and sunny; utterly unpretentious. Kasten had insisted that they relax and put off their mage-hireling act. “It’s my damned house,” he’d said, “And you’re my guests. To the nether hells with so-called propriety!”
“How on earth did he think he was going to get them trained?” Martis asked.
Kasten snorted. “He thought he could do it out of books—and if that didn’t work, he’d get one of us half-mages to do it for him. Fool.”
“He sowed the dragon’s teeth,” Martis replied acidly, “he shouldn’t have been surprised to get dragons.”
“Lady—dragon’s teeth?” Lyran said plaintively, still at a loss to understand.
Martis chuckled, and settled a little more comfortably against Lyran’s shoulder. “I was puzzled for a moment, too, until I remembered that the storm that met us had been witched—and that the power that created it was out of control. Magic power has some odd effects on the mind, love—if you aren’t being watched over and guided properly, it can possess you. That’s why the tales about demonic possession; you get a Talented youngling or one who blooms late, who comes to power with no training—they go mad. Worst of all, they know they’re going mad. It’s bad—and you only hope you can save them before any real damage is done.”
“Aye,” Kasten agreed. “I suspect that’s where the dragon’s teeth tale comes from too—which is why I told your man there to remind you of it. The analogy being that the younglings are the teeth, the trained mage is the dragon. What I’d like to know is what’s to do about this? You can’t take the younglings to the Academe—and I surely couldn’t handle them!”
“No, they’re too powerful,” Martis agreed. “They need someone around to train them and keep them drained, until they’ve gotten control over their powers instead of having the powers control them. We have a possible solution, though. The Guild has given me a proposition, but I haven’t had a chance to discuss it with Lyran yet.” She craned her head around to look at him. “How would you like to be a father for the next half-year or so?”
“Me?” he replied, too startled to refer to himself in third person.
She nodded. “The Council wants them to have training, but feels that they would be best handled in a stable, home-like setting. But their blood-parents are frightened witless