Pt’this and Mishtali sat in the garden at the center of the palace. Sapphire had left with Bremul and a warning for the troublemaking teen that if he didn’t behave, he’d have to leave, and if he hurt anyone else, he’d be put in prison. “Do you think she can handle him?” Mishtali asked after Sapphire had left. Pt’this nodded. “If she can’t, Ti’s there to help. But, I think Chormi wants to stay. He’s just having a difficult time adjusting.” Mishtali nodded. “As long as he doesn’t hurt my grandbaby.” Pt’this nodded and smiled. Mishtali’s daughter, Mirimar, had been Pt’this’s mate. She had passed away and then he had married Sapphire. From a dragon’s point of view when he had mated with Mishtali’s daughter, he became Mishtali’s son. Now that this “son” had a new mate, she became Mishtali’s daughter also. Consequently, the children they had would be his grandchildren. “I only have three,” Mishtali continued. “Yeah, but I think two are working on some great-grandchildren for you,” Pt’this said glancing up to Ann’s room. She was a blood relative of Mishtali. Her birthfather, Thailyn, was Mishtali’s son. “Not in her condition,” the older dragon said. “This won’t slow them down for a while,” Pt’this said. Mishtali growled. “You did say you wanted grandkids,” Pt’this pointed out. “Is this really a problem for you?” Mishtali smiled. “You never saw me with Shawtila. It just seems a little odd for you all to be so open about it. It wasn’t like that the last time I was here and it wasn’t like that most of my five hundred years on Earth.” “Most people still aren’t. Ask Nim about his relationship with Joanne. He’ll blush before you finish your question. I think he stopped blushing when she holds his hand in front of us.” “I think Nim is the opposite extreme.” Pt’this nodded. “He did not have an upbringing that supported relationships.” Mishtali nodded. “I remember hearing about it.” “Things didn’t get any better after you were gone.” “Life for his kind is usually lonely. Andy and Dae are lucky.” Pt’this cocked his head and eyed his mentor. “How did you know about Dae?” Mishtali smiled. “Do you mean besides seeing the three of them playing catch with a ball of magic energy? Areantor asked me to help Andy with her before Nim came back. She was burning Ti every time she’d strengthened him.” “I knew something was going on. Ti was always wandering off when they went to Bisfip. He was often in the magic shops there.” “Buying healing potions.” “But what was he needing her strength for?” “Aside from when he transported himself and Kar to Earth? Nothing. He was trying to help her learn her abilities. She was afraid to tell anyone else.” Pt’this shook his head. “There’s got to be something we can do. Who knows how many others went without training because they were afraid.” “But look at what happened to Jo and Nim because the wrong person knew.” Jo had been abducted by Nor’than to try to coerce Nim to use Augmenter abilities to draw energy from Nor’than’s other prisoner, Mishtali, to make him stronger. “I’d say that because it was the first time in twelve hundred years the odds were obviously against it happening, but Nim spent too much time alone. Sometimes, nobody even knew where he was. It’s hard to take advantage of someone if you can’t find them. What do they do on Tricon?” “We sent them away.” “What?” “Who do you think became the Baj-tisk?” “There were that many Augmenters?” “Them, their families, a few friends perhaps. It was a bad time. There wasn’t much by way of records of who left.” “Why send them away?” “It was too dangerous. They attracted immortals who would use them. The immortals were trying to enslave us. “Shaw left to find them. We weren’t exiling them but hiding them. It was never our intent they stay gone. We hoped that when the immortals found there were no more Augmenters, they’d leave us alone, and then the Augmenters could come back. “But Shaw never returned,” Pt’this said. Shaw was Mishtali’s mate. Pt’this never knew why she left Tricon so long ago. Mishtali shook his head. “So I went looking for her and found a colony of dragons who had all but forgotten who they were and an Augmenter who had been trained by and immortal.” “You stayed because of Nim?” “I stayed because of you.” “Me?” Pt’this was surprised. “Do you not remember what you were like back then? A rebellious troublemaker, untrained and too powerful to control his own strength.” “Rebellious troublemaker?” Pt’this asked. The rest was true, but a troublemaker? “Only in that you thought more like a human than a dragon.” “I still do.” “No, you’ve learned to differentiate. You act like a human around humans but a dragon around dragons. And, you expect other dragons to act like dragons. You’d spent too much time as a child among humans.” “I wasn’t given the choice.” “No, you weren’t. That’s why I agreed to help. You didn’t need me to shield you. Kar and Nim could have done that. But you wouldn’t listen to Kar.” “I was jealous of him. He got to be in Baj-tisk with Mom and Pt’bur while I was sent to live with people I barely knew. They wouldn’t even let me come home for the memorials when the fire death killed them. But Kar was there. Dad kept Kar with him after that, but I had to stay in Resdelk watching family after family who would take on the job of raising me grow old and die. I never got to go to school. I had to teach myself to fly, to breathe fire. I had to teach myself to read Dragon.” “We don’t get to pick our families,” Mishtali said softly. “I know,” Pt’this replied. He had been told the same thing by both Thailyn and Ann. “But I didn’t know that then.” Sapphire wants to know what’s going on, Ti sent. Just talking about my childhood, Pt’this sent back. Well, stop. You practically have her in tears. Sorry. Is everything else okay? Fine so far. Will you be home soon? Shortly. “I had made a map of the islands we saw on the way here. I found it in that trunk you’d saved of my belongings. I’ll get it for you so you can plan your route,” Mishtali said, referring to the trip to Tricon. “You’re not coming?” “I can’t. From here to Baj-tisk is all I can manage in flight. You’ll need to travel further than that each day,” Mishtali explained. “Do you want us to talk to anyone for you there?” Pt’this offered. “I doubt they’ll let you. Tell the healer who works with you what happened. He’ll tell the council.” They spoke a little longer, discussing the trip before he went home. **** Pt’this was surprised how quiet the house was when he did get home. Sapphire and Dae were cooking supper and Ti was playing with Bre. There was no sign of the runaways. He kissed Sapphire. “Where is everyone?” He asked. “Studying,” Sapphire said. “All of them?” He asked, surprised. She nodded. He went to take Bre from Ti. A piece of parchment fell on him. He looked up. “Sorry, about that,” Chormi said. “The binding is bad on this book.” He was hanging upside down from the ceiling while reading. “I’ll fix it after supper,” Pt’this told him. He gave Ti a questioning glance. “He had a little trouble remembering his manners. I remember Nim doing this to Ann,” Ti explained. Pt’this nodded. Ti and Dae were quite good with the runaways. He was glad they were there to help. Ti had been with Kar when Kar had received a message from Joanne saying she was being used as bait for Nim. The two had gone to Earth to help but Ti wasn’t an adult yet. He wasn’t supposed to leave Baj-tisk without permission. He’d forgotten Kar wasn’t Baj-tisk and couldn’t give him permission to leave. He faced banishment as a punishment. The first thing he had done upon returning was to mate with Dae. As his mate, if he was banished, she’d be able to go with him if she chose. Ti then went to the Dragon High Council and confessed what he had done. The others talked to the Council and Nim had sent a letter asking for leniency. The Council deliberated long enough that they were able to finish school as they were close to being done. Then, the Council pronounced a two-year banishment. Sapphire had offered to let them stay at the children’s home provided they help out. Pt’this had been skeptical at first since Dae, especially, had trouble remembering her manners. What kind of example would she set for troubled kids? But, he hadn’t said anything and it had worked out quite well. Dae had shown a level of maturity that surprised them all. Some of the girls even had started to follow her lead, imitating her. Ti allowed Chormi down for dinner. While they ate, Pt’this told them that he and Sapphire would be leaving in the next few days. Ti and Dae would be left in charge and that either Nimitinas or Prince Remtani would be checking in regularly so they had all better be on their best behavior. “Isn’t Nimitinas the one who would punish Princess Ann by burying her?” One asked. “No. He’d make her bury a dragon out in the desert,” Sapphire said. Dae blushed, but no one noticed. “And Prince Remtani used to lock her in the prisons,” Pt’this added. He didn’t mention that wasn’t a punishment but just to torment her. “We’ll be on our best behavior,” another promised. Pt’this nodded. He hoped they would.