Larrikan is a little shaken by the Jabberwock’s attack on the rade, more so when he looks them up in the University library and finds out how terrible they really are.
Notable was that he was able to look this up on his own. His reading and writing is getting better. The history course is driving this. That course is also trying to show some other things, but they aren’t clear to him yet.
Several of the students trained by the Shy Folk at the last Gather approach him for various reasons. The ones not interested in sex with him often lead to interesting conversations. He is genuinely surprised at how little the otherwise intelligent humans around him appear to know about sex. He is astonished they manage to have babies.
The next rade is small, and on the quiet side. Many of the fey who usually come are simply gone. Almost none were wounded; you got away clean, or you were eaten. Most of the band was caught. Larrikan and one hob with a flute are all who show up. They make do, and get the lessened crowd of dancers to clap in time and make passable music. Both musicians wind up playing while dancing, to try and keep the crowd moving. It is enough for them to bask in the silver moonlight, though.
Near the end, Larrikan sings a long, slow dirge in remembrance of those lost. He adapts an old tune and sings the fey’s sadness and loss for them. He pulls the feeling of sadness and loss from the violin, washing the fey in their pure sound, and leaving them all – himself included – in tears. When he finishes there is a long silence before the fey slip away home, without a word.
School continues. Larrikan keeps being ahead in his magic class. He just sees things differently, much less rigidly than his human classmates seem to. The history class remains a challenge, although Larrikan’s difficulties are different than most. Papers are hard for him, while the other students seem not to see the deeper message of the class. The professor finds this amusing. He passes his math class, but it is a struggle. Not everyone does pass, though.
The fall Gather brings a chance to see some of his wandering kinfolk, although not his Grandmother. Agh is there, to test Larrikan for Unseelie taint. Again, Larrikan gets to live. Agh pulls him aside to teach him some more of the Elder lore. Agh also begins teaching Larrikan how to be so stealthy even a dryad can miss you. Agh mostly teaches Larrikan this because Agh thinks it is funny.
Two things of note happened during the Gather.
The first was that Mylla, one of the vixens Larrikan spends some time with, says, “We were here just a few weeks ago but didn’t think we could find you at the University. If you lived outside all that kerfuffle, we might have stopped for a day or two.” Larrikan likes this idea.
The second thing is that one of the human children goes missing. Everyone goes to look for them, Shy Folk included.