Fionn waited until they were far out to sea, and well into the second watch of the night, before slipping overboard and changing his form. He really did not like doing that . . . especially when after a hundred yards or so a merrow swam up next to him.
"It's a poor imitation of an orca that you make, at least in your ability to swim," said the merrow.
"I swim like a rock. I've not had much practice."
The merrow nodded. "That I can see. We had word from the dvergar thanking us for returning their hammer."
"Umph. Thanking you."
"You could have told us," said the merrow.
"What, and spoil my fun? Besides, 'Brys guessed. Now if you could do me a small favor I'd be somewhat in your debt. That vessel over there has the human mage that returned the Angmarad to the merrow. I've got business to transact elsewhere for a few hours. Could you keep a watch on it?"
The merrow grinned. "She is as safe with us as it is possible to be. We knew from the moment she went onto the water. That's why I am here. There is a debt and we honor those."
"Good, because I have to go and visit the fire-beings."
"They're not overly welcoming," said the merrow.
"I wasn't planning to tell them I was there," said Fionn.
There was a small rocky islet ahead—barely a giant's handful of boulders sticking out of the sea. Fionn got as close as possible, transformed himself, and swam ashore. A little later the dragon took to the air, flying towards several fumaroles which smoked and steamed among the ash and pumice of a volcanic vent. He had to land some distance away and swim once again, as darkness and the sulphurous fog were no impediment to the vision of the fire-beings.
But the creatures of energy liked water even less than Fionn did. He swam up a lava tunnel and into caves they were unaware of. From here . . . well, he had to break down a wall, and then walk down several more lava tunnels to the place where the creatures of smokeless flame kept their stock of loot for use on other species. They had no real use for it themselves. The black lava-glass of the tunnels with its clinkery razor edges made for a good defense for the place . . . from anything less tough than a dragon. Fionn had to wait for several of the creatures to pass. It would have been so much simpler to help the flame beings to burn up, but they were still life of a sort. And therefore sacrosanct, at least from direct intervention by him.
Their treasure room had a door—but it was really just to keep the heat out. Its defense was a wall of seething, crackling energy, that would kill energy creatures and almost anything else that lived.
To a dragon it was like a gentle massage. Fionn ignored (not without difficulty) the gold and helped himself to the items he'd come to fetch, and then left. It was hard not to re-organize things or to start some trouble. But under the circumstances it seemed the wisest course, and even if the wisest was not usually his first choice, Fionn simply left.
A little later he was involved in the complicated task of getting back on board a vessel without being seen.
He was helped by the yelling.
The captain, who was trying to keep the shouting protagonists apart, was relieved to see Fionn. Too relieved to worry about the fact that his black hair was still streaming water, and that his clothes had been pulled on in haste.
"Just what is going on here?" boomed Fionn, quelling the riot by sheer volume.
"He hit me!" said Keri.
"I slapped you," said the Scrap. "Because you're a slut and . . ."
"I refused him and he tried to force me," said Keri.
Fionn laughed. He laughed so much he had to hold onto the rail. "I think it's the sheer inventiveness of your kind that terrifies even the dragons," he said to her.
"You think just because he's your boy-lover he'd never look at a girl? He was being unfaithful to you!" hissed Keri, furiously.
That made Fionn laugh all the more. And the Scrap slapped her again.
Justin surged forward.
Fionn picked him up by the shirt front and deposited him, hard, on his butt on the deck. "Now, let's not have any more of this silliness," he said, firmly. "All of you go back to bed. Your own beds. Young woman," he said to Keri, "you should at least learn to lie a bit better. My apprentice never made any passes at anyone. She has no interest in women, not even ones of negotiable virtue."
Meb gaped at him, at a loss for words.
"Are you saying that he's a girl?" demanded the bravo, rubbing his hind end.
"Yes," said Fionn.
"But . . . he is wearing trousers," said Keri, the boundaries of her world challenged.
"It is possible for females to do so," said Finn. "As the Scrap has lived a rather sheltered life in some ways, I won't ask her to show you. Now be off with you. I paid your passage on this ship. I think the captain will be happy, after this little fracas, to put you off on the first rock we pass if I ask him to. Go. Now."
And they went. So did the crew. Fionn could, at need, command. That left the Scrap standing there, Díleas pressing against her leg. Tears were quietly streaming down her face.
"What is wrong?" asked Fionn gently. Partly he was soothing her because she was possessed of enormous talent, and a dvergar artifact of great power, and if upset, could do anything. Partly he was gentle because . . . well, he was fond of her. He hadn't ever allowed himself to get this close to any other living thing, for this long, in many, many eons.
She sniffed. "I"—she swallowed—"I can't be your apprentice, now that you've found out. I didn't mean to deceive you, Finn! I would never! It just . . . happened."
He fished out a handkerchief from a pocket. He'd left his clothes behind on the boat, and was glad the crew and the combatants hadn't seen him, wet, naked and assisted by a merrow, return to them. "Wipe away your tears and blow your nose, then. I have always known exactly who and what you are. And I am not precisely an ordinary gleeman, as I think you've realized, Scrap. You must have realized that by now. My . . . trade hasn't had an apprentice for a long time. It was about time that I trained someone."
"You're . . . you're not just going to send me away?" she said in a voice full of both doubt and hope.
"Where do you get these odd ideas from?" asked Fionn.
Her little face lit up. "Thank you. Oh, thank you, master."
He had meant it as a comforting hug. She clung to him as if she was drowning. She lifted her face to be kissed. So he did.
Some long moments later, it occurred to him that when he next saw that black-hearted son of a ymir-maggot Motsognir, or Dvalinn for that matter, he was going to do something particularly fiendishly nasty to them. Steal all their treasures or something. The artifact they'd given her was thick with dragon magic, dvergar magic and of course her own. It would help her to become what she wished to be—which right now, was to be his lover. He pushed her away, but gently.
Instantly she was contrite, making him feel considerably worse about it. "I'm sorry, master, uh, Finn. I . . . I didn't mean to . . ."
He lifted her downcast chin. "But you did want to."
She nodded.
Finn sighed. "I wanted to, too." He did not explain why, or that love among his kind was brief. "But it cannot be, Anghared."
"My name is Meb."
Fionn smiled to hide his sadness. "It is given to me that I should know the names of all things. There are fewer names than you would think. They tend to get re-used . . . but I know all of them. That was your birth name. 'Meb' was merely what your stepmother called you. But that is why I cannot be what you wish me to be. I am not your of kind, my small scrap of humanity."
"I know. You're a mage. I know the dragons want to kill you, Finn. They kill all human magic workers. But you're cleverer than they are. And Díleas and I will keep watch for you." She patted the pup.
Fionn rubbed his face. "I think it is time I corrected a few of your misapprehensions. Scrap, it is not me that the dragons want to kill. It's you."
"Me? Why?" Her eyes twinkled with the audacity that she'd been learning, slowly. She cheerfully contradicted him now. It would have been hard to imagine once. "No, Finn. Sorry, but you have it wrong. I know that it's you. I'd never betray you, though. It is . . . too important to me."
Humans, thought Fionn, were rather like dogs. He'd got very used to having this one around him. It was not pleasant to hurt her. But it had to be said. "There are reasons why it cannot be me, just as there are reasons why you could not have impregnated that young woman, Scrap. You see, I am not human, whereas you are. I am the thing you fear and hate most. I am a dragon."
"You . . . look very human, Finn," she said, failing to restrain the dimple in her cheek.
This was not going quite as he had foreseen. "Dragons can take on a number of other forms, Scrap. I am . . . unusual, even among them. You are even more unusual. You do not belong here. My work—to put it in simple terms—is to put everything in the right places so that energies may balance. I know these things, just as I know where the trees and rocks belong. Do you remember the milestone we moved?"
"Yes. It was quite heavy." She reached out and put her hand on his arm. "It doesn't matter. I won't trouble you if . . . if you don't want me. I am happy just to be your apprentice. For always and always."
Her power was quite terrifying and she did not even know she was doing it. "Scrap . . ."
She continued, a look of trust in her eyes, that serious intent expression on her face that she got when she focussed her attention on anything—which was when she worked her magics best. "And it wouldn't matter to me if you were a dragon. Or an alvar with glamor to fool me with appearances, Finn. You are just Finn. Just like the mountain looked like all sorts of things but it was always Groblek. The world is a strange place, full of stranger things than I could have imagined once. I'm just a poor girl from a small fishing village. I don't know very much, or understand what you're doing. But I've seen enough to trust you. That is all."
Fionn sighed. "And you are probably going to drive me mad, Scrap. It's time you got some rest. I've still got other work to do." He dug out his charts and spread them close to the deck-lamp. He didn't actually need the light any more than he actually needed the charts.
* * *
Sleep was very far from Meb as she obediently lay down on the plaited straw pallet on the deck and pulled both her cloak and the blanket tight around her—and then opened it up again to let Díleas in. She needed her dog's simple unquestioning love now more badly than ever. Her thoughts and emotions were in a turmoil, one that followed her even into a confused, restless sleep. The small-village Meb told her that she was a brazen hussy. The practical Meb told it to shut up. That he didn't actually like her and was being kind. She wasn't beautiful or curvaceous. And the dreamer Meb wondered about moving rocks and the love between Groblek and the sea. It was all very complicated, hard even to start to understand, like just what Finn actually did. That wasn't being a gleeman or even a thief. Well, he'd said he'd keep her as his apprentice. She'd learn. She peeped at him from under lidded eyes. His black hair was still dripping-wet. It was cold out. He ought to dry it. Odd. It was a clear winter night with no sign of rain to have wet it.
The next day brought Justin seeking to mend some bridges, exerting himself to be charming. Meb was not that easily misled. But he did have a skill she wanted to learn, and juggling on the rolling ship was not easy. "Will you teach me how to read and write?" she asked.
He laughed lightly. "Women don't do that."
"They don't wear trousers and juggle either," said Meb, tartly. "Show me how it works."
"Very well. It's not easy."
Meb did not find it as difficult as he seemed to think it should be. It was quite logical when it was explained. She rapidly got to spelling out and sounding the words, and working out what they were. Keri did not approve of her lover's spending time with a woman who wore trousers, and kept coming over to distract him, while studiously ignoring Meb.
The latter part suited Meb fine.