The Consequences of Meeting a Dragon

Thenio's grip on Iggy tightened a little.

So it was really true? That scary doctor with the bleeding eyes had called him a chimera. That was one of the few things he could remember from his time at the Order base. But he'd assumed it couldn't possibly be true.

Grandmaster Sephior was one of the best magic circuit doctors in the world, wasn't he? And he'd never said anything about Thenio being a chimera. Lots of doctors had examined him without saying anything.

Until now....

Ariom was staring blankly at Grandmaster Sephior. "A chimera? What sort of weird joke is that? How can Thenio be a chimera? I've looked at his magic circuit hundreds of times by now. I really think I would have noticed if he had more than one."

The doctor shook his head. "It's not a joke. And no, you wouldn't have noticed. I didn't either. Like I said, he's a very unusual type of chimera. He has two circuits that are twisted and partially fused together. Their pathways completely overlap—that's why it's not normally visible using magesight or a scanning device. But I was able to see them when his magic was sealed. I also confirmed it with Eteon."

"With Eteon...?" Ariom's expression darkened. "I suppose he would know...but if this is true, it changes everything! Why wouldn't Eteon or Ki'shiu say something? How could they possibly expect us to treat Thenio's instability successfully if they're withholding vital information like that?"

"I asked that question myself. Eteon said it was partly to give us a chance to assess Thenio's condition without holding any preconceived notions. And partly because they want to be sure they can trust us before they tell us more. The same things that Ki'shiu told Thenio. But also...." Grandmaster Sephior trailed off, looking over at Bero, who was still standing near the kitchen doorway, listening to the conversation with a complicated expression on his face.

Bero let out a long sigh. Then he slowly walked over to the table and sat down in a chair next to the doctor's. Humerus floated off his shoulder and landed on the edge of the table, his bronze scales vanishing into magic particles as he moved.

There was a moment of silence.

"It was partly because of me," Bero said finally, sounding tired. "They knew about my history as a stability doctor, and they guessed—correctly, I have to admit—that if I'd known from the beginning that Thenio was a chimera, I would have done my best to persuade you not to take him in."

Thenio's eyes widened. He dropped his gaze to stare fixedly at the plate of pastries in front of him.

"Don't misunderstand, Thenio," Bero continued. "You're a good kid, and you deserve the very best help available. It's just...." He was quiet for a moment. "I told you that I used to do magic circuit alterations, didn't I? And the Stability Center gets two or three chimera patients every year, so I assisted with quite a few while I was there. Circuit alteration is basically the only treatment option we have for them. It's a difficult and painful process of removing the extra magic circuits and trying to encourage the remaining one to grow in and replace them. But it only works in certain cases. The success rate is abysmally low—around one in ten. And they're all just kids, you know? Most chimeras don't even make it to your age. Do you know how hard it is watching children die like that? After you've spent time talking and playing with them...after you've promised them that you'll do everything you can...after they've endured so many painful treatments and tried so hard to be brave...."

Bero's voice broke. There was another silence.

"I want to help you. Of course I do...but...a chimera with circuits so tangled up that you can't even see there are two of them? Removing one isn't even an option in a situation like that. So what are we supposed to do?! When Ariom told me he wanted to take you in, I knew the odds weren't good...but I thought there was at least a chance! If I'd known it was this hopeless...."

He fell silent once again.

Thenio was still staring down at his berry pastries. He had no idea what to say. He wasn't even sure how to feel. He could sympathize with Bero's point of view...but....

"Well. You're proving Eteon right, now aren't you?"

Everyone turned to look at Brel, who'd just brought a steaming plate of fried egg and sausages over to the counter and was setting it down in front of Thenio.

"And one for you, Iggy," he added with a smile, putting a smaller plate with a cut up sausage on it off to the side of Thenio's dishes. "It's been a couple of hours since you had breakfast, hasn't it? I thought the smell of sausages might make you hungry." He looked back at Bero, his expression surprisingly calm considering the grave topic of conversation. "It's like Focilo said—Eteon was afraid you'd jump to conclusions if you knew too much about Thenio before you started working with him. And isn't that just what you're doing? You think his situation is hopeless based on your prior knowledge of chimeras, right? I understand you've been through some painful experiences, and I don't blame you for wanting to protect your nephew from going through the same thing. But Thenio's not like any other chimera you've encountered. You shouldn't make assumptions like that."

"And what exactly is so different about him...other than the fact that his situation is even worse than the other chimeras I've seen? No one's ever been able to stabilize a chaos morph. Not even a mythic beast! So what reason do you have for thinking it's not hopeless?"

"Well, for a start, it's not exactly true that none of them have ever been stable. The very first chaos morph was actually stable for a long time. He only destabilized and died because there was an accident that caused him to absorb a huge amount of magic all at once."

An accident? Thenio shifted uncomfortably. For some reason those words reminded him of the dream he'd had where he'd fallen off a cliff into a river full of stars.

That dark, terrifying river....

"There was a stable one?" Ariom asked incredulously. "That wasn't in the records...though I guess I shouldn't be surprised by that, at this point.... But how? What did they do to stabilize him?"

Brel shrugged. "Nothing, really. That's why we can't replicate it. He simply wasn't unstable at first. He did have some extra challenges, and his magic control wasn't great. But he didn't keep exploding like the others have."

"How long did he live?" Grandmaster Sephior asked, frowning a little.

"I don't remember exactly. He was still a child when he died, though."

Still a child.... A child with small hands and short legs.... Just a foolish child, who hadn't realized the danger...who'd recklessly gone chasing after that white fox....

And lost everything because of it....

It was all his fault....

He'd ruined everything....

"Ariom!" Iggy's urgent voice interrupted Thenio's spiraling thoughts. "Thenio's magic is getting scared!"

Thenio realized that his breath had become rapid and unsteady. His skin felt cold...and his magic suddenly felt dangerously hot....

At the dragon's warning, Ariom immediately stood up and started toward them.

...but he'd only taken a couple of steps when Thenio felt a pair of strong arms pulling him into a gentle embrace.

"Calm down. Don't think about that," he heard Eteon's voice say. A familiar hand started stroking his hair. "You don't need to remember that."

The voice was definitely Eteon's, but it was...different than normal. It reverberated through Thenio's whole body, soothing his frantic magic power. His breathing calmed down, and he felt relaxed and sleepy. His eyelids started to droop....

Thenio suddenly blinked and looked around. "Huh? What was I...?" He looked up. "Eteon? When did you get here?"

"Just now. I could sense that your magic was starting to go out of control."

"Oh...right...it was. I was upset about something...I think...?" Thenio shook his head a little. "I don't remember what it was."

"That's fine. It was nothing. You don't need to remember." Eteon lifted Iggy out of Thenio's arms and put him on the counter, next to the little plate of sausage chunks. Then he patted Thenio's back. "Go ahead and eat your breakfast."

"Oh." Thenio looked down at the plates of food. "Okay." He obediently picked up his fork and started cutting off a piece of egg. "I thought Brel said you'd be back in about an hour?"

"I came back early." Eteon shot Brel a glare and reached over to tug on his striped tail. "Because a certain overgrown squirrel couldn't keep his mouth shut."

Brel pulled his tail out of Eteon's reach. Then he folded his arms and glared back, looking undaunted. "Yeah. And a certain toymaker keeps being too paranoid." He nodded toward the table, where the three men were all staring at Eteon, looking stunned by his sudden appearance. "You were listening to the conversation just now, weren't you? What are you planning to do if they lose hope and abandon the poor kid because you won't tell them anything?"

Eteon scowled at him. "You really do take after your father, don't you...?"

"I try to," Brel replied, his glare melting into a sunny smile.

Eteon continued glowering at the Forest Man for a moment. Then he sighed and looked away. "I know. I'll do something about it. Just...." He glanced at Thenio. "...later." He looked over at Ariom. "You're not supposed to be using magesight right now, are you?"

Stolen novel; please report.

Ariom started a little and shot a guilty look at his uncle. Then he scowled at Eteon. "Well...it was an emergency, wasn't it? How was I supposed to know you were watching us from halfway across the continent and would suddenly poof in to deal with it?" His expression softened. "Is he all right now?"

"Yes. He's fine." Eteon smoothed Thenio's hair again. Then he reached out and patted Iggy, who was still watching Thenio with a worried expression. "Thank you for sounding the alarm, Iggy. I took care of it. You can relax and eat your sausage now."

"Mmm. Okay." The dragon's ears perked back up and his tail waved a little. He lowered his head and started contentedly chomping down on his snack.

Eteon smiled at the sight. Then he looked over at Grandmaster Sephior. "Go on. You haven't even told them the entire announcement yet, have you?"

"Ah...right." Grandmaster Sephior looked uncertainly at Thenio, who was chewing on a bite of pastry. "Is it safe for him to hear this?"

"He'll be all right as long as I'm here."

Thenio nodded in agreement. That's right. Everything was fine.

He had a vague sense that something was a little strange about the current situation...but whatever it was, it didn't matter. Eteon was here. So everything would be all right.

Grandmaster Sephior didn't look entirely convinced, but he didn't question Eteon any further. "Like he says, there's more to the announcement. Obviously people are going to want to know what kind of magic circuits the boy actually has. We're planning to say that he has life and null affinities."

Ariom had been moving back to his seat, but he paused and frowned at Grandmaster Sephior. "'Planning to say'? That makes it sound like it isn't true."

"Well...no, it might not be," the doctor admitted. "One of his circuits really is life affinity, as far as I can tell. That should be why he's so tolerant of life magic. But the other circuit.... That's trickier. It does resemble a null affinity. And that would explain his ability to produce different kinds of magic. But of course there are some things it doesn't explain, such as the magic absorption. But only a few of us are aware of that. There's no need to address it in a public statement."

"And why do we need to make a public statement to begin with?" Ariom asked, still frowning.

"To protect him," Bero said quietly. He seemed to have calmed down again and was staring at the table with a sort of resigned expression on his face. "The same reason they're saying that Focilo was the kidnapping target, even though they know it was really Thenio. I was talking to Kalion about it earlier—that's why we were late coming back. He and his secretary showed up at the restaurant we'd gone to with Kathia. Kalion said they'd just gotten back from a meeting at the palace." He glanced over at Thenio. "You're a bit famous, you know? Enough that a general and a king were having a meeting about you this morning."

Thenio was about to take a bite of sausage, but he paused and stared at Bero, his fork frozen in midair. "About me? Why would the king care about me?"

He knew General Obarin had some interest in him because of Ariom, but...the king?

"Oh, I don't know...maybe it has something to do with the fact that one of the leaders of the Order of the Ravener went to an awful lot of trouble to abduct you?" Bero said, a bit sardonically. "Or the fact that no fewer than five mythic agents—plus Ket'shiu himself—got involved with the resulting rescue effort?"

"Five?!" Ariom sounded like he was choking. "There were five agents?!"

"At least. I wouldn't be too surprised if there were more lurking around. Ask those two about that." Bero jerked his head toward Brel and Eteon. "But there were five that Kalion is aware of. He wouldn't tell me who the fifth one is, though...."

"No, before the fifth one...who are the third and fourth ones? I only knew about Eteon and Brel. And Ket'shiu, of course."

Bero turned to look at Focilo.

Ariom followed his gaze, also looking at the doctor. "What—?" He broke off, his face twitching a little. "No.... You're not going to tell me that you're a mythic agent, are you? Surely you're not...."

There was an uncomfortable silence.

"Are you serious?! You?" Ariom glared at Grandmaster Sephior, looking highly affronted.

The doctor sighed. "Yes. Me. I have a contract with Ket'shiu."

He was Ket'shiu's agent? Huh. Maybe that was why Thenio had always felt more comfortable with him than with most other doctors. Just like he felt comfortable around Eteon and Brel.

Ariom was still scowling furiously at Grandmaster Sephior. "So why didn't anyone tell me? Even if you'd normally hide it, you at least could have said something once we found out about Eteon and Ki'shiu watching Thenio." He shot an accusatory glare at Bero. "And you didn't tell me either?"

Bero gave him an apologetic look. "I only found out yesterday. And with you sleeping so much of the day...plus how many visitors we had...I just hadn't had a chance to tell you yet."

"The usual practice for agents is to keep it quiet unless there's a specific reason to tell someone," Grandmaster Sephior said with a shrug. "You never really needed to know before now. And I was thinking about telling you after I learned that Ki'shiu was involved with Thenio. But you were preoccupied with that job for the Royal Guard, and you already seemed quite anxious just from learning about one agent.... I thought it would be better to wait until the analysis job was over."

"What about Relisa? Is she agent number four?"

"Yes. She's contracted with Ket'yia."

Ariom sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. "Seriously.... Everyone's always told me that mythic agents are rare and special. Was that a lie? Why are they everywhere I look these days?"

"Because you adopted a chaos morph," Brel said, giving him a gentle smile. "And because you live in the capital city of the largest and most powerful country on the continent. I think there are more agents stationed in Kamari than anywhere else in the world, so your chances of running into one are relatively high here."

"That's a little terrifying...." Ariom made a face. "So who's the fifth one? Are you going to tell us?"

"There's another one of Ket'shiu's agents who's affiliated with the Kafron military," Grandmaster Sephior said slowly. "But I'm not sure if I should say any more than that." He looked over at Brel.

"Hmm...." The Forest Man rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I usually don't give other agents away without asking them first. But in this case, I don't think he would mind...."

"It's the guy with the long hair, isn't it?"

Everyone turned to look at Thenio.

"The one we met in that place where the weird tree was growing, remember?" Thenio continued. "That guy in the dark green suit. He's Peqeran's agent, right?"

No one said anything.

Thenio looked around, feeling confused. What? Why were they all staring at him like that? Ariom wanted to know who the other agent was, didn't he? He'd just been answering the question....

"You mean the head of the Demon Poison Center?" Ariom asked, frowning. "What makes you think he's an agent?"

"I...don't know?" Thenio scratched his cheek. "I think I dreamed about it. Maybe?"

Ariom looked at Eteon, his expression strange. "What did you do to him?"

"I'm just using a little magic to help him stay calm." Eteon was watching Thenio with his brow slightly furrowed. "It's affecting his behavior some, but it's certainly not giving him information about Peqeran's agents. And didn't he recognize Camei yesterday when he saw him at the Order base? Focilo told us about that."

"Ah...yes. He said the name 'Peqeran' when he saw Camei, right? So he'd already made the connection then." Grandmaster Sephior said, nodding. "And he said at the time that it was something he dreamed. I thought perhaps Ki'shiu had introduced him to Ket'shiu in a dream and seeing Camei reminded him of it. That ridiculous hair of his...." The doctor's expression turned a little bitter.

"I see you and Camei are as friendly as ever. Honestly...." Brel shook his head. "It's not a competition, you know?"

"I know that," Grandmaster Sephior said irritably. "But I don't think he knows that...."

"Wait, so Camei Rhesim really is one of Ket'shiu's agents?" Bero asked, looking between the two of them. "Are Ket'shiu and Peqeran the same person...er...same tree?"

Brel nodded. "Yes and yes. His name is Peqeran. 'Ket'shiu' is just a title. And most of the world's top demon experts are his agents, actually. Or another mythic's.... But Peqeran's agents have an advantage in that area, since his power gives us extra resistance to demon poison. So he's deliberately sought out people who are interested in that kind of research."

"You really are everywhere...." Ariom sighed. "All right. Now that my worldview has been completely shattered...can we get back to Thenio? You said the announcement about him being a chimera was to protect him. What did you mean by that? How exactly is it supposed to protect him?"

"By eliciting the same response you just saw from your uncle, essentially." Grandmaster Sephior gave Bero a sympathetic look. "Most people who have experience with chimeras would think that way, to be honest. 'He's just a chimera. He's a hopeless case. He's not worth bothering with.'" He glanced at Thenio. "Obviously Ki'shiu and Eteon don't think that's true. I don't think so, either. But I talked it over with Kalion yesterday, and we both think it's in the boy's best interest for us to try to spread that idea. Finding out he was a chimera definitely made Vehnkir less interested in him, for a start. So we're hoping it prevents other unsavoury characters from taking an interest in him as well."

"I see.... Well, I'm all right with that idea. I'm really not eager to go on another rescue mission. But...a chimera, huh...?" Ariom tapped his fingers on the table thoughtfully for a moment. Then he looked at Eteon. "I doubt Ki'shiu is going to want to reseal his magic circuits just so I can take a look at them. Is there any chance you can magic up some circuit scans for us? Like you did with all those diagrams back at the Royal Guard headquarters?"

Diagrams? What diagrams? When had Eteon been at the Guard headquarters? Thenio hadn't seen him there. Though he had been shut inside the transcription room most of the time....

Eteon noticed his questioning look and patted him on the shoulder. "It's nothing. I just gave the Royal Guard a little bit of information to help them find you. It wasn't a big deal. Don't worry about it."

"Oh. Okay." Thenio nodded and went back to eating his last few bites of berry pastry.

It occurred to him that it was a pretty evasive answer. But for some reason he didn't feel the need to ask any more questions.

It was fine. Eteon was here. Everything was fine.

Eteon patted his shoulder again before turning back to Ariom. "Yes, I can do that. Wait a bit, though. I don't want to expose Thenio to too much of my magic at once."

"Thank you. And what about the affinities? Are they really life and null?" Ariom looked at Bero. "Is a chimera with a null affinity circuit even possible? I know I've read something about that, but it's been a while, so I don't remember the details."

Bero shook his head. "It's not possible as far as I know. A null circuit should merge into an attributed circuit if both are present in the same body." He frowned a little. "Though it's somewhat plausible that chaos morphs could be rare cases where the null circuit only partially merges with another circuit. Is that going to be the official explanation?"

"Yes, I'm planning to propose that idea as part of the public statement," Grandmaster Sephior said. "As for whether it's actually the case or not...." He shrugged and gave a nod in Eteon's direction. "Our chaos magic expert will have to confirm that, since the power interference between the two circuits makes it very difficult for us to examine them with our existing methods."

Everyone looked at Eteon.

"It's...not completely accurate," Eteon said after a pause. "But go ahead and assume it's the case for now. It's close enough to work with."

"Close enough?" Ariom stared at him with a disgruntled expression. "For someone who uses the magic of knowledge, you seem strangely reluctant to ever let anyone know anything...."

"It's not strange," Eteon replied quietly. "As you say, knowledge is my specialty. That's why I understand just how dangerous it can be."