Heirot

Havi's mouth twitched. The sight of Laurius holding his horn, even a piece of it, made his patience brittle, but the man was right. "...That is a smart approach. I will do what I can to offset the cost as soon as I'm able. For the tutor, as well."

His eyes stayed stuck on the piece in Laurius's hand. He hadn't seen himself in a mirror yet, so this was his first time assessing the size of the chip. It wasn't as large as he'd feared. Based on the pain, he'd thought Ren had cut much further down, but the shard was only about two inches long. When his eyes flicked to Artisuren, the man was looking at it too with an awful expression.

"It's a clean, neat cut," he said to the other Ivis, his voice deliberately as calm and harmless as possible. Much of the night before was blurry for him, but the terror on his unwilling assistant's face was not. "I owe you a debt."

"I'm going to enjoy collecting it," Ren spat.

Laurius arched a brow, looking between the two of them. He wondered what Ren would ask for in exchange for what was done. "Your participation in these experiments are payment enough," Laurius assured him. "I know yesterday was difficult. I can't promise today will be better. So, don't worry about money." Laurius's hand curled over Ren's shoulder. "Your tutor will be looking for you in the downstairs library after breakfast. After lunch we'll resume our experiments in the conservatory. We're heading down for breakfast. Would you like to join?"

It took effort not to reject the idea of breakfast out of hand. But Laurius was their host and Tenara's potential husband. He should make an effort to be civil. Moreover, Tenara had said she would be at breakfast, and he doubted she wanted to face the other two alone.

After the way she reacted to him that morning, he felt the need to show her he was fine. "Yes... I will be there shortly."

Laurius nodded and turned to leave, sure that Ren would follow close behind without needing to be told. When he made it to the dining hall, Tenara was not there. He passed Havitharon's bundled horn to a servant with strict instructions to take it to Tobias for cleaning, a rush order. As the servant left, Tenara came in. She was still in her nightclothes, but already had a mug in her hand. "I... already ate," she said, not sitting.

"Sit for the entertainment," Laurius said, motioning to her chair.

"What entertainment?" she asked, coming further inside. She sat down, placing her mug on the table.

"Havitharon owes Ren a debt, it would seem. I'm curious to know what he intends to collect," Laurius said, pouring his coffee. "Is it typical to owe someone a debt on your world?"

Artisuren smirked. "A debt given formally like that can be claimed at any time, for a favour of comparable value." He sat and rubbed his hands together. "Now, what shall I have the great Thvoros do? Climb that mountain naked and bring me a pebble from the summit?" he looked out the window at the snowy peaks of the Border's mountain ridge.

"That hardly seems equal in value," Havi said from the doorway, his smiling tone not matching the ice in his yellow eyes. "Are you sure you don't want me to do one of yours? A matching piece?"

Ren went pale and spun at the sound of his voice.

Tenara looked up at Havitharon, trying very hard not to wince at the sight of his bandaged horn.

Laurius waved his hand, smiling. "How about we agree to not mutilate one another again?" he said. "Maybe he should sing for you?"

Tenara perked up at the idea. Havitharon had not sung for her since the ship. She wasn't certain he liked to sing, but she remembered the soothing sound of his voice. She would like to hear it again.

Artisuren's confidence filtered back to him. "Yes. From now on, you'll sing any time I call for it."

Havi leveled him with an iron stare. "Once."

"Once is nothing. It should bind for at least a year."

"No."

"Ten months. One for each minute of my life I'll never get back from your bullshit."

Havi was about to tell him where to stick his fork, but then he noticed the interested look on Tenara's face. He rolled his eyes. "I'll do it five times."

Artisuren's eyes lit up at this alternate strategy. "Try fifty."

"Five."

"Five, you asshole, whenever I ask, and I get to choose the song."

"If you try to do it today, I swear I'll make yours match," Havi warned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Deal?" Ren grinned victoriously.

"Deal." Havi grimaced at how excited the man seemed, but honestly, it was more than fair. He walked to a chair near where Tenara was standing and sat down (slowly). A presence appeared over his shoulder, and he looked to see Merry pouring water from a carafe into his glass. He could tell she was doing her best not to look at his horns. "Something stronger?" she offered quietly.

If not for the disaster he'd made of his head the preceding night, he might have considered it, but the hangover was still recent enough in his memory to put him off the idea. He declined with a shake of his head (slowly). "Thanks, Merry." Realizing some at the table had heard the exchange, he endeavored to lighten to the mood. "Besides. I have school."

"Ah, yes!" Laurius said. "School. Merry, send Mrs. Felicity in so I can introduce them."

Merry nodded and left. A moment later she returned with a woman. Like almost everyone in Laurius's employment, she was beautiful. She seemed to be a woman several years older than Tenara. She wore her chestnut hair pinned up, and a deep green dress. Her eyes were honey, and her smile bright.

"Felicity!" Laurius said, motioning to one of the empty chairs. "Good to see you. Thank you for arriving on such short notice."

"It worked well. I finished my last post a month ago and was getting antsy in my house," she said, taking a seat across from Havitharon and Tenara. It was then that she seemed to really notice the Ivises and she paused. "I..."

"They're quite harmless, different as they may be," Laurius said. "Havitharon here, the one with the bum horn, is your pupil. He wants to learn to read. Can you help?"

"Easy enough," she said, smiling. She appraised them both for enough time for it to be considered rude. "Can I touch one?" she asked, nodding to their horns.

Havi didn't miss the chance to shoot a look at Laurius for saying he had a bum horn. However, the teacher's curiosity pulled his focus back to her.

The moment she asked to touch their horns, both men's eyes widened. Confronted with a direct request from a female, they both looked at their masters with identical timing, assuming they would decline for them.

Laurius looked at Ren, uncertain what the look meant. "I don't see why no—"

Tenara's hand smacked down on top of Laurius's arm, squeezing. "They don't like it when other people touch them," she said, looking at Felicity before turning her gaze back on Laurius. "Only certain people should."

"Oh," Felicity said, a light laugh rumbling out of her. "Certain people?"

"Yes," Tenara said.

"Like family?"

Tenara thought about it for a moment and then nodded. "Something like that."

"How lovely," Felciity said. "Pity, though. They look so interesting. I'd love to draw them." She looked at Tenara. "Is drawing them against the rules?"

Tenara arched a brow. "I... No. I don't think so."

Felicity smiled.

"You know, illustrations of our experiments might make for good accompaniments to the notes..."

Drawings of their experiments...

Havi's mind immediately flashed to the sight of Tenara dancing half-naked in Laurius's greenhouse. The problem was, he wasn't sure if that made him want to rule out Laurius's idea or encourage it.

No, of course that wouldn't happen again... and this woman was offering to teach him. She seemed to be a friendly person who laughed easily, and it wasn't unreasonable for people from this world to be curious about the differences in their bodies.

"Drawings are fine," he said politely. He offered her a cordial bow of his horns. "I look forward to learning from you."

Felicity blushed a little and averted her gaze. “Well, you’re Havitheron, but you haven’t introduced the others, Lari.”

Laurius chuckled, motioning to Ren. “Yes, sorry. This is Artisuren, my new manservant.” Then, he twisted his arm and took the hand Tenara had smacked him with. He kissed the knuckles. “And this is Tenara, Princess of Hajara, and my future wife if yesterday didn’t turn her off of the idea.”

Tenara was still looking at her hand in Laurius’s grip, specifically the place on her skin that still felt the lingering brush of his lips, so she didn’t notice the hitch of disappointment flashing in Felicity’s eyes. It was brief, but noticeable to anyone who had bothered to look for long. Then, her face shifted and her smile brightened again. “Well, it’s lovely to meet you all. I should go get settled into my room. I’ll meet you in the library in a few minutes, Havitharon.” She stood, bowed her head, and swept around the table for the door.

Tenara watched her go, pulling her hand from Laurius’s grip. “She’s sweet,” she said. “Lari?”

Laurius laughed. “A pet name. I’m not particularly fond of it…”

“We don’t have to keep this ruse up, anymore,” Tenara added, rubbing the kiss from her hand lightly. “You don’t have any intentions of marrying me… and I don’t think I am like my mother and can love more than one man. That is not to say that I don’t…”

“Marriage for people like us is rarely about love,” Laurius said.

Tenara frowned, but nodded and after a minute turned to Havitharon. “I should get dressed… Enjoy your reading lessons.” Normally, she might have kissed his head, but the bandage reminded her that it might not feel particularly great. So she settled for giving his arm a squeeze before leaving.

Havi watched after Tenara as she left. It took several moments for him to notice the sensation of eyes on him. He glanced up and saw Merry watching him with a strange expression.

"Is something wrong?" he asked her.

She raised her eyebrows in a weak impression of surprise. "What? No! It's just... on the ship, I had the impression that Princess Tenara was teaching you to read."

Havi frowned at his plate. "I'm not strictly trying to read. I just want to learn about love."

Merry blinked in disbelief, then swiftly turned a bright pink. "L-love?"

"Yes. How to do it properly." Havi looked at her seriously. "Do you know of any techniques?""

She bit her lip. "T-techniques?"

Havi frowned seriously. "Ones that will work for someone who's never done it before?"

"I-I really think Tabetha would be the better one to ask. She is always reading....those sorts of books."

The Ivis's expression lit up. "She is? Could you ask her to make a list, and give it to Felicity? I would like to start with those."

Merry looked about ready to faint. "I imagine she would enjoy that... but... are you sure you don't want to ask Tenara to teach you this?"

Havi shook his head. "She's tried. In the end, she ends up doing all the work, and I just..."

"You just?"

"Fall asleep?"

"ASLEEP?"

"Well...her voice is soothing."

Merry straightened up, looking half-furious and half concerned. "I'll have her make a list right now," she said fiercely, and burst out of the room.

Havi took a deep breath, embarrassed by how mortified the woman seemed. He stared at his plate without touching it, forgetting that Laurius and Ren were in the room.

Laurius howled with laughter when Merry ran off. “I cannot wait to hear those reading recommendations,” he said, slapping the table before digging into his breakfast. “You’ll have to give us a synopsis of what you’ve learned at the end of the week. Maybe Ren could find some value in the knowledge?” He imagined the pretty flush on Felicity’s cheeks as she read whatever Tabetha found entertaining in romance fiction. He knew they could be quite explicit…

Havi didn't appreciate being laughed at. He hoped the books she offered were detailed enough for him to follow. "What is the plan for this afternoon?" he asked coolly, demanding a change of topic.