The Chimera

Chapter Twenty-Two: A Guide to Planning Tai's Birthday Party (by Jasper Adair)

"They were crawling everywhere! I didn't even know there could be that many."

"And you saw them in the mountain range? Do you know where, exactly?"

Jasper pauses. He has no idea which mountain he had been on. Beledon lies on the eastern coast, and far to the west of it is a range of mountains spreading its spiked arms into the north and south. Jasper could have been in the cluster of mountains a short distance away from Sunset Citadel, or he could have been far leagues away into the south; he didn't know.

Nevertheless, Lionel listens carefully to his story before leaping out the kitchen window to deliver the news to the city council and a warning to the fortresses in the north and south: No one should come any closer to the mountains than they have to.

Jasper is always amazed at Lionel's ability to transform. Gone are the shuddering convulsions his body used to undergo as it struggled with itself. Now, he changes into a raven effortlessly, taking his courier form as easy as thought.

He had even been bold enough to suggest he fly through the mountains himself to better scout out where the specters gathered, but Skander had said absolutely not to his younger brother's idea. Kalila had found a book depicting specters on wings: if they found him out during his reconnaissance, Lionel's raven form would be no match.

Now that Jasper's concluded his story, the inhabitants of the citadel who had gathered to hear him drift away, departing one by one or in pairs to make the most of the remaining hours before sunset. He's left alone in the kitchen with Dalmar, Zahara's physician brother.

And, of all things, a cat.

Jasper watches as the lean animal appears seemingly out of nowhere, leaps nimbly onto the kitchen's long wooden table, and begins nudging its delicate head against Dalmar until he relents and runs a gentle hand over its hair. Jasper looks on in frank confusion.

"Where did that come from? Also, I can't put my feet near the table, but this stranger gets to walk all over it?"

Dalmar laughs at his indignation, still petting the smug-looking cat. "Fallon found it wandering in the gardens in the morning. No one can decide who gets to keep him, or what his name should be."

"But where did it come from? It could bite, or carry a disease. Hell, what if it's the chimera?"

Dalmar bends low to come to eye-level with the cat. In a gentle tone that reminds Jasper that this is a man accustomed to speaking with ill and injured patients, he asks it, "Sir, are you the chimera?"

The cat only leans forward until its small, damp nose bumps once against Dalmar's. It's an action completely without guile; it probably isn't a being that gifted Jasper with a world-hopping bell.

"All right, fine," he relents. "Maybe not the chimera."

Dalmar's dark eyes dart away from the citadel's new resident and up to Jasper, who's now making a covert move toward the contents of the pantry.

"Before you go, Jasper, there was something I was hoping to have your help with."

Jasper doesn't think that Dalmar is the type of person to refuse anyone any kindness, and he'd hate to refuse him in turn. "I'll do what I can."

He doesn't know what he'd been expecting, but it isn't what comes out of Dalmar's mouth: "Tai's birthday is in a few days, and it's the first time anyone will be celebrating an occasion while we're here. I thought it'd lift everyone's moods if we had a proper party for it. And if what you saw in the mountains is our future, shouldn't we try to enjoy ourselves while we can?"

Where is he going with this?

"Where are you going with this?"

"Even though I think a party would be nice, we don't have anything in the way of decorations or party games. His birthday is in five days, but we won't be allowed a trip back to the city for nearly two weeks, so we only have what's here. Zahara said she'd try her hand at decorations, but would you be able to bring over some sort of game from your world? The novelty might be exciting."