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Alys is not on the council, but she is her line representative as of fifty years ago. She hears about the news.
She wonders whether Piro is likely to have contacted his son, even about this.
She decides that it is worth checking, and calls her brother-in-law.
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"You weigh, what, ten pounds, I'll be done in no time," drawls Finnah.
Finnah lounges.
shrennaki
He emerges from the house several degrees later, smiling wryly.
"I will not be requiring my weight in candy," he reports. "He seems much more worried about all the heartache I'll be letting myself in for than about, you know, continuing to have a shren for a son."
"That's a relief," says Finnah.
shrennaki
"Yeah. ...I wonder how Aurin'll take it. Aurin will probably tell me I'm crazy," he decides.
"Probably, yep."
"Maybe more so."
"Are you going to get that over with too, or let him assume until the miracle-workers have been and gone that obviously next time he sees you you'll be a dragon?"
shrennaki
"...I'm not sure. If I'd actually made the decision, I'd go tell him about it, but this in-between thing I've got going... I don't know. If they don't show up in the next couple of days I will, even if I haven't made the final call by then."
"Mkay."
The next day, during a late-morning meeting of the dragon council, a jet-black ferret appears in midair in the council chamber, and hangs there for a bare instant before transforming into sixteen feet of...
...well, hopefully dragon. Probably dragon. Everyone's wings still work. That suggests dragon.
On the other hand, she makes absolutely no effort to catch herself as she drops to the floor. Her eyes are open and she is breathing and that is about it.
There is a flurry of confused panic. She did not teleport there, not in ferret form with ferret hands. She must have been pushed. Why did that work? Someone check the wards. Someone call our wizards. Someone get ahold of Keo, add the malachite and copper representatives simultaneously, something's wrong with her. Does she look familiar to anybody? She looks sort of like a minor crystal line; have any crystal women been having kids with jets at around the right time? Someone call the genealogists.
The silver representative is as alarmed as the rest of them.
And he has particular reason for a particular suspicion to start eating at him...
"Who has a line to a shren house? I want the miracle workers," he growls.
And he has particular reason for a particular suspicion to start eating at him...
"Who has a line to a shren house? I want the miracle workers," he growls.
"I've got the crystal for the Paraasilan house," says the white rep. Shift. "Oh, no, it's in my other form -" Shift. Here it is.
Piro shifts and rings it.
"Hello?" says Jensal.
Meanwhile, Keo is successfully summoned. She - in human form, still, from teleporting - approaches the jet. Her emotional state is very, very wrecked. What else is in there?
Meanwhile, Keo is successfully summoned. She - in human form, still, from teleporting - approaches the jet. Her emotional state is very, very wrecked. What else is in there?
What else is in there: A hundred and sixty-one years of unbroken esu. And that is it, unless Keo digs past the conscious mind and into memories. She's barely even experiencing any part of her sensory universe that isn't pain.
"I want to talk to the offworld miracle workers," says Piro. "The one who can see magic, in particular."
"I want to talk to the offworld miracle workers," says Piro. "The one who can see magic, in particular."
"Shren," diagnoses Keo, shivering just a little. "I - don't think she's ever flown."
"Don't you bolt on us now, Keo," chides the copper. "Can you turn it off, see if she'll talk? We have to know how she got here."
"I -" Keo gulps. And shuts her eyes. "I don't think she's in a position to say much of anything."
"Do it anyway, Keo, now."
Keo looks away. And turns off the esu.
"I'm sure you do," says Jensal. "I'll tell them so. You want miracle workers on the island or do you want to meet them somewhere else?"
"Don't you bolt on us now, Keo," chides the copper. "Can you turn it off, see if she'll talk? We have to know how she got here."
"I -" Keo gulps. And shuts her eyes. "I don't think she's in a position to say much of anything."
"Do it anyway, Keo, now."
Keo looks away. And turns off the esu.
"I'm sure you do," says Jensal. "I'll tell them so. You want miracle workers on the island or do you want to meet them somewhere else?"
The shren continues to be utterly immobile. Her mental state shifts, though, from a stunted and vestigial loneliness to a kind of inverse agony - in the absence of pain, she can feel other sensations, but there's not enough of them and trying to process the faint impressions of ordinary sight and sound and touch is like trying to breathe vacuum.
"At the moment," Piro says evenly, "I don't especially care. Someone dropped a shren in natural form into the middle of a council meeting and, by some miracle, no one is infected. Get me that miracle worker."
"At the moment," Piro says evenly, "I don't especially care. Someone dropped a shren in natural form into the middle of a council meeting and, by some miracle, no one is infected. Get me that miracle worker."
"She's really not in a position to talk," says Keo. "I'm not even sure turning it off did her any good."
"Why can't she move?" asks someone. "Did anybody call the wizards?"
"I can get you Narax," suggests Keo.
Agreement is swift. Narax appears and starts casting analyses.
Jensal hangs up on Piro and calls Lazarus.
"Why can't she move?" asks someone. "Did anybody call the wizards?"
"I can get you Narax," suggests Keo.
Agreement is swift. Narax appears and starts casting analyses.
Jensal hangs up on Piro and calls Lazarus.
There are a number of spells on the shren. One to keep her fed without her being able to make voluntary movements; one to stop her from making voluntary movements, although the esu was accomplishing that pretty well all by itself. Various kinds of wards, including several very aggressive ones against scrying.
