Chapter 472: Some Time
Tala, Terry, and Rane were sitting beside the fast flowing water of the circular river within Tala’s sanctum, enjoying some time together with the Zuccats.
Haster was off in Alefast, meeting with a couple of potential masters, but Anna, Master Simon, Mistress Petra, Segis, and Metti were all there, a wonderful picnic spread laid out for them.
Metti was actually in the water, floating round and round the central rise on a waxed, leather bladder of some kind. They were apparently popular in cities with rivers nearby and absolutely critical in the seaside cities.
That aside, the floating was not a fast process. She swung around every fifteen minutes or so on the lazy current.
Anna was playing with Terry. Specifically, she was trying to bait him close with various bits of food so that she could pet him before he flickered away. They both obviously knew that Terry could come in and out faster than she could react, but they kept up the fiction, regardless.
It was either that, or Terry was allowing brief pets in order to get food… Or Anna knew that Terry would stick around for pets, in the hopes that she’d put out more food in the future.
-Except that Terry could just take any food that he wanted without any of this song and dance.-
That’s true enough. Truthfully, Tala wasn’t one hundred percent certain why Terry was engaging with Anna in this way, but it seemed to be entertaining them both, or at least providing a pleasant distraction.
Segis… he was arguing with his father. “I still don’t understand why you can’t just take me on as an apprentice. I can learn more from you—and while in here—than I ever could at the Academy.”