Narsi was not exactly made calm by Julan's reassurances. "Oh, so...gelded like a horse or something, huh..." She flicked her eyes between Leaps' tusks and Julan's face. "You aren't seriously going to ride this thing, right?"

"Of course we are," Rhazii said with a broad grin. "Do you want to try?"

"I'm good," Narsi said with an almost nauseated expression.

All of a sudden, Leaps went still. His eyes stared into space ahead as he slowly lifted his head and opened his mouth. Blue sparks leapt in arcs between his teeth and his spikes.

Narsi's face dropped. She took two steps back, ready to dive for some sort of cover.

Leaps shook his head down as he blew out a sneeze.

Narsi shielded herself with her leg and one arm. She spoke as she slowly lowered her guard. "You two saw magic lightning there, right?"

[hr]
Fendros mostly ignored the first portion of Ahnasha's ranting. It was just the same anger as before. The way Ahnasha turned it into a sarcastic dig at his intentions inflamed his mind just enough that his patience could not quite last.

He turned around, stood up straight, breathed all the way in and clasped his hands in front of himself. He paused, looking at Ahnasha intensely with his chin high. "No, go on," he said with an exaggerated genial gesture. "I'll wait right here until you're all done. I'm sure you've got plenty more to say. While you're at it, perhaps you might feel better by coming up with some lies to tell yourself."