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Bez rests his face in his hand, shoulders slumping. "No... and you'd just have to get in line behind her anyway. She'd go after my neck again and probably finish the job she started the last time I threatened him. I won't touch him, Sparky, don't worry. I just don't understand... Anger, yeah... I'll give him that much, but he had no right to claw her like that. Did you see her face? He just missed one of her eyes."

"And I'm the one who forced her to come back and talk to him... I feel... I... I..."

"Ah..." says Mika. "Now I understand. You feel responsible fo his attack, don't you?"

Bex nods glumly. "I told her she was wrong to run away. That she needed to hear him out. The spell might have been a wise move when he was younger, but he's beyond that now. She knew that. She should have taken it off years ago... But even so I told her he had no right to talk to her like he was. Anger, yes... but disrespect never. I couldln't believe the things he was saying. He kept claiming she scolded him like a five year old. In all honesty I have not heard her speak to him except almost as an equal since I've arrived... I told her to hear him out then try to talk him through it, but she never really got a chance... He's an empath, didn't he realize what his emotions were doing to her? Of course she was weepy, he was dumping all his hate on her head... Ai can't deal with hate... she's a creature of love."

Bez looks up and sighs. "How is she to deal with him then? He's too big to take over her knee, doubt she'd do it anyway. If he respected her he wouldn't talk like that to her. He does it just to get her goat. I don't understand. How can he say on one hand he loves her and despise her as much as he does. It makes no sense."

"Lord Bezernia, calm down... Kero does love her very much." says Mica placatingly. "I wish I had an answer for you, but I don't... a supposition though, if you please. She's given him so much freedom over the years, far more than many a child, remaining firm on only a few things... and this is the age of cutting strings. Most younglings do so by rebelling, acting out in smaller things, holding true to the important issues the family has established. Kero, though, has had few smaller issues. The only ones left for him to rebel on are those she has no wish to yield..."

"She would die for him... doesn't he realize that? She'd give him the moon if she could..." grumbles Bez testily. "She raised him the way she did so that he'd learn how to do things for himself. She didn't want to create a tiny carbon copy... she wanted a strong vibrant Kerobian. So what if she comes down on him upon occassion for his speech. He's got more freedoms, more priviledges than any kid I know... Maybe she's given him too much...."

"I say you should all stop trying to figure things out until he shows his face and give me a hand. Master Hopian, I could use a bit of tea with honey and that citrus stuff Tam puts in it to relieve his voice when he strains it. Master Mica, I was in such a hurry to get here I didn't bring my kit and there isn't any need for you to stay. Please return and send one of the brothers down with it. Preferably not Andra. He's one of those this has been affecting something terrible. Someone without a shred of talent please. Plus a change of clothing for me and the book I was reading. It's by my bed. I'm going to be here for a few days at least."

Then she looks at Bez and shakes her head. "And you should get some sleep. I don't know what you are running on, but She is going to need you to be strong... physically as well as mentally."

"How is she, Fra Sharmistra?" begs Bez with a tired nod.

"No change... but then that might be good. She hasn't gotten worse and she could have. At least she's the proper coloration this time and she's nowhere near as small as she was when Kero brought her in before. He's knocked her down a bit, true, but I suspect she's not permanently damaged. More like withdrawn to someplace inside where she can assimilate what happened safely. I don't think she ever thought he'd physically attack her. And speaking of attack... I need my kit... those scratches are rather deep and need tending. I may have to stitch them up. That cub's claws are unimaginably sharp."

"Ummm.. tea please?" she begs laughing softly at his eagerness to help.

Mica who hasn't even managed to get his cloak on yet shakes his head.

"I commend you on your desire to help, Hopian, but don't wear yourself out. Well, Shar... since I have no messages or items to send back to you now, is there anything he overlooked? If not, I'll be off. If you need me to help strengthen the shield or relieve you later, send Mr. Eager Beaver here up to get me."

"Hope, Kero's not your problem... You didn't create the monster... Ai did... and maybe even me, a little. I'm beginning to wonder if he isn't a little jealous... so don't feel as though you have to make it up for him, okay?" says Bez with a thin smile.

Bez sighs. "Hopian. Are you saying that just because the two of you are well... soul bound... you are responsible for his mis-behavior? If you are, then you are sadly mistaken. The two ofyou a linked, true, but he chose to make his own miserable bed and he's the one who needs to sleep in it, not you. You have a responsibility to yourself and your family to realize he's pass that stage where you need to save him from himself. He's not a baby anymore. True, what he does might affect you. You are probably sharing all the anger and spite he's feeling right now along with him... but it's his anger and spite, not yours. Isn't that what is making him so irritable? The knowledge that everyone else wants to shelter and protect him... even from himself, if necessary? He needs to learn how to fall on his face and pick himself back up."

Surprisingly, even though he hasn't raised any children, Bez has a fairly good handle on the maturation process.

"I won't deny I enjoy yer company. Ai's not very talkative right now. But Shar's here, so if you feel the need to go... then please don't stick around out of some misplaced sense of responsibility." says Bez softly.

"You know... I was serious about the jealousy bit. He's had Ai to himself for years and here he's had to share her/him... whatever form she wears... for well over a month now... Heck, more like two to three months now. On one hand I'm sure he's glad to have us all here... well you guys, maybe... I have this gut feeling, that for all of his pretty words to the contrary, he'd like to see me in a bottomless pit right about now. And he probably doesn't even know why..."