"It just doesn't seem right! I think we should wait."

Vurzoon had her arms crossed over her chest again, and she was glaring at Sythwyr, as if it was his fault they were two Searchers short. He had given his permission for Ryruraan and Nonaarama to remain behind, on Kynn, it was true, but it wasn't exactly his fault. Not really. Ryruraan had wanted to stay, to try to rebalance the mind of a dragon she'd met there, and Nonaarama hadn't wanted to be parted from her. They probably would have stayed, even without Sythwyr's permission, somehow or another. 

"If we wait, we'll just have wasted all the time an energy we just spent getting here," Sythwyr pointed out patiently. "And Ryruraan and Nonaarama won't thank us for that, nor would they thank us for shirking our duty."

"Nor," Byrashyr interjected gently, "would they thank us for bickering, particularly not because of them."

The debate had been going on ever since Sythwyr had announced he'd found another planet to Search, a world called Atu and, specifically, the city of Driolo. They'd left Kynn, and their fellow Searchers, behind two days ago, and Sythwyr seemed quite anxious to get on with their duty, particularly after their brief, daily communications with the pair. Vurzoon, however, was not quite so anxious, and she seemed to feel that going on a Search without the whole team would be some sort of betrayal to their absent friends.

"It isn't as if Search teams are usually any larger than three, anyway!" Ffadoratha interjected from across the command deck, where he hovered beside a panel of monitors and glowing buttons. He was of the opinion that Vurzoon was being silly, and though he didn't share Sythwyr's restless energy, he still didn't like to be idle.

"And Ryruraan said that we should go on Searches," Bryashyr told Vurzoon calmly. "Until she's ready for us to return to them, we should at least continue to do our job-- or else why would we have left Kynn behind, in the first place?" Byrashyr, who loved Vurzoon enough to put up with her and who never seemed to get riled up about anything, was the calmest voice of reason in the whole debate. If anyone would change Vurzoon's mind, it would be her.

As for Rythrys, Ssubyrsyn, and Ssothrysaa, they kept out of the talk. Ssubyrsyn was interested in going down planet-side again, as the air within the ship was starting to bore him. Ssothrysaa didn't like the idea of a world with so little water, as the desert planet Atu, but even a little water was better than none. And Rythrys was tired of thinking and ready to do. He hadn't looked down into the future of their trip planet-side, not yet, and felt an urge not to, as if there was some sense of surprise waiting for them below that he didn't want to spoil. For this world, he was optimistic, and though Ssothrysaa was quiet on his optimism, and Ssubyrsyn was usually so, the other two were ready to go below, as well. It was just that none of them particularly wanted to argue about it.

Finally, Vurzoon slumped down into one of the chairs in front of another panel of lights and keys in defeat. "All right. One Search, she said, so we'll do one Search. And then we'll go back for them." It seemed strange that someone who barely knew the withdrawn Ryruraan and had trouble fathoming the odd Nonaarama would be so upset about their absence, but perhaps she felt guilty for that very thing, and so acted strongly the opposite. Or perhaps she simply didn't like the absences, even though she didn't care much about the presences except to note them as part of her little world.

Sythwyr didn't argue, though the argument would probably come up once this Search was completed and he found another for them. Though she had seemed to think one Search would be enough time, Ryruraan had said she would let them know when she was ready to come home, not vice versa, and if she and Nonaarama were not finished with what tasks they set themselves on Kynn at the end of a Search of Driolo, then going back for them would accomplish nothing. Sythwyr knew that, but Vurzoon didn't want to acknowledge it.

For now, however, the debate was closed, and they could move on. At last.

"We'll actually be docking the whole ship," Sythwyr explained. "There is a space station above, connected by a cable to the city, which can send us down directly after we've left the ship here. Ffadoratha, if you can set the diagnostics to run in your absence, I would appreciate it if you accompanied me in Searching the northern half of the city."

Ffadoratha all but bristled with pleasure at the thought of getting to go out: for a frail, middle-aged man, he managed to seem strong and capable, when he wanted to. "Glad to, boy! Nothing's easier!"

Ssubyrsyn smothered a grin, and Ssothrysaa elbowed him lightly for his amusement.

"Good... Vurzoon and Byrashyr, I'd like you to take the southern half of the city. Just walk the streets, you don't have to actually go in anywhere-- unless you feel the need to, of course."

"Will we have money?" Vurzoon asked, a little sulkily.

"I'll be having some money changed before we split up, yes," Sythwyr nodded. "Not a lot-- enough for a couple meals, while we're down there. We will probably be spending most of the day exploring the city, given that it's bigger than the Citadel on Kynn, and more complex than the area around it."

"And more full of people, with more hybrids and halfbreeds of any kind among them, than the Citadel," Byrashyr added with a smile.

"That, too," Sythwyr agreed.

"What about us?" Rythrys interrupted, frowning slightly. "If you are Searching the north half, and they the south half, what does that leave for us? And I'm Rythrys," he added, almost automatically by now. Dressed alike, no one on the ship except Ryruraan-- and she was not actually on the ship, at the moment-- could tell the three brothers apart. Sythwyr was, amusingly, the worst of them all at keeping their names straight, even when they wore different colors, so all three of them were in the habit of reminding him which one was which whenever they spoke to him.

"There is a small community to the north of Driolo a short ways," Sythwyr answered, taking the identification in stride as much as they took it in stride that he needed it. "As far as I can tell, it is a boarding school and a 'bonding complex', whatever that means. It has a rather high population, for such a small locale, and a large percentage of that is from around the universe, come for an education. I thought the three of you could investigate that."

None of the brothers protested, but they were all thinking the same thing. An hour later, after they'd received enough money for transportation and food and the other Searchers split up for their own explorations, as the three of them climbed into something called a 'taxi', they finally voiced it, if only to each other.

"They baby us," Ssothrysaa grumbled.

"Searching this school isn't any better suited to us than anyone else," Ssubyrsyn sighed.

"It's just safer," Ssothrysaa agreed. "Sythwyr just didn't want the three of us wandering around a big city alone."

"It isn't as if we can't look after ourselves," Ssubyrsyn added.

"Don't you think, Thrys?" Ssothrysaa asked Rythrys, who hadn't said anything yet.

"Well," Rythrys said slowly, thinking-- after all, they were stuck in a moving vehicle with nothing else to do but think-- "if we do look like children, maybe going to a school for children might help us fit in better."

"Hmm, true," Ssubyrsyn admitted with a shrug, easily letting his faint annoyance go. "Even if it is safer, I guess it does make sense, too."

Ssothrysaa glowered at his brothers, not wanting to admit that maybe they had a point. "I still think they're babying us," he muttered, but then said no more on the subject.

Chapter Six

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