“Dragon,” Lykandeon stated. “Possessive, tends to hoard. Hoarding people? Or simply everything that is his? Could be both. Also a very human trait. That’s good; the more links to humanity, the better.”

Lykandeon either didn’t remember that Serenity was still in the room or he didn’t care. Serenity was leaning towards the second option, since he was staring at Serenity.

Serenity frowned. Why did Lykandeon talk about humanity that way? Serenity already knew that the Eternal Church was anti-nonhuman and considered bloodlines to reduce the value of a person, but that didn’t seem to be what Lykandeon meant. “Why do links to humanity matter?”

Lykandeon seemed shocked at Serenity’s question. Serenity couldn’t tell if it was what he’d asked or simply the fact that he’d interrupted the god’s monologue. The green light faded until there was only a faint green tinge in the lighting of the room. “Humanity is everything. Humans are everything. You know that; you are human.”

Serenity was going to step carefully around that landmine of an assumption. “Nonhumans are common. More common than humans, in total. Lyka and Aeon are filled with humans, but that is not the universe. Humans are not everything.” He let himself grin for a moment. “There are dragons, for example.”

Lykandeon snorted. “Who cares? The rest of the universe can do what it wants. I only care about humans. I am Human and all of humanity is mine.”

Serenity had to suppress a growl. This annoying insect of a man did not get to claim Serenity’s friends and family simply because they were human. “No. It isn’t.”

“It will be. But it will take time. This is a good start. Let’s see.” Lykandeon hummed to himself and the green glow picked back up. “You should do something to pay back the hospitality I’ve shown you. It’s only fair. Now what shall it be?”

Serenity had an answer for that. “Help me get my people back. All of them. Then I’ll leave and not bother you again.” As far as he was concerned, that was more than Lykandeon deserved, but it was a deal he was willing to make.

Lykandeon laughed brightly. “Now that doesn’t pay me back at all, does it? We have to be fair. Hmm.”

“You stole my people. I should be asking for them back and reparations to pay for my effort in recovering them, not the other way around.” Serenity didn’t like how this was going at all and he wasn’t about to sign up for some unspecified task without any assurances, especially not when he was already well on track to recover most of the kidnapped Earthlings. Lykandeon’s help would be useful for the ones who’d been separated from the rest, but that was all.

“I? I kidnapped no one. You came here and accused me of something I did not do; you definitely owe me for my forbearance. Hmm. Yes, I can think of several possibilities for how you might be able to pay me back. You can go now; I’ll have to see which one makes the most sense. I’ll call you back here when I’m ready for you. Wait for it.” The green glow intensified and seemed to radiate from Lykandeon directly at Serenity.

The green glow was clearly magic pulled from the crystal; in fact, Serenity suspected that the room was green only because of his persistent Magesight. The fact that Lykandeon was obviously throwing a spell at Serenity was worrying. On top of that, there was something wrong with the way Lykandeon was talking.

It was almost like he expected his unsupported statements to be accepted despite evidence to the contrary. When that was combined with the green glow, it was clear he was doing something that he fully expected to affect Serenity.

Serenity didn’t feel affected.

Perhaps it would be better if he pretended he were affected? Serenity didn’t think he’d get any more information out of Lykandeon like this; staying would only tell Lykandeon that whatever he was doing didn’t work.

Yes, leaving was the right choice. Serenity simply hoped he was leaving because it was logical and not because of a compulsion. Serenity headed towards the door; as he did, he realized that High Priestess Karin was waiting for him just outside.

Serenity tapped on the door to Blaze’s room. He wasn’t in the common room or the dining area so hopefully he was in his room. “Blaze?”

“One moment!” Blaze’s words were followed by the sound of someone moving around the room. Serenity thought he might be pulling on some clothes, based on the sound.

It was longer than a moment before Blaze opened the door. He was somewhat sloppily dressed; it was unusual for Blaze, so Serenity’s guess was probably correct. “Serenity? What do you need?”

Serenity sighed. “I need you to check me for compulsions. I’m pretty sure I know where they’re coming from and that means I was just targeted.”

Blaze blinked and tried to offer some reassurance. “The fact that you can talk about it makes it less likely.”

Serenity shook his head. “I don’t think I was supposed to realize what was happening. He didn’t say anything about it or about not talking about it; it seemed to be trying to make me believe whatever he said?”

“Did you?” Blaze led the way to the common room and sat down in the middle of a couch, then directed Serenity to sit next to him.

Serenity frowned as he took the indicated spot. “I don’t think so, but compulsions can be slippery.”

Blaze nodded, then set a hand on Serenity’s shoulder. “Just stay still. You shouldn’t notice a thing.”

Serenity leaned back and made himself comfortable; he had the feeling they’d be here for a while.

As it turned out, Blaze was completely wrong about Serenity not feeling anything. Serenity knew Blaze was there the moment he started checking Serenity. It wasn’t painful, simply odd. It felt oddly similar to the link Serenity had to Ita when she tried to learn from him, so he decided to see if Blaze could hear him. :Blaze? What exactly are you doing? This definitely isn’t hard to notice.:

Serenity could feel Blaze’s surprise and confusion. :What … Serenity? How are you talking to me like this? I’m not in harad.:

:It’s pretty standard mental communication,: Serenity reassured Blaze. :If this is what it’s like to talk to your host while you’re in harad, that just means there’s a mental link of some sort.:

:Huh. I suppose that sounds reasonable.: Blaze’s mental voice sounded a little bemused, then shifted to worried. :I’m not hurting you, am I? No one really feels this until I ask for permission, so I don’t actually know what it feels like.:

Serenity tried to put the odd sensation into words. :No, it’s more like you’re touching me? It’s inside but not inappropriate or uncomfortable, just touching. I’m not sure how better to describe it.: Serenity considered it for a moment, then realized he’d felt something like it before. :It’s almost exactly like trying to fit through spaces in the ground that aren’t big enough and separating to go through what there is. In my Sovereign form, that is, the one that looks like smoke?:

:As long as it doesn’t hurt. This could take a while.: Blaze turned his attention from talking back to searching; Serenity felt the odd sensations intensify.

Blaze was completely correct about it taking a while. It was almost two hours before he let go of Serenity’s shoulder and leaned back, closing his eyes. He seemed exhausted. “I’m not sure if this is good news or bad news. You’re completely correct about the compulsions; there were several of them. The good part is that I don’t think they ever did or even could take effect. It was like they couldn’t get a hold on you; whenever they tried, they simply moved through you as if you weren’t there. They were already starting to unravel.”

Serenity had never seen that behavior in compulsions, but it reminded him of something he’d seen more than once with spells and more commonly Skills. “Are you telling me I wasn’t a valid target?”

Serenity normally avoided tightly-targeted spells for exactly this reason. If a spell was aimed at something specific and the caster sent it at something that was similar but not actually what it was aimed at, it would work strangely. Twining around the similar object without affecting it was one of the more common effects, but it depended on what the spell was and how it was made.

Having a spell discharge incorrectly could be a problem in its own right. Vengeance had once seen a spell intended to detect a hidden army base melt a mile-wide chunk of a mountain.

It later turned out that the spell was actually looking for the iron used to make their weapons and the mountain had entire sections of extremely low-grade ore, enough to get the spell’s attention but poor enough and diffuse enough that the spell couldn’t report the location properly. A spell that was intended to search an entire mountain instead ended up liquefying about half a square mile.

The funny thing was that, in a way, the spell actually worked. The base was hidden deep in the mountain and the entrance actually ran through that part of the mountain because the people who placed it took advantage of an old mining tunnel. The spell melted the tunnel shut and the efforts of the trapped soldiers to get themselves out were easily noticed.

If this was similar, that meant it was aimed at something that looked like Serenity but wasn’t. Or maybe it was the other way around; Serenity looked like whatever it was aimed at.

When he thought about it that way, the answer was obvious. Serenity had deliberately encouraged Lykandeon to make that exact mistake; after all, he looked almost human when he chose to. “He thinks I’m human. He also thinks he will eventually rule all of humanity and doesn’t care about nonhumans even though his doctrine is one of hatred. The compulsions must only work on humans. Why?”

Blaze didn’t reply. When Serenity checked, it seemed that he’d actually fallen asleep. Serenity shook his head and headed off to gather the others. They needed to talk about this.

If the compulsions could only affect humans, then Serenity, Rissa, and Ita were safe from them. Blaze might be; it depended on how the fact that he was a diehar with a human body was treated by the compulsion. At a minimum, it would probably be weaker. Sillon, Kerr, and Ekari were all vulnerable.

“That’s an odd restriction,” Kerr stated. “Especially since he's not that fond of nonhumans. Why would he have a Skill to compel his own people?”

“Power.” Wasn’t it obvious? Even Serenity knew this much. “Humans work together, that’s how civilization works. The thing is that humans are also contentious. If you want to have power over humans, you need to either convince them that they want to do what you want them to do or you have to force it.”

Ekari nodded along to Serenity’s words. “The Eternal Church is full of factions. Mother’s is the strongest because it has support of their god, but that’s not enough. She has to balance everyone against each other, sometimes even get one group to attack another to keep them from getting too far out of hand. She says she’s always glad to leave Aeon because it means she can put the battles behind her temporarily.”

Serenity tilted his head a little to the side in thought. “Does she control Rourke or is he another faction? Internal police can be very powerful.”

Ekari opened her mouth to answer then seemed to think better of it. After a moment, she tried again. “I don’t know. We should ask; it might be important.”