"Thou knowest nothing of qhen," said Kadagan, his voice and bright blue eyes as cold as ice.
Khisanth's head snapped up. "How can you say that?" she gasped. "You've seen how I've studied and practiced."
"It is not a skill to employ when it suits thee," said the nyphid with silent fury. "It is a way of living."
"How can you say in one breath that I was brilliant, and in the next say I know nothing?"
"Greed blinded thee to thy goal. Qhen is focus, and patience, among other things. What hast thou accomplished, and what not?"
Chortling, Khisanth puffed out her chest. "I knew I could overpower fifteen ogres, and I proved it!"
"To whom hast thou proven what thou already knew?" The dragon bristled. "I also have a full belly, and gem-studded weapons with which to line my cave." "Was thy goal to slaughter a band of ogres?" "No, but-"
"Hast thou furthered thy goal to study Styx or sight a human female?"
"No, but-"
"Could the ogre thou spoke with, undoubtedly their leader, have furthered either goal if thou hadst not killed it in anger and lust?"
"No!" Khisanth snapped defensively. Frowning, she thought for a moment, then had to mumble, "How do you mean?"
"Perhaps, living so close to Styx, it knew something of the village, or even of Dela."
Khisanth thought about that for a moment. "The ogre was not going to tell me anything."
The nyphid surveyed the stinking goo that was once the chieftain. "Thou hast ensured that with thy thoughtlessness."
Khisanth looked up with angry eyes. "Have a care, little creature," she muttered, her tone low and threatening. "I tol shy;erate you when you are useful. When you are not-"
The little nyphid was not cowed. 'Thou cannot control me in a meaningful way, if thou cannot control thyself."
Khisanth's first instinct was to pluck off the nyphid's wings, but on some level she realized she would only be proving him right. The dragon turned away from her teacher in frustration. Hoping to calm herself, she ran her long, moist tongue over a small abrasion on her left foreleg.
Khisanth stopped abruptly. Kadagan's displeasure had soured her mood so that she found even the taste of blood was dulled. Moving clumsily over the mounds of bodies in the small glade, Khisanth thoughtfully hooked her claw into another ogre corpse and dragged it to the growing pile of bones in front of her. The task of separating ogre bodies from their treasure was tedious with her large claws, which were not suited to such fine work. She neither wanted nor expected the help of Kadagan's slender fingers. His silent observation of her work made her burn with unspoken fury, yet she did not express it, would not give him the satisfaction of proving she couldn't control her temper.
Kadagan surveyed the wreckage around the campsite, then looked to the moon traveling across the night sky. "It is late," he muttered. "We will return to thy lair."
"What about Styx?" Khisanth asked. "We still have time to observe, and perhaps spot a human woman."
"We will return to thy lair/' Kadagan repeated firmly. "Only dogs are about at this late hour. Further, after tonight's display, I would not allow thee near Dela." Before Khisanth could fire off an angry defense, the nyphid issued an order. "Use thy acid to destroy the evidence of thy folly." Snatching up a loincloth from a dead ogre, he darted out of the way.
Startled by the tone that brooked no insolence, Khisanth obeyed. When she finished, she saw that Kadagan had fash shy;ioned the filthy loincloth into a sling that accommodated the swords she'd pilfered from the dead ogres. His thoughtful acknowledgment of her desire for treasure angered her since it engendered the first pangs of guilt she had ever experienced.
"Canst thou fly?" Kadagan asked, considering her wounds. "I did not expect to need Joad's services on this trip."
Khisanth stood slowly and stretched her wings high. There was some stiffness. The descending moon shone as a fuzzy blotch behind the translucent, leathery membranes, except in a few places where it streamed through jagged tears in the flesh. She would be sore for several days, but Khisanth was certain she could make the flight back.
Taking three powerful, rabbitlike hops she sprang into the air. Then the dragon dipped her left wing to pivot north toward her lair in Endscape.
Summer gave way to autumn while Khisanth applied her shy;self to her studies. The leaves turned golden and tumbled from the trees. Ambling in the form of a white-striped badger through grasslands gone stiff and brown, Khisanth was con shy;templating the stride and stance that made her form uniquely that of a badger. She had long sharp claws like a dragon, but-
Khisanth's head jerked up. She heard soft rustling ahead in the tall grass, coming toward her. She stood only half as high as the weeds, so she could not see what approached. Baring her teeth against possible predators, she waited.
Joad popped through the grass and waved her on. "Come," he said, his voice old and scratchy from lack of use.
Khisanth's badger body nearly fell over with surprise. "You talked!" she rumbled.
"Of course," Joad said simply, as if his speaking were nothing unusual. "Thy progress has renewed my strength. I am grateful." His old gray head bowed.
Khisanth had thought of late that the elder nyphid looked better, not so sad, his lightning-blue eyes less hollow. She was strangely gratified.
"And now I have a surprise for thee in the forest," he rasped. "Come." Seeing the badger's eyes focusing, he reached down and laid a soft hand on her head. "Do not change-a dragon would be far too large to follow where I lead thee."
Thrilled at the change in Joad, intrigued by the mystery of his surprise, Khisanth followed, past the pods the nyphids would soon have to abandon when the grasses died entirely. Nyphid and badger entered the trees, tiny booted feet and splayed claws crunching over mounds of fallen brown leaves. The forest looked more spacious to Khisanth than when she'd first seen it, but she wasn't certain if that was because the leaves had dropped from their branches or because, as a badger, she was so much farther from the canopy.
Cresting the near side of a hillock, Joad turned left and fol shy;lowed a narrow, twisting gully downhill. Rounding a sharp corner, the gully joined with a trickle of water, scarcely a stream since it came only to where the fur on Khisanth's bad shy;ger legs gave way to paws. As she splashed in the cool water behind the mysterious nyphid, Khisanth's curiosity grew with each step.
Joad stopped so suddenly, Khisanth's pointed snout met with the back of his legs. He jumped to one side of the gully and gave her a clear view of an abrupt drop, the small stream of water forming a narrow waterfall. Joad leaned over and looked down, waving Khisanth to do the same.
Creeping forward cautiously on the opposite bank, the badger peered over the edge and was amazed. The drop was short, perhaps one and a half times the nyphid's height. But that was not what amazed Khisanth. Like a furry blanket, lush green moss covered every dead branch and rock below in a six-by-six-foot swatch. Somehow it had sustained its rich emerald color long after the underbrush around it had turned brown. The forest seemed to be holding its breath; a damp green scent filled the air.
"It remains green year-round," said Joad.
"How? The stream?"
Joad bobbed his head toward the center of the collection of mossy rocks. "Their energy," he said mysteriously. "Look, they know we're here."
Squinting, Khisanth saw thousands of the yellow-tailed glowbugs that often hovered near the nyphids at night. The insects crawled through the green cracks between the rocks. She could hear the faint sound of tiny, fluttering wings. "Why are they all gathered here?"
"They always return here to pass the daylight hours. Each spends its lifetime gathering energy. They give it back to us by illuminating the night." Joad paused, then gave a happy sigh. "That is a life well spent, I think."