Lucky Rabbit

To Pandy’s great relief, Augustus took over the explanation, leaving Pandy to hold Thaniel. The chancellor somehow managed to imply that Pandy was Thaniel’s elemental, not just some random reincarnator stuck in a bunny body while her favorite videogame came to life around her. Lian looked more than a little dubious at first, but then Augustus began quoting various books at him, and the teen rapidly changed his tune.

“So you’re saying that Lady Erickson was correct in Musings on the Nature of Elementals?” Lian demanded, staring at Pandy as if she was a specimen under a microscope, rather than a dangerous entity that might eat his brother at any moment. That was an improvement, right?

Augustus coughed slightly. “Correct? That might be stretching it a bit. I believe any elemental capable of speech would argue that they are not manifestations of the magic of their masters, but rather independent beings. Lady Erickson was a bit… regressive in her comments about contracts and the treatment of elementals, based on her belief that they had no souls of their own, and were not actually individuals, with their own desires and feelings.”

Lian frowned, staring at Pandy. “That idea has been thoroughly disproven, most especially by May-Porter in their seminal text, On Elemental Autonomy. But Erickson did say that elementals could take human shape, if they had been exposed to human influence for long enough.”

The chancellor nodded. “In fact, I believe she based her entire theory on the fact that she claimed to have seen an elemental take on its master’s shape.”

“She was also a well-known partaker of-” Lian started, only to be cut off by Thaniel’s muffled voice.

“I had a nightmare,” the boy said, finally raising his head so he could look up at Pandy. His face was deep red, swollen and creased from crying, but very much alive, and Pandy couldn’t help but give him an extra little squeeze that caused him to grimace and push away from her, just a bit.

“I know,” she told him. “You were sleeping, and it was time to wake up, so I made you have a nightmare. I’m sorry it was so bad.”

At these words, his face crumpled again, and he shoved against her, staring around at Augustus and Lian. “You made me have that nightmare?” he asked, accusing. “Mama died!” The tears started again, and he swiped at them with his sleeve.

Lian instantly abandoned his scholarly discussion, instead turning an icy gaze on Pandy, then Augustus. Reaching for Thaniel, he said, “Can you tell me about it?”

His little brother glomped onto him like a barnacle, and somewhat to Pandy’s surprise, Lian didn’t even flinch as various forms of face-goo stained his school uniform. While Thaniel sobbed out a broken description of the ‘nightmare’, Augustus slid over next to Pandy.

“You’ve been unconscious since yesterday,” he murmured. “There was no way to keep him from finding out. He wanted to separate you, but Healer Sinnett overrode him. The lad even threatened to send for Lord Forrest, but I don’t think he meant it.”

Pandy flinched. If Lian had been desperate enough to ask for his hated cousin, that meant he considered the awful man the lesser of two evils, with Pandy herself being the greater. That couldn’t be a good sign.

“Sinnett also kept everyone else out of here, other than a few people we know we can trust,” the chancellor went on. “He’s a good man to have on our side, and a very bad one to have as an enemy.” This came with a warning glance that said they’d need to figure out what to tell the healer, and soon.

Thaniel’s sobbing words devolved into a wail, and this time, Lian’s eyes were wet as well. The two boys rocked together, wrapped in their mutual sorrow, until a deep hiccup shook Thaniel’s body. Lian jerked away with an expression of consternation that would have been comical under any other circumstances. When Thaniel failed to produce another slug, he relaxed again, but their bubble of deeply personal mourning had been broken, at least for the moment.

It was difficult to explain what had happened without throwing Healer Sinnett and Carl under the carriage, but Pandy managed to skim over that part and focus on her idea that since she was a Dark elemental, she might have been able to affect the spell trapping Thaniel in sleep. “I didn’t expect to get pulled into the dream,” she admitted, “and I certainly didn’t intend to wake Thaniel with a nightmare. Especially not that one.”

She met Thaniel’s eyes. “I’m so sorry, Thaniel. I promise, I’d never hurt you like that. I just hoped I could tell you you were in a dream, and get you to wake up. I mean, a few pink elephants and dancing hippos, and you’d figure it out, right?”

Her feeble attempt at a joke didn’t make anyone laugh, though Lian blinked, as if he was trying to figure out what elephants and hippos had to do with dreams. Did they even have elephants here, or was Pandy spouting gibberish again?

Augustus leaned forward, drawing their attention away from Pandy, for which she would be eternally grateful. “Do I understand that this was a memory? Not just something Thaniel’s mind made up?”

Lian sighed. “No. Up to the point where I was thrown from the carriage, it all sounds entirely accurate. Thaniel even reminded me of some details I’d forgotten.”

“And Thaniel, I’m sorry, but… you didn’t remember any of this until today?” the chancellor asked gently.

Thaniel shook his head. “Daddy said it was ‘cause I got hurt so bad.” His hand lifted to rub at his chest, and Pandy flinched from the memory that was now seared into her own mind. Thaniel’s recounting had stopped at the moment he’d lost consciousness, of course, which was during the carriage’s final tumble. He also hadn’t mentioned his parents’ argument in the tower. Which begged the question of where the rest of the memories had come from.

Looking away, Lian admitted, “Father blocked the memory. I don’t know how, though I’ve read some books about Dark elementals that indicate it’s possible. I tried to talk to you about it afterwards, but you had no idea what I was talking about. That last day was just… gone.”

Thaniel whimpered, then looked at Pandy with desperation in his eyes. “I don’t wanna remember. You’re a Dark elemental. Can’t you make it go away again?”

That felt like a stab to the heart, and Pandy should know, since she’d actually been stabbed in the heart once. She shook her head. “I’m not very good at being an elemental,” she admitted. “There are lots of things I don’t know how to do.”

Augustus gave her a compassionate glance, then said gently, “I have a friend you can talk to about it, Thaniel. She’s very kind, and she’s spoken to a lot of people who had sad things happen to them.”

Thaniel bit his lip, glancing between Pandy and Lian. He still held his brother’s hand, but he’d also edged back toward Pandy, who desperately wished she could hug him again, but knew she needed to wait until he was ready.

“I don’t wanna talk to somebody I don’t know,” he mumbled, and Augustus nodded in understanding.

“You can bring, ah, your rabbit, or maybe Lian would go with you? I’m sure my friend would like to talk to both of you.” Augustus suggested. Lian flinched at this, but nodded with obvious reluctance.

They all looked around as a knock sounded at the door. It was perfunctory at best, because it opened and Healer Sinnett entered almost before the sound faded away. He was frowning down at a folder in his hand, and froze when he looked up and saw them all staring back at him. Then, without missing a beat, he closed the door in the face of the white-clad person who had been following him, and clicked the lock shut, ignoring the resultant thunk as someone walked into the wooden portal, which was followed by muffled swearing.

Crossing to Thaniel, Sinnett briefly introduced himself, then peered into the boy’s eyes, pressed his crystal glass to Thaniel’s chest so he could hear his internal symphony, then glared at Augustus. “How long has he been awake?”

Rather than melting beneath the look, as Pandy would have, Augustus raised a brow. “About half an hour, perhaps a bit more. And before you get irate because no one called for you, I knew you were already on your way, and the boy seemed fine, other than understandably upset.”

Sinnett clicked his tongue. “You are many things, Augustus, but not a healer. That wasn’t your call to make.”

“And yet I made it,” Augustus told the older man, and his voice was cold enough to send a shiver down Pandy’s spine.

The healer didn’t flinch, just sighed and shook his head. “So you did.” Turning back to Thaniel, he said, “How do you feel, young man? Does anything hurt? Are you in any kind of discomfort?”

Thaniel shook his head, then grimaced and rubbed his eyes. “My eyes hurt,” he muttered, “and my throat.” That made complete sense, because he’d been crying for almost the entire time since he’d woken up.

“Not your chest?” Sinnett asked, with surprising gentleness. “Your heartstone?”

Blinking, the boy shook his head again. “It feels fine. How d’you-?”

“I’m your healer,” Healer Sinnett said briskly, looking thoughtful as he tapped on Thaniel’s cheekbones. “It’s my job to know. You’ve been crying, but you look fine otherwise. Surprisingly fine.” He sent a glance at Pandy, who instinctively looked away. Yes, she’d been healing Thaniel on a fairly regular basis ever since they’d gotten him back, just in case it helped, and also it seemed that Augustus had shared more with the healer than he’d seen fit to tell Pandy.

Having a stranger there seemed to allow Thaniel to gather his composure, because other than a few sniffles and an occasional hiccup, he held himself together, though he was clutching both Lian and Pandy’s hands by now. Sinnett was obviously curious about what had caused Thaniel to wake up, but he seemed to realize the boy’s emotional stability was balanced on the head of a pin, because he didn’t press, focusing instead on Thaniel’s physical condition.

Eventually, he stepped back and shrugged. “I can’t find a thing wrong with you,” he admitted. “I’d like to keep you here for another day or so, just to be certain, but,” his brows rose as he caught Augustus’s gaze, “perhaps not. Now that you’re awake, Mistress Rose can watch over you, and she’ll contact me immediately if anything changes.” This time Augustus did manage to look slightly abashed, but Pandy had a feeling it was almost entirely for Healer Sinnett’s benefit, and not because he genuinely regretted not sending for the other man right away.

Lian looked back and forth between the healer and the chancellor. “That’s it? You’re just going to send him back to school?”

Augustus nodded before Sinnett could speak. “I’ll have Thaniel assigned to the library for chores for the next week or two, and I’m certain Chancellor Lockhart will do the same for you. You can both speak to my friend there, and we’ll decide where to go from there based on her assessment.”

“Lady Arabelle?” Healer Sinnett asked, and he suddenly looked much more comfortable with this course of action. “I heard she was going to be working at Falconet for a few months.”

Nodding, Augustus said, “We were very fortunate that she was available to fill the position of music and dance teacher on such short notice.”

The healer’s smile turned sly. “And Lady Brewer?”

“Will be assisting her,” Augustus admitted with a beleaguered sigh.

Sinnett chortled with the kind of pleasure that came from witnessing someone else’s suffering, and smiled at Thaniel, good humor entirely restored. “Well, I’ll let the hospital know they’re to release you. It’ll take a little while to finish the paperwork, and then you can go home. I’m very pleased to see you doing so well, Thaniel.”

He proffered his hand for Thaniel, and the boy shook it, looking a bit overwhelmed at being treated like an adult. The healer then shook Lian’s hand, but just waved to Augustus, still with that little smirk playing about under the shade of his broad, curling mustache.