The magic lesson was running unusually long today, which probably meant it was going better than usual. Ketvia was loathe to interrupt, but it was getting late. So, she compromised.

::Getting on towards bedtime, Chi,:: Ketvia warned, silently and to Chiya alone. She wasn't much of a psionic-- in fact, she was a rotten psionic-- but she'd known Chiya so long that sending to her wasn't particularly difficult. ::Is it safe to come up and collect the pupil?::

There was a pause before her friend replied, ::Go ahead. Come on up, but come quietly. You can see this.::

Chiya sounded pleased, even proud, and Ketvia put down the blade she'd been cleaning curiously to investigate. She padded quietly up the stairs from living room to the second floor, where the bedroom and washroom she shared with Chiya were, and then up the narrower staircase to the top floor. She stepped out onto the landing, just enough space for the two doors to library and mage workroom, and nudged the door to the later open to peer in.

Teacher and pupil, Chiya and Chrystoli, were seated on either side of the small table Chiya had set in the middle of the room. The former was sitting back, murmuring soft instructions, while the latter had her lip in her teeth and her hands coaxing a long, slender string of water out of a bowl in front of her into a flowing figure-eight. At a nod from Chiya, she turned that into a double figure-eight, then, with a look of hard concentration, it split and split again until the water was a concentrated cloud of mist, rather than a flowing current, and it started to rain back into the bowl.

When the last of the "rain" had fallen, Ketvia, grinning, started to quietly applaud. Chrysoli jumped, rattling both table and bowl, but Chiya steadied both before she could even notice. "That was pretty impressive," Ketvia drawled, trying to turn her usual wolfish grin into a gentler smile for the skittish kit. She still needed practice at it, but at least Chrysoli was relaxing more.

Chrysoli put her ears back in embarrassment at the praise, but her tail wriggled, pleased. She didn't thank Ketvia, but neither did she immediately protest that it hadn't been anything at all and Chiya could do so much more interesting and impressive things. They were making progress in more than just magic, at last.

"However, now why don't you impress me at how quickly you can get in the bath and get clean, hmm?" This time Ketvia's grin was her usual one. "Or I'll have to come in and scrub ya myself!"

Since that usually meant much tickling and splashing ensued, and not really all that much scrubbing, Chrysoli giggled faintly, slipping down from her seat. "Thank you for the lesson, Mommy," she said in her usual almost-whisper that one had to strain to hear. Chiya smiled warmly in answer.

"Go on, then," Ketvia said, opening the door wider for the kit, who scampered out and down the stairs. The sound of the water spell running in the downstairs bathroom started up a moment later.

"So you actually got her to do something," Ketvia grinned at her friend, who was getting up, taking the water bowl with her.

"Yes," Chiya said with a pleased smile. "And she's good at it, or will be if she keeps trying."

"That's good, right?" Ketvia asked.

"Very good," Chiya agreed smugly. "If she can get confidence in something, I'll be happy."

"I'll just be happy if she's happy," Ketvia answered, glancing down the stairs in Chrystoli's direction fondly.

Since she'd been expecting it, she didn't twitch when Chiya's weight leaned against her a moment, and Chiya's nose nuzzled into her neck. "You certainly got attached fast."

"Well, she lets me read her bedtime stories and carry her around on my back and hold her hand when I convince her to come to the marketplace with me." Ketvia shrugged and grinned a bit.

"I don't think she'd let you take her to market if you didn't hold her hand reassuringly," Chiya giggled.

"Ah, well, that's probably true," Ketvia admitted. "But she's such a sweet little thing. How could you not love her?"

"I don't know, Ketvia," Chiya smiled, giving her hand a squeeze. "But I'm glad you do."

" ... me, too," Ketvia agreed quietly.

~~~~~~~

"Good night, Chrysoli."

She closed her eyes as Ketvia kissed her cheek, the furry part rather than the armored part, and whispered, "Good night, Ketvia-mommy."

The Fire dragoness got up and went to the door, shutting it most of the way. "Sweet dreams."

Then she moved off, leaving Chrysoli's bedroom mostly dark but for the comforting line of light around the crack of the door. She snuggled down under the blanket Ketvia had tucked up under her chin, opening her eyes partway to stare at that line of light.

It had been six weeks since she'd come to live with Chiya and Ketvia: "Mommy" and "Ketvia-mommy", respectively. They had to have <u>some</u> way to know which one she wanted, in the rare situation she actually called for one, and Ketvia seemed less comfortable with the title than Chiya. She had her own room, a small but satisfying variety of toys in a playroom next door, her own bathroom, plenty to eat, time to herself and time with people who didn't make her panic, and a pair of loving, attentive, understanding adoptive parents.

They'd slipped into a routine after the first few days, once she'd been allowed to settle, and it was at least a comfortable routine. She spent the day in the house with Chiya, and when Chiya was doing something with her magic she got to entertain herself. She liked that. The evening, before dinner, she spent with Ketvia when she got home from her job. There were lessons in history and religion-- which was all right but nothing exactly fun-- reading and writing-- which she actually kind of enjoyed-- arithmetic-- which she quickly found she hated but put up with because it was what her new mommies wanted-- and some basic self-defense that Ketvia rather quickly gave up on, and now, in its place, magic lessons. She was nervous about magic, but it was... kind of fun. And Chiya was always careful with what she said.

Really, so was Ketvia. Callidei had told her about Ketvia's temper and how she'd scared Battleworn Claw so badly, so she'd expected more... scariness. But Ketvia wasn't really scary, at all. She was actually more silly than she was scary, and Chrysoli might even cautiously call her fun. Not as fun as playing alone with her toys, maybe, but still fun.

What mattered was, Chrysoli knew she'd be safe here. Chiya and Ketvia would never let anything happen to her, she could tell that now, and they would even do their best to keep her from being afraid. Both of them could, and had, held her through and talked her out of her horrible panic, more than once. And neither of them told her how much of a bother she was, not once.

She didn't want to say she might be happy here. That might jinx it. No, she would never say it-- but maybe it was safe to think it.

Maybe.

The Hatching Story

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