Genner ran out of paper two pages into the recopying-- well, three pages of the translation, and two pages of the copy; his handwriting was smaller and neater, so he was condensing it as he wrote it-- and rather than borrow some from the library or school, Cacopheny went out to buy some. Sentio could use more supplies, himself.

Though he wasn't the one making money for the household, Cacopheny was still one of the least busy, so he often ran errands for others. He'd bought Sentio paper and ink many a time, and had a particular store that was used to him and whose manager no longer jumped every time he walked in. It was one Sentio didn't like because most of the non-writing products were books for much younger readers than he, so it wasn't one he minded Cacopheny going to without him.

He'd asked Cacopheny more than once why he went, to begin with. "Don't you get tired of being looked at funny all the time?"

To which Cacopheny just shrugged and said, "It's better ssan it vas, and ssey vill have to get used to me sometime. I rive here."

Honestly, sometimes, these days, Cacopheny found it more amusing than annoying, and he almost never felt bad about it-- the fact that the dragons were getting used to having him around helped. No one actually skittered away from him anymore, and the worst he got were startled or disgruntled looks these days. Occasionally someone would refused to sell him something, even if he was using good dragon-minted coin to do so, and dragon-mothers wouldn't let their kits near him if they had any say in the matter-- often they didn't, because kits were more curious and open-minded-- but for the most part people were at least polite.

But even if they weren't, he'd still go out. As Akija had also said more than once, being different wasn't his fault, nor was it a crime, and this was his home, full of dragons or not. He refused to hide from it.

The little shop was a quiet one, and was mostly empty when Cacopheny got there, with just a pair of human-formed Askan dragons and what looked like a dragonish daemon flipping through the kits' books, their little pet swooping around over their heads. Nodding briefly and amiably enough at the shopkeeper-- a friendly and children-loving female human whose shadow he still couldn't understand, and had given up on trying-- Cacopheny was entirely prepared to ignore the other customers and just get his paper so he could get back to his translation.

Except when he heard one of them speak.

"Ssanif kuzi-rratertu matyatikra ssazavtcha kekravtul."

His name is new to me.

In demonic.

Cacopheny spun around to stare in shock. The little daemon answered with a giggled, "He's teasing you again," that, though it didn't sound like dragonic speech, was still somehow understandable, like his shadow translated it without actually making the words. It took him a second, as startled as he was to hear his native tongue in the mouth of a dragon, to recognize telepathy.

"Ta. Mat."

Oh. Right.

"Vat did you say?" Cacopheny asked-- demanded, almost, voice even rougher than usual with surprise. Surely he'd heard wrong. No dragon would be speaking demonic. A shadow was lying to him, it had to be; they hadn't in a while, he hadn't actually imagined anything-- hallucinated anything, been too "crazy"-- lately, but it was always possible that he could, again.

The daemon leapt to his feet, and one of the dragons looked at him, bewildered, while the other jerked in surprise. "He doesn't speak your language," the daemon said patiently.

"Yes, he does," Cacopheny frowned at them all.

The other dragon-- the one speaking the wrong language-- looked over his shoulder at Cacopheny, timid and reminding him very strongly of himself, a few years ago, when someone barked a question like that at him. The resemblance got eerily stronger when the shy discomfort turned into sudden, stark terror, and Cacopheny stared in confusion as the dragon-- scarred horribly, all over his face, and missing fingers-- scrambled to his hands and feet and backpedalled so quickly and so fiercely that he knocked over a small stack of books beside him and bumped into the bookshelf, making a strangled, frightened sound and trying to hide behind his hands.

Who the hell would do that do a dragon?

"Master!" he cried, still in demonic, as the daemon pulled out a knife and the little pet-thing landed above him, screeching. The other dragon just put a hand on his companion's shoulder, looking even more confused.

From the way that shadow is babbling, I'd say "demons" would be a fair guess.

"Oh, Master, please, forgive me, I didn't-- I didn't--"

Cacopheny stared for another moment. I think I might need some help, here, he told the shadows uncomfortably.

The shopkeeper, startled, leaned over her desk. "What's--?"

Let me, Tek suggested, which seemed like a very good idea. Cacopheny let him take over, and Tek held up a hand to the human with a small smile-- "let him", indeed-- and dropped to a crouch. "I'm not your master," he told the terrified dragon gently, in the only language he knew-- that, somehow, the scarred dragon knew, too. "I've been a slave, but not a master."

The dragon's hands twitched, closing convulsively on something within his long sleeves--

Knives, Almadir growled, listening to the dragon's irrationally raving shadow. Watch it, mutt.

--and he stared at him. "Not?" he panted. "Then-- then They sent you, looking--" He broke off, pushing the other dragon's worried hands away. Cacopheny and Tek ignored his panicked babble. They ignored the daemon's, too, since he wasn't attacking anyone.

Yet.

Tek shook his head, trying to get through to him. "I'm not a slave anymore. I'm free."

"Must go, must go, don't let them-- Shijzet, take him home!"

And we're not going to hurt anybody, so calm the fuck down, Tiger added irritably.

... and somehow, that worked. Tek blinked at the dragon in surprise as he clamped his mouth shut with nothing more than a whimper, half-hiding in his white scarf and letting the little pet-thing slink down to his shoulder.

Apparently he needs a stronger hand, Tiger muttered. Tek, scram, let me talk to him.

Tiger, that's not--

Too late. Tiger blinked out at the strange little trio. He didn't smile-- but he didn't frown, either. "So. Got a name, kid?" he asked.

The dragon swallowed nervously. "Lanithro."

"Rr-rranissro. Rranissro? Well, damn, how'm I gonna manage saying that one?"

You know, I'm starting to wonder if he's not actually a dragon.

Don't be stupid, of course he's a dragon.

He doesn't feel right, though.

Feels wrong enough, to me.

"Anyway, I'm--"

Tiger.

Relax, mutt.

"--Cacopheny."

Thank you.

I'm not stupid. Trying to explain a dozen names to him would take too long. "I've lived in Sssanctchuary for a while now. Few years, at any rate." He eyed the dragon. "Apparently you're still new."

Half-dragon, I think, actually.

Heh. Really? How appropriate.

"So how long you been here, then?"

"Couple-- couple weeks," Lanithro answered hesitantly, obviously uncertain how to handle him, though since he wasn't panicking anymore, that really seemed well enough for all of them. Tiger hated panicking.

"Well, no wonder you've not picked much up yet. Me, I had some nosy Air drop it all in my head." He scowled at the memory then, since this looked to be a lingering sort of conversation, dropped to sit instead of crouch. "So introduce me to your friends, here." He pointed at Shijzet and the other dragons.

Which you really ought to translate for, Tek told him, sounding irritated.

Well, good. Even better if he could annoy the do-gooder. Maybe after we're introduced.

Obediently, the dragon-- half-dragon-- pointed at the others in turn. "Shizjet, my bond." Which was the daemon, which meant he probably wasn't a daemon, but some off-world critter that did the bonding thing. "Rrrruniveus, my cousin." The other dragon, who still looked bewildered and whose shadow was still running off the same. Tiger gave him a cocky grin, fangs and all, then went back to Lanithro, who finished up with, "And Luci. She... found me first." Which was the little white pet-thing, who nuzzled Lanithro's cheek fondly when he rolled an eye down in her direction.

"I'd say pleased to meet you, but I imagine you won't be too terribly pleased, back, so guess I won't." And, because he didn't want the real dragon to miss the intended jab-- not because Tek suggested it-- he translated it for them. Before anyone could answer, though, he continued, "Where you from, Rranissro? Down south, I assume, but got any idea where down there?"

All he got from Luniveus was curious, wary looks as he picked up the books Lanithro had knocked over, unfortunately, and another meek answer out of Lanithro. "Tievaven, somewhere, not sure, before They came. Then Speros, after."

"They" being the demons, of course, and Tievaven being the northern-most continent, Speros the biggest city on it. So the kid had been born on the southern continent? Ouch. Dangerous, for a dragon-whelp. "Farther north than us, then. We were a little west of Einvakt-- not that we ever saw the place."

Might've once, but I think She caught us before we did more than glimpse lights in the distance....

Wait, what? I thought we never left Her caves.

What, did you think you were dreaming up those little excursions, or something, mutt?

Given his silence, Tiger guessed that's exactly what Cacopheny had assumed. He in particular remembered escaping a couple times-- and the rather fierce punishments afterwards-- to different cave systems. Never to the surface, because that was too far outside their wildest imaginings to have even considered, but definitely outside Rao's little system.

"I take it a demon did all that," he continued, gesturing at the mangled hand and scar-seamed skin.

He really does remind me of the mutt, Araski murmured, watching the submissive and hesitant way the half-dragon moved, running his mangled hand over his cheek in a habitual-looking motion and shifting in an attempt to make himself more comfortable without actually being noticeable about it. Expecting a growl or a blow the way Cacopheny would expect claws and teeth. For his own part, Tiger ignored the movement; he'd made himself more comfortable, after all.

"All of them," he corrected, with he same apologetic wince that Cacopheny might have used when telling Akija she was wrong, or something.

All of them?

How many demons did this one have?

More than Cacopheny did, apparently.

"This," Lanithro explained his hand, lifting it to show the missing fingers better, "before Mistress Faqua beat the young one who wanted to taste a half-dragon delicacy. The rest... some from before They made a sport of me, but mostly from after."

Claws, it sounds like the kid had it worse than we did, Almadir marveled.

Poor boy, Tek moaned, imagining.

"Made a sport of you?" Tiger asked. "How's that?" He could figure what it might have meant if Rao had done something like that, but a whole group of demons? What'd they do, fight over the kid?

Both Lanithro's hands twitched--

Knives, Almadir growled warningly again.

Relax, he's not gonna hurt us.

--but rather than going for the hilts, he just pulled back his sleeves to show off said knives and the scarred skin around them. Rao was right, Almadir grumbled. Scars are ugly.

"They-- They wouldn't hurt me," Lanithro explained, "if I could fight Them off. That was the game, and They all played it. Never kill, never never-- but the knives. Mistress Faqua didn't mind that. As long as she still had her dragon-prize to flaunt at the other packs."

"Huh." Tiger frowned curiously at him. "Not full dragon, are you? They'd probably never've stood for that, right?"

Lanithro shook his head smartly and hugged his arms to his chest-- that time even Tiger had to note the resemblance to the mutt. "They kept me. They kept Mother. They killed Father. He wanted to take us away, here, to Sanctuary, but They came before he could."

He paused to glance at Luniveus, obviously a relative on his father's side, who was still receiving the benefit of a telepathic translation-- of both sides of the conversation, since Tiger was nice like that, every now and then-- and Shijzet decided he was tired of just listening in and decided to add his own two cents. In a growl, in fact. "Lanithro killed that Faqua, you know," he warned boldly, "If you're a liar and br--rrk!"

Lanithro, in a panic, lunged at his little bond, yanked him up into his arms, and forcibly muzzled him with his good hand. There was enough magic between the two of them that what he was going to say was loud and clear: If you're a liar and brought any more demons with you, Lan'll kill them, too! Lanithro, however, seemed to disagree. "No no no!" he yelped in horror. "Wouldn't! Couldn't! Was an accident!"

Tiger couldn't help it. He started laughing. "Oh claws and blood, boy, calm down!"

"But-- but--" Lanithro stammered as the little white pet-thing and dragon-child both tried to calm him down, the former with chirps and nuzzles and the latter with patting hands and soothing murmurings. Shijzet just thumped his tail on the floor irritatedly, refusing to be calmed.

"All right, whelp," Tiger told the little brat when he'd run out of amusement, and could just grin instead of bark. "I have a feeling your bond won't get this through his head, but you're sane enough, so listen up. A demon could not get into Sanctuary. Even if they were stupid enough to want to. I have enough trouble getting around without people trying to eject me, and I'm only half. So even if I was lying-- which I'm not, thank you very much-- your bond's safe here. So stop randomly threatening people who might not appreciate it when there's no reason to, huh?"

Shijzet freed his mouth from Lanithro's hand with a vicious shake of his head, matted hair snapping in his bond's face--

Well, that's not very nice!

-- and he hissed, wriggling unhappily, "Lanithro sees them. If he doesn't feel safe, that's reason enough for me. He doesn't think I'm big enough to keep him safe in the dark yet, but he took care of her, so don't you underestimate him!"

Sees them, huh?

Hears 'em, too, I bet.

Claws, this is just too weird.

Lanithro whined, sounding as doglike as the mutt. "Shijzet, please, you talk too much again. Please. --I'm sorry," he told Tiger earnestly. "He only a day older than my time here, he is-- is-- very eager."

"I can see that," Tiger chuckled. "I suppose I'm used to it. There've been a few threats levied my way, since I moved here, so one more isn't going to hurt me. Should I go? Wouldn't want to get anybody too... riled up." He smirked at Shijzet.

Lanithro's mouth worked wordlessly for a moment before he finally spat something out-- and claws and teeth, if he didn't sound like Cacopheny even more! "If. If you were a slave. Too. How did you get away?"

"A pair of dragons rescued us. Me," he amended with a little twitch. Dammit, mutt, back off! You're blurring again!

It's my story, too!

But if you keep getting in the way, we'll just confuse him!

Cacopheny subsided with an unhappy mutter, but at least backed off. Tiger cast a little glare sideways, as if the mutt were somewhere off to his left, then continued. "Tchiya, a Light dragon. Askan. Whatever. Like your cousin, there. And Ketvya, a Fire dragon. P... iraran? I can never keep the names straight. They somehow barged into my Mistress's caves, burned the whole place and chased Her off, and brought me out."

That actually seemed to reassure Lanithro more than anything else he'd said. He blinked a few times, absorbing it, then slowly started to relax. That, apparently, was the one truth he wouldn't question-- something to do with his mother and her having told him to hope for the same thing. He even let his bond go, at last. "You are very lucky," he sighed.

"Yes," Tiger smiled, thinking of Akija and Sentio and even Chario. "We are. We've made a life here, and it's not a bad one."

"We". Dammit.

Mutt....

I can't help it.

No one seemed to notice, though. In fact, Lanithro only looked at his cousin, a little hopelessly--

Claws, it breaks your heart, doesn't it? Tek sighed.

Your heart breaks at the drop of a pin, Almadir snorted.

--and Shijzet only gave him a sullen look, smoothing out his blanket-cape-thing. Luniveus, oblivious to the dismal and still utterly irrational bemoaning of his cousin's shadow, spoke up hesitantly: "Well, um... my parents are going to wonder what's taking us so long to buy books and paper. Maybe you and Lan will run into each other again, sometime?"

Tiger looked between dragon-child and mutt-copy. Thoughts?

... can I talk to him?

Sure, why not.

He let go and let Cacopheny settle back in with a twitch of shoulders and a clawed hand through his hair. I really hope that stuff grows back quicker, Tiger muttered. It's too damn short.

It's getting there, Cacopheny told him complacently, then smiled a bit at Lanithro. Because Tiger felt like it, he kept translating for the dragon-child. "Your cousin wants to take you home, and I have paper to buy. But... I had a thought. I know demonic and dragon-speech. If you aren't too... uncomfortable with it, I could teach you."

Lanithro blinked, tilting his head and looking between him and the stack of books. They gave him a moment to think, though Cacopheny seemed pleased to note that the suggestion did not bring about another panic or an immediate, stammered denial. In the end, there was a shy nod. "Might be... a good idea," he agreed hesitantly. "At least to try. Maybe better than my family trying to teach me when they don't really know how."

Claws, do we know how?

We've been teaching Akija, and we were taught how to read, Araski commented. I think we could figure it out. Maybe Sentio could help, he's good at languages.

Let's go home and talk to some people about it, Tek suggested, sounding mollified and even happy, again. I'm sure we could get some ideas.

Cacopheny, smiling, told Lanithro, "Perhaps we could meet again-- tomorrow? Someplace you'd feel all right with? And start then."

There was another pause as Lanithro tried to think of where to go. Cacopheny might've suggested the library, but he had a feeling the place might be overwhelming for someone just newly freed, even if he did like dragons. None of the ideas crossing Lanithro's shadow were accepted, and Cacopheny was about to bring up a park or even the Watcher-family lawns when Luniveus spoke up. "Do you mind being around the Cathedrals? Lan likes sitting outside the Light one. Being around Light magic really relaxes him."

Well, that makes sense, for someone terrified of Dark demons.

And for someone who obviously is half Light.

"No," he answered, Tiger translating for him. "I don't mind the Cassedrals. Will that work, Rranissro? The Light Cassedral, tomorrow at, say, noon?"

Lanithro looked pleased, and he nodded. "Noon. All right."

"I will see you then," Cacopheny said with a last smile, and climbed to his feet. He still had paper to buy, but he thought he might have to tell Akija that the recopying might take longer than he'd anticipated, with this new project.

Claws, he'd have to tell Akija about this. He had no idea what she'd say, but he wanted to know.