neither of us wants to feel the inside of the other one’s head too clearly right now…
“So first things first. What about the trees?” Nita said.
“They blinked,” Kit said, and grinned.
“Hard to do without eyes.”
“You know what I mean. They waved their branches, or whatever. I think you freaked them out.” He gave her an amused look. “That’s a tactic we may want to remember. Anyway, we’re all agreed in principle now. Just a matter of getting the final language of the agreement sorted out, and we can sign off on the final report and move on to something else.”
“Well, I think I know what qualifies for the ‘something else’ now,” Nita said. “You look at my profile today?”
“Yeah. The attached precis is kind of bare, though. Tell me what’s been happening.”
She spent some minutes talking him through her last day or so, and at the end of it all Kit nodded. “That sideways thing… that’s really bizarre. You don’t want to overdo that.”
“Why?”
“Well, doesn’t it make you twitch? You didn’t do any specific wizardry. It’s not right to get results without having done a spell first—” Kit shook his head. “You really start wondering what’s going on over there.”
“Yeah, well, it can’t be that bad, Kit. Look, when you do it you come back as easily as you go—”
“I sure hope you do,” he said. “Just keep an eye on the conditions. You’ve been lucky so far, but…”
Nita nodded. “Anyway, there’s more research to do. Whatever I’m on active status for, so far there haven’t been any big obvious hints on how to get to grips with it…”
“When not doing spells, do research,” Kit said. It was a favorite saying of Tom Swale’s.
Nita nodded. “How’s Dairine? Have you seen her?”
“Yesterday. She’s busy with something, as always… no idea what. Something about somebody’s planet.”
“Oh Lord, not again,” Nita said, and rubbed her eyes. “Sometimes I think she should be unlisted. She’s never going to have any peace at this rate.”
“Thought things might quiet down for her a little when her power levels started dropping off…”
“Well, you can wait a while more for that to happen,” Nita said, her voice dry, “because there’s no sign of it yet. Check her profile some time, if you want to depress yourself.”
“No thanks, I’ve done that… don’t feel the need to torture myself any further.”
Nita laughed, and then said the thing that had been at the back of her mind since the walk back from Bray and Greystones. “Will I sound like an idiot if I say I miss you already?”
“Why would you? I missed you already yesterday. …I saw your folks too, yesterday, by the way.”
“How are they?”
“Miserable,” Kit said. “Already. I really doubt they’ll ever try a stunt like this on you again. Your mom’s a wreck, though both of them are trying to act like everything’s fine. Anyway, they said they’d call you tonight. They said they were going to give you a couple of days to get yourself acclimated before they bothered you.”
“Fine by me,” Nita said, and sighed. “I don’t know about ‘acclimated,’ but I’ve had plenty to keep me busy. How’re things at your place?”
They passed into less tense conversation from there, finally saying good night as if they’d only been doing chat with a couple of blocks between them. But the conversation was still on Nita’s mind in the morning as she got her breakfast.
The kitchen was in havoc. A lot of the riders who were picking up their horses from the stable had come in for “a quick cup of tea.” Nita was learning that there was no such thing in Ireland as a quick cup of tea. What you got was several cups of tea, taking no less than half an hour, during which any interesting local news was passed on. “A quick cup of tea” might happen at any hour of the day or night, include any number of people, male or female, and
“So first things first. What about the trees?” Nita said.
“They blinked,” Kit said, and grinned.
“Hard to do without eyes.”
“You know what I mean. They waved their branches, or whatever. I think you freaked them out.” He gave her an amused look. “That’s a tactic we may want to remember. Anyway, we’re all agreed in principle now. Just a matter of getting the final language of the agreement sorted out, and we can sign off on the final report and move on to something else.”
“Well, I think I know what qualifies for the ‘something else’ now,” Nita said. “You look at my profile today?”
“Yeah. The attached precis is kind of bare, though. Tell me what’s been happening.”
She spent some minutes talking him through her last day or so, and at the end of it all Kit nodded. “That sideways thing… that’s really bizarre. You don’t want to overdo that.”
“Why?”
“Well, doesn’t it make you twitch? You didn’t do any specific wizardry. It’s not right to get results without having done a spell first—” Kit shook his head. “You really start wondering what’s going on over there.”
“Yeah, well, it can’t be that bad, Kit. Look, when you do it you come back as easily as you go—”
“I sure hope you do,” he said. “Just keep an eye on the conditions. You’ve been lucky so far, but…”
Nita nodded. “Anyway, there’s more research to do. Whatever I’m on active status for, so far there haven’t been any big obvious hints on how to get to grips with it…”
“When not doing spells, do research,” Kit said. It was a favorite saying of Tom Swale’s.
Nita nodded. “How’s Dairine? Have you seen her?”
“Yesterday. She’s busy with something, as always… no idea what. Something about somebody’s planet.”
“Oh Lord, not again,” Nita said, and rubbed her eyes. “Sometimes I think she should be unlisted. She’s never going to have any peace at this rate.”
“Thought things might quiet down for her a little when her power levels started dropping off…”
“Well, you can wait a while more for that to happen,” Nita said, her voice dry, “because there’s no sign of it yet. Check her profile some time, if you want to depress yourself.”
“No thanks, I’ve done that… don’t feel the need to torture myself any further.”
Nita laughed, and then said the thing that had been at the back of her mind since the walk back from Bray and Greystones. “Will I sound like an idiot if I say I miss you already?”
“Why would you? I missed you already yesterday. …I saw your folks too, yesterday, by the way.”
“How are they?”
“Miserable,” Kit said. “Already. I really doubt they’ll ever try a stunt like this on you again. Your mom’s a wreck, though both of them are trying to act like everything’s fine. Anyway, they said they’d call you tonight. They said they were going to give you a couple of days to get yourself acclimated before they bothered you.”
“Fine by me,” Nita said, and sighed. “I don’t know about ‘acclimated,’ but I’ve had plenty to keep me busy. How’re things at your place?”
They passed into less tense conversation from there, finally saying good night as if they’d only been doing chat with a couple of blocks between them. But the conversation was still on Nita’s mind in the morning as she got her breakfast.
The kitchen was in havoc. A lot of the riders who were picking up their horses from the stable had come in for “a quick cup of tea.” Nita was learning that there was no such thing in Ireland as a quick cup of tea. What you got was several cups of tea, taking no less than half an hour, during which any interesting local news was passed on. “A quick cup of tea” might happen at any hour of the day or night, include any number of people, male or female, and
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