"We didn't know!" Alex shouted. "We've been over this, Istvan, it wasn't our fault we couldn't-"

"Alex, hush," Rey said, flatly and with no doubt that her "peacekeeper" attitude was going to shine. "Istvan, I know that in your mind you know our words ring true. But your heart is the part I'm concerned about most. And there is one thing that can fill it and not break it, like everything else in your life has."

"Pairing a Drak," Alexander whispered, knowing that Istvan heard him.

"You don't understand," Istvan said, sharp. "Julian ... did things that you wouldn't understand. To my mind and my body." He turned and stared with his black eyes. "Once I wanted to have a pet," he said softly, suddenly changing the tone of his whole bearing.

This disturbed the Fire drak immensely. He is a trickster, look at how he changes.

Hush! Rey demanded. "What happened?"

Istvan looked away, and said, "when I showed Julian the fairy drak egg - well, he demanded to see what I'd been hiding... - he sent me back for another treatment." He indicated his temples, "and even though I know that Draks and the little flitters are harmless to people. Beneficial even. But now, it's like..." He shook his head, "now it is like every time I even think about them, my head hurts, on fire. I get sick thinking about Pairing, Rey. I can't imagine how it'll feel. You keep telling me it's wonderful, but... Even standing there on the cavern sands waiting, I could feel their minds."

"But that's supposed to be a good thing, I thought," Alexander said, and his Drak echoed it.

"It might be, for you," Istvan explained. "But for me it's... torture. Every day. But then ... I'm used to that. I just get stronger, through all that pain. It is strength I don't want."

Rey and Alex were silent. The day had grown darker, and Rey quietly said, "we should be getting back. Come along, Istvan. The draklings won't need our attention all evening."

"What's cooking in the kitchens?" Istvan asked, "I am a bit hungry..."

(was page 8)

Istvan continued in his routine, though he did allow his friends to keep him occupied with pursuits other than lifting and mending, healing and guarding. They continued to encourage him to meet people - which he didn't do very well.

He did have contact with some of the Drakling Trainers and the Judges - some of them remained entirely unconvinced that this strong healthy young man should Pair at all - they too sensed something amiss.

None of them planned on sending him away, though. He was far too useful around the Castle. Very good with any wounded Knights, or more mundane injuries around the Castle, and plus, he had experience dealing with the Nex - dangerous creatures like those which occasionally breeched the Drak defenses under the cover of darkness or distraction.

Always - Istvan wondered when his Master would come to call. He would never look here - would he? Julian might have spies anywhere, but Istvan doubted that he'd include a Castle in his web of intrigue.

Van had long realized in the safety of the Castle, that Draks and fairy-draks and all those other things that people had around them were just perfectly safe. Fun, even. He didn't want the responsibility of a fairydrak, though they seemed like they were quite useful.

*

Days moved into weeks, and then perhaps a month had gone by. Another female had eggs on the sand in the deep cavern, this time a lovely moody vain Wind. With their duties expanding to their professional extent, Rey and Alex were distressed to notice that they actually had little more time than Istvan did, to interact any more.

But shortly, it wasn't going to matter. Normally, the mother of a nest would announce when her children would hatch. But this Wind was of her own mind on this subject. And so late, late at night, the trio of eggs broke open to only an audience of their mother Kaayri.

She paraded them through the silent early-morning halls of the Castle, rather unlike any dam had ever done before. (And most likely, rather like no dam would be allowed to do in the future.) She left the first at a girl's dorm, the Rain drak paired a young troublemaking inhabitant to her delight.

The second, a Forest, teamed up with another girl, happily, while she attempted not to rise to feed her fairy drak this early in the morning.

And at last, Kaayri led the third, a Wind (another female) down the hallway into Istvan's room. Kaayri nudged the door open gently, it didn't squeek or make a sound while she did so. But she was concerned. This was where the nervous wreck of a human lived. Was that right? Well, the Wind hatchling decided that her mother didn't know enough about him to judge.

"Have a care, Cephari," was all she said to her youngest.

The darkened room was cool, so Cephari trundled up to Istvan's cot and snuck herself under one muscled arm before he woke fully. Her bright blue eyes matched his - white where his were black - and blinked gently at him.

I shall enjoy being with you, no matter what anyone else thinks - even you. She thought to him.

Immediately startled beyond fear, and in a fiery pain the likes of which Istvan had never even considered, he shot out of bed and fell back into the wall, as his drak pair did likewise onto her own rump on the other side.

Cephari felt a bit confused. The horror in Istvan's eyes was mirrored in his mind - but it was a pure instinct kind of thing. She knew that this was the right person to Pair. So when Van dropped to the floor with a sort of gurgling groan, Cephari was worried that her brief mental contact to seal the Pairing had killed him. It certainly and obviously put him into a pained state. Cephari chirped with distress.

She crept around the bed, and found him laying on the floor unmoving. His leg was close to her, so she kicked at it and Istvan moaned a bit. So he wasn't dead! That was a relief.

But that left a problem. He was unconscious because of what she'd done - she touched his mind and he collapsed. Well, there was only one thing to do about that: wait for him to wake up and apologize. It wouldn't happen again.

Maybe.

Cephari sat down, not quite bored, and waited. While she did so, her mother's knight came through the halls with a bluster and a bit of noise. Perhaps she'd help Istvan?

***

In the infirmary as a patient for the first time in months, Istvan shuddered awake.

Cephari was right there with him. She'd supervised his transfer into the room, and refused to leave his side. When she realized he was awake, she nuzzled his hand. At first his fingers twitched away from her, but ... Then they rested on her warm muzzle and scratched her nose. He felt around the back of her skull and to the top of her neck where the start of her mane would grow.

"I am Cephari," she proudly announced - the first time that most of those present even knew her name. "And I have chossen you."

Weakly, Istvan sighed. "I noticed," he said. "It hurts. I am sorry. I do not know how this will work."

"I know!" Cephari said, excitedly, "you will learn to become a Knight and we will sserve a Casstle in an Armada. That iss how it iss done!"

In spite of his painful state, Istvan gave a chuckle. She was entirely opposite him.

Or was she? He managed to turn and look at her. The pale sky color of her wings almost could match his eyes. She was open, happy. And, he knew in his heart, she'd never leave him. He looked at Cephari and smiled, crying. She was him - young and innocent again.

"Then that's how it will be done, won't it." He said. He groaned again, and put his head back down on the pillow which for all intents and purposes might just as well have been made of brick - that's how it felt inside his head now. Thickly crowded with the Drak's feelings and thoughts - she was hardly expert at keeping them apart from his own. And she was impossibly pleased that he acknowledged her.

"I will try to keep it down," she promised him, "it hurtss."

"I will... have to get used to it."

(was page 9)

Cephari snorted and butted her pale head against the darker colored Night that Alex rode.

"I do not think you get it. It wass a joke." She said. She spoke verbally out of habit, but could easily send her thoughts to other draks.

"I get it." Khymelyn groaned. Cephari bounded away, her drak-giggle carrying through the valley.

Fire Gwaelyn, paired to Reynate, swung his head around and tried to get the young Wind to settle down. It was hard work.

"Do you think you could, you know," Alex said, nudging his old friend Istvan and nodding toward the exuberant female, "calm her down or something?"

Istvan's eyebrow went up, his black and blue eyes still rather unnerving even after three full years. "Seriously?" He said. "I don't think so."

"Rey's gonna kill you then," Alex reminded Istvan. "I mean, here she comes now."

"She'll have to catch me first, and we all know I can run much faster than she." Istvan replied. There was so much unspoken between the three, but they were all - perhaps especially Istvan - happy to have each other back. Rey looked less than pleased, though, as she came from the village's main house.

"I cannot believe how thick headed these people are. They ask for an arbiter, get me all the way out here, and then refuse to listen when I tell them what I think they ought to best do." She fumed. Her Gwaelyn flared two of his wings, and snorted loudly.

I could convince them.

"No, you couldn't, you just would not believe them." Rey said, as she rolled up some paperwork and stuck it into her pack. "This was a total lost cause. We'll probably have to come back some time soon and settle a bigger argument."

Alex held his hand to her shoulder and said, "Rey-"

"It might come to blows."

Istvan was about to try the same thing, but paused long enough for Rey to get out another, "But oooh-noo, don't tell them that. They're too civilized for that."

"Rey!" Alex said, making Istvan wince - but he was still grinning so Alex didn't bother apologizing for hurting his ears. "Rey, leave them. They're just the way they are, and someone else can take care of them later. We've done our job."

The siblings were climbing onto their Draks when Cephari swept through the courtyard at full speed, half-off the ground, and skidded to a halt before them. A big cloud of dust from her beating wings made all three cough.

"Can't go! Can't go! I found one!" She said, excited. She was so excited, apparently, that her emotions were bleeding through to Istvan's mind, and while he was still coughing from the dust, he almost doubled over with his hands to his forehead. "Sssorry!"

"It's okay, Ceph." Istvan said. He turned to his friends and said, "hold on a minute. I want to see what this is about." Cephari led him to another building, where she nervously slunk around.

"In here?" Istvan asked, and Cephari chirped a yes. He knocked at the hut's door, while Rey and Alex were curiously following him and looking on.

"What do y' want! Busy!" Called a woman's voice.

"not her!" whispered Cephari.

"Madam, do you have a child in the house with you?" Istvan said, and the sounds from inside the hut stopped. Moments later, a burly woman arrived at the door and threw it open.

"What's she done now!?" She bellowed, and Istvan hid another wince.

"Nothing, madam. May I see ...her?" The woman was staring intentely at his black eyes, but didn't comment. She turned, silently.

("Still catches on quick, I see," Alex whispered to his sister.

"He can still hear you," Rey reminded her brother.)

Soon, the child in question was brought outside. She was dirty, dressed in little more than burlap, and had what appeared to be a hand-made wooden Nex doll in her hands. She might have been eight or nine years old at most, but her fierce expression told Istvan she had already been in more trouble than he and his friends combined, at that age.

He turned briefly to Cephari, raising his eyebrow again slowly. For once, he was able to formulate a solid mental, this one?

Nodding enthusiastically, Cephari confirmed it. Istvan pushed his long hair behind his shoulder and cleared his throat. "Madam, your daughter has been Judged. When she is old enough, she may-"

"Take her!" The woman shrieked, "Take her now! I'll PAY YE!"

Laughing, Alex and Rey declined to offer their own Drak's services for carrying this whirlwind child. Istvan settled her on Cephari's back, where she seemed absolutely sure of herself.

"Good call, Cephali," Istvan said, "let us go back now."

"Back to Dun-" Alexander started, but Istvan 'ahemed' and Alex switched tracks, "back to Mi'ihen, we go!"

"CASTLE!" Shrieked the girl.

Oh how fun this would be, being a Judge, Lawgiver and Currier team...