Melodious Alone

LOREN

As Loren had suspected, fur was similar enough to hair that they could study it and make hypotheses from those observations without the need to go grave-digging. It wasn’t surprising: people had a lot more in common with animals than they were often willing to admit. As for his summoned creatures, he shook his head at Phoebe’s question in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. ”They’re more like extensions of my thoughts than anything else, so no, they don’t feel anything any more than I do.” As the healer reached out for the mouse and rubbed its head, the Launceleyn made it stand up, salute, and then hop in place in a decidedly unmouselike manner as a demonstration of what he was talking about. ”And of course I wouldn’t mind spending time in the College, so long as you let me actually help with the experiments instead of keeping me around to make guinea pigs.” Or whatever rodent or animal she might want to test. Regardless, he wasn’t going to just sit there and look pretty and cast his spells while she did all the hard work.

Nathaniel Wren or Nate or whoever this man was didn’t sound familiar to Loren, so he just shrugged at the name. ”Don’t know him.” Still, it sounded as if the other professor had quite a bit of useful information. As for everyone else, well, Phoebe was safe in that regard. ”Don’t worry, I include myself in the idiot category. You’re safe though.” He held up his empty plate and cup. ”Where can I clean these?” She’d probably insist on doing it again, but the Launceleyn was confident he could wear down her resistance to letting him help out on that front eventually.

But don’t be weary if it’s broken

Families are like that—

they’re split up and always torn.