God, Lynne. Tawney and I are in so much trouble. Fuck! I don't even know how to explain! Jeff has some embarrassing pictures of us. If you don't mind ...I would rather not say more than that. But they are awful and if they got out at school, or if our parents saw them then life would end, especially if Tawney's dad saw them. He ... well, you've met him. You know what he is like. He might actually kill her!" Now my brother is blackmailing us. The things you saw at Rudy's, that was nothing."I. ‘What’s this? A real hug and not one of those okay-you-hugged-me-now-let-me-go hugs you’re so fond of?’ He didn’t answer but instead lightly yanked her ponytail. She stuck her tongue out at him in response. ‘Why the long delay?’ ‘Last minute family gathering, bad shrimp, you get the picture. Say, have you shrunk? You seem shorter…’ ‘No, actually I think you got into Alice’s magic cookies. You’re 23, stop growing!’ ‘You know I can’t resist a good cookie. It’s still good to see you though, even. Qiao did not want the General to think they were taking this less than seriously, and that was hard enough with Malark strumming on his lute.Himo rose from her lotus position in a graceful motion without using her hands. She always moved fluidly, even for an elf. “General Grodan, hero of the battle of Raven Rock,” Himo said formally, nodding towards him.He grunted non-committedly as Marlark’s lute quieted. “Listen up, I don’t have time to repeat myself,” the older man said. “The horde has split. Thoughts whirling with emotions strange to me, I imagined that I could take some essential life force from my body and share it with him: the only thing he lacked. He and I barely seemed to exist as separate people. We were one entity for a little while,life and death lying in one bed, eternal lovers with a single heartbeat. Part Twenty-Three Eventually he raised his head and pulled a few strands of my hair out of his mouth. ‘You’re such a little thing, Irene,’ he said through a sardonic grin..