A Dreamer's Knight

Chapter 23 - Suspicions

The days leading to the Council passed with little excitement. Jeronem spent most of his free time at the Center of Knowledge. Mikaen spotted him in the palace very rarely, usually at meals. Even then, Jeronem was usually studying. With Jeronem busy with his schoolwork and Jyle occupied with his duties as Cygros, Mikaen found himself with an overabundance of time.

Fortunately, Tirinia was more than happy to help him occupy that time. The two of them were inseparable as the days turned into weeks. They talked and argued about magic and technology, sparred in the gardens, explored the more remote areas of the palace, and even managed to sneak in a little shopping. The shopping was for Mikaen for the most part, as the arrival of his wings would make his already limited wardrobe obsolete. Still, Tirinia tried on more than just a few outfits, always keen on Mikaen's opinion.

At night, the two seemed to always end up on either the Shoran or Galden balcony, talking about their pasts, their homes, their lives, and everything else. The first week saw Tirinia sitting close to Mikaen as he spoke of his time on Earth. Another week later, and the True Knight had his arm around her shoulder to keep away the chill in the air as she spoke of her desire to become a teacher of History in the Longshore Center of Knowledge. Three weeks after their first meeting, the words became soft kisses and tender caresses under a moonlit sky.

Of course, Teria still kept a watchful eye on her sister and her new paramour. While she too had warmed on Mikaen somewhat, Teria had made it quite clear that she wasn't quite ready to become an aunt yet. Romance in Longshore could be a bit on the quick side, but it was still considered good manners to introduce oneself to a bondmate's parents before consummating the relationship.

Mikaen and Tirinia were fine with that, however; they were perfectly happy taking it slow. Tirinia felt uneasy about telling her parents about Mikaen, though sooner or later she and Mikaen knew they'd need to let Saera and Malcom Myssohn know about their relationship.

Unfortunately, that had to wait. Communications with Longshore were garbled at the moment due to interference from Hurricane Gob, a massive storm system crossing Vinta's ocean, the Myriad Abyss. While it was currently wreaking most of its havoc on the Cleftan region, the effects of Gob were evident even in Muonsol. Mikaen and Tirinia's trips into the city came to a halt as storm after storm hit the idestan capital, making travel outside the palace a little difficult and a lot wet.

Despite the rain, Mikaen enjoyed his time in Muonsol with only one minor worry; four weeks passed as they waited for the other Council delegations, and One had not appeared a single time. As strange as it felt to worry about the Dreamer, Mikaen couldn't help but grow concerned.

With Tirinia's aid and his curiosity about his mysterious benefactor reawakened, Mikaen pored through the library in search of relevant information on the denizens of the Elsewhere. While there was still a good deal of contradiction, Tirinia's own research on the Dreamers did eliminate many of the rumors, allowing her and Mikaen to paint a picture of just who and what the Dreamers might be. It was all speculation of course, and neither of them really expected to find anything useful, but it was nice to have a shared interest that didn't involve combat.

The fourth week was just about to pass. Mikaen and Tirinia were in the library as usual, though they had to sit at opposite ends of the same table after one of the librarians caught them snogging in the nonfiction section. Oddly enough, the librarians didn't mind Tirinia putting her feet on the table. She didn't wear shoes; most Shoran tribes don't as their feet are covered with fur much as the rest of them (with the exception of those tribes with hooves, who couldn't use conventional shoes for obvious reasons). Only the pads of her feet were bare, and quite sensitive as Mikaen had already found out much to Tirinia's chagrin.