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<title>Aimee', Intermission</title><P>
<h1>Aimee', Intermission</h1><P>
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	Darynn smiled as he pulled the robes tightly about himself.  
Although inside the council chamber the fires had kept the meeting 
comfortably warm, outside the chill of winter easily permeated the 
halls  of the Administration Building on the College.  As he walked 
away he had the distinct taste of victory in his mouth.  He thought 
back... it had only been minutes earlier...<P>
<P>
	"Master Darynn," Teltirray had said, approaching him.<P>
	"Master Teltirray," he had replied gracefully.<P>
	"I wish to thank you.  Your teaching of Aimee' has been 
wonderful.  Her learning is spectacular, her skill growing 
appreciably in the six months you have known her.  I admit, I had 
misgivings.  After all, your... preference... did not encourage me to 
send her to you."  He positively sneered the word 'preference,' a 
sure sign to him that Teltirray was still dealing with him fairly, if 
uncomfortably.  There was no double meaning here.  "I thought you had 
nothing to teach.  I see that your knowledge of, well, men, applies 
to her skills very clearly."   The grin he gave Darynn made the blood 
run cold.  He wondered how much of that 'skill' was applied strictly 
to the healing arts in a sense of self-preservation.  "I thank you, 
especially since you have taken upon yourself an increase in the time 
you spend on her training, beyond our agreement, without asking for 
an increase in the cost."<P>
	"Master Teltirray, Aimee' presents a challenge.  I hope you do 
not take this wrongly, but I feel I am learning from her as I have 
never worked with a woman before and feel most uncomfortable doing 
so."<P>
	Teltirray smiled, taking Darynn's words exactly as he had 
expected.  "I understand.  Still, I appreciate beyond words what you 
have done to her."<P>
	"I am grateful."<P>
	"I apologize for interrupting you.  I see you are in a 
hurry."<P>
	"No, merely anxious to return home.  I have much to do 
tonight."<P>
	"Then I shall not keep you any longer.  Good day."<P>
	"Good day."  Teltirray had departed.<P>
<P>
	Darynn walked down the hall, enjoying his success, celebrating 
with quiet happiness the nurtured hope that Aimee' might survive 
Teltirray's abuses unharmed and that she might someday register at 
the College as a student... under his aegis.  So complete was his 
self absorption that he didn't notice the woman at the end of the 
hall until her hand reached out and dragged him aside.  "What?"<P>
	The woman stepped back out of reach as his hand came up in a 
defensive posture.  "Whoa, Darynn!  It's me!"<P>
	"Bethsany?"<P>
	"Right, right!  You could scare a body half to death if it 
didn't freeze in here first.  Don't you mages believe in heat?"<P>
	"Unlike your usual clientele, mages are not likely to walk 
around unclothed.  What are you doing here?"<P>
	"Came looking for you.  I need to talk to you."<P>
	"About Aimee'?"<P>
	She nodded.  "You're hoping she kills him, aren't you?"<P>
	"I have no idea what you're talking about," he said as he put up 
privacy spells as fast as he possibly could.  Before she could speak 
again, he put his hand up to silence her.  Open mouthed, she stared, 
then nodded and closed it again.  "Now then.  As I was saying, I have 
no idea what you're talking about."<P>
	"Aimee' and Teltirray," she said, lowering her voice to a 
whisper.  "Some of the stuff you've been teaching her... you're 
hoping she kills him, aren't you?"<P>
	The room she had pulled him into was one of the side classrooms, 
with the teacher's desk close to the door.  He sat down on it and 
folded his hands in his lap, grinning.  "I won't cry at his 
funeral."<P>
	"Don't you think he'll get the least bit suspicious?"<P>
	"If he does, that's his problem.  I've taken on an apprentice, 
Bethsany, and I usually first teach my apprentice those things he 
needs to survive.  And besides, most of what I've taught her are 
spells that a select group of your clientele, and me if I were 
interested in women, find extremely exciting."<P>
	Bethsany's mouth cracked into an echo of Darynn's grin.  "I see.  
Do you really think she can do it?"<P>
	Darynn stared out the window where the first heavy snow of 
winter was falling, making the fresh, cold air hazy and covering the 
campus in a layer of white.  Trees were bending already with the 
heavy weight of packed snow and from his vantage only one brave (or 
foolish) soul was trying to make his way across the quadrangle.  
Inside the classroom, however, only the sound of breathing could be 
heard; the privacy spells Darynn had put up kept all sound from 
leaving, but it also kept sound from entering as well.  No-one would 
investigate; privacy spells were amongst the easiest to learn, the 
most common to use, and the most respected.  Mages valued their 
privacy.  And Darynn was an archmage.  No-one would interrupt him.<P>
	"Ultimately, Bethsany, of all the people who will ever need to 
defend themselves against Teltirray, if anyone can do so 
successfully, I think she can.  I think he's given himself a 
challenge he's not up to."<P>
	"I don't have your magical skill, Darynn, but I have to agree 
with your observation.  She's strong.  I just hope she's strong 
enough."<P>
	Darynn looked out the window again.  "I think we'll know before 
the snow melts."<P>
	"That's not a lot of time," Bethsany sighed.  "I'll help in any 
way I can."<P>
	"Just keep teaching her to be strong, Beth.  That's what she 
really needs.  Encouragement."<P>
	"I'll do my best," she nodded, turning to leave.  She reached 
for the doorknob, then stopped and turned around.  "Darynn, I know 
you don't care for women's ways, but you've always been kind to me 
and my girls.  I don't understand why, except that we understand each 
other."  Her mouth curled into an unpleasant snarl.  "I've seen what 
he does to the girls he gets.  Get him.  Please."<P>
	Darynn merely nodded as she left, closing the door behind her 
with a click.  He turned his stare out the window again, watching the 
snow come down in slow, dry sheets of white.<P>
<hr>
<strong>Aimee'</strong>
<br>
is copyright 1991-1994 Elf Mathieu Sternberg.  May be distributed 
freely by electronic media; hardcopies are limited to single 
printings for personal use.
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