Eve chose to eat with Kaz, Raff, and Li, but Bella and Harper returned to their dens instead. The friendly female obviously wanted to discuss the match, so she and Raff went back and forth, talking about things that had happened while Kaz wasn’t looking. Kaz, on the other hand, spent his time talking to and feeding Li, who was still pretending to be a wyvern.
I’m sure real wyverns don’t need to be hand fed, he thought to her, sending an image of the one wyvern they’d met gobbling down chunks of meat directly from the ground. Whether she understood the words or the image, he knew she’d sense his amusement.
Li sniffed.
Kaz laughed softly. It was true that while there was dust in the mountain, there wasn’t dirt, and dirt was, in fact, dirty. Since leaving the mountain, he and Li had gotten filthy in whole new ways, and while water could be found almost everywhere, the water, too, was often dirty instead of crystal clear.
“Bl- Kaz?” Raff said, and Kaz looked up, realizing that both Raff and Eve were watching him.
“Yes?” he asked cautiously. He often lost track of what was going on around him while he was speaking to Li, which was a habit he needed to break, especially since he wouldn’t always have Raff, Lianhua, or even Chi Yincang to keep watch while he and Li were distracted.
Raff shook his head, but he was smiling. “I asked if you want to go back and watch my fight. I’m going to try to make it fun.” The smile widened to a grin.
“I’m going, too,” Eve said. “I know a few other folks fighting in the axe division. Some of ‘em I like, and some I don’t. Gravy said he’d let me decide how fast he trounces ‘em.” Her grin was predatory, and Raff shook his head, but Kaz could tell he’d softened toward the female since they’d met yesterday. Briefly, he wondered if this was what humans looked like when they were trying to decide if they would be compatible mates, then pictured the pups the two huge, loud humans would produce and felt a bit overwhelmed at the mere prospect.
“I want to try more shopping,” Kaz said. “Then go back to the tournament hut.” He saw Eve’s confused expression, and corrected himself. “The barracks, I mean.”
Raff frowned. “You sure that’s a good idea? We should go to the bank and get your, uh, weird money changed for Holiander groats. Or maybe just look around, but don’t buy anything without me.”
Kaz considered this. It was true that he didn’t know how much gold things were worth, but couldn’t he just continue cutting pieces off one of the ingots when he bought something? Surely the shop owner would let him know what was fair. Then he remembered the look in the eyes of Raff’s friend, Vesthar, and decided Raff was right.
“I’ll look, but won’t buy,” he agreed, but Raff pulled a single gold coin from his pouch and slid it across the table to him.
“This is enough to get food and drink for you and the lizard,” Raff said. “And if you see some new pants, you might go ahead and get them, too.” He lifted an eyebrow, looking down at the cloth covering Kaz’s legs, which was more stained than clean and had several small holes caused by drifting ash at the mage college.
Kaz couldn’t help but laugh. The pants still covered a great deal more than his loincloth ever had, but humans were strange about showing skin. Were they as uncomfortable with their own lack of fur as Kaz was?
They all pushed back their chairs and turned toward the door. There were, as usual, far too many humans crowded into the small food hut where they’d eaten, so it took a moment to wend their way out. Raff paused just outside the door, looking at Kaz uncertainly.
“You sure you know how to get back to the barracks?” he asked.
Kaz closed his eyes, figuring out where he was in relation to the mountain. He found it, home, and then pulled up the memory of how it had felt that morning when he woke up. He pointed. “There.”
Raff chuffed a laugh. “I don’t know how you do that, but yes. Just in case you need to ask someone, though, do you remember the cross streets?”
‘Cross streets’ were the two closest streets to any given location, and Raff used them to give directions. Kaz was still trying to build a picture of the city in his mind, so the names didn’t help him much, but it still made Raff happy when he remembered them. “White Forest and Iron,” he said, and Raff smiled his approval.
“All right,” the big male said. “I’ll head back as soon as I finish my match. Don’t get into any trouble.” He stopped as soon as he realized what he’d said, and closed his eyes as he rubbed his face. “Look who I’m talkin’ to,” he muttered. Opening his eyes, he said, “Don’t get into any trouble you can’t get yourself out of.”
Li was distinctly entertained by the change, and Kaz shook his head, trying to hide his own amusement. “I’ll do my best,” he said.
Raff groaned. “That’s what I’m afraid of.” Turning to Eve, he motioned to her, and the two of them moved off down the street, though Raff threw back as many worried looks as Eve did confused ones.
Only when the two humans turned a corner did Kaz finally relax. He wasn’t terribly excited about looking in stores when he couldn’t buy anything, and this part of the city was far too busy for his liking. He glanced at Li, who was perched on his left forearm. “Should we head toward the hut and see if we find anything interesting before we reach it?”
she said, sending a powerful surge of longing along with an image of herself winging through the beautiful blue sky.
He hesitated. “Maybe we can go someplace with fewer people first?” Reluctantly, she bobbed her head, and Kaz absently began to scratch at all of her itchy spots as he let his feet carry them through the streets.
Humans flowed around them, as well as a few members of the other races Kaz had seen scattered around the city. He longed to speak to one of them, but they were all with other people or walking with great purpose, often in the opposite direction, so he didn’t try. Instead, he changed streets when he didn’t need to, moving two or three blocks further from the widest roads, then turning back onto a narrower one that led in the right direction.
After two or three of these sideways turnings, Kaz found himself in a much quieter area. As a bonus, there were no strong smells or loud noises, as there were on some of the other streets he and Raff had walked down. For the first time since he entered the human city, he felt his muscles loosen, and he was actually able to take in his surroundings without being overwhelmed.
Most of the buildings past which he walked seemed to be family huts, and there were even a few young humans playing in the streets. They had round objects that looked like the animal bladders kobold pups sometimes blew up and used as toys. Just like puppies, they kicked the bladder back and forth, though they whooped and yelled instead of filling the air with mock-ferocious barks and yips.
When the children saw Kaz, some of the younger ones scampered out of the way, but most of the others just stared at him. He continued walking, offering them an awkward smile. If this was a kobold den- Well, first, he wouldn’t be there, because a stranger would never have been allowed to simply walk in, but a den-mother would be nearby, protecting the pups. Yet here, Kaz saw no such person, nor did it seem like any particular child was in charge.
At least it didn’t until one youth, smaller than most of the rest, called, “Why is your hair blue?” A taller child tried to take the little one’s arm, but he or she just shook the hand off and kept staring at Kaz, waiting.
“It just is,” he finally said. “Why is your hair brown?”
The child shrugged. “My mom and dad’s hair is brown.”
Kaz smiled. “My father’s fu- hair was blue, too.”
“Oh. Okay.” Clear gray eyes shifted to Li, and Kaz had a feeling that the next question was the one the child had wanted to ask from the beginning. “Can I touch your dragon?”
A thrill of fear ran through Kaz, and he had to fight to keep the worried whine from his voice as he said, “She’s a wyvern, not a dragon. And that’s up to her.”
The child tilted their head to the side, examining Li critically before saying, “Sure.” Holding out a hand to Li, they said, “My name’s Nadia. What’s yours?” After an accusatory glance at Kaz, Li sniffed the hand, gave a little cough, and turned her head away, resting it on his shoulder.
Kaz found himself smiling at the memory of one of the first females who had been truly kind to him, for no other reason than that she wished to be. Nadi, the Stoneborn den-mother, had tried to protect him even though she believed he was a numb-mind. A pang of guilt reminded him that someday he should make sure she knew that strange puppy had survived.
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“Kaz,” he told the child. “This is Li. I like your name. I once knew a female with a similar name.”
Nadia blinked twice, then accepted this with another shrug. “I’m a girl, too. My mom cuts my hair short because I won’t let her brush it. I like it this way. Is Li your pet?”
The taller child, who was most likely a male, tugged at Nadia’s arm again, and again she ignored him. This time, however, he hissed, “Mom said not to talk to strangers anymore.”
Nadia gave the eternally put-upon sigh of a pup who had been told to do something they very much didn’t want to do, then said, “I have a pet, too. A dog. I’d show him to you, but Mom says I can’t talk to strangers.”
Both Kaz and Li turned to look at the child at this. Lianhua’s book had pictures of the dog from her myth, and both she and Raff claimed that dogs were a common pet for humans, but Kaz was almost certain he hadn’t seen one yet. He’d heard a few distant barks, and smelled something that wasn’t a kobold, yet had similarities to both kobolds and the wolves they’d met while traveling, but he hadn’t seen a dog.
“I’ve never seen a dog before, so I’d like to see yours,” he said, “but you should obey your mother. It’s very important to listen to your elders.” Puppies who didn’t listen ended up dead or missing, at least in his experience, and he wouldn’t want anything to happen to this oddly engaging young human.
Nadia watched him for another moment, then put her fingers in her mouth and blew the loudest whistle Kaz had ever heard. It even put to shame the whistles Li used to use to demand food. The dragon hardly ever whistled any more. Kaz supposed that it must be something only newly hatched dragons did.
A soft, breathy whistle came from close to his ear. Li insisted, then tried again. The scales around her mouth were wider and thicker than they used to be, making it difficult, but she managed.
A large animal covered in shaggy brown and white fur came racing around the corner ahead. Its ears flopped around its head, and it barked happily, tongue lolling and tail wagging when it saw Nadia. The little female smiled and called, “Brute! Come meet Kaz and Li!” Glancing back at Kaz, she confided, “He knows how to open the door, but he’s not supposed to do it, because he always forgets to close it again.”
Kaz could see how that would be a problem, but he watched, fascinated, as the dog came toward him. It really did look a lot like a kobold, at least as much as the wolves had, though in different ways. The animal was wider and stockier than the wolves, with a much fluffier tail that definitely resembled a kobold’s more than the wolves’ had.
When the dog was about five feet from Kaz, Li, and Nadia, it came to an abrupt halt. Its round brown eyes were fixed on Kaz, and for a moment, he thought it would bark or growl at him. Instead, it extended its front paws out ahead of it, bowing down, then rolled over, baring its belly as it wiggled. To Kaz’s shock, Nadia giggled and ran forward, burying first her hands and then her face in the long fur.
Looking back up at Kaz, she grinned and said, “He must like you. Brute is usually kind of protective.”
The dog’s pointed white teeth and powerful claws did indeed look fearsome, but the goofy expression on his face as he rolled around completely countered it. It was like seeing a young pup in the body of an adult.
He’s like a numb-mind, Kaz realized. Were all dogs like this? The wolves had certainly behaved very differently. Cautiously, Kaz crouched, balancing Li on one arm as he reached out the other hand, letting the dog sniff his fingers as Nadia had tried to get Li to do. Perhaps that was how humans greeted each other’s pets?
Kaz gave a soft yip of greeting, and the dog’s ears lifted. He gave a questioning bark in return, and Kaz offered the customary howl of a peaceful kobold entering another tribe’s territory. At this, the dog rolled over again, whining quietly, and their eyes met.
Curiosity. Worry. Love for the child still stroking his fur. Protectiveness, but also a strange certainty that this new dog wouldn’t harm her. He wasn’t as sure about the thing that smelled like one of the little scaled things that basked on the rock wall by his house in the summer, but-
“Brute!” The female voice pulled Kaz back from that bizarre and utterly unexpected connection. How was it possible? The dog didn’t have a core. Didn’t even have ki or any noticeable quantity of mana beyond what every living thing naturally drew into itself, which Kaz was still only beginning to be able to see.
Blinking, he stood as a human female approached. She did have mana. A surprising amount, really, and Kaz wondered if she might even be trained in its use, because it cycled more evenly through her body than most of the humans he’d walked past in the street. At least it did everywhere except her left arm, which hung limp at her side, clearly useless. A dark blotch hung in her shoulder, tangling the mana there up into a chaotic jumble.
Seeing Kaz, she halted, her right hand reaching over to grasp the left one, almost as if she would hide it from him. Her lips pinched, and she snapped, “Nadia Verity Wood. What did I tell you about talking to strangers?”
“I told her to stop, Mom,” the older boy said, sounding very self-righteous.
His mother only frowned at him before saying, “Next time, if you can’t convince your six-year-old sister to listen, come and get me.” Shifting her glare to Kaz, she said, “Who are you, and what are you doing with these children?”
Was she the den-mother? If so, Kaz approved. She looked like she was ready to fight for her charges, and she had also been teaching them howls to keep them safe, which was only right.
With Li in his arms, Kaz couldn’t give the proper salute of respect, unmated male to senior female, but he bowed forward, offering her easy access to the back of his neck. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’ve never seen a dog before. Nadia called him for me. I didn’t mean to cause her to break the rules of your tribe.”
“You, what?” the female spluttered, then reached out and grasped Kaz’s shoulder, tugging him upright. This time, her expression was more confused than combative when she said, “Who are you?”
“My name is Kaz,” he told her, and had to resist the urge to give her a yip of greeting. It had been nice to speak with someone who understood, even a little.
She shook her head, seeming to take him in. Her voice was much gentler when she said, “You can’t just talk to children in the street. You’ll frighten them. Or,” she smiled slightly, “their parents.”
Dropping her good hand, she laid it on the dog’s head, and he looked up at her worshipfully, tail thwacking against her leg. “Brute is a good judge of character, though, so I won’t call the guards on you. Just be more careful next time, all right?”
Kaz nodded, appreciating the warning and her forbearance. Glancing again at her shoulder, he hesitated, then burst out, “May I touch you?”
She jerked back as if he’d growled at her, expression shifting back towards fury in an instant. Quickly, Kaz pointed. “Your shoulder. It’s hurt.”
Now she looked thoroughly baffled, turning so her bad shoulder was further away from him. “Yes, it is,” she said tightly. “It’d take a true mage-healer to fix it, though, and we can’t afford one. I don’t think some blue-haired boy off the street is going to help.”
Kaz lifted his free hand, summoning a ki-light to hover over his fingertips. At the sight, all of the humans around him let out gasps of wonder or fear, and every single one stepped away. All except for Nadia’s mother. She searched his eyes with a look that shifted from disbelief to desperate hope, then turned again so she could offer him her damaged shoulder.
Reaching out, Kaz laid his hand over the dark spot. The female’s shirt was thin, and he could feel a ridge of scar tissue beneath his fingers. He traced it, concentrating on the darkness within her flesh. He still didn’t know how to get that darkness out without making a new hole for it to escape through, but unlike the others he had treated, this female wasn’t weak from illness or injury, and she had power. Perhaps if he simply helped, her body could take care of it on its own?
Li stretched out her neck, looking at the patch of shadow from another angle as Kaz let his senses sink into the flesh surrounding it. Together, they smoothed out its ragged surface, delicately pulling away wisps of darkness so the female’s mana could carry it away.
At first, he didn’t think it would work. The female gasped, face contorting in something like pain, and her mana grew disordered, the once-stable flow hesitating in its path. Kaz started to pull back, but she gasped, “No. Please. That’s the first time I’ve felt anything in that arm in almost three years.” Tears stood in her eyes, but she stared into his with quiet desperation, refusing to allow them to fall.
So Kaz and Li went in again, tugging away the blotch of unmoving darkness bit by bit. As they did, the tears began to trickle down her cheeks, silent and slow, but the female never flinched or pulled away. Inside her body, the slow spin of her mana became more and more uneven, however, and Kaz began to fear that it would fall apart entirely.
When Kaz finally finished clearing the blockage, the mana still seemed reluctant to return to the weakened limb, so Kaz and Li both turned their attention to it. Cautiously, they urged the mana to flow, and it did, gradually entering flesh that had held only the barest trickle for far too long. When even the fingers were once again part of the smooth, even cycling of the female’s power, Kaz withdrew his hand, stepping back.
He almost stumbled over Nadia and her brother, who were watching with rapt attention and no small amount of concern. When their mother gasped and began to rub her arm vigorously, the two children turned to glare at Kaz.
Seeing this, the mother gave a choked laugh. “No, Nadia, Mikal. It’s just… you know how your foot feels when you sit on it for too long, and it falls asleep?”
Both children nodded, and Nadia grimaced.
“It’s like that, only a hundred times worse,” their mother said. Then, slowly, she lifted the arm, which trembled. The gesture lasted only a moment, but everyone around them turned to look at Kaz in astonishment.
“I’ve been stretching and moving it ever since it healed,” the female said wonderingly, tracing her right hand down the left arm. “The medic said that it might heal on its own, eventually, but if I ever wanted it to work right, I couldn’t let it atrophy. I honestly never thought-”
She lifted her gaze to Kaz. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Then Nadia’s arms were around Kaz’s waist, and the male, Mikal, was screaming and jumping up and down with joy. The dog howled, a sound of exultation, and when Nadia released Kaz to hug her mother instead, Kaz whispered, “Li, hide us.”
Li’s power snapped through the air around them, and Kaz took a slow step back, feeding the dragon all the ki she could handle. Concealing both of them as they moved was an enormous drain, but they were both far more powerful than they had been before. Only Brute noticed their disappearance in time to protest, and no one paid attention to his sorrowful whimper.