The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2

Chapter 17

Part 4

“Be careful when you cast them. This is not to be cast on my daughter directly, since I don’t think it

would be wise to cast any spells on our children directly. Who knows what it could lead to? So anyway,

I will cast this on my own womb, to monitor my child within, and you will cast those on Talia’s womb.”

“Ah, I see that now, now that I consider it.” Talia nodded. “That’s very good thinking too, by the way,

about not casting anything on our children.”

“Thank you.” Alilia smiled, and the bright spark in her hand floated down to her belly and disappeared.

Mark’s brow furrowed in concentration. “Talia, could you help me with this? I’m trying to make sure that

one of these is attuned to Reggie and the other to Helemia, so we know right away which one of them

is doing it if they do anything. But I’m having a bit of trouble with it, and you know them a lot better than

I do.”

Talia deepened her Link with him to share his thoughts and sensations directly.

Alilia joined them in that. “Hmm. I’d have thought the effort would be un-necessary, since the two of

them are almost one mind anyway. But despite their constant and complete Linking, they’re developing

their own individualities quite nicely. Moreso since their little adventure tonight, I see.”

“There. Go ahead.” Talia said, and Mark let the two spells drift down and disappear within her.

They cuddled and silently considered the twins with all their senses, and all their love. Then Alilia

broadened their awareness to include her daughter, who was still just an invisibly tiny ball of life, only

four weeks since her conception. But they loved her just the same.

The next morning they were visited by Hilsith, Yazadril, and Nemia, who joined them for breakfast.

After hugs and greetings and placing extra settings at the table, Hilsith opened the conversation. “The

Sylvan is sedated, and with our continued treatment he will likely recover. Eventually.”

“We’ve Read him rather thoroughly. His name is Vanakit Lamitkeze, and he’s quite an individual.”

Yazadril added. “For one thing, he’s over eight hundred years old, which is rare in a Sylvan. He’s also

one of the most formidable warriors and wizards of that race I’ve ever met. It seems their God of

Stealth has imposed his own culture on them for the last few thousand years, and it includes not

allowing the adults to kill one another. Since they’ve had this culture for far longer than a Sylvan’s

lifespan, or what we thought was their lifespan, they’ve had time to learn that a Sylvan can live a lot

longer than we thought. So long as they’re not killing each other, that is. No doubt Zarkog would have

discovered the same, if he’d had time.

“The eldest Sylvan on these islands is over three thousand years old, and is certainly the most

formidable member of her race. Many of them are older than the nine hundred years we thought they

could live, and have had the time to become far more capable than any of the Sylvan from Serminak.

“However, their young still slay one another regularly, which winnows out the weak and keeps their

population in check. Which is lucky, since their females have a child every fifteen months on the

average, century after century.

“They live by hunting, gathering, and fishing, and their homes are made in hollows in trees; like

primitive versions of elven homes. Their god hides them and all their artifacts from detection from all

others, and from any animal. It makes hunting a very easy activity, apparently. They practice being

stealthy with fanatical devotion as well, to hide from one another and to impress the god. Though the

adults don’t kill each other, they live in a constant state of anarchy and warfare, with ever-shifting

factions competing for status, power, and their god’s favor. Though killing each other is forbidden

among the adults, wounding, maiming, and torturing one another are quite acceptable.

“Their homes are all on the big island on the north-west edge of Hiliani, almost as far from here as they

could be. The one in our infirmary was only so close because he was scouting us. They’ve been aware

of us since the first day we were here. Their god, whose name they don’t know, told them to leave us

alone, and left before the time-bubble went up. I imagine he didn’t want to be trapped in here for

twenty-four years. But the Sylvan here don’t know why he left, and they’re not aware of the time-

bubble. He just told them he’d be gone for a score of years, and left.”

“We had Povon consult with us on his Healing, since we considered her to be our resident expert on

Sylvan, due to her recent experience as Dragon Lord Regent of Serminak.” Hilsith said between bites

of flat-cakes. “She was a great help too.

“They’ll be dropping by after breakfast to discuss last night’s events, her and Kragorram and Karzog,

that is. She says Kragorram is fine, by the way, though he has some lingering symptoms, on which she

would not elaborate.

“I’d expect Yzell to be by after breakfast as well, since we’ll definitely want to examine the babies after

their experience.”

“Ah.” Talia nodded, finishing a mouthful of fruit juice. “We expected that, and we certainly have some

interesting things to tell you about it, but we might as well wait until they all get here.”

“It’s starting to snow.” Mark commented after a glance outside. “Let’s have them meet us at the hall. We Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

can be out of the weather without having us all crowded in here.”

The walk to the meeting hall was enjoyable and pretty, with big puffs of snow gently drifting down

between the trees through still air.

They were met by Povon and Kragorram, who’d brought young Karzog, and by Yzell and Theramin,

who had their six children with them, including their baby.

The dragons were playing; Povon and Kragorram crouched about twenty meters apart, and carefully

tossed Karzog back and forth between them. The elves watched this and smiled, their young with

grinning fascination.

Like all Dragons, Karzog’s wings were too small to support him in flight; they were just big enough that

he could make a controlled descent from a great height and still land slowly enough to avoid injury

most of the time. His inherent magical abilities of Levitation and Self-Movement were starting to have a

weak effect, but were still a little erratic, and he beat his wings as hard as he could as he learned to

control himself in flight. He was having great fun, and for the first time, he was obviously using a

Draconian-to-human translation and communications spell, since he was grinning widely. Occasionally

he let out a little puff of yellow fire and black smoke to vent the heat of his exertions.

After about fifteen more minutes of that he was tuckered out, panting hard, and clung to Povon as he

caught his breath.

During that time it seemed word had spread that something was happening at the hall, and almost

everyone in the community had gathered there, and watched the dragons playing.

“Thanks for your patience.” Kragorram smiled as they relaxed and lounged on the soft carpeted floor.

“That’s the first time Karzog has truly felt the urge to fly, so we could not deny him.”

“Everything he just did, he is the youngest dragon to have done it.” Povon proudly added as she gave

her adopted son a nice back-scratching. “We are so proud of you!”

“Thank you. I am proud of you too!” the young dragon laughed.

As soon as Kragorram was lying down most of the children there started climbing all over him, an

activity that Karzog joined as soon as the adult’s discussion began.

“Be careful of the smaller children.” Povon cautioned him, and she cast a Soft Landing on the floor

around them in case any of the young fell.

“So, what’s up?” Dren asked Mark, and all the adults gave them their attention except Yzell and Hilsith,

who began examining Talia and her unborn children with diagnostic spells.

“Well, we weren’t really planning a gathering, but I suppose we should have since there’s things you all

need to know.” Mark replied, and looked around to include everyone.

“A couple of weeks ago, our unborn twins contacted Talia psionicly. At first it was just basic emotions,

but we’ve been Linked with them quite often, including Alilia, and by yesterday they were already

thinking in basic concepts, and using their own names and ours. They’re still having a bit of trouble with

the fact that we call each other Talia and Mark but we want them to call us Mother and Father, but still,

their progress has been amazing.