The Dreaming One

He is stable enough to be moved, at least on this plane. I wish I could take him to the Infirmary, but his hold on this reality is too thin to make the transition safely. We have seen nothing of the sheriff's cousin, and since Father was exiled, we haven't got a medical facility. Regency Hospital is not what it used to be, and that just leaves the Tam San. I honestly don't like the idea, but he is being moved to Caledon.

I am going with him, of course. The sanitarium staff did care for Uncle Gus well enough when he was lost in Aunt Gem's mind, but the director has not had more cross-planar experience by now. His injuries are more extensive than Uncle Gus's. The Regency Hospital deals with the injuries to Caledonians well enough, and Lady Darkling is his sponsor there. She was distressed to find out the bottled lightning had any part in the fire. Rengerin tells me it was just another link in the causality chain, but not the key reason for the accident.

Another reason to go is I am responsible for him. He was injured in the house of my father, as a guest. I must honor the law, and do my best by the ger. He believed himself to be Zaide, but it was not out of malice. The taistealaí will be honored.

Mama's assistant arranged airship passage for us, as that would be the best way to move him. I also asked her to keep an eye out for those searching for him. I do not know if he has any family, but there are several people interested in him. The ones that have not come forward to ask after him in his convalescence are the ones that worry me.

Lifting off into the pre-dawn light, I locked the door to the cabin and settled in to nap beside his bunk, trying to reach him through his travels.

The Parts Inbetween

He knows who he is, and is not, at last.

Though he hangs in the balance, not really here and not truly gone, he knows his beginnings. I am not a telepath, so I am unable to tell you his story, but he radiates peaceful contentment in his comatose state.

Soaking him in the trough filled with the burn ointments has made caring for him a delicate process. There were a few spots where his skin was burned away completely, but there is still a chance he will survive. It mostly depends on if he decides to wake up.

Rengerin tried to give me a report on what she found in the ruins, but I have honestly been too tired to focus on anything but his injuries. Tensai hasn't thrown me out of the sick room, yet. My sleeping on the pallet here has freed her up to manage Steelhead.

Could I have stopped him? What more should I have done to protect him?

Can't A Girl Get Any Sleep?

Wolfgang finally transformed last night, no doubts about that. Vater was properly publicly offended that the sheriff had hidden the tribe past the marker oak. Hey, for all I know, he could have been actually surprised, since he doesn't have time to read all of the reports. My reports are mostly low priority, since I am not officially attached to the office, and all I had seen was a village in a pocket valley, with no signs of martial organization beyond hunting parties.

After Anya calmed him down, Wolfie was a little disoriented, and understandably upset by the transformation. He was mostly worried about what he had done, and Sheriff Ortega confirmed he was not in trouble, just that he had to learn control. To do that, they would be leaving at daybreak. Mama started organizing the staff at the dance, handing out assignments as she walked with her arm around Wolfie, getting back to the Consulate building. I checked Wolfie over and he had no strains or cuts from his escape. Some of it was that he was limber and possessed of the Trickster's own luck, but some of it was rapidly healed.

Papa was upset we don't have something strong enough to contain a teenage werewolf, but he shrugged and hid it from the rest of the group. I might have to arrange for him and Uncle Gus to talk about security cells later. I only know medical restraints, and I don't think anything I have at hand would be able to keep up with Wolfie's metabolism. He is off chicken for a bit, I think, but was able to eat a respectable amount of bauernfruhstuck with a side of sticky buns for the first time in a while. Good thing Bunică came by to help Mrs Parks with the kitchen duties in the small hours of the morning, what with trying to feed and provision everyone to be ready by daybreak.

Bunică managed to save a dozen sticky buns to send to Anya for helping out. Interesting that all she had to say was "They are for Anya" and Wolfie left them alone. He even added a bowl of whortleberries to the basket before he left to pack. His first reflex to pack for a scientific field trip was deflected by Papa turning out his pack, and taking out half the empty sampling vials, replacing weight-for-weight with field rations and the trail kit. Wolfie added the slingshot and the shepherd's sling on his own.

I headed back to the lab again and slept. It's gotten to the point I sleep better with the hum of Father's machinery in the background. No word back from him, but with the aetheric transmitter, we don't always match times anymore - but at least I get to talk to him and my sibs occasionally. I drifted off organizing my next report for him.

I woke briefly when Manager Lunar came in. There's another kettle of trouble, but even as a teen-aged human, he knows which things to leave alone. It was safe enough for me to doze off again until I heard the clatter of someone unused to the stairs past the decontamination field across the door. The newcomer who is not Zaide was downstairs. I moved silently to the edge of the sleeping loft to watch and listen.

The offhand way the Manager rattled off decades of the Foundation history rankled a bit, but seen from the outside, by a human in hormonal fluctuation, it was mostly accurate. Just leaving out huge chunks of boring incidentals that made the family history. My family history. I waited and watched the newcomer as Lunar left.

Esoteric Ailments in Possible Neophyte Shapeshifters

At least it was not rabies. Even with what I have learned at the Infirmary, that is a blessing.

Though he has not shown any tendencies to the clan side of his background, my mentors were afraid what he might have gotten in that bite. He might only have the empathic resonances, which would be a good thing - he needs to learn control though. The library is extensive, but with as many planes as the clans travel, we cannot be experts on everything. What we have is likely as much medical knowledge Sheriff Ortegavich has of the condition, but honestly, it it likely to be less.

On the other hand, he has not had any accompanying infections, and the stability of form has not been breached. Wolfgang is going through the normal changes human children go through, which includes increased hirsuteness, and some personality changes. Some of these have accelerated, with the nocturnal wanderings, and his changes in appetite. He never much cared for vegetables before, and one expects an interest in less-processed meat as the palate matures, but usually that is also accompanied by a broadening of diet, not restriction to carnivore.

This goes without mentioning what one can see when perched in the topmost branches of a large oak tree, or when one is hovering above it.

Not Dead

Though it has been close a couple of times.

I have not been able to write about losing so many family members. Being unable to save siblings, not being able to help when the battles here were at the same time as battles on clan borders...

Losing contact with a parent, when he is so far off that letters will take ages to find him, if they do at all.

Gaining a grandparent only to lose him so quickly.

Out of five parents, there is only one grandparent and one step-grandparent left... and now the business with my half-brother.

Father, I don't have experience with this sort of medicine, and neither do Mama or Vater... and Da's healing knowledge does not help as much either.

I miss you.

Checking in

Dangerous, but I checked in with Vater and Papa.

Miss Genie is just not right, considering what I heard about her settlement offer.

Met with a member of the blood. Really not what I expected.

We need to find Father and cure him. That poison is not helping at all.

Zaide is going to help, and this time, I think it is the right sort of help.

Got to find Bubbe's books, now.

hiding

found Koen

we are hiding

the kim chee is about to get very deep, but it will be worse if they find him