THOTH & MORVEREN
Morveren leaned forward eagerly as Tristan stepped through the doorway, but sat back on her haunches in disappointment when she saw that Celidon wasn't there. Tristan's long-suffering familiar was her favourite climbing frame. Her overly long tail curled around her fairy's walking stick, which he leant on with both arms as he gazed at his old friend with eyes which gleamed with angry mischief. It was the expression he usually had right before the two of them got into some serious trouble, and he hadn't worn it since the day he dragged the prince off to Apeliotes Island.
“You usually prefer 'boffin',” Thoth wrinkled his nose at his friend but grinned back, accepting a rare compliment without believing it. Anyone could have solved those equations, really – they were easy. He had no idea why that old guy was teaching Tristan such simple mathematics at this age.
In the excitement of springing the prince from maths class, Thoth had momentarily forgotten about Danny. Tristan redirected his attention swiftly with his question, which Danny answered hesitatingly. He looked even more nervous than he had in the hospital, although Thoth couldn't imagine why. Tristan was about as scary as Morveren.
“Don't 'Your Highness' him,” he told Danny. “It inflates his ego.” He turned back to Tristan, his face darkening over with anger as the reason for their visit pushed its way back to the forefront of his mind. As always, his facial expressions were as easy to read as an open book. “Danny went to get my mould from my lab,” he growled to his older friend, “and Tarquin was waiting there.”
He didn't need to say anymore; Tristan was clever with people the way Thoth was clever with numbers. Danny's clothes were dirty where he'd been shoved around, he had a split lip and a few bruises were starting to form on his tiny frame. Thoth's expression, and the fact that he hadn't corrected Tristan when Tristan referred to Danny as his friend, clearly indicated how he felt about that. The mischief still glinting in the corner of his eye suggested what he might intend to do about it. Morveren, the calmest she had ever been in Tristan or Danny's presence when she wasn't asleep, leant against his walking stick while her bright green eyes flicked between the three of them. How much English she actually understood was never clear, but she had an intelligent look on her face... for about five minutes, before she started chewing on the bottom of her fairy's stick. Thoth, too busy studying Tristan's face, didn't notice.
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