The Lesson

"Lonely, hardworking, and naive," Cal remembered.

"Hah! He hasn't changed much, the moody righteous man," Pittsu laughed, "and did he have a high school sweetheart?

Cal frowned: the memories of years ago had faded and faded. Two grave mounds outside the city flashed before his eyes... He pressed his lips together and hesitated to talk about Liam's past.

"It must be nice to have so many memories in common," the marshal suggested, thinking that Cal was silent because he was immersed in the past.

"There are a lot of painful and even horrible memories between us," Cal replied, "a lot of them I'd like to forget, and maybe Liam would, too.

"Well, that's not a problem; there's a memory sealing technique..." The marshal shrugged.

Cal stared at him. The man seemed very frivolous and unencumbered by intelligence, but this was the first time he had said something that caught Cal's attention and made his heart beat faster. And now he wants to know everything!

"Your knowledge is impressive, Marshal!" Cal acknowledged with glowing eyes.

"Come on, I just don't intend to be a military man all my life, it's so tiresome," the Marshal yawned.

"But, if not a military career, what would you like to do?

"Become an itinerant artist? Go to earth?" The man ran through his options, dipping his beautiful long fingers with rings in his hair.

"Unexpected," was all Cal could say. Gradually his prejudice melted away.

"Oh, I can teach you something!" The marshal moved closer and pressed his forehead against Cal's face.

Then the marshal pressed his palms against Cal's hands, and in this strange pose, they were caught by a sleepy Liam coming down the stairs to the courtyard. After they were forehead to forehead and palm to palm, the marshal explained that this was a technique for exchanging memories.

All you have to do is use your energy and let someone into your mind.

Liam hurried to disrupt their mind-meld and pulled Cal away. There was a look of excitement and even shame on the Head's face. Perhaps in this way, the marshal was trying to infiltrate their private lives and ferret out their secrets, or maybe something else. Liam was glad he was on time.

Pittsu, on the other hand, was upset, and besides, his palms still held a special feeling from the touch of the enchanting man with the white hair. He could feel it at once-the scarlet energy that drew him in, made him shiver in a strange reciprocal way.

He smiled sweetly, suppressing his frustration and the words he wanted to get out, and tugged at Liam's pant leg, inviting him to sit down. The head man took a seat between them, glancing intently from one to the other.

"You've managed to get some rest," Pittsu asked in a conciliatory tone.

"Yes, thank you, but now my head is like a cast iron," complained Liam.

"I'll have a better kind of tea brewed for you," the marshal promised.

Liam nodded absently, and then looked at Cal.

"Why are we sitting here, is this the most comfortable place in the palace?"

"It isn't," he scratched at the back of his head.

"It doesn't matter, Liam, as long as we're having a good time."

"Well, you just sit there, and I'll be right back."

Liam got up and disappeared to the far side of the park. Cal stared at him in bewilderment.

"I feel like I should tell you how to take the memories out. They won't disappear, but they will be inaccessible. Look at me," the marshal snapped his fingers in front of his eyes, catching his attention. "Do you have a crystal?"

"Yes, I have," said Cal, pulling the crystal from his pocket.

"Oh, good. If one day you decide to seal your memory, or someone else's, you must make a scratch on your hand with this crystal. Then put it on your hand so that the blood touches the crystal, and think about the time you want to remove and place it in the crystal. That's how it works."

Cal listened in amazement to the man across the street and wanted to ask him a million more questions. The delight on his face pleased the marshal because he grabbed his arm and lifted him sharply to his feet.

"Shall we tie up the dragon?" he said excitedly.

"What do you mean?" Cal was astonished again.

"Well, judging by his level, he can make his own space."

Cal stared at the marshal in confusion. In his dark, large eyes, the marshal could see himself. Pittsu reached out a hand toward the man, wanting to touch his face. But then he realized he was acting out of character and changed his mind.

"What do they teach you at the Academy?" Marshal wondered.

"Well, I've been in detention for a month..." He couldn't think of anything else to say for himself. Now he did think that his education had many gaps.

"All right," the marshal resigned, "I consider myself a born teacher, and I'll tell you everything in order. But let's stretch our legs; I've been sitting too long."

Strolling along one of the many paths of the elegant palace park, Cal allowed the marshal to take him under his arm. In exchange for useful knowledge, he agreed to tolerate the man's strange behavior.

"Ever since the Overlord had given dragons the ability to be reborn, the question of where to live had become acute. Not all dragons were returning to the battlefield, and many yearned for a peaceful life with a new master.

Then someone came up with the idea that it would be a good idea for dragons to live in a private space. As you know, the Aether is a kind of hive, where everyone can have their place, their world, and the number of those places in the Aether is unlimited."

Marshal stopped at the border of the orchard and walked around the peach tree with interest. With the words, "found it!" he climbed briskly up the trunk and began to pick the juicy fruit. Cal was once again struck by the marshal's personality.

Yesterday he had met the general for the first time, and he had found him to be a disgusting despot, and yet he disliked Pittsu. How dare he! Cal was unequivocally on the marshal's side.

"Watch out for peaches," Pittsu shouted to him, and several juicy fruits flew at Cal. As he deftly caught them, he craned his head upward, watching the marshal's agility. The latter made himself comfortable on a broad branch and continued the story.

"Where were we? Ah, these peaches have thrown me off my game," he said, gnawing at the fragrant pulp. "Ah, it wasn't a year before I remembered," He had to chew, for it was uncomfortable to speak with a full mouth. Cal tasted the peach, too, thinking approvingly that the variety was excellent.

"So how to give the dragon his space? This is what the Elders have been thinking about for a long time," came from the tree. Cal realized they were stuck here for a while and found a comfortable spot between the roots of the tree.

"At last, an Elder had the idea that the way to the Aether and space was opened to people by their special blood," the voice was silent, as the marshal was probably eating peaches again. After a minute he was able to continue.

"Surprisingly this guess was correct, and when they managed to mix the blood of a dragon and a human, then the creatures can go and come back at the call of the master. This ability was retained forever, meaning that I didn't need to wound myself or the dragon more than once."

"By the way, it was entirely by accident that..." The marshal interrupted his speech and was on the ground in a few jumps. He took an especially large peach from his sinus and shoved it into Cal's mouth as if nothing had happened.

"It turns out that a dragon with which a man has mixed blood can be released or given to another owner," the marshal looked at Cal meaningfully, then moved closer and sensuously wiped the juice from his lips with his fingers.

Cal recoiled and coughed. Embarrassing people was the marshal's favorite hobby. As soon as he was done pestering the Head, he went after Cal. Wiping his mouth again; Cal suddenly lost the thread of the conversation, to the extent that the marshal had thrown him off his train of thought.

"There you are," he heard from across the path.

"You went to the fields?" The marshal said sympathetically, "Did you find anything useful?"

"Yes, I need some herbs for medicine and sleep," Liam calmly explained why he bypassed the marshal's medicinal fields.

"You can take it all to your Academy," the man waved him on, "oh, you've thrown us off, I'm in the middle of a lesson on how to bind a dragon."

"I'm sure you've had an appreciative and understanding student for this one. What have you discussed?" Liam interjected, and for some reason, Cal remembered the mark and was embarrassed.

"Oh, yeah, when a dragon grows up, you can do a blood mingling ritual with it, and if you use an object, a dragon will appear out of space when you use it."

"I've got a whip," he reminded him, "and you can have your own. You can do without it. You could call your dragon by name."

"I see," said Cal, brooding deeply.

"There's still time before sundown," he said, "if you like, we could do the ceremony together.

Cal glanced at Liam and, with his approval, agreed.