Secrets and Lore

Gayther and Marelyn's Story

Gayther was very excited to be back at the Lodge. For one, it meant a change for the better for Calling Rocks, one of the rare wild-goprin villages he frequented to teach the children magic and lore, because he carried their agreement to alliance and mutual benefit contracts. There were stipulations and qualifications, of course, but those would be hammered out easily enough. That was what Gayther was there for, as the most easy-going of the lot involved and the least offensive.

For another, it meant he was at the Lodge! The place fascinated him, with its technologies and magics and strange, mystical residents. Its founder Myhka was a hyourpin, a creature that, until recently, Gayther had been certain was a myth. It housed goprin of both human and cat forms, living side by side. Most amazing of all, it sheltered renegade dragons-- dragons! the creatures tall tales were named after, "dragon tales", because of course they didn't really exist, right?-- hiding from some overarching Council that tried to rule their lives much like the cities tried to rule the goprin, themselves.

Not that he really liked the dragons much, of course, renegades or not, but they were still creatures of legend and thus interesting, even if they were arrogant, condescending, dismissive, and even a bit cruel. All in all, Gayther would be happiest watching them from a distance, thank you very much, which was exactly what he expected he'd be doing when he had the time.

The best reason of all to be glad to be back at the Lodge, however, was that, once had time, he was planning on tracking down one Naoryn Menyor and asking him how in the name of the royals he had changed himself back into his human form. It was a fact of life that goprin couldn't shift after age twenty, just as they couldn't use magic after age twenty. Whatever shape they chose at midnight on their twentieth birthday was the shape they were stuck with for life, and they were also stuck with the lifestyle that shape represented: the cities for those who chose human form-- as most did-- or the wild for those who chose cat form-- which was really more rare. Gayther himself would have chosen human form if it had given him the freedom he'd needed to chase down knowledge.

But he knew Naoryn, had known him before discovering the Lodge-- years ago. The boy had been a cat, was happy as a cat, living in the wild in that snug little cave he'd found. So, then, it made no sense that, when running into him at the Lodge-- as someone important to the Lodge owner, no less-- he wasn't even six feet tall instead of his usual massive twenty feet, he didn't have any fur except the spotted hair on his head, and he was walking around on two feet instead of four. Even so, there was no mistaking him: the scent was the same, the voice was the same, his hair was even patched with the right coloring, and Naoryn had recognized him.

Gayther was determined to find out what had happened, even if he had to track down the boy himself, corner him, and hold him hostage until he had his answers. It was just too strange and impossible a happening to go without an explanation. Hopefully, however, all he had to do was ask.

It took him a couple days to get the chance to ask him, given how busy negotiations, tours, and learning as much as he could about the Lodge kept him. That seemed better to him, anyway: that way he had a better idea of how to find him, and whether he would be busy. Also, he would know when Mykha was busy; when he'd first run into Naoryn, she had been rather... distressed that he'd recognized him. Gayther had no desire to repeat that particular experience.

When at last he had enough free time for a conversation, and could track down Naoryn, he managed to pen him in his rooms. "Hello!" he said cheerily when the somewhat-familiar face opened the door.

"Gayther," Naoryn answered, both warily and wearily. "I expected you would show up eventually."

"That transparent, am I?" Gayther asked ruefully as the door opened wide enough to admit him. The door, and the room within, was quite large enough for even Naoryn's giant cat form-- yet another oddity since he was not in his cat form-- so Gayther didn't even need to hunch or squeeze himself through, despite the difference in forms.

"I just know your curiosity by now," Naoryn said. "You would never be satisfied without an explanation."

"Well, it is rather remarkable," Gayther pointed out, sitting on the floor beside the human-sized couch rather than hopping up onto the cat-sized one. "I had planned on exchanging pleasantries and catching up before diving into my biggest question, but if you're willing to explain...."

Naoryn grinned a bit, almost reluctantly, at his hopeful expression. "Since you won't be happy until I do, I might as well." He sat down with a sigh, lifting a hand to gaze at it briefly before running it over his hair, back to front, more like a cat running a paw over his ear than a human trying to reorganize his hair. How long had he been shifted back to human form? Obviously not long enough to forget feline mannerisms. 

"I suppose it just happened because I went off-world," Naoryn began, and Gayther stared at bit at him. He knew there were other worlds than Kilandaia, of course-- the Lodge housed several aliens, after all, and his favorite student back at the village, a clever kitten named Tays, had befriended someone who claimed to be half off-world dragon. But he'd never actually expected anyone had gone to any of them.

Still, though.... "How does that cause changing forms?"

"The... limitation," Naoryn said, obviously choosing his words carefully, "that keeps goprin from shifting or using magic once we're older... it doesn't-- it isn't there when you're not on the planet."

"How does that work?" Gayther asked, confused. "It's not something-- something about us? Something internal?"

"No, it's the world," Naoryn said. "It only-- limits us here."

"And magic?" Gayther asked. "Does magic work off-world, then, too?"

"I didn't try that," Naoryn admitted. "I was just so surprised, and I was never very interested in magic to begin with. But I suppose it's possible."

"Oh, skies, what a thing that is!" Gayther marveled. "If you weren't living proof, here in front of me, I wouldn't believe it."

"It is kind of hard to believe, isn't it," Naoryn agreed with a little smile. "It was a complete accident, when I found out about it... I just woke up from a dream in this form."

"Remarkable!" Gayther exclaimed. "And you can change back, if you want to? When you want to?"

"Only when I'm off-world," Naoryn said, sounding unhappy. "I'm stuck like this until I leave Kilandaia again."

"Why didn't you change back before you came back?" Gayther asked, mystified. He would have.

Naoryn coughed, blushed, and admitted, "I, uh, lost a bet with Mykha.... Her terms were staying in this form for a while."

"Aha," Gayther laughed. "Well, far be it from me to nay-say a formidable woman like that! So." His biggest questions out of the way, he smiled at the boy. "Tell me how you met miss Mykha. I want to hear everything."

When Naoryn blushed, it was really quite funny, but Gayther was good and didn't tease him. Much.

Chapter Two

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