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in finding antidotes to those. The problem with the poison theory was in determining how such poisons got into the body, and affected different people differently, or not at all. The problem with his father’s theory was that invisible animals was a crazy idea.
    It hadn’t stopped his father devoting much of his experiments to finding his ‘benign poison’ as he called it, and his diaries were full of notes on his having sampled this or that tincture, sometimes with unfortunate results. Not that it was his experiments which had killed him in the end. This room, with the jars of dried herbs and bags of obscure minerals, his books and his diaries, was deeply redolent of his father and his ever curious, ever questioning mind. Kei missed his Pa all the time, but never more than in this room. No wonder it was here, rather than in their shared bed, that his mother had chosen to die. She must have felt close to him here, just as their son did.
    If Kei could find a treatment for bej, then he could redress at least a little of that cruel loss, but he was no closer to an answer than his father had been, for all he’d puzzled over it on and off for years. It was a capricious and deadly disease. A baby might survive it, a grown man in the fullness of his powers, such as his father, might be dead in two days. It struck without warning, wasn’t infectious the way common diseases such as colds were, and no herb or drug known in Darshian affected it. All a healer could do was try to alleviate the excruciating pain and fevers, and hope the patient’s body would not fail. His mother had known that, but even so, her grief and guilt had overcome her duty to her children and her clan.
    Kei shook his head. Dwelling on this did no one any good. He bent to his father’s notes again, extracting his own from the neatly written pages. As he glowered at some symbol his father had used which he didn’t recognise, a ball of flame appeared under his nose. He reared back in shock, scrubbing at his face, though he hadn’t been burned in the least.
    “Did I frighten you?” a lazy voice drawled from the doorway.
    “You know you did,” Kei said crossly, but couldn’t hold back a broad smile as he turned and saw Reji, all dusty and travel stained, his hand still outstretched from having evoked his little flame sprite. “You’re back sooner than expected.”
    “Yes, I know. And I’m badly in need a drink.”
    Kei got off his stool and walked over. His handsome visitor immediately enveloped him in a crushing hug and kissed him, thrusting his tongue without any invitation into Kei’s mouth. Kei grinned and met the challenge, rubbing himself against Reji’s hard, lean body. “Hmmm, just a drink?” he said, arching an eyebrow.
    Reji kissed him again. “Maybe...for now, healer. But later, I might need your help.”
    “Oh? For a medical condition?”
    “Yes. I have this really hard....”
    “Hard...?” Kei murmured, teasing Reji’s nipple through his shirt.
    Reji’s voice cracked. “Leg.”
    “Oh. Your...leg. And what might your...leg...need?”
    Reji cleared his throat, but his voice was still a little hoarse. “A rub...might need a rub...later.”
    The way Reji ground against him, ‘later’ might not be all that long. His lack of control amused Kei no end. It had been two months since they’d seen each other, and while he had no doubt Reji had taken his pleasure where he could in Darshek, his friend’s lustiness needed the edge taken off it after over three weeks on the road. He nudged Reji’s thighs apart with his knee, and slid his leg up inside Reji’s, pressing against his groin. “I don’t just rub legs,” he said huskily.
    “Gods, stop or I’ll embarrass myself.”
    “Not just him,” Kei heard someone say in a dry tone. “Reji, you have no sense of propriety in the least.” Myka came over to stand in front of them, and Reji abruptly abandoned Kei’s so his little sister could be kissed enthusiastically, and hardly