“We have never considered leaving the Tua realm,” Nalan said as they turned back to me at last. “We were taught that the outer dimensions do not offer anything much of interest, or worthwhile challenges to our intellect. But now that your memories have shown us how rich and varied your land is, we may very well come andvisit.”
Oops. Could Recca survive more Tua visitors? On the other hand, these younger Tua seemed a lot more easygoing than Ta’sradala. I could imagine what a stir they’d cause in Solantha. Their size alone would cause a trafficjam.
“You are welcome to stay with me any time, provided that I ever get out of here,” I said, smiling despite myself. These two might be giants, with powers I couldn’t begin to understand, but their faces were lit up like two kids in a candy shop. “What’s the deal with this guy?” I asked, stroking the lizard again. “I noticed that he changescolor.”
“His name is Broghan,” Alara said. “He is terribly playful, and changes shape and color at least a dozen times aday.”
At that, Broghan got to his feet. His form rippled, and I gasped as he changed into a miniature pony with silver fur and a purple mane. He whinnied as I touched his velvety nose, and then changed again, this time into a giant frog with orange and blue spots. I recoiled as his skin turned slimy beneath my hand, and he flicked me on the cheek with his sticky tongue right before changing into a baby dragon the size of a smalldog.
“Amazing,” I said as I scooped him up. He opened his mouth and belched a tiny stream of fire that nearly singed my eyebrows off before he curled up into my arms. “These are all animals from my world, although nobody has seen a dragon in ages. How is he able to dothis?”
The Tua chuckled. “Changing forms and size is commonplace in our world,” Alara said. “Although Broghan is special.” They exchanged another glance, and I sensed there was some inside joke I wasn’tgetting.
“All right, well now that you know who I am, can you please tell me how to get out of here?” I asked, a little exasperated now. “I really want to gethome.”
“Why the hurry?” Nalan asked. “You only have Ta’sradala waiting to taunt and torture you again. It is really a shame that you have gotten mixed up in her games. Is this Iannis you wish to marry truly worth enduring herwrath?”
“Yes, he is,” I said tightly. “And I’m getting really tired of everyone questioning my upcoming marriage.” By Magorah, was this what I had to look forward to for the rest of my life? Even the Tua, who had little concept of our ways, thought that Iannis and I were a badmatch.
“There is no need to get so angry,” Alara said soothingly. “We will help you, but first you need to relax, because you’ll have to be at full strength if you are to have any chance. Here.” She conjured a mug out of thin air and handed it to me. “Drinkthis.”
I wanted to protest, but it seemed unwise to refuse, so I took the frosty mug and sipped from it. The light blue liquid was both sweet and bitter, and quite tasty, so I gulped down another mouthful. Instantly, I began to feel wobbly, the world tilting around me as the colors and shapes began to meld into eachother.
“What’s happening?” I gasped, panic seizing me as I clutched at one of the trees for balance. Had they accidentally poisonedme?
Nalan said something, but his voice was garbled, and I couldn’t make anything out. The next thing I knew, one of them gathered me up, and I forced myself to relax. I would have to ride out whatever this was until it passed, and pray to Magorah that I hadn’t misjudged the intentions of thesepeople.
12
Iwokeup in a giant bed big enough to sleep at least ten people my size. By the light coming in from an overhead window, I guessed it was mid-morning, though with these strange colors it was hard to be sure. Groaning, I turned onto my side—the mattress was hard like a plank of wood, and my back twinged in protest. A snuffling sound got my attention, and I sat up to see Broghan curled up at my feet. He’d taken on the form of an adorable wolf cub, and when he opened an eye to look at me, I felt my heart melting despitemyself.
Noting with relief that I wasn’t cuffed or restrained in any way, I decided I wasn’t in any imminent danger. My mouth was a bit dry, but the glass of water waiting by the bed quickly took care of that. As I considered whether to leave the bed and explore or wait for some sign of my hosts, I stroked Broghan’s soft pelt. He rolled onto his back, begging me to pet his belly, then licked my hand when I complied. I was amazed by how accurately he mimicked an alien species—if I didn’t know better, I might have thought he was a real wolf cub. Even the scent wascorrect.
After a little while, I got up from the bed and decided to look around the room. To my delight, I found a set of leathers and boots waiting for me, folded up in an oversized closet—an exact replica of my enforcer leathers back home. The Tua must have gleaned them from the memories they’d taken from me. It was definitely a good sign that they had gone to the effort to provide these, along with the human-sized glass and jug I’d drunk from. I put on the leathers and was delighted to discover they were even more comfortable than the ones at home. I marveled at the Tua’s casual mastery when I noticed the jacket buttons were of gold covered with black lacquer and engraved with myinitials.
After I finished dressing, Broghan led me down the stairs into a large room and toward what looked like the dining table, where the Tua were waiting. They had shrunk themselves and the furniture down to near-human size, another hospitable gesture, although my chair was still high enough that my feet dangled well above the smooth stonefloor.
“You look much better,” Nalan said as I sat back and warily scrutinized the feast that was spread out over the huge table. Nothing looked at allfamiliar.
“Thanks. I feel a lot better. What was that knock-out drink all about, anyway?” I asked as I picked up a dark red roll and began to slather it with something that looked like lavender-colored butter. It smelled a bit different from normal bread, but it still had that yeasty scent, so I felt comfortable trying it out first. “Were you guys putting some kind of spell onme?”
“Not at all!” Arala exclaimed. “That was just a relaxation tonic meant to open up your mind. We wanted to give you the knowledge you need to leave the Tua realm, but you were tense and tired. The tonic should have put you in a more receptive state ofmind.”
“Unfortunately, it turns out that it was too strong for your constitution,” Nalan said. “Due to your shifter nature, it did no lasting harm, and simply put you to sleep. We will have to do this another way, but first, let us eat. As we understand, regular feeding is very important for yourhealth.”
I reluctantly agreed, worried at this evidence that they were not all-knowing and could make dangerous mistakes. Did I understand correctly that their tonic could have killed me if I’d been human? How safe was the breakfast spread, then? I decided to eat only small quantities of any one food and use Fenris’s detection spells to ensure nothing was poisonous tome.
We spent the next hour talking over breakfast, or was it brunch? They might have entirely different mealtimes here than on my world, and it didn’t seem important enough toask.
Nalan and Arala explained that they were the last of their line, and that the forest I had been traveling in was only a tiny part of their domain. They were old enough to live on their own, though they were not yet adults by Tua standards—having lived for a mere eight hundred years of our time. That put them close to Iannis’s age, I reflected, but they seemed to mature a lot moreslowly.
I asked if the entire world was so sparsely populated as the bits I had seen, and they explained that there were a few small towns, but most of their world was wilderness. The Tua were not a particularly fertile race—they could only bear one child every five hundred years or so. Breeding with humans was far easier but frowned upon by Tua society. Even so, every once in a while, some adventurous Tua would take up with a mortal from the other realm. From their disapproving tone, it sounded like Ta’sradala had defied her own realm’s customs as much as Recca’s when she kidnapped Iannis’sgrandfather.
I listened intently to their words, aware that, as far as I knew, no other human had ever gotten a Tua to sit down and talk about their society like this. Iannis and Fenris would be thrilled at this information, if I ever got out of here. “We regret that we insulted you earlier by questioning your relationship with Iannis,” Arala said as she polished off a leg of what seemed to be pheasant, if pheasant meat was deep blue. “While you were asleep, Nalan and I have been looking through and discussing your memories, and now we understand better why it is such a sensitive subject. As far as I am concerned, being part Tua, he seems a worthy partner foryou.”
I wanted to say that the Tua connection was the part I could do without, but that would have been a lie. I would not change a single thing about Iannis, not even the bits he got fromTa’sradala.
“He is so busy lately that you don’t see enough of him,” Nalan added with a pitying glance. “Politics in your world seem quite complicated, and unnecessarily so. Here in the Tua realm, we do not much regard shape or size or the type of power we wield, since everything can be changed so easily. Things would be much simpler in your world if you all treated each other as the samerace.”
