Idly, she wondered if she'd ever get used to having others shouting inside her head. Back home in her younger years, she'd needed to be fairly-nearby in order to hear such things from anyone. But either her receiving range had been improved by her earlier misadventure, or perhaps the local Gifted humans naturally broadcast a stronger signal than non-human Terran mammals.
Giving a small sigh, Kay built up a mental image of Dani's face, and then pictured a wave of welcome travelling towards it. She still had more than a few doubts about exposing her freakishness to any MORE strangers. But what was done, was done. She'd just have to make the best of the circumstances, and try to keep knowledge of it from spreading any further.
Dani stifled a laugh. *Kay? What building are you in?* she asked.
Another picture formed -- that of the id-plate on the door of Kay's quarters. It identified the wing, floor, and room number of the main residence building.
Dani picked up the picture with ease. *Got it!* she sent silently, then added *Kay you need not worry about your secret getting out. Connor will say nothing*. Certain that she could find the building without much of a problem, Dani looked at Connor and gave him a smile.
Kay frowned down at her small companions. "I think she was trying to tell me that I'm worrying too much. Let us hope that she is right about THAT !", she grumbled quietly.
Even if things couldn't be stopped from getting more and more odd and complex, maybe she could at least slow things down to the point where it all didn't seem quite so overwhelming.
Idly Kay wondered what it was like for people who could apparently hear actual mental words. It seemed to be a rather odd concept. Communicating by meaning-and-emotion seemed entirely more natural than forming actual words. With words, how could people tell the difference between an audible voice and a telepathic voice ?
Then she brushed that thought aside, and refilled her companions' food and water dishes. Hopefully, none of the three would need the litterbox while the guests were here.
Meanwhile, Dani pointed to the building and told Connor "Kay's over there." She reached for his hand and was about to move when she sensed another familliar presence....
Dani turned around and called out, "Anwyn?" She waited to see if the girl would respond.
Anwyn frowned. Had she gotten THAT out of practice ?? Or was it something more ? Afterall, she'd managed to surprise Louis and Gwenn not too long ago. And it hadn't seemed to her that either of them was unobservant of their surroundings.
She took a single step back into the cross-corridoor,and decided to pause for a minute or two -- just to see if the fine Comyn lady had simply heard footsteps and was making a guess. It wasn't much fun to follow people if it was obvious that they knew you were there. Far better entertainment could be had if you could keep them guessing as to whether or not they were being followed.
Dani had to fight to keep from smiling at Anwyn's antics. She looked over at Connor and raised an eyebrow. He smiled at her. *It seems that you have another admirer, dearest.*
Then she called out to her shadow, "Anwyn? We're going to Kay's and you are more then welcome to join us."
"Awwww ... you're NO fun !!!!", came an annoyed protest from around the corner, just before Anwyn stepped into view. The game was clearly up, and far too quickly at that.
Anwyn walked up to the pair, a large frown on her face. When she reached them, she immediately protested to Dani, "It's not fair if you use more than just your eyes and ears ! You're not playing the game right ! _I_ thought that you'd be much more _interesting_, but you're just like every other grownup around here".
Then Anwyn turned to Connor, and complained dissapointedly "Or was it you that told her I was there? How am I suppossed to have ANY fun around here if you Gifted folk keep reading my mind and finding out what I'm doing ?".
Her frown deepened as she added, "NOTHING much interesting has happenned today ... maybe I'll just die of boredom if you two don't do something interesting soon!". It _was_ somewhat overly-dramatic. But after all the previous excitement at Mestru Merrick's the other day, today had been DULL, DULL, DULL (almost like being at home and going to school).
Dani rolled her eyes at Connor. *Funny Connor, very funny*. She looked at Anwyn.
Anwyn frowned. She wasn't too pleased to be the source of someone else's amusement. _THAT_ happenned all too often back home.
Dani smiled at Anwyn. "You do alot of that stuff for attention for a reason, but you don't need to do that with us or Kay. Be yourself."
Now you sound like one of my teachers", Anwyn pouted impishly, "first she claimed that I should be myself, but then she expected me to act like a boring old grown-up".
"School was never fun for me either, but I dealt with it, and it didn't take laran to know that you were following us." Dani said with a smile.
THAT comment earned her a wry grin. "Really?", Anwyn inquired, somewhat skeptically (with a wry chuckle) before commenting "then I DEFINITELY need to practice more .. you SHOULD have needed to cheat in order to spot me". There was a small pause. Then came an indifnant complaint of "It's one of the _only_ ways I usually get to have fun around here. Kay makes me do SCHOOLWORK !".
Dani laughed again. "School was boring for me, but I delt with it so I had the skills to survive and I can see your energy fields around you, and that's a dead give away."
Fields of energy ? And this lady could _SEE_ them ? That was waay cool ! Anwyn's eyes lit up with eager curiousity. Then suddenly they narrowed speculatively. "Can _anyone_ learn how to see these field things ?", she demanded of Dani. Feeling that it would be rude to point, Anwyn simply indicated Connor with a flick of her eyes, adding "and can _HE_ do it too ? ... whoever he is".
Connor grinned at Anwyn. Danette remembered her manners and said, "Anwyn meet my freemate, Connor."
Freemate ? Hmmmm ... Now _that_ was interesting. She thought back to a comment that Kay had made once. It had been about how Gifted folks never totally fit in with the unGifted. And from the events of the previous day, it had become obvious that this lady was certainly NOT unGifted. That meant ...
Temporarily forgetting her manners, Anwyn boldly gave Connor a very _appraising_ sort of stare from head to toe. Then she nodded, commenting very mattter-of-factly (as if if she was stating something obvious and trivial) "Even though nobody TOLD me so, I know _WHAT_ your lady is ... and it's my guess that you're likely one too ... but it would be rude of me to ask, so I won't".
Connor laughed. "She is gifted indeed, and you are right in your guess."
*Dearest don't say anything about your position unless you need to.* Dani told Connor with a warning look.
Anwyn noted the warning look. Idly she wondered what it is was that he wasn't supossed to say. Was it something to do with all this magic-stuff ?? Or was it just 'cause they thought she was too young to hear about something ? Grownups could be so frustrating sometimes. It wasn't FAIR !
Danette grinned at Anwyn, "It's not that I don't trust you, but if Kay knows that Connor is Gifted it'll upset her, so say nothing."
"Me ?", laughed Anwyn self-mockingly, "I doubt that she'd ever need _ME_ to tell her _ANYTHING_ she couldn't figure out for herself. I'm just Anwyn Luz McCarron, the runt of my family, and a precocious adolescent nuisance to most folks".
Connor's nod was barely noticable as he extended his hand. "Nice to meet you."
In response, Anwyn took a single step back, then bowed to him as she'd been taught. "Nice meeting you too", she grinned, then added mischievously (as a guess) "vai dom ... laranzu ?".
She chuckled at the expression on his face, before adding in explanation, "I've been studying about the Comyn and about local customs. Kay showed me where to find the data. So I know that you folks only shake hands with strange offworlders because you feel obliged to do so ... It's mostly interesting ... kinda like you two sometimes".
Connor smiled a he was addressed by Anwyn. "You are correct and I am glad to see that you are learning our ways. Danette is teaching me about the Terranan culture as well."
Just then, Anwyn's stomach rumbled, reminding her that she was hungry. So she grinned at her two companions and inquired "Do you know where you're going ? If not, I can show you ... I can smell the stew from here already".
Danette heard Anwyn's stomach and said. "You are welcome to join us, if you'd like."
A giggle came in reply. Anwyn thought to herself that, if her prescence had NOT been welcome, then surely these two would have chased her off long before now.
Grinning mischievously, she started off down the hallway. "Come on then ... let's go before that yummy-smelling stew gets cold", she urged, setting an impatiently-quick pace.
By the time that she got to the right door, another mischievous idea had suggested itself. Yielding to temptation, Anwyn boldly knocked on the door, hitting it hard enough with her knuckles that it made a few satisfyingly-loud thunks.