The next morning, Tylan ate breakfast with the dragons. Emeton was eating in the nursery with the kids. Tylan appreciated how he made an effort to spend time with them each day. She had Pt’this’s vial in her pocket. He seemed unaware of it. She had no problem acting like nothing was wrong. It wasn’t the first time she’d spent time with someone she just robbed. “What are you doing today?” Pt’this asked her. “I think Prince Tolin wanted to talk to me more about palace security. After that, I thought I might read some or visit the kids. How about you?” “Emeton has court this morning. I have to be there for that. After lunch, I need to make a report for the High Council.” “The Council?” Tylan understood he meant the Dragon High Council, their ruling body, but didn’t understand why Pt’this would need to watch for them. “I’m their ambassador.” He shrugged. “I thought you were scribe.” Tylan frowned. “I am, but I do that more in my free time and Emeton does paperwork one morning a week so I get that time too. I was a scribe long before I became an ambassador. I still do it some because I enjoy it. I find it soothing. “I started here as an ambassador a long time ago. When that king died, there was no regent so his son had to take the throne at thirteen. He looked to all the adults around him for advice. I became his advisor in matters magic.” Pt’this explained. “Prince Tolin said you weren’t a mage.” “There are things about magic all dragons know. Plus, my mate is quite skilled and she learned quite a bit from her father. I also know someone who had a unique education in magic. “Emeton, like his father, uses me as a general advisor too.” “You’re also court historian.” Miramar added. Pt’this shook his head. “No, I’m historic advisor. I don’t record the events, I just relate them.” He turned to Tylan. “This is mostly because I’ve been here so long.” “How long have you been here?” Tylan asked. “About three hundred years, give or take a decade. I enjoy it here in Sen-gan.” “Miramar, what are your plans?” He turned to his mate. “You are staying, aren’t you?” “If I do, I’m not running around like I did yesterday. I’ll probably go sun myself this morning. Maybe this afternoon, I’ll visit the kids.” “You not going to help me with my report?” Pt’this asked. Kith laughed. “If she does, you’ll have to let them know not to expect until tomorrow.” “It’s not due until next week.” Miramar waved him off. “Why would it take longer with her help?” Tylan asked. “She’s more of a distraction than a help,” Kith said. “She’s not a distraction.” Pt’this insisted. “And what would you call her?” Kith laughed. Pt’this smiled. “My mate.” “Mate is right.” “Enough you two.” Miramar rolled her eyes. “You both act like the whole palace doesn’t know what we do behind closed doors. And yes, sweetie, I will join you this afternoon, but it won’t be the whole afternoon. I need to take it easy today. I pushed myself too hard yesterday.” Tylan turned to Kith. “What about you, Kith? What are you doing today?” “Emeton wants us to stay little longer. If you don’t mind, I was going to go pick up some work. It’s up to you.” Tylan shrugged. “You don’t get to see your aunt and uncle often. If you want to stay, that’s fine. I have no reason to rush back to Thager.” “I need to get going.” Pt’this said and hurried off. “I should go to. I’ll be back for lunch.” Kith followed after his uncle. “I hate it when they dash off like that,” Miramar said. “Do you need help?” Tylan asked. Mirimar shook her head. “No. I’m okay. I just dislike it. One second, there here in the next, they’re gone.” “Kith does that in Thager a lot too.” Tylan agreed. “How’s he doing? I haven’t had much time to talk with him. He hasn’t mentioned Darina recently. I assume that didn’t go well?” Mirimar asked. Tylan shrugged. “He won’t talk to me about it either. I was out of town the day he said he was going to talk to her. When I asked later, he said it wasn’t happening and didn’t want to talk about it. I haven’t seen Darina much. She’s been busy and Kith doesn’t want to see her. I’ve been trying to keep an eye on him.” “I’m surprised he’s sober. Anytime he gets upset anymore, he drinks so badly.” Tylan smiled a little. “Pt’this had the servants hide the alcohol. If we weren’t here, he’d be drunk.” “He didn’t used to be like this.” “What happened?” Tylan’s smiled faded. “Kith wants to know more about his father then Pt’this is willing to tell him. Kith’s dad, Kar and Pt’this never got along. Pt’this never forgave Kar for what he did during the war. After he abandoned Kith in the mountains, Pt’this practically disowned him.” “Abandoned?” “About a hundred and fifty years ago, Pt’this was returning to Baj-tisk to meet with the council and he found a half starved sickly child wandering in the mountains. That was Kith. Kar had dropped him off at the foot of the mountains and told him to find his uncle and stay with him. Kith got lost and almost died. Like I said, Pt’this has basically disowned him and won’t talk about him. He and Kith got into a fight over it and Kith left Baj-tisk. It wasn’t long after that that he started drinking. Mirimar glanced across the room. “It looks like your meeting is coming.” Tylan looked up. Prince Tolin was heading for them. “I’ll be out in the courtyard if you want to talk more later. I’ll be the big purple one, you can’t miss me.” Miramar smiled as she left. **** “Good morning,” Tolin greeted her. “Good morning.” “I wrote up the plan, as requested.” He handed her a piece of parchment. “I couldn’t find my signet ring this morning. It probably ended up in the laundry again. Would it be alright if we just delivered it right away?” Tylan nodded. “But isn’t he in court?” “We can get an audience. I’m a prince. They’ll put us at the top of the list.” He smiled. “Dressed like this?” She indicated her tunic and leggings. Tolin shook his head. “Women, always a peacock. It’s not a formal audience, you’re fine.” He assured her. He led her to the audience hall where he spoke with the servant scheduling the audiences. He smiled at her. “See? We’ll be next.” She smiled back. When the names were called, they went forward to the king. “Sire, Lady Tylan I made an agreement yesterday regarding palace security and we’d like you to witness it.” Tolin explained. Emeton nodded and Tylan handed him the parchment. “We ask that you not show Sir Pt’this this agreement at this time.” Tolin requested. Emeton smiled. “I can see why.” Then he frowned. “This isn’t sealed.” “My ring is in the laundry again. I get it next.” “Very well, I will uphold this agreement.” Emeton nodded. Tolin started to leave but Tylan step forward. “Sire, there’s something I need to give you,” she said. Emeton frowned at her use of the title but didn’t say anything about it. “What is it?” She pulled the glove containing the vial out of her pocket and handed it to him. Emeton looked inside and laughed. “You didn’t touch this did you?” “No, sire. I was careful not to.” Emeton and started to hand the glove to Pt’this. “Wait. The glove has copper threads.” Tylan warned. Pt’this held out his hand and Emeton dumped the contents into it. The dragon growled when he saw his vial. “You had her steal my vial?” “It was a test,” Tolin said, surprised. “I didn’t think she’d be successful, much less have made the attempt already.” “Sire? One more thing.” Tylan added. This time Emeton looked amused. She handed him something else. He laughed again. “Tolin, you need to work on security.” He tossed his brother his signet ring. Tolin frowned. “Where? When?” He looked confused. “This morning, while you slept. It would’ve ended up in the laundry otherwise.” Tylan explained. “You were in my room, while I slept?” Tylan nodded. “I figured a better test would be to get something unexpected.” “I think you’re right.” Emeton agreed. He held out the glove for her but as she reached for it, he grabbed her hand and kissed it. She pulled away. “I’ll see you at lunch?” He asked. She nodded and left. “Sorry about that.” She told Tolin as they left the room. “It’s okay. Stealing my ring was a good test.” He shrugged. “I meant your plan failing.” “My plan?” “To convince him I’m a no good thief.” “Actually, your quite a good thief,” Tolin said. “Thank you, but that’s not what I meant. You expected me to get caught. You wanted him to think I was stealing from him. “Pt’this’s vial was too easy. That’s why I went after your ring. I figured the prince general’s room, while the prince general was in it, would get me caught for sure.” “You were trying to get caught?” “If I was trying, you would’ve done it. I was trying to help you convince Emeton I’m not the one he should marry.” “You turned him down?” Tolin look surprised. “Several times, I should’ve never slept with him. Had I known who he was…” “You slept with a complete stranger?” “Don’t look at me that way. It’s no worse than sleeping with someone you just met.” “Does he know this?” “Yes. And he still proposed.” She frowned, looking around. “Are you married?” “Yes, why?” “Who isn’t?” “Why?” Tolin repeated. “If I slept with a few of them, he’d realize how much of a slut I am.” “No. I won’t have you do that. I may not agree with him marrying you, but I won’t have you betray him like that. He’s my brother. And, from what Kith says, you’re not like that. You may be impulsive and a bit lax perhaps but you don’t sleep with just anyone. You have standards.” “I suppose.” “Now, maybe if you scream that Remmy or Bacna, perhaps then.” Tolin suggested. “I could never.” “Then, maybe you’ll end up being my sister after all.” He smiled and walked off. **** Tylan decided to go to the nursery and check on the kids and make sure the nurse was doing her job. Up there, she found Remmy sitting in Bacna’s crib. “What you doing in there?” She asked. “Playing wif Bacna. Nurse is busy.” Sure enough, the nurse was feeding both the twins. “I just can’t get these two on different schedules.” The nurse said. “Can I help?” Tylan offered. “Just keep an eye on Remmy. Make sure he doesn’t hurt Bacna.” “We’re playing war,” Remmy said. “I’m king and Bacna’s prince general cause he can’t talk.” He had several toy soldiers set up near Bacna. More soldiers were set up nearby. “Dose are de trolls.” Remmy explained. “Get some trolls.” He commanded. Both he and Bacna hit some trolls with the soldiers they were holding. Tylan wasn’t sure if Bacna understood or he just was waving his arm, like he was seeing. Tylan picked up some soldiers that had fallen to the floor. “Oh no. More trolls are coming,” Tylan said. “Get ‘em.” Remmy cried. He started knocking soldiers down. Tylan set them back up as fast as she could. Bacna dropped the soldier. “Come on, Bacna, help.” Remmy insisted. Tylan noticed he was reaching for something. She looked up and on the shelf was a toy dragon. She smiled. “You want that?” She asked. She got it for him. It almost looked as if he might smile. He took the dragon and started hitting the “troll” army. “Hey!” Remmy protested. “Looks like the dragons came to help.” Tylan smiled. “Yeah!” Remmy said. “It’s Pifis. Get ‘em Pifis.” Remmy cheered as Bacna knocked over as many soldiers as he could reach. Then, Remmy took the dragon and started on the rest. “Now it’s Kif.” Soon, all the soldiers were down. “Good job, Bacna, you did!” He patted Bacna’s belly. Bacna smiled. “Bacna! You smiled!” Remmy cried. He stood it up in the crib. “Nurse, Bacna learn to smile.” “He did?” She called over her shoulder, as she cleaned up the twins. “We need to tell dad!” Remmy started to climb out of the crib. Tylan picked him up and helped him down. “Your dad’s in court this morning.” Remmy’s face fell. “But, we’re supposed to eat lunch together. How but I ask him to see you after that so you can tell them.” She suggested. “Yes! Bacna can you smile again?” Remmy looked into the crib. “Go like dis.” He grinned widely. Bacna mimicked it. “How about we read some?” Tylan suggested. “Yes, please,” the nurse said. She had Remmy crawl into the crib so he was high enough to see the book. Then, she put Bacna on her lap. Irkali crawled over so she picked the girl up too. After a while, the nurse brought the twins to listen also. Tylan thought the nurse was listing too. After time, all the kids except Remmy were asleep. They sat him at the table to draw with some charcoal sticks. “Thanks.” The nurse smiled. “No problem.” Then she hesitated. “Can I ask you a personal question?” “I guess.” “Can you read? Just I’ve never seen you.” The nurse shook her head. “I’m not even a nurse. I’m a maid. The nurse quit a few months back. They asked me to help Queen Nadal because the kids knew me because I cleaned in here. It was only supposed to be for a little bit until they hired someone else, but then the twins were born and Queen Nadal passed away and now I think they forgot about hiring of a replacement.” “I’m sure with Queen Nadal’s death things got a mixed up.” “You can be our mom,” Remmy said looking up. “Remmy.” The nurse scolded. “That’s not polite.” “Remmy, I have to go back to Thager in a few days.” “What’s Fager?” “That’s a city where I live.” “You go to Fager and come see us every day.” “Sweetie, Thager is too far. It takes days to get there.” “The dragons could flash you here.” “I don’t think so.” “But I like you. You’re fun. Bacna smiled. Bacna never smiles.” “Maybe I can come back with Kith sometime.” She offered. “But I’m not leaving yet. Okay?” “Okay.” He went back to drawing. **** Tylan stayed and played for a while longer before going to see Miramar. She had to smile to herself. The big purple one. There were only the three dragons at the palace. Of course her has no trouble finding Mirimar in her true form. Dragons were huge. The only way they could live so well with humans was they could shape shift and take on human or elf form. Miramar was fun to talk to but it seemed she loved to gossip. Tylan didn’t mind a little gossip but it appeared Miramar was quite content to spend the whole day doing it. Fortunately, Pt’this came and got them for lunch. “She hasn’t been gossiping with you all morning, has she?” Pt’this asked as he led them to a private dining hall. “She’s addicted to it.” “No, I was in the nursery for a while.” “Good. The kids really like you. Maybe we should hire you as the new nurse.” “Stay here full-time and have Emeton trying to get me to marry him the whole time? You’re joking.” “It was just a thought.” Pt’this shrugged. “A thought Emeton had last night.” “Well, you are doing better than the maid that’s in there now. I’m going to need to talk to Kortu about hiring a proper nurse.” At lunch, she was introduced to a man referred to simply as Elos. They gave him no rank or title. Governor Borat join them also. Conversations ranged from politics to family to an upcoming festival and everything in between. After they had finished eating, Tylan approached Emeton. “Sire, Remmy…” Emeton frowned. “Didn’t I tell you not to call me that.” “You did. But we are not married. We aren’t even in a relationship. We slept together one time. I will call you Emeton when it’s just us but in public, it wouldn’t be appropriate.” She insisted. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Elos smile. She wondered about that. “As I was saying, Remmy wants to show you something. He was hoping you’d stop by the nursery before starting your afternoon.” Emeton sighed. “Only take a moment, sire and he’s really quite excited. I think you’ll be too.” He nodded. “Walk with me.” She hesitated. “I’ll be a gentleman.” He promised. She nodded. **** Emeton found himself wishing for pockets, just for someplace to put his hands. He was tempted to hold Tylan’s hand but wasn’t going to. In the nursery, they found Remmy in the crib with Bacna again. “What are you doing in there?” Emeton asked. “Reading to Bacna. He likes it.” Remmy informed him. “Wouldn’t that work better if the book was upside right?” Emeton started to flip the book. Remmy pulled away. “No! Watch.” He “read” a little based on the pictures then he flipped the book over forward so the pages face Bacna, right side up. Bacna smiled. Emeton’s eyes grew wide. “Did he just smile?” “Yup. He learned to smile today,” Remmy said. “He’s been smiling quite a bit today.” The nurse said, coming over. “Remmy’s encouraging it. He showed Irkali and tried to bring the twins over. He showed me I don’t know how many times.” “Can he come wif me to see de ofer kids and show dem?” “I don’t think he’s ready to be with the other kids.” Emeton told him. Remmy looked disappointed. “If you wait, he can practice more, get better at it.” Tylan suggested. “Okay”. Remmy agreed. “How many brothers and sisters did you say you had?” Emeton asked. “Just one brother.” “Was he a lot younger?” “He was three years older.” “How about we walk Remmy to see the other kids, give the nurse a break.” Just then, Shunati walked in. “Hello, sire, Tylan.” He nodded. “Bacna’s already got bars on him.” Remmy frowned. “I was going to see if they were ready to come off. Okay?” “Okay. Guess what? He can smile.” “He can?” Shunati look surprise. “Watch. Bacna, smiled like dis.” He smiled. Bacna just looked at him. “You want your bars off? Smile for dat.” Bacna still didn’t smile. “Smile for Tylan. You like her.” He pointed. Bacna’s eyes followed and then he did smile. “Very good.” Shunati smiled too. He took Bacna’s hand. He nodded. “I think we can take these off. We may wait a bit before we do anymore surgeries. I need to talk with Mistress Mila.” He picked up Bacna and left.