The others often gathered around the campfire and talked about inane things; nostalgic or light-hearted. It was their time to forget the oddities that happened in the light of day. Graham liked to listen in on them, his eyes wide and avid as he drew all their stories into them, porous sponge eager for the new substance.
Cadian did not like to let him listen to them -- it was all nonsense, idle chatter, much of it revolting flirtation, and all-around a waste of Graham's valuable abilities. He drew the boy aside most nights.
"That monster we saw today in the Dreaming Ways," he murmured. "What was it? It looked like a, like a..." Words failed him.
Graham sighed a little, visibly thinking, This again, and Cadian couldn't have cared less what he thought, really, not as long as he explained. "Do you know the old saying, a butterfly that dreams of being a man?"
"No," Cadian said impatiently. "Is that even an old saying? That's absurdity. Do butterflies even know what men truly are? The comparative size seems to suggest--"
"It was a butterfly," Graham told him, solemn, "that had dreamed of being a man."
He should boycott just because of that ridiculous assertion, and for a moment he was tempted to. His professors and mentors would never have been so deliberately dense, so unnecessarily opaque as this boy.
Instead he said, "Tell me why. What is it about the Dreaming that changed it? I thought a Dreamer was required to use that energy."
Graham tilted his head, and brightened. "Let's at least get Harrow over here. He could probably use the education--"
"No," Cadian said sharply, and Graham looked back at him, annoyed.
The objection was reflexive, and Cadian took a moment to gather his faculties and explain himself. Graham had created Harrow, but Cadian was his master (one of them, anyway, but he preferred to think of Harrow's coddling that creature as a phase he would grow out of; she had no idea how to treat servants) and felt a certain responsibility to the giant, a certain... protectiveness, perhaps.
Harrow could protect him from attacks, from people and wild things, but Cadian would protect him as well, and he knew as well as anyone that the brave and unfaltering warrior was terrified blind of the chaos from which he had been fashioned whole, mere weeks ago.
"Harrow knows enough about the universe," Cadian said briskly. "It's in his bones, he recognizes it on an instinctive level. What he needs to be taught, I will tutor him."
Graham tilted his head, considering that, and nodded reluctantly. "Fine. But at least let me get Adele. She'll want to hear!"
Damnation, the fates would never reward him for a kindness. Ah well. Better to suffer the bitch than to put his guardian through more suffering on his behalf.
Cadian, Graham: "An Education in the Universe"
Cadian did not like to let him listen to them -- it was all nonsense, idle chatter, much of it revolting flirtation, and all-around a waste of Graham's valuable abilities. He drew the boy aside most nights.
"That monster we saw today in the Dreaming Ways," he murmured. "What was it? It looked like a, like a..." Words failed him.
Graham sighed a little, visibly thinking, This again, and Cadian couldn't have cared less what he thought, really, not as long as he explained. "Do you know the old saying, a butterfly that dreams of being a man?"
"No," Cadian said impatiently. "Is that even an old saying? That's absurdity. Do butterflies even know what men truly are? The comparative size seems to suggest--"
"It was a butterfly," Graham told him, solemn, "that had dreamed of being a man."
He should boycott just because of that ridiculous assertion, and for a moment he was tempted to. His professors and mentors would never have been so deliberately dense, so unnecessarily opaque as this boy.
Instead he said, "Tell me why. What is it about the Dreaming that changed it? I thought a Dreamer was required to use that energy."
Graham tilted his head, and brightened. "Let's at least get Harrow over here. He could probably use the education--"
"No," Cadian said sharply, and Graham looked back at him, annoyed.
The objection was reflexive, and Cadian took a moment to gather his faculties and explain himself. Graham had created Harrow, but Cadian was his master (one of them, anyway, but he preferred to think of Harrow's coddling that creature as a phase he would grow out of; she had no idea how to treat servants) and felt a certain responsibility to the giant, a certain... protectiveness, perhaps.
Harrow could protect him from attacks, from people and wild things, but Cadian would protect him as well, and he knew as well as anyone that the brave and unfaltering warrior was terrified blind of the chaos from which he had been fashioned whole, mere weeks ago.
"Harrow knows enough about the universe," Cadian said briskly. "It's in his bones, he recognizes it on an instinctive level. What he needs to be taught, I will tutor him."
Graham tilted his head, considering that, and nodded reluctantly. "Fine. But at least let me get Adele. She'll want to hear!"
Damnation, the fates would never reward him for a kindness. Ah well. Better to suffer the bitch than to put his guardian through more suffering on his behalf.