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Date Posted: 00:41:30 11/20/01 Tue
Author: Tristan
Subject: Practice makes perfect
In reply to: Valhorek 's message, "An invitation" on 19:35:37 11/19/01 Mon

Eremis’ touching farewell actually made Tristan a little misty-eyed himself. He wanted to jump up and hug the healer, or at least shake his hand to say goodbye. But of course, he had yet to get used to such outward displays of emotion, plus he didn’t like the idea of Marz breathing down his back for missing Eremis.

Well, enough of all this sentimental rubbish. He sighed to himself and returned to poke at his food, suddenly a little less enthused about scarfing down his breakfast. This could, of course, be because he’d already consumed an entire steak and a half, but he was definitely feeling a little dispirited. Which was a silly thing to feel, after all, since he had Marz, who had a talent for keeping Tristan’s days full with his ability to both annoy and endear himself to those who loved him.

Not surprisingly, Marz was the one to break the silence that had ensued after Dalo and Eremis’ departure. Equally unsurprising was Tristan’s lack of feeling toward Dalo’s leaving, particularly since he was still a touch angry with the beastmaster. Finally, the man had left off with his preaching against Marz, but not until he had done a fair job of pushing Tristan away for awhile. Yet despite his ill feelings toward Dalo, he still felt a slight pang of regret that they were parting on such a bad note. Well, it’s not my fault, anyway, he assured himself, frowning slightly, and that belief would just have to be enough to make him reasonably content about the matter for now.

While he continued to push the food around his plate with his fork, he overheard (well, he couldn’t help it. Damn his dragon ears) Marz telling Corum to stay on the look out for Ginza the half-ogre gang leader. Tristan once again very discreetly rolled his eyes, reflecting how sad it was that there was no Eremis to catch the expression this time. Oh, stop it, he commanded himself, and he successfully banished the friendly healer from his mind, at least for the time being.

All in all, he couldn’t possibly see how Marz could still believe his old rival was still in town someplace. Tristan had thought that maybe after being attacked by a mentally deranged sect of priests and a giant rat with a severe attitude problem, he and Corum would see the light, so to speak, and come to realize that the whole Ginza fiasco had been the mere workings of a drug-induced hallucination. Obviously, sometimes he forgot whom he was working with here.

Several minutes later, he was interrupted from his thoughts by the arrival of a man introduced by Erlic as Valhorek. Tristan squinted his eyes at the newcomer, and it suddenly dawned on him that this was the vile creature who had fed him some twisted concoction many months ago. Of course, the older healer had had no way of knowing that Tristan would react strangely to his medication, but that didn’t mean Tristan couldn’t hold a grudge against him. Also, the fact that Valhorek was apparently replacing “his Eremis,” as Marz used to snidely refer to him, was one more point automatically stacked against him in Tristan’s eyes.

I won’t have that psychopath and his mad concoctions working on me, he decided with a sniff, I absolutely refuse to become injured from this point onward. It took a fair amount of resolve (and perhaps naďve stupidity) to convince oneself of such a ridiculous proposal, but if there was one thing Tristan never lacked it was resolve---and the naivete issue really need not be addressed.

Eventually, his attention was diverted from Valhorek for a bit, and he suddenly remembered that he was supposed to make Marz practice his meditation stuff on a daily basis, several times, too, as per orders from Erlic. As Tristan had no desire to cross a man like Marz’s teacher, he decided they’d best get something done this morning before they took off for those stupid branches and lost the rest of the day to this wild goose chase the queen was throwing them into.

“Let’s go practice,” he said quickly, turning to Marz with an expectant look. “Your meditations,” he continued impatiently. “Erlic said to, remember? Well, come on!” That said, he stood up from the table and grabbed Marz by the hand, pulling him up out of his own chair and leading him swiftly down the hallway and up the stairs back to their room. Actually, one of the ground level courtyards would be closer, but he thought that since Marz already had a problem with concentration, the quiet privacy of their room would probably be the best bet.

He closed the door behind them before turning to Marz. He opened his mouth to say something, but then remembered how they were supposed to light the incense and maybe some candles or something…nah, they didn’t need that useless stuff.

“Come on,” Tristan encouraged, gesturing toward him, “Let’s start.” He paused before adding, “I promise if we hurry up and do it, we can get ready for the journey, and then I’ll go outside afterward and change for you.”

His face paled every so slightly at that thought, but he brushed the bad feelings away. They would soon be replaced with the happy, loving thoughts of being able to carry Marz on his back while soaring through the air in form.

“I’m not doing that jumping thing, though,” he muttered, crossing his arms. “The jumping thing’s stupid. You can do that part first and then we can start on the other part with the pillow.”

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