"Well, this sucks," Akija grumbled, sitting on her bed and looking huffy. Tiger found it utterly adorable, for some inexplicable reason, and was snickering in the back of his mind. "They're talkin' about us in there, an I wanna hear, too!"

"We're just kids," Sentio sighed, as if used to this sort of thing. He shunned the beds just as Cacopheny did, though whether out of thoughtfulness or subconscious echo of his bond's own discomfort he couldn't guess; instead, he lay sprawled on the floor beside Cacopheny, near the wall. "Nobody's gonna pay attention to what we say, anyway, so what's the point?"

"Your mom's like this a lot," Char added. "You'd think you'd be used to it by now." He was at Akija's feet, on the bed, taking up far too much room.

"But not when she's talkin' about us!" Akija exploded-- albeit quietly, well aware that voices would carry. "This's important, an' we oughta be able to listen, too! Kids or not! I mean, come on, we're almost thirty!"

"And he's not even a kid," Aeta pointed out from his own bed, pointing at Cacopheny, who ducked his head a bit, embarrassedly.

::Might as well be,:: Kenjista muttered mentally, then rubbed her head against Aeta's hand in an attempt to win petting from him.

Might as well be! a shadow mimicked mockingly.

Stupid brat.

"I know," Akija grumped, ignoring Kenjista entirely. "But Mum treats him like he is, sometimes. And I know Sentio's parents do."

"Not alvays," Cacopheny protested. Sentio's parents had actually warmed considerably as of late; still uncomfortable, but not at all hostile. It was a welcome relief.

"Sure seems like they do."

The group lapsed briefly into silence, either out of things to say or trying in vain to make sense of the murmur of adult voices from the living room, or both. Akija in particular looked sour, staring at nothing in particular with one ear turned back in annoyance-- the other was perked in the direction of the living room. Cacopheny wasn't really sure what she was so worked up over; he guessed he was used to having decisions made for him, so much that he expected it.

And I bet, someday, you'll get annoyed by it, too.

Maybe.

He wasn't in the mood to snipe at the shadows. What he wanted was to find a way to make Akija relax again; Tiger was paying her too much attention, and besides, he liked her more when she smiled. She was less formidable, then. "I ssssuppose," he suggested tentatively, "I coult ko listen." All ears perked and eyes focused on him, making him uncomfortable all over again, but he continued haltingly, "Ssey vood not see me, sssso. Ssey coult not me sent. Sent me. Avay. Ant Sentchio coult say vat I hear ssem say. Yes?"

"I dunno," Sentio said worriedly, knowing what he meant to do, "what if they can tell you're there?"

"Ssen I vill come back."

"What're you talkin' about?" Akija demanded, looking quite interested indeed.

"He can disappear, go invisible," Sentio explained. "He's done it before." Cacopheny had given up trying to explain that he did not disappear, he was just inside someone or something's shadow; to everyone else, he seemed invisible. It was as good a description as any, he guessed.

But it isn't right, Genner groused. Cacopheny ignored him.

"Neat!" Akija exclaimed, eyes bright and gloom forgotten. Tiger was the one who was huffy, now. "You should do it!"

"You sure they won't sense you, or anything?" Sentio asked. He just shrugged; either they did or they didn't, and he thought it was worth a try either way, if just to keep Akija happy and Tiger quiet. Besides, he was a little curious....

With nothing more than a thought and hardly even a moment, he slipped into the shadow of the wall, barely registering the gasps and yips and even an exclamation of surprise from where he'd just left. Going through the wall was nothing; there were plenty of shadows on the other side of it ready to hold him, and so short a distance was no more difficult than walking two steps. Not like walking all the way to Akija's from the manor-- thankfully, or this would be a pointless exercise. He chose a shadow in the farthest corner from the two dragons, curling up there as small and insignificantly as he could, to listen.

"So," Alder was saying, "about these housing arrangements."

"Yes," Humain continued earnestly, "it has been very kind of you to keep Sentio and Cacopheny here with you for so long."

"But I can only imagine how crowded it must be, day in and day out," Alder finished. "With eight people-- three of them dragons, no less-- in one small building like this."

"Oh, it's not so bad," Chaith smiled gently. "It's just like the family got bigger, that's all."

"Well."

Alder looked a little uncomfortable, his shadow murmuring with surprise and confusion, not quite sure how to continue in the face of such serene acceptance, but Deiv saved him by adding, "But you're right, it is a bit crowded."

"Especially once Kenjista gets bigger," Chaith admitted. "She's already a few inches taller than she was when Akija and Chario first brought her home."

For a moment Cacopheny forgot that he was supposed to be listening, surprised by that. What did she mean, "get bigger"? Kenjista was getting bigger?

'Course she is, stupid.

You haven't noticed?

Blood, boy, even that disgusting dragon's gotten a bit bigger.

Pay attention, mutt. You're missing stuff.

Dragging his attention back to the conversation, he heard, "Well, since the group doesn't seem to want to be separated, we have a few options. We would gladly invite everyone to live in our manor in the city, we have plenty of room--"

"--oh, no, I don't imagine that would work very well," Chaith interrupted. "This is our home, and our family. Every Watcher who lives nearby knows where we are: they're our neighbors, you see. Watchers like to stick together."

"Besides," Deiv chuckled, "I can't see Akija living anywhere where she can't look out a window and see sky and grass."

"Well, then, that's out," Alder sighed; his shadow grumbled about costs and stubborn, daemonic kinship. "We could rebuild your house, add a second story and a larger room on the back for Kenjista."

"But that would be awkward, with the available room back there," Humain sighed.

"And besides, what would we do with it all when they decided to move out?" Deiv pointed out.

"Good point," Alder agreed.

Move out? But... I like it here.

Everybody else might not.

Akija's getting tired of her mother's mothering, after all.

You heard her.

I... just never thought about it.

"We could buy up a building," Alder continued, "but in order to house the daemon-child, it would either need to be dragon-sized-- and thus inside the dome, which you say would not be preferable-- or it would need serious renovating. And I don't think there are any homes available for sale within your clan's, ah, grounds."

"They all seemed pretty occupied, when we came through," Humain put in.

"Well, you're right, there," Deiv said. "We don't really move around much, and even when we do, we keep our home here ready for us."

"That leaves us with one choice, then," Alder stated reluctantly, his shadow adding somewhat despondently that it was also the most expensive one-- which was apparently a bad thing. Humain seemed equally displeased, but still determined to see the discussion through. "We're willing to build them a house at the edge of your clan's radius, just under the trees there to the south."

Deiv blinked in astonishment. "You would do that?"

Now a little smug, Humain nodded. "It will be a bit of a strain for a little while, perhaps, but it is the least we can do for Sentio."

"We do have the funds available," Alder admitted, more embarrassed than smug. His shadow was wishing fervently that he were somewhere else, talking to someone of his own social station. Whatever that was.

"We can't let you do all that yourself," Chaith protested. "It's simply not fair, funds or no funds; Akija is our daughter, we ought to be able to help."

After a pause, Alder asked as gently as he could, "Can you afford to help?" There was a silence into which one of the shadows snickered-- audibly only to Cacopheny, thankfully-- which seemed to make the dragons' point.

Finally, Deiv rallied with a suggestion. "How about this. The Watchers are a large clan, we've plenty of people, with plenty of skills to do around. You provide the funds, we'll provide the labor."

"That sounds fair," Alder agreed, and his mate nodded. "How long do you think you'll need to get things organized?"

I think that's enough, Sentio's bright voice interrupted as the dragons and daemons started talking about names Cacopheny had never heard of, numbers that made no sense, and words that he didn't understand. With relief, he dropped out of the shadow and back into Akija's room, tired now by the effort of hiding and trying to listen and understand at the same time. Sentio jumped a little, in the same spot he'd left him in, then gave his wrist a tentative little nuzzle. "Thank you."

"Mmmhmm," he answered absently, relaxing against the wall.

"Wow," Akija said, looking pleasantly stunned. "We're getting our own house!" Cacopheny didn't care much about houses or funds; he was just glad she wasn't growling anymore.