Tests of Blood - 33. Chapter 33

“So that’s what the big deal is about.” Dalen said as he lay in his bed the next morning with Carl’s head resting on his chest. The Bard’s hand was idly tracing the lines of the scar on Dalen’s stomach, and both of them were fully nude, lying on top of the covers. It had been an unusually warm night inside the Vale domes.

“You’ve got to be kidding.” Carl laughed in surprise. “That was your first time?”

“Couldn’t you tell?” Dalen asked with an answering laugh. He hadn’t felt this relaxed in a long time, and he was wondering if he had time for another go at the Bard. There were a couple things the Bard had done last night he wanted to try and imitate.

“I thought after our last talk you’d have experimented at least a little.” Carl huffed quietly as his eyes met Dalen’s. “I’ve got to stop doing that.”

“Doing what?” Dalen asked.

“Looking into your eyes.” Carl said with a slight shudder. “They’re so pale blue that it’s way too easy to get lost in them and forget about the rest of the world. The next thing I know, we’ll be lifebonded and I’ll be playing Stefan to your Vanyel.”

“I won’t let something like that happen.” Dalen growled as his body tensed with old fears.

“Stop that.” Carl laughed as he slapped Dalen’s belly lightly. “Sweet Havens, your stomach is as hard as rock. You need to put some fat over these muscles of yours. Lying on you is like lying on stone.”

“Good.” Dalen chuckled. “I won’t have to worry about you making me your favorite pillow.”

“Not bloody likely.” Carl half-growled, but there was a smile on his face. “I do have to admit, I’m kind of happy I got to be your first after all. If this is what you’re like with your first time, I’m going to hate to see the quivering mess you leave people when you’ve got some experience under your belt.”

“I’m a fast learner with a good teacher.” Dalen said in an attempt to compliment Carl on his skills in bed. Truth was, he couldn’t imagine a more perfect person for his first time. He liked Carl, and Carl liked him, but the Bard wasn’t about to form silly romantic attachments that didn’t really exist, and despite the fact that he was a Bard, Dalen knew that Carl would be discrete and not make a song about the randy Prince hopping from bed to bed.

Not that he had any intentions of hopping from bed to bed, but now he had a better understanding of what the two Tayledras had been talking about.

“What’s so funny?” Carl asked as Dalen chuckled.

“Oh, I’m just imagining the looks on the faces of two Tayledras.” Dalen said with amusement. “We were quite loud last night, and I think they’ll have an idea of what I’ve been putting up with from them.”

“Oh.” Carl said with a frown. “Um, Dalen, you know that…”

“This isn’t a romantic relationship.” Dalen said with another chuckle. “Don’t worry, my carefree Bard friend, I won’t be seeking to tie you down anytime soon. In fact, I’m wondering how quickly I can kick you out of my bed and find another bed warmer.”

“Dear Lords, I’ve created a monster.” Carl laughed and then he did rise up off the bed with a more serious look. “I do have to get going though. The Bardic Circle is meeting to discuss the things I told you about last night, and I have to prepare a report for the Provisional Council as well. Making Master status was never supposed to be like this.”

“Poor baby.” Dalen laughed as Carl gave him one last sensual kiss before scrambling out of the bed and searching for his clothes. The half-finished flagon of wine was still sitting on a side table. The two of them really had talked most of the night, and then he’d invited the Bard to share his bed. Carl had taken it to mean more than Dalen had intended, but when Carl’s lips touched his, Dalen’s resolve had crumbled and he’d eagerly sought the contact of his flesh against Carl’s.

Any regrets? Jadev asked as he slipped back into Dalen’s mind. His Companion had wisely kept himself apart once the Bard had started kissing Dalen.

No. Dalen said as he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He was surprised at his answer, and even more surprised at how freely it came to him. Giving the two Tayledras an apology for being so rude with them yesterday was not going to be fun for him. They would probably have a great deal of fun with him over it, he expected.

That’s good. Jadev said. I was beginning to worry I’d become bonded to an Ice King without emotions.

I have emotions. Dalen said sharply.

But you never show them, and you rarely let people get closer to you than the most casual of friendships. Jadev replied. It has worried me.

Happy now? Dalen asked and snorted when Jadev gave him a mental raspberry as answer instead of an intelligible response. He stretched his limbs out on the comfortable bed before getting up and starting the day. It was nearly a half-hour later than he normally woke, but no one had yet pestered him. In fact, it was the normal day of rest at the end of the week, and while he still had a busy day ahead of him, he didn’t have as full a schedule as normal. For instance, there would be no classes today, and no meetings of any of the groups he usually attended.

There was mage-work that he could do, and after a breakfast in the kitchens and visiting with Liandra, Keeper of the Vale, he returned to the workroom that he used in the Vale dome. Most of the workrooms had been taken over as meeting rooms, but there were three that were still available for use by mages, and he took the smaller of the three in case anyone needed the others. Three hours later, he was hungry and finished with his work where he set up the initial flows that would eventually power the pumps supplying water to Burnham.

The new Heartstone was a joy to work with, he found as he linked with it to do the actual setup work. The new Stone was eager to be useful, and moved much quicker than the Haven Heartstone. It had its own personality already, a far different one than the Stone he had worked with before.

“Heyla.” Mavren said as he sat down next to her in the dining area. There were several tables in the room now instead of one large one, and there were a dozen Heralds and twice as many Trainees scattered around the tables. Mavren was sitting at one of the smaller tables with a nervous looking young man with a very strong Mage-gift wearing Trainee Grays. Dalen hadn’t seen him yet and figured he was probably newly arrived.

“Good afternoon, Mavren.” Dalen said with a smile as he sat down, putting his plate of sandwiches and potato rings down in front of him. “Who is this?”

“Dalen, I’d like you to meet our newest Trainee, Gavin Thoraldson.” Mavren said with a smile on her face.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Gavin.” Dalen said with a smile. “When did you arrive?”

“I, uh, I got here early this morning.” Gavin replied with a nervous twitch at the corner of his mouth and he looked a little wide-eyed. “Herald Mavren’s been getting me settled and all that.”

“We’re glad to have you here.” Dalen smiled. “How do you like it so far?”

“It reminds me of home, in a way.” Gavin shrugged. “I come from k’Valdemar you see, so it’s kind of like what I’m used to with all these plants and such.”

“Oh, you’re from k’Valdemar?” Dalen asked with surprise. “A good friend of mine hails from there. Bart Firkin.”

“I know him.” Gavin said with a slight smile. “He’s a good kid.”

“You’re not much older than him.” Dalen countered and Gavin shrugged.

“Two years.” Gavin answered. “Everyone always says I’m younger than I look, but that might be because I’ve been doing magic since I was ten. Bart’s father was my primary instructor. My family lived on the edge of the settled lands in the area until a nest of Colddrakes came down from the mountain. The Tayledras got there, but not before they’d already got Ma and Pa. I was taking the little ‘uns to a safe place and the Tayledras mages saved us. After that, well, Adept Firkin took us in at the Vale. I think Bart was jealous when my gifts showed up early and his father started spending a lot of time with me. I hear he’s got some Gifts now too, and a Companion so maybe we’ll get along better now.”

“I hope so.” Dalen said with a very slight frown.

“Jolandra says he’s different now than I remember, and I heard he’s got himself a high-ranking position so I know he’ll feel better about that.” Gavin said. “He’s always had a kind of low self-esteem ‘cause most of the people in k’Valdemar have one gift or another and he never showed signs of one.”

“He’s running around here somewhere so you’ll run into him sooner or later.” Dalen said before looking at Gavin with a critical eye. “You say you’ve been training in k’Valdemar since you were ten?”

“That’s right.” Gavin said with a nod of his head. “Adept Firkin was quite put out that he’d spent the past seven years training me up and then, bam! This Companion comes trotting into the Vale right in the middle of the celebration for me passing my Adept trials and demands that we go on the road right away. They knew what a Companion coming means, and well, Jolandra and I’ve been together for three weeks now so there’s no way I’d have it different, but Adept Firkin made me wait long enough to write a letter to Bart. I think he’s got some sharp things to say for sending a Companion to come and take me away.”

“You know Bart didn’t…” Dalen started to explain and then stopped at the smile on the man’s face. Gavin did look younger than his seventeen years, and unlike anyone else he’d seen raised by the Tayledras, his black hair was cut short. Still, it was possible to see the finger-thick strands of white that came with working in node and Heartstone magic.

“I know and he knows.” Gavin shrugged. “It’s just no one from k’Valdemar has ever been Chosen before, but with the troubles you got going on, I’m not surprised the Companions are snapping anyone they can get their hooves into.”

How nice of the man. Jadev snorted in Dalen’s mind, and from the look on Mavren’s face she’d gotten a similar comment. The look on Gavin’s lean, angular face was even more amusing.

“Um, Jolandra says maybe that was a bit rude.” Gavin said with a barely concealed chuckle. “I guess it’s a good thing I just never found a bondbird that I got along with all that much. They get real jealous at times.”

“It would be bad for a bondbird and a Companion to fight with each other.” Dalen did chuckle and while he wasn’t completely comfortable with Gavin yet, he was fairly sure he’d be able to work with the new Herald.

“I was actually going to come looking for you after lunch.” Mavren said. “We aren’t quite sure what to do with Gavin here. He’s fully trained in his Gifts, he’s of age, it’s just he’s lacking in a lot of the specialized training we give Heralds.”

“You said you just passed your Adept’s test?” Dalen asked Gavin who nodded.

“I probably could have taken it a year ago, but I really wanted to make sure I wouldn’t fail the first time I took the thing.” Gavin said after finishing chewing his sandwich and swallowing the food.

“After we eat, I’ll take you and we can meet with Moonscream k’Treva and Feathertouch k’Vala.” Dalen said after thinking for a moment and eating a few bites of food.

“I’ve heard their names, but never met them.” Gavin said with a nod. “Papa Firkin said they were two of the best and he suggested a couple of times they might be better to teach me than him, but they weren’t taking students at the time.”

“Ah.” Dalen said with a frown since he’d never heard any of this from anyone before. Here was a stranger that knew a lot of the same people that he knew, but none of them had mentioned him before. He was almost suspicious, but then realized that Gavin couldn’t be an enemy agent if he was Chosen, and more than likely none of his conversations with anyone would have brought up Gavin. In fact, there was a strong likelihood that if Bart didn’t like him, he’d not have mentioned Gavin at all.

“Still, it’ll be nice meeting them.” Gavin said. “I assume they’re here studying that marvel you made?”

“I didn’t really make it.” Dalen said immediately. “Adept Windfire made the Permanent Gate – all I did was complete its construction.”

“Half full or half empty, it’s much the same.” Gavin shrugged and there was an almost playful banter in his voice. For some reason, Dalen was feeling uncomfortable around him until he realized its source.

For the first time in his life he was sitting across the table from a mage who was near his age and near his equal in power, and they would be working together most likely. In fact, the more he gave thought to Gavin, the more certain he was that they would be working together a lot. It would be best if they got along instead of letting the jealous feeling he had inside grow.

“Before we do that, though, let’s get to know each other better.” Dalen said and launched into a discussion of magic that quickly left Mavren behind as they talked about power flows and regulation of nodes and Heartstones. Once Dalen would have been lost within minutes himself, but that was before Windfire had taught him so much.

“Amazing.” Gavin said with a shake of his head as they continued talking long after their plates were empty and Mavren had excused herself. “I’ve never even heard the concept of regulating power flow like that, and I know the Tayledras must be going haywire with all the math you’ve got involved. You’re going to have to teach me that mathematics part because that’s not really a part of the education you get in the Vales. I can see how it would be useful though. You can keep the Heartstone from overloading the devices as long as it understands what it is doing and you’ve figured out the tolerances beforehand. The way I was taught was more about feeling what was enough or too much. It’s why the Heartstones are used to power shields, temperature controls and the like, but nothing like what you’re trying to do here, especially with a Permanent Gate! Imagine that, a Gate anyone can use as long as they can Mindspeak. That’s pure genius!”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” Dalen said and felt his cheeks blushing as Gavin looked at him. His eyes still held some remnants of their original black color, but they were now mostly a vibrant blue color that gave him a tight feeling in a location that was still a bit sore from its first-ever workout the night before. That caused him to blush deeper.

“I didn’t mean to embarrass you.” Gavin said with a smile and then looked around at the room that was now largely empty. “Er, I hope I wasn’t supposed to be anywhere this afternoon. I think we’ve talked away half the afternoon.”

“It’s okay.” Dalen said. “Today is the rest day, so you won’t be missing anything important. We can go to a workroom in a bit and I’ll show you what I’m doing with the water pumps and the Heartstone. That way you can see what I’m talking about in action. Then we’ll find Moonscream and Feathertouch. They’re probably still working on their two Gate foundations and will be until after dinner.”

“So where am I going to fit in here?” Gavin asked in a much more subdued tone. “I mean, it’s plain Valdemar needs mages, and as I told Jolandra when she Chose me, if I’m needed that bad I’ll help where I can. It’s just, I’m out of place here. Valdemar hasn’t really been a big part of my life for all that I’ve lived in its borders for most of my years. Up north, well k’Valdemar and Ghost Cat clan have a lot more influence on things than you folks down in Haven. It’s obvious from what Mavren said you’re pretty much in charge of Herald-Mages, although I’d have expected someone a bit older, no offense.”

“I’d prefer it was someone older.” Dalen shrugged. “It’s normally is, too. Dellinar was the spokesman for Herald-Mages back before the assassination of King Rothar. Now he’s King and doesn’t have half the time he did to do mage work so I’m stuck in the position along with all the responsibilities of being Heir. Maybe once you’ve been passed into Whites you can take some of those mage responsibilities over and I’ll end up being stuck with more of the work of being Heir. Hmm, maybe I should send you back up north, that way I’m not stuck doing that stuff.”

“You’re the Heir?” Gavin said with surprise and then he hit his forehead with the palm of his hand. “Of course! What an idiot. I heard your name as the Heir a few weeks before I left, but I was so focused on preparing for the Adept test that I didn’t remember it until now. Should I have been calling you ‘your highness’ or something like that?”

“Dalen is fine when we’re alone or in the company of other Heralds.” Dalen said with a slight smile. “While you’re a trainee, the most formal you’ll have to be is to call me Herald. If there’s nobles around or other officials, we all try to be a little more formal, but that’s it really. We’re all Heralds here, and the two of us are going to be working together a lot. It would be best if we can get along.”

“I can get along with you alright.” Gavin said and Dalen felt his cheeks blushing again. This was an odd feeling, and he was ready to curse Carl for last night. Something about having finally done ‘the deed’ as Carl had called it now left him thinking about it more than he ever had since he was thirteen.

“How about we get going?” Dalen suggested as he stood up and took his cup and plate back to the kitchen. Gavin followed him, and Dalen led the way to the workrooms when they’d put their plates in the pile waiting to be cleaned, explaining to Gavin the history of Burnham Vale.

The workroom they went to was the same as the one that Dalen had used earlier in the day. He remembered to grab a chair from the hallway since he’d only put the one chair in the room earlier. Normally these rooms were left empty so that if they were being used to teach Trainees, nothing would be broken. As it was, since even the most casual of magics could occasionally go astray, the furniture here was some of the cheapest available.

“Since this is the first time we’re working together, I’ll link with the Heartstone and then draw you in, if that is okay with you.” Dalen suggested once they’d sat in the two chairs, facing each other with only about a foot of distance between them. Gavin looked slightly nervous, but nodded his agreement. Since Gavin was already Chosen, and confirmed as an Adept by his instructors in k’Valdemar, Dalen felt no hesitation about keying him directly to the Heartstone, which would be the first task once they’d melded their magics into a rapport.

The Heartstone was just like it had been earlier, eager to be of service, and greeted Dalen warmly. When he reached out with a ‘hand’ to Gavin, he felt the other mage slide into rapport with him easily, almost like they’d done it before. Gavin’s magical presence was a blue-green glow of power that felt warm and inviting to Dalen, and quite unlike any but the two Tayledras Dalen had worked with before. Unlike them, there was no feeling of strangeness, though, and he found Gavin to be a strong rock in their rapport.

He knew his own power had been described as a rushing water sensation, and they merged easily, in a rush of feelings that Dalen hadn’t expected. The Heartstone was right there too, a pulsing essence of curiosity as it reached through Dalen and acquainted itself with Gavin. After Dalen reassured it that Gavin was okay to work with it, the Heartstone retreated, satisfied that all was well.

They worked together wordlessly from that point, with Gavin mostly watching what Dalen was doing, and occasionally offering his own ideas or how he would approach something differently. They didn’t use words though, rather pure thought and images. Twice Dalen relinquished control to let Gavin actually do what he was suggesting, and was impressed at how quickly their minds worked together. He’d expected it to take days in order to complete the project with powering of the city’s distant water pumps, but working together, the project was completed well before dinner time.

“I don’t believe it.” Dalen said with a shake of his head in wonder as they finished setting the linkages for the last pump and let the rapport go with a little reluctance.

“I’ve never worked with someone like that before.” Gavin said with a shake of his own head, but there was a broad smile on his face. “It’s amazing. I should be exhausted after all that work, but I feel like I’ve just had a good workout.”

“Me too.” Dalen added.

“We work well together.” Gavin said, stating the obvious.

“Yes, we’re going to have to really test this and see how well it goes with some more things.” Dalen said excitedly. “If we can do it right, we just might be able to speed up how much time it takes to make a Permanent Gate. We should talk to Moonscream and Feathertouch, see if they’ll let us try some things with one of the Gates they are building.”

“You talk really fast when you’re excited.” Gavin said as there was a knock on the door. Dalen just grinned sheepishly as he got to his feet and opened the door to find Bart standing on the other side.

“I heard you were in here with our newest Trainee.” Bart said as he tugged on the collar of his white uniform. “I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything. It’s been a half-hour since I got here and I heard nothing until a few minutes ago, and Jadev told Anton you guys were done with whatever you were doing.”

“We finished the feed lines to the water pumps.” Dalen said with a smile and was happy to see the smile on Bart’s face.

“That’s wonderful.” Bart said. “It’ll do a lot in keeping the City’s Council calmed down about different things. I knew Gavin would be a big help when Mavren told me he was here.”

“He is.” Dalen said as he moved aside so Bart could come into the small room. His smile faded as he saw Gavin, who also looked nervous while Dalen shut the door behind Bart. “If you two would rather be alone…”

“No, you can stay.” Bart said gently. “You’re my best friend, and I guess you need to know I’m not perfect.”

“I knew that already, Bart.” Dalen said lightly and enjoyed the look of outrage that flitted over Bart’s face.

“I want you here.” Bart said firmly and then turned to Gavin. “Gavin, I want to congratulate you on being Chosen and welcome you here. Your skills are sorely needed, and I know father always said you were the best student he’s ever seen in his life, and that’s saying something. Grandfather agreed with him as well. I don’t know if they ever told you that, but they both said you were going to be a great Adept one day.”

“I… I’d never heard Grandfather Firkin say that.” Gavin said with a look of surprise on his face, most likely at the friendly tone Bart was using.

“I was a right jealous bastard to you for all those years, and I hope that you can put aside my bad behavior towards you.” Bart said quickly, his words all but tumbling over each other as they rushed out of him. Dalen, who knew Bart from the last year or so wasn’t surprised, but Gavin looked pleasingly shocked.

“I… uh, thank you.” Gavin managed to stammer out once he’d got his hanging mouth back under control. “Your father wrote you a letter before I left. Sorry that its a few weeks old, but I know he had a lot to say in it. I left it in the tent they assigned me when I got here.”

“You can get it later.” Bart said with a smile. “I’ve not heard from our father in a while and while I look forward to his letter, another few hours won’t kill me.”

“Our father?” Gavin murmured.

“Yes, he did adopt you, did he not?” Bart said. “I might have been too jealous of your mage abilities to acknowledge you as a brother, but you were always there for me when I needed help, whether I wanted it or not.”

“By the Goddess, sending you to Haven was the right decision.” Gavin breathed in incredulous disbelief. “Dalen, are you sure this is the same Bart we sent you?”

“I wasn’t that bad.” Bart growled, but there was a smile on his face as Gavin took several steps forward and wrapped Bart in his arms. As Bart returned the hug and the two of them gripped each other tightly, Dalen found there were tears of quiet joy in his eyes. He knew Bart had been jealous at home, but he’d never realized the full scope of his friend’s feelings.

“You were bad at times, brother.” Gavin whispered. “But, father made sure I understood why you were doing the things you were doing, and he urged me to be patient and to stand by you anyway. He always knew this day would come, and I can just imagine the letters we will both get when he hears about us getting along.”

“He’ll think we’ve been replaced by shapeshifters or some such thing.” Bart laughed and then he turned to Dalen. “I’d introduce you to my best friend, Gavin, but I think you’ve already met him.”

“Is he just a best friend?” Gavin asked with a raised eyebrow. “I know you and Starlight were busy trading feathers before you left for Haven…”

“Shush!” Bart whispered with wide eyes while Dalen crossed his arms and gave Bart a long look.

“Uh, and just who is this Starlight?” Dalen asked with an arched eyebrow and a tapping foot, causing Bart to look flummoxed.

“Ah, I knew it!” Gavin laughed. “You two have been trading feathers!”

“Actually, no we haven’t brother.” Bart growled. “Don’t make me regret abasing myself before you.”

“You call that abasing?” Gavin laughed. “You’re lucky father made me promise not to make you get on your knees and apologize like you were proposing or something.”

“You would, you scoundrel.” Bart growled. “You can act all innocent if you want, but I know you got me back for a few of my stunts.”

“Of course I did.” Gavin said with an air of superiority. “I am the older brother after all.”

“Oh no you don’t.” Bart growled and there was a large smile on his face. “I know for a fact that you traded your first feather with that trampy girl Sunbloom when you were eleven and she was sixteen. Then you went after her twin brother so you could decide which was better.”

“Falconeyes was better.” Gavin said smugly and Dalen stared at the two of them with an open mouth.

“You both sound like–like…” Dalen stammered, trying to find a nice way to say the words that were in his mind.

“Different systems of belief, Prince Dalen.” Bart said with a smile on his face. “Oh how innocent you were when we first met, and were right up until last night when that damn Bard tripped you into bed.”

“You’re kidding.” Gavin exclaimed. “He was a virgin until last night?”

“Yes.” Bart said with a smug grin. “You’ve heard of Moonscream k’Treva of course, and how he got his name.”

“I was the one who told you about him, if you remember.” Gavin said sternly.

“Oh yeah, no wonder I couldn’t remember who told me about him.” Bart said impishly and Gavin slapped him on the shoulder. “Watch that, I’m King’s Own now brother and that means I rank everyone in this room.”

“Yippee, he goes and pulls rank again.” Dalen said with a long-suffering sigh. “Better get used to it, Gavin. He does this a lot.”

“I would imagine.” Gavin said with a laugh. “It’s the first time anyone’s given him any authority, and it has probably gone to his head.”

“Be quiet, you.” Bart said fiercely. “Don’t let Dalen distract you from hearing this story about him last night.”

“I’ll have to watch out for him.” Gavin said with a glare at Dalen. “I didn’t even notice he was changing the subject.”

“Yes, you do have to be careful.” Bart agreed. “He’s a Prince who has always been very aware of his rank and he knows all those courtly tricks on how to trip people up verbally, or literally too for that matter. Now, back to last night. So, you can imagine how this place has been ever since Moonbeam and Feathertouch started trading feathers.”

“You’re kidding!” Gavin said with wide eyes. “Is it serious?”

“Very, from what I’ve heard.” Bart said with a twinkle in his eyes. “Somehow the two of them haven’t realized I was raised in k’Valdemar and they’ve been sneaking away from my oblivious best friend here, trying not to shock his prudish sensibilities and I’ve managed to overhear quite a few of their conversations. They seem to think no one here but Dalen speaks Tayledras.”

“Oh, the gossip you must have.” Gavin actually rubbed his hands together and had a feral look in his eyes that scared Dalen.

“Later, brother.” Bart said. “Remember, we’re gossiping about Dalen now. Anyways, here I was last night sipping some milk in the kitchens before making the trek back to my quarters. Anton, that’s my Companion, he’s already sidled up to some female Companion like the randy stallion he is and so I was going to have to walk back and wanted to have some warm milk before I did.”

“You just wanted warm milk.” Gavin snorted. “You always had a weak spot for the stuff.”

“Yes, well anyways, I hear this screaming last night and thought those two bird-brains were at it again when I noticed Moonscream and Feathertouch sitting at a table together with smiles on their faces.” Bart continued and Gavin laughed.

“Oh that must have irked them.” Bart laughed.

“I think Moonscream was wondering if they could transfer his name to Dalen after the performance last night.” Bart laughed.

“I was not the one screaming.” Dalen growled, more than ready to find the cursed Bard and blast him into sterility on the spot.

“Keep telling yourself that, Dalen.” Bart laughed. “Keep telling yourself that.”

Their laughter didn’t help at all, and finally he gave up on being angry, deciding that if he couldn’t beat them it was best to just join them, and laugh as well.