"Are you seriously saying that you and Ki'shiu are going to this much trouble just because you like me?" Thenio asked, staring at Eteon in disbelief. "It doesn't have anything to do with my chaos affinity?"

"Well, of course that has something to do with it. We wouldn't need to go to so much trouble if your magic weren't the way it is, now would we?" Eteon leaned back in his chair with a sigh. "And it's not exactly that we aren't expecting anything from you. You have a huge amount of potential, you know? Of course we're hoping that you learn to control your magic and go on to do amazing things in life. But it's not like we're going to abandon you if you don't. It's sort of like the arrangement you have with Ariom, isn't it? I'm sure he'd prefer it if you turn out to be useful as an assistant, but that's not his main goal for taking you in. So he wouldn't really consider it a loss if all you do is play around with Iggy and practice your magic control. Right?"

"Oh." Thenio didn't know what else to say. He sat quietly for a while, pondering what Eteon had just said and watching while he worked on Seyli's comb. He'd finished shaping the teeth, and now he was carving what looked like flowers on the top.

Over on the grass, Tava was still playing with the children, but Iggy seemed to be too tired to chase balls anymore. Kleyo was sitting on the grass with the little black dragon on his lap, surrounded by several other children who were talking to Iggy or petting him.

They would probably come back to the tent before much longer. If Thenio wanted to ask Eteon about clairvoyance and dream magic, he ought to get it done before then.

He let out a small sigh and turned to look at Eteon. "Hey, can I ask you some things? About mythic beasts?"

"You can ask me anything you want. There are things I can't tell you about, of course. But I won't get mad at you for asking."

"Then...what kind of magic does a dream beast use?"

"Hmm...it's a little difficult to explain. Just saying that he uses dream magic probably doesn't help much...." Eteon paused for a moment, looking thoughtful. "I guess the easiest way to explain it is to say that it's the magic of knowledge."

"Knowledge? Is that like mental magic?"

"There's some overlap, yes. But dream magic is broader than that. Mental magic is about transmitting information between minds. But with dream magic, you can get information from the world itself. And you can also use knowledge to affect the world."

Thenio made a confused face. "I don't get it...."

Eteon pointed at the phoenix figurine that Thenio was still holding. "Like that. I know what the phoenix looks like, so with dream magic, I can use that knowledge to reshape the wood so that it looks like her."

Thenio stared down at the phoenix. "Is that how you did this? I just assumed it was some kind of crystal magic. Like a lifemimic."

"It's similar, in this case. But dream magic can do a lot more than just changing the shape of something. Though I do use it for that quite a lot."

Thenio frowned. "So...could you also use knowledge about something to draw a picture of it?"

"Of course. If it works to create a shape, it works to create an image."

"That...well, I mean, that makes sense. But isn't that what you told me to do when you were teaching me how to draw? You told me to learn about animals and things and use what I knew about them to draw them. But if you need dream magic to make it work the same way you do, why would you try to teach me like that?"

Eteon shrugged. "Well, you can do it, can't you? I've watched you draw pictures that way for years."

Thenio blinked at him, nonplussed. "Wait...you mean you expected me to be able to copy a dream magic technique?"

"Why not? You're a chaos morph. You can use almost any kind of magic."

So Eteon had known about that from the beginning....

Well, of course he had. He was a mythic beast agent. And Ki'shiu had implied that Thenio wasn't the first chaos morph he'd tried to help.

"Why didn't you say anything? If you've known about my chaos affinity all along, why didn't you tell me? Or tell my parents? If you had...."

Eteon's eyes narrowed. "If I had, your parents would have sent you off to live in a research center somewhere. And you most likely would have died there. Just like all the other chaos morphs that have died in research centers.... We were waiting for a better option to come along."

"A better option? You mean Ariom?"

Right...Thenio had almost forgotten about it, but the first time he'd seen Ki'shiu, the dream beast had told him to follow the path where Iggy was.

"Does that mean you think Ariom will be able to help me?"

Eteon sighed. "Honestly, I don't know. But the methods we've tried in the past haven't worked. Someone like Ariom, who can approach the problem from a new direction, is probably the best chance you've got."

They were both silent for a moment.

"You said Ariom was the one who suggested to you that I might be a mythic beast's agent," Eteon said. "But have you told him about seeing Ki'shiu?"

Thenio shook his head. "Not yet. I wasn't exactly trying to hide it. I just...wasn't sure. I mean, I've only ever seen him in dreams. I wasn't sure Ariom would believe he was real. I wasn't sure I believed he was real myself.... And even if it turned out he was, I wasn't sure if he'd want me to tell anyone."

"Hmm...." Eteon's brow furrowed a little. "Well, you can ask him yourself if you want. But I think it's probably all right to tell Ariom about him. I mean, if Ariom knows I'm an agent, then he already knows there's a mythic beast involved somewhere. It's just a matter of telling him which one. You should be very careful who else you tell, though. A lot of people will try to take advantage of you if they know you have a connection to a mythic beast."

"I know. Ariom already warned me about that. And actually...he does know about me using dream magic. He's the one who noticed and told me that I was doing it. Except that we thought it was some kind of mental magic, like clairvoyance. See, the Royal Guard inspector that we're working with is a mental mage, and he came over to the house for a meeting with Ariom the other day...."

Thenio explained about Ariom's plan to use telepathy during the enchantment analysis, and how they'd discovered Thenio's unusual ability while they were testing things out.

"I do want to help with the analysis, if I can. I know Ariom isn't necessarily expecting that much from me as an assistant, but he's done such a lot for me already...I want to do what I can to repay him." Thenio looked at Eteon uneasily. "But if what I've been doing is really dream magic...well, I don't know if using it around other people is going to cause problems or not. So if you think I should stop...."

Eteon had finished carving while Thenio had been talking, and now he sat tapping his finger against the unvarnished comb and frowning a little.

"I don't think it will be a problem," he said finally. "We'll just need to take a few precautions."

"What precautions?"

Instead of answering, Eteon reached down into his scrap basket and pulled out a small, dark brown piece of wood. He held it in the palm of his hand, and the wood started to glow faintly and change shape. A moment later, a wooden taua that looked remarkably like Amisi was sitting there. The eyes had even been painted the same shade of light orange.

Thenio's eyes widened. "That's Amisi, isn't it? How do you know what she looks like?"

"I told you before, didn't I? Dream magic allows you to pull knowledge directly from the world itself." Eteon handed the taua figurine to Thenio. "Here. Give this to the mental mage you're working with."

Thenio took the wooden taua and looked at it more closely. Like the phoenix, it was amazingly detailed, even more than Eteon's carvings usually were.

He glanced back up at Eteon. "What's this for?"

"The precautions I mentioned earlier. Don't worry—the mental mage will understand when you give it to him."

Thenio raised an eyebrow but knew better than to argue. "Mideis was talking about giving me some basic training in using mental magic. Should I go through with that? I mean, if I'm not actually using mental magic...."

"It should be fine. Dream magic could be considered a close relative of mental magic, so the same kinds of training can be used for both. Mental mages usually start off with basic meditation and breathing exercises to help train mental discipline and focus. Something like that might be beneficial for you. It probably won't hurt, in any case. Though you can always ask me if anything comes up that you're not sure about."

"I guess you have a message book now, don't you?"

"I do seem to," Eteon said with a wry smile. "I'll have to think of some other good magic formations to teach Ariom to thank him for that.... But yes, now you'll be able to send me messages whenever you want. Although, if you want to learn more about dream magic...." He gave Thenio a wink. "...you have access to an even better teacher, don't you? Dreams are the best place to practice dream magic anyway."

Thenio's eyes widened a little. "You really think he'll be willing to teach me?"

"Of course he will. He likes you and wants to help you. Didn't I just tell you that?"

"Well...yeah, but...he's still a mythic beast.... Doesn't he have better things to do than teach me magic?"

Eteon raised an eyebrow. "Like what, exactly?"

"Like...."

Thenio paused. What did mythic beasts spend their time doing? He didn't actually know. Ket'shiu and Ket'yia supposedly watched over the Ket'qe forest, though he wasn't really sure what that entailed. And he'd heard stories about Naslunal protecting sea creatures and preventing ships from going too far away from the continent. And Ki'shiu....

...tried to keep chaos morphs from killing themselves, apparently. And occasionally helped little girls who were having nightmares.

Maybe he really didn't have anything better to do....

"I don't know," he admitted. "What exactly does Ki'shiu do?"

Eteon laughed. "He'll teach you. Trust me."

Thenio couldn't really say anything to that. He was quiet for a few minutes, watching as Eteon mixed up a small container of diluted wood stain and started brushing it onto Seyli's comb.

"You said something about getting information from the world," he said finally, looking at the small wooden taua again. "What does that mean?"

"It can mean several things. It can be something like an enhanced version of clairvoyance, for one. You said you learned a little about the form of clairvoyance that tauas use, right? That's somewhere on the border between mental magic and dream magic. That's why not many humans can use clairvoyance—it requires a mental mage who's able to extend their magic use beyond the normal limits of the affinity."

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Beyond the normal limits...?" Thenio frowned. "Is that the same as what you were saying about Seyli earlier? That she's outside the normal range of life magic frequencies?"

Eteon shook his head. "No, that's a different phenomenon. This is more like Ariom's thaumaturgy. He uses that in order to do things that are normally impossible with void magic, right? He's exceeding the limits by using his magic in a more flexible way.

"There are several differences between the magic that humans and mythic beasts use, but that's one of them. Mythic beasts are much more creative in how they use their magic, which allows them to do a broader range of things. Well, they live a lot longer than humans do. I suppose humans would be more creative if they had thousands of years to experiment." Eteon's expression darkened a bit. "Though it's hard to say if that would be a good thing...."

He was probably referring to the Great Magic War. Thenio knew from his history classes that there had been a sort of magical arms race during the years building up to the war, where different schools of magic rushed to develop new magic tools and techniques, trying to outpace their rivals. The main reason the Wizard Association was formed after the war ended was to oversee magic development and prevent small groups from accumulating too much power and starting to fight for dominance like that again.

"Well, we'll save the full lesson on mythic beast magic for another day," Eteon went on. "It's going to start raining in a few minutes. I expect the others will stop playing and come back then."

Thenio looked outside the tent. The clouds were denser than they had been when they arrived at the park, but there were still some patches of sunlight. It didn't really look like rain was imminent.

He looked back at Eteon. "Does dream magic let you see the future, too?"

"Unfortunately, no." Eteon chuckled a little. "But it lets me see enough information about the present to make fairly accurate weather predictions."

"What about Ki'shiu?"

"Even he can't see the future. If he could...a lot of things might be different in the world right now...." Eteon paused, examining the wooden comb in his hand. The stain had turned it a beautiful rose pink color, just like he'd said it would. "But Ki'shiu still has access to more knowledge than I do. He's called a dream beast because he's able to enter dreams, after all, and you can see all kinds of things there. Though they mostly appear in an abstract or symbolic form, as you'd expect from dreams. So you have to be able to interpret them properly."

Thenio frowned a little. "If he has access to so much information, why doesn't he know how to control my chaos magic?"

"Because it's never been done before. Even he can't access knowledge that doesn't exist yet. And...." Eteon hesitated, like he was trying to decide how much he ought to say. "Well...the demon rifts are making things difficult right now."

"The demon rifts?" Thenio asked, surprised. "Why do they make a difference?"

"Demon miasma is often called a poison, but that's not exactly right. It's a corruption. It distorts the proper order of the world and makes information difficult to access. Like trying to read a book that's had ink spilled over it."

Thenio had never heard anyone describe demon miasma like that before. His teachers had just said it was a strange kind of magic power that leaked out through the rifts and poisoned anything it touched.

Once poisoned, living creatures would turn into demons if they weren't treated quickly enough, though creatures with higher magic power were more resistant to the poison's effects. That was why only sorcerers were allowed to join the Magic Corps and fight against demons. Low-powered combat wizards and ordinary soldiers would just succumb to the poison and join the enemy ranks.

But distorting the proper order of the world? What did that mean, exactly?

Before he could ask Eteon any more about it, Thenio heard a few raindrops hitting the roof of the tent. Looking over to where Seyli and Kleyo were, he saw the group of children starting to scatter, heading home to take shelter from the rain. Many of them paused to thank Seyli or wave goodbye to the dragons before running off.

When most of them were gone, Seyli and Kleyo headed back to the tent, each of them carrying a dragon in their arms.

"The rain has good timing," Seyli said as she reached the shelter of the tent and turned around to look out at the falling rain, which was still light but was gradually increasing. "I was afraid they were never going to let us go. And poor Iggy is about done for."

She was right. The little black dragon was sagging pitifully over Kleyo's arm, clearly more than ready for his afternoon nap.

"Thenio, my blanket is in my backpack. You can get it out and let the dragons use it for a bed," Eteon said, nodding toward the back of the tent.

Thenio set down the figurines he was holding, then stood up and went over to the backpack. When he lifted the top flap, he saw the blanket that Eteon sometimes spread his carvings out on, folded up neatly and sitting on top of the bag's contents.

Strange. He didn't remember seeing it there when Eteon had opened the backpack before....

He shot a suspicious glance in the old woodcarver's direction, and Eteon gave him a small, playful smirk, as though he knew exactly what Thenio was thinking.

Well. He probably did....

Shaking his head a little, Thenio pulled out the blanket and used it to form a dragon-sized nest in the corner of the tent.

"Put him down here, Kleyo," he told his younger brother.

Kleyo set the tired little dragon down on the blanket and then went to the other corner of the tent to get out another chair.

Seyli came over and put Tava down next to Iggy. "Iggy, honey, I'll get some water and snacks out for you. You were flying around a lot, so at least have a drink before you go to sleep, all right?"

"Mmm...okay..." Iggy said. Then he yawned widely, showing off his teeth.

He sat and blinked sleepily while Seyli pulled a small bowl, a bottle of water, and some dragon snacks out of her bag.

That thing definitely had a space compression enchantment on it....

Iggy managed to eat a snack stick and lap some water out of the bowl before curling himself up in a ball inside the blanket nest and closing his eyes. Tava, who also looked tired but was a little more awake than Iggy was, waited until he was done and then happily cleaned up the remaining water and snacks.

"What are those?" Kleyo asked, looking curiously at the stick Tava was chewing on.

"Meat and vegetable paste," Seyli told him. "It's shaped into sticks and then dehydrated. You can try one if you want, but they don't have much seasoning, so they're a little bland for human tastes. They're really convenient to carry around for the dragons, though. We go through a lot of them."

Kleyo accepted the snack stick that Seyli handed him and bit the end off. He wrinkled his nose a little as he chewed. "Hmm...yeah...it is a little bland. It's not bad, though." He took another bite.

"You can make them for humans if you change up the recipe a little." Seyli looked at Thenio. "Ariom will probably teach you how to make them before long. He has all the equipment for it. He usually makes up a big batch every month or two and puts them in his stasis storage room. If I help him out, he lets me make some for Tava, too, and stores them for us." She grinned. "Perks of having a grandmaster enchanter for a cousin."

"Can I come help sometime, too?" Kleyo asked eagerly. "I want to see Ariom's house! It sounds really amazing!"

"As long as your parents give you permission, I don't think Ariom will mind," Seyli said. "He acts grouchy sometimes, but he's actually really nice. We'll ask him about it later, okay?"

"Okay!" Kleyo said, beaming at her.

Thenio smiled a little, too. Seyli and Kleyo seemed to have bonded a bit during the dragon play session, and they were getting along rather well now. He was relieved to see that Seyli had relaxed out of her princess mode again.

Tava finished eating and settled down in the blanket nest beside Iggy. Seyli gave her head an affectionate rub and then left the two dragons to their napping and went back to her chair. Thenio and Kleyo also sat down, one on either side of Eteon.

"What are you making?" Kleyo asked curiously, noticing the comb in Eteon's hands.

"It's something that Thenio asked me to carve for him." Eteon turned the comb around, giving it a final inspection, before nodding a little and handing it to Thenio. "It's all done. Take a look."

Thenio looked down at it. As a decorative comb, it was curved, with widely-spaced teeth. Along the top was a delicate carving of a dragon that resembled Tava, surrounded by flowers.

"You were right," he told Eteon with a smile. "This is perfect."

Then he hesitated, glancing over at Seyli. She responded with a questioning look, tilting her head a little in that cute, dragon-like way.

Thenio swallowed, suddenly feeling nervous.

"Um...here." He quickly held the comb out to Seyli before he could chicken out. "This is for you. I...uh...well...you've helped me out a lot the past few weeks—teaching me about dragons and helping me feel more comfortable living with Ariom and...and things. So...uh...I just...just wanted to say thanks...."

He felt his face grow a little warm and hoped none of the others would notice. Well...it was probably too much to hope that Eteon wouldn't, but maybe he at least wouldn't say anything....

Seyli took the comb from his hand, looking a little surprised. When she looked at it closely, her eyes went wide.

"Wow...this is beautiful...." She stared at the comb for a minute, running her fingers lightly over the pink wood. Then she looked up and gave Thenio a radiant smile. "I really love it! Thank you."

Thenio's face went as red as Humerus' favorite skin. He was absolutely certain that everyone in the tent would notice now....

...but seeing those beautiful aqua eyes light up like that was worth it.

----------------------------------------

Ki'shiu was standing alone on a dark plain underneath a sky full of stars. There was no movement or other sign of life there, but he stood and waited patiently.

She would come soon.

His diligence was finally rewarded when a spark suddenly flared in the darkness in front of him. It grew up into a tall column of pale gold flames before fading away to reveal a woman with large white and gold feathered wings. Her skin and hair were also a creamy white color, and her whole body seemed to emit a soft, shimmering glow.

"You're finally here." The dream beast stepped forward and nuzzled the woman's cheek affectionately. "It's been a while."

"You know I can't come that often." She reached up to stroke the bridge of his nose. "Every time I fall asleep, there's the risk of a new rift forming."

"I know that. But you still need to rest. The humans can handle a few more rifts. It will be a lot worse if you push yourself until you collapse."

"I know...." She let out a long sigh. "I know. But that doesn't make me feel any better about it...."

She moved closer and leaned her head against his shoulder, running her fingers through the thick fur of his mane. They both stood quietly like that for a few minutes.

"How is Thenio?" the woman asked, breaking the silence.

"He's doing better, for now. The enchanter who took him in has a rather difficult personality...but he has a good heart. The two of them seem to be getting along well. Here, I'll show you."

Ki'shiu waved his horn a little, and the scene around them changed. Now they were standing on the edge of a small flea market in a city park, in front of a tent where an old man was sitting and carving a piece of wood. He looked up and noticed a small group approaching the tent. He set the carving down and stood up to welcome them, smiling.

"Hi, Thenio's friend!" a tiny black dragon riding on a teenage boy's shoulder called out, waving his paw at the old woodcarver. "We brought Tava and Seyli to see your toys!"

The woman moved a little closer, watching intently as the memory played out. Her gaze kept lingering on Thenio's face. But she also seemed quite interested in Seyli.

"He likes that girl, doesn't he?" she asked, turning back to Ki'shiu with a mischievous smile. "He keeps sneaking glances at her."

The dream beast let out a small laugh. "Well. Probably. She is quite pretty.... And she treats him more kindly than most human children do. But besides that...." Ki'shiu's expression became serious. "...her magic frequency is surprisingly similar to yours. She's probably absorbed quite a few fragments. So I think she reminds him of you."

The woman's eyes widened a little. Then she frowned thoughtfully, turning to look at Seyli again. "How many of my feathers are left on that side?"

"Eight. I have three. Melinei has two. The others are in various places."

"I see. It's too early now, of course, but someday...if you think she's suitable...if it looks like she can help Thenio...I don't mind if you give her one."

Ki'shiu pricked up his ears a little in surprise, but then he bowed his head in acknowledgement. "I understand."

They continued watching in silence. The woman smiled when she saw Thenio laughing as Kleyo tackled him, and her expression grew concerned when Lem shied away from his touch and ran off. But she didn't speak again until Thenio was holding the wooden phoenix in his hands, staring down at it with an odd look on his face.

"He doesn't remember...does he?"

Ki'shiu shook his head. "No, not really. But a few bits and pieces have been coming back to him. And he recently started using dream magic more actively. The seal is definitely starting to crack."

"Yes...I can feel it." The woman sighed deeply. "Everything is starting to crack...." She bit her lip, looking frustrated. "I hate to admit it, but you're right. I'm tired. I can't keep doing this much longer.... And I know you're the same. You and Peqeran and the other nobles.... Everyone's tired. And if Thenio...." Her voice faltered. "If he...doesn't make it...."

"I know. We don't have much time left. If this attempt fails, we probably won't be able to try again."

The woman fell silent, watching Thenio and chewing on her lip again. Ki'shiu moved forward and stretched his neck out over her shoulder to brush the side of his muzzle lightly against her cheek. She reached up to give him a grateful pat.

But the solemn mood didn't last too long. When Thenio was expressing his doubts about Ki'shiu being willing to teach him magic, the dream beast let out a snort, and the woman gave an amused smile and patted him again.

When Thenio gave Seyli the comb and then turned as pink as the wood it was made of when she thanked him for it, the woman actually laughed out loud—a clear, musical laugh that made Ki'shiu's heart ache.

That beautiful laughter of hers was all too rare these days....

"Look at that precious little boy...." The phoenix turned to look at the dream beast, her golden eyes sparkling with joy and determination. "There might not be much time left...but just look at him.... Thenio's still alive, isn't he? It's not over yet. How can we give up when he's still doing his best to learn and keep living? I might not have much strength left, but I can hold on for a little longer. We can give him a little more time."