\n I, Dacien
\n\n A Story by Onyx Tao
\n\n
\n\n © 2011
\n\n Released under the Creative Commons
\n\n Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike License
\n\n http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
\n\n Chapter Eleven: interlude I
\n\n
\n\n General Osaze swallowed, and came to a decision; it was a difficult decision, and all the harder for being deferred. He should have made a clean confession to Te. No, not to Te, to Lord Teodor, Patriarch of Lycaili. Lord Teodor deserved to know. He needed to know, no matter how embarassing or inconvenient it might be Oz, one-time lover and friend of Te. General Osaze had a responsibility which he had avoided. If Lord Teodor didn't need to know, that would be one thing, and General Osaze had neglected to mention any number of things to Teodor when he'd been Lord Fog. But keeping the information from Lord Teodor ... a different matter. Watching Lord Teodor order Mage Dacien returned, dead or alive, had driven home his own dereliction. No quiver of his muzzle, no twitch of his eyes would reveal to anyone just how harshly that word resounded in his mind, but it was the right one. Dereliction .
\n\n Dereliction, born of cowardice. "Filius," General Osaze said, a moment after Teodor left the room. He would not put it off another moment. "Take over for me. Milos, please come with me. We will have a private word with Lord Teodor, if he will permit."
\n\n Te had taken chambers across from what had been Cresphonte's chamber. He nodded to the two guards on duty, and knocked firmly on the door, to no response. He took a deep breath, and knocked again, calling out, "Lord Teodor, it is General Osaze. I must have a word with you."
\n\n After a moment, the reply came. "The matter is important and urgent? It cannot wait?"
\n\n "In my opinion, My Lord, it cannot. It ... it has waited too long, already."
\n\n Another long silence, and General Osaze began to frame another statement, when Teodor called, "Of course. Come in, General."
\n\n Oz told Milos to wait outside for him, and the smaller minotaur nodded as Oz went in.
\n\n The private rooms Teodor had selected were small, and Teodor had ordered the furnishings removed, and replaced with things from his own house. He had not wanted to bleach out what had been there; it was in storage, against the next occupant. Osaze looked around, seeing the room blur into a familiar shade of gray. He smiled at the memories it brought back, and then he banished them again.
\n\n Teodor had already changed into a loose lounging robe, and had a glass half-full of apricot brandy. He sat by the fireplace, with a tasteful arrangement of pine cones and logs where the fire would burn when the weather turned cold, and took a gulp of the brandy. "General," he said. "I am sorry I canceled my audiences early, but I did not think anything was so vital as to be worth staying."
\n\n "No, Lord Teodor. These words are to be private. If you would ensure our privacy ..."
\n\n "Done. Please speak, Oz. What is it?"
\n\n "Lord Teodor, I am Polychome Viridian," Osaze admitted. "I report directly to Polychrome himself."
\n\n Teodor blinked. And then blinked again. "You?"
\n\n "Yes, My Lord."
\n\n "And ... you were Polychrome back when ..."
\n\n "Yes, My Lord, I was. And I was Polychrome on your most recent mission to Ourouborous as well."
\n\n "Cresphontes knew."
\n\n "I am not sure, My Lord," Osaze said. "He commanded Polychrome to see to it himself, and I received the assignment from him. I suspect Lord Cresphontes knew I was in the organization, but I do not know if he knew my standing within it."
\n\n "Viridian."
\n\n "Yes, My Lord."
\n\n "What does that mean?"
\n\n "It means ... My Lord, we Polychrome serve Lycaili, and we serve best the less that is known of us. In the proper order of things, Polychrome would have made himself known to you, but I have known that was not possible. Cresphontes tasked him otherwise." Osaze took a deep breath, and continued. "I am of great authority, I report directly to Polychrome himself, and he has trusted me with some of his secrets, and some of Cresphontes', as well."
\n\n "Who is your senior, then?"
\n\n "My Lord, if you ask again, I will tell you, but I beg you not to ask unless you need the information."
\n\n "I need to know how long before he can brief me himself."
\n\n "That is not known, and his name would not tell you that. If things go well, from ten days to a month. If things go poorly, longer."
\n\n The gray minotaur nodded without enthusiasm. "Very well. You have made contact. Was that all?"
\n\n "My Lord, I probably have the key to Milos' report."
\n\n "And that is what caused you to show yourself?"
\n\n "My Lord, our standing orders are to be invisible, unseen, and unnoticed," General Osaze said. "And ... I thought you might hold that business in Ourouborous against me."
\n\n "The command to wipe that warrior's mind - burn it clean - was yours?"
\n\n "It was. It was necessary, My Lord. I would order it again."
\n\n "Well," said Teodor, after a moment. "I understand what it is to give such orders, now. Perhaps you were wise to wait." Teodor took another gulp of brandy. "I can hardly hold yours against you."
\n\n "My Lord, this is not about that, it is about Milos' report."
\n\n "Yes," sighed Teodor. "I imagine Milos is waiting outside, and has no idea of any of this."
\n\n "You are, as usual, correct."
\n\n "Bring him in. I'll factor him into the privacy, and you can, what is the term, debrief him?"
\n\n "You will see, My Lord," Osaze said, going to the door. "If, in fact, I have the key. It depends." Osaze opened the door, and gestured for Milos to enter.
\n\n The brown minotaur looked slightly uncomfortable as he joined them; Osaze standing, and Teodor slumped in a chair. "My Lord? General? Did you have further questions?"
\n\n "Yes," said Osaze. "Milos, who am I?"
\n\n "General Osaze," Milos said uncertainly.
\n\n "And who else is in the room?"
\n\n "Lord Teodor," Milos said.
\n\n "And Lord Teodor is the Patriarch of Lycaili?" At Milos' nod, Osaze added, "A verbal reply, please."
\n\n "He is," said Milos, and then a look of understanding chased the glimmer of surprise from his face. "I am alone with General Osaze and the Patriarch."
\n\n "Polychrome viridian," Osaze said. "Let that is silent be heard."
\n\n Milos looked up for a moment, and then, when he looked down, his eyes were slightly unfocused. The brown minotaur kneeled, and began to speak. "Lord Cresphontes," he said, in a voice more like Sasha's than his own, "I report a disaster of my own making. The battle Milos will report, but the loss of Mage Dacien is more profound. His loyalty is not yet ours, My Lord, but I judge he will be, or rather, he would have come be loyal. He knows he will not be welcomed back in the Empire as a minotaur, and is seeing that we are far from the monsters the humans imagine. I judged it better to let that sentiment grow than to meddle, although if you tell Xavien I meddled, I will never contradict it.
\n\n "Our attackers had a talented air mage of their own. He is not as practiced as I, but good enough. If I survive - the matter is in doubt - I will have much work to pull our guards from his coma. I was able to break it for some of the protected guards, but for those without natural resistance or manufactured resistance, it will be a great labor. I suggest diverting Ianthos immediately on your receipt.
\n\n "I have never encountered this air-mage. He is pristine-ebon cross, even as our attackers were, and I would - will - know him again if ever we come into proximity. In our battle, I was unable to steal so much as a name from his mind, which was odd. Ask Teodor if that requires explanation.
\n\n "Dacien ... here I must report a stroke of stupidity. Eager to avoid any of the surprises that bedeviled Teodor, I placed an inhibition on using his magic into him. At least I had the opportunity to put the deep protections against mindbending in place, although they were never meant to hold up in a capture scenario. I am not sure how they will play out."
\n\n "Tell Teodor that I take full responsibility for losing his son, and that I will do everything I can to recover him.
\n\n "I will return as quickly as I can consistent with our security.
\n\n "My Lord." With that, Milos shook his head.
\n\n "Did that ..."
\n\n "Yes, thank you, Master Milos," said Teodor. "Well." Teodor looked at the fireplace for a moment. "Well. Well."
\n\n "Lord Teodor?" asked Milos hesitantly. "Is all well?"
\n\n "No," said Teodor. "Master Milos, please return to General Zachiah. Organize a relief force. I want Lord Doze safely back in Labyrinth now."
\n\n "My Lord ..."
\n\n "Oh, I can't have it, I know," Teodor said. "But come as close as you may, yes?"
\n\n "I understand, Lord Teodor," Milos said, and left immediately.
\n\n Teodor simply gazed up at Osaze, silently, for several minutes, until, finally, Osaze spoke. "I beg your forgiveness," the minotaur said quietly.
\n\n "Whose?" said Teodor, refilling his glass. "Lord Teodor's? Lord Fog's?" His lips quirked up into a fleeting half-smile. "Just ... Te's?"
\n\n "All of them," the gold minotaur said. "But especially Te's."
\n\n "Well, we all forgive you," Teodor said, and waved a hand at the door. "Now go away."
\n
If I am to understand, Sasha used air magic to influence Dacien into not [i]wanting[/i] to use his magic - a sort of magical deterrent to prevent any unwanted magical slip-ups - correct? I'm wondering if that kind of inhibition holds when the person under it's influence is being attack; would Dacien, influenced as he is by Lord Doze, hesitate to use magic when he is being assaulted, or would he use all the tools at his disposal to protect himself and the rest of his compatriots?
Although the situation makes me thinks back when he, Dapple, Lord Green, and Lord Fog were attack by ninja in House Green, and I wonder if his lack of knowledge (in terms of magic and how it works) would prevent him from even attempting to use magic in the first place.
I suppose I'll get the answer to my questions in the next few chapters when we learn, in greater detail, exactly [i]what[/i] happened in the latest assault.
Hi Alexander Crestfallen —
Sasha is a mindbender, and he's been fucking with Dacien, pretty much on Cresphonte's direct orders.
In the first attack, he didn't have any time to do anything. It was all over in less that two seconds.
Also, Dacien's magic, although potent, is potent only in the right situations. He's a metamage, his is the magic of magic, and he can't directly affect reality. If he had a few spells, he'd be an OK spellslinger, but he doesn't have any attack or defense spells …
… that he is aware of.
Cheers,
Onyx Tao
I know this causes issues, but without the promises he made not to interfere with the magics of others or practice manipulating magics outside of a controlled environment. I think it would be better if they have said, "dont, but use your judgement if there is an exceptional exception required." ^.~
Hola ChakatDierdre —
That's true. But one of the defining characteristics of CB-style minotaurs is hubris. The better ones fight the inclination in themselves, but they see themselves as the rightful masters of creation, and they tend toward unimaginative (with the exception of the Roan). It's not a combination that encourages a lot of flexibility, and even someone as determinedly humble as Sasha falls prey to it on occasion.
As a character-driven story, I see this as all about decisions, made for the best of reasons, by fallible creatures. Some of those decisions are better than others.
And up to this point, Dacien has been permitted to make very few decisions for himself. If he's going to grow into what he could be, he needs to take that for himself. One of my favorite authors (Lois McMasters Bujold, lest I lose the opportunity to plug her!) said (well, she had a character say, which is very much not the same thing), if I may paraphrase her, that adulthood is not an award bestowed for being a good child.
Cheers,
Onyx Tao
Its just if Dacien was a human, I dont see them telling any Minotaur they are not to use their judgement in defense of their person and those he serves. This is more of the stance Minotaurs take with Humans (it is our role to defend you and you having to defend yourself is almost a sign of distrust of your Minotaur superiors/owner). This is just a bit counter to their reasoning when addressing how to treat Dacien earlier in this story line where they asserted he was a Bull and to be treated as a Bull, with several concerns over him being a "new"/young/inexperienced bull. I have come to think of Minotaurs as considered as logical and contemplative, while stressing tradition... I just am at a loss at the seeming... inconsistency in their applications.
Hi ChakatDierdre —
There's certainly some truth in that. Some of the more conservative don't see him as an actual minotaur, while even the more accepting think Dacien will need a lot of 'easing' into his eventual role as a high Clan lord.
The only way in which Dacien was treated differently than a from-birth-minotaur was Sasha's investigating his loyalty. Sasha would have put an inhibition on any apprentice. It might have been weaker, but then, it might not have, as well. It would depend on the apprentice. In Dacien's case, Sasha was guided by Teodor's experience of things going very, very wrong.
Just because they say they should treat him as a young, inexperienced bull, and even intend to do so, does not mean they can, completely. Even minotaur are not perfectly consistent.
Cheers,
Onyx Tao
So there are restrictions, and necessary restrictions based on the circumstances, but to block out a part of a minotaur through pledges that may interfere with his duty to self and clan seems a bit... extreme.
Hi ChakatDierdre —
Yes, that's Sasha. It's unlikely that Ianthos or Teodor would have done the same thing.
Cheers,
Onyx Tao
Hi Samwais —
YAY!
I was originally going to make this part of the last chapter, and then I decided it would end better where it did. So then I was going to put it in the next chapter, but it didn't really fit in there, either. So I just broke it out into an interlude, a relatively short vignette that sheds light on the story as a whole.
We meet a new character in Chapter 12 Affirmation, Socks.
And I am saying no more …
Cheers,
Onyx Tao
Hi FireFromHeaven —
Well, two chapters in two days, anyway.
Hope you like!
Cheers,
Onyx Tao
Thank you! I'm glad you liked it. Any chance of a Jason's Flight update in the soon to be now, or the near future?
OT
Hi BeefyTheBull —
No worries; just asking. Glad to hear it's still in progress, and I can wait until it's ready to post :-).
Yes. In my case, it's either something I'm having fun writing (Jack comes to mind), but knowing people are looking for the next installment of Dacien & friends has caused more than one chapter to appear sooner than I'd expected.
Cheers,
Onyx Tao
Oh, it is most certainly fun to write, just frustrating some times. Like when you really want to write, but you have to go to work instead. I will be looking forward to the next Jack install as well! And I read some place we may have part 2 Interlude soon - My, so quick!
Hi BeefyTheBull —
I think of it that way, sometimes: Dacien & Friends. Maybe I should try out some other sitcoms? What about Dacien? Two and a Half Minotaurs? Big Mage Theory? Gray Bloods?
Cheers,
Onyx Tao
I'm wondering how well the enemy could bind Dacien given a chance while he is unconscious, and how adept he would be at working his way out of a magical trap. The nature of the trap he is kept in (assuming they let him out of his coma) will reveal a helluva lot about how much the captors know of his abilities. A mundane trap is a dare for him to use magic of his own, and a magical trap other than mind magic displays ignorance of his sensory/meta abilities.
The mindbending of the sort Sasha used to inhibit Dacien's use of magic SEEMS to have been constructed (plu perfect subjunctive!) in a reversible fashion so that it can be removed at a later time. Not like "burning". More like turning an unseen dial.
I'm wondering whether there is an uncertainty principle associated with mind work on your own mind, or magic on your own magic, you get the idea. I'm wonder if Dacien were told about the mindbending whether he would be able to release himself, or even identify the inhibition's source. I wonder if when static magic like a ward is broken while Dacien is monitoring the ward, if he can sense who made it as the magic of the ward dissipates (or if the magic feels unfamiliar like a stranger's, maybe he could have a hint at their signature?)
Dacien's in an awful predicament. By Sasha's message it seems like he was captured by humans (or somehow that he would be encouraged to defect by what he learns as a captive). Additionally he is inhibited by Sasha and by his own logic and the command and advice of his mentor against using his magic, especially alone, especially off-the-cuff, espeically in combat (he JUST LEFT Xarbidis). I am looking forward to seeing that resolve.
I'm also still kind of focused on the dolmens and Dacien's magic activating during Tempus. If Chelm could learn to use magic while in Tempus or designed to affect him during Tempus (and who would figure that out if not Dacien the meta, or a roan?) then he would become nearly unbeatable in any combat situation. Chelm's Tempus prowess and minor magery, combined with Dacien's mage trump card, would be even more formidable in tandem. So many possibilities.
The idea of ninjas being enhanced by an illusion mage is interesting. I wonder how many bulls would meet their death simply by becoming tempworn trying to keep up with an illusion.
Hi ReadEragon —
Yup, Teodor is uncomfortable in large crowds. I think he discusses it back in Kanail's house when Sasha is offering to take Dacien to the symphony. He can block it, but it's similar to wearing earplugs: uncomfortable.
Dacien is pretty vulnerable, unfortunately. He could work his way out of a magic trap, but he isn't really a mindbender. As you will see in Interlude II, his captors don't really understand what they have (because someone who hates them with a passion beyond my powers of description has misled them in the hope that this will be their downfall).
Sasha's inhibition is merely a need to seek his (Sasha's) guidance before working any magic. Sasha would not mindlock Dacien (even though he has no doubts of his own abilities to reverse it, whatever he's said to anyone else). At this point it should be clear that Sasha is playing a deeper game than most suspect. Teodor has an inkling, but then Teodor is good at at picking these things out. The clues are all there, in Osaze's words, and Sasha's secret report.
Yes, if Dacien knew about the inhibition, he could override and eventgually overcome it completely. What Sasha has used on Dacien for this is sort of like an extremely strong post-hypnotic suggestion. Although Sasha USED magic to place it, the suggestion itself is not magic.
Sasha's message is a report to Cresphontes, who ordered Sasha to go delving about in Dacien's mind to understand what his loyalties were, and what they might be. Cresphontes did not authorize Sasha to affect them — although Sasha might have done so on his own authority if he thought it wise. He didn't; like most mages, Sasha subscribes to the less is more school of thought. Dacien was not loyal to Lycaili the way, say, Teodor or Xavien are, but Sasha thought he could (and would) become so as he became more familiar with them.
Chelm's magic is not yet manifest. He is, however, at the very top of tempus potential, and he's trained that potential and uses it creatively. He's got any number of tricks up his sleeves — if he literally carried his tricks in his sleeve's he'd need to wear a circus tent! He pulled out a very nasty surprise in the last battle, which we will see from Scyllan viewpoint in Chapter 12. I shudder to think of what a ferocious mage he will be!
The ninjas who attacked Cresphontes were covered in something like the veil effect Teodor used in Cold Blood. Not quite the same, as it veiled tempus fluctuations rather than other senses, but extremely effective neverthleless.
Tempworn is a condition where a bull's control of his own temporality wavers, allowing parts of his body to age at different rates. Depending on how big the wavering is, the damage can be on the cellular level (debilitating, but not usually fatal), or affect larger structures (arteries, veins, muscle fibers) which is really bad. We saw Xavien deliberately accept this kind of damage to himself to drop deeply enough into tempus to plan out an attack. He could do that becuase he was prepared; he had a spell ready and active that would fix the damage without his concious direction (lenses do that; that's why Mikal/Dog is so mentally damaged — he's carrying that spell all the time). But magic doesn't work on the fringes of time, and I'm not planning on making exceptions. A mage in tempus would just be too much the deus ex machinus for my tastes.
Oh, and thanks for a great comment!
Cheers,
Onyx Tao
Pardon my French, but FUCK Deus Ex Machina. JK Rowling's editor should have slapped her silly for each of the last 4 books. I still stand by the first 3.
I'll have to read through a few more times to make some Teodorian leaps of intuition.
UHN I'm going to have a coolgasm when we get to hear how Chelm handled his bad self.
Hi ReadEragon —
I have great respect for J. K. Rowling as an author, and yes, I do think her editor lost influence over those last four books, and that they were much the worse for it.
I don't generally recommend fan-fiction, but sometimes, under just the right conditions, I might suggest something. It seems the right conditions have occurred. I invite you to consider Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, Chapter One, A Day of Very Low Probability. I will admit to being hooked myself. If you do investigate, do let me know if it's a useful recommendation. So far, I'm 4 for 4 on suggesting it :-).
I won't spoil anything with additional hints. As I've said, I like to leave just enough to make what follows seem possible, probable, reasonable without giving away any surprise. It's a fine line.
As always, thanks for the comments!
Cheers,
Onyx Tao
Thanks for cranking out another chapter (and a bonus chapter!) and you know you have a rapt audience waiting with that odd amalgam of patience and anxiety for the next installment.
Hi ReadEragon —
IMHO, she has a great deal of creativity and depth as a writer. Nevertheless.
I've actually spent much of today writing, and have Chapter Twelve interlude II ready, and I'll put it up Monday or Tuesday. Meanwhile I'm working on the final installment of the Jack novella and Chapter 13 Affirmation. So I've had a really productive last few days, and I feel pretty good about the next few.
Cheers,
Onyx Tao
You're up to 5/5 on that HP fanfic. I can't believe I'm reading it but I was the bright kid in school and it's kind of cool. Also I think daddy issues are a played out "trope" and ubiquitous in contemporary fiction (Vernon). I just got to the part where he bit his teacher for not knowing a logarithm. My good friend made a history teacher scream cry and run out of the room. "YOU DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING RYAN" which is funny because he did know everything.
I made the English teacher eat her words. She was a long-term sub for our perfectly competent teacher who was on maternity for the first 6 weeks of school. She gave US a remedial grammar packet (much needed because I was the only student who knew noun/verb in 9th grade) and then taught prepositional phrases wrong. I took the high road and took her aside out of earshot, she raised her voice and said that she was the one that went to college, so I sat down and read a book because I was already done doing it right and wouldn't change. Two days later she had to tell the class she was wrong and I was right.
I should have bitten several teachers. My brothers are probably smarter than I am but they dropped out of HS in frustration (got GED's)
EDIT: Also I think he should be Ravenclaw and McGonnagal (sp?) agrees. Luckily there are like 3 fleshed our Ravenclaws in the book so our fanfic author will have free reign...
Hi ReadEragon —
Ah, Argument from Authority. However, at least she admitted her error to the class, whether or not she credited you with being correct and bringing the issue to her attention. Correct English usage is tricky, since there is actually no formal specification or body that decides what is correct. Correctness is defined by usage and consensus, a fact that drives many would-be English authorities into frustrated gibbering rants.
Parts of speech, and the function of words in sentences, however, is not defined by usage, they are basic definitions. A rock is rock, and no matter how long anyone spends in college, it will continue to be a rock.
5 for 5! YAY! I found it addictive, but it seems to be updated sporadically and unpredictably. (As if I had any grounds to complain ….) I don't know if you've met up with Generals Chaos, Sunshine, and Dragon, but I'm certain you'll like them.
Cheers,
Onyx Tao
Also "these ones/those ones". "Ones" is redundant.
Ending a sentence in a preposition doesn't bother me if it's an extremely common thing like "Who/What are you looking for?" or if the preposition is part of a colloquialism like "How much are these going for?"
Hola ReadEragon —
Both of those grammatical rules are inherited from Latin.
In Latin, infinitives cannot be split, because they are a single unit rather than using an article and verb the way English does it (all the romance languages are similar). But, after all, English isn't Latin. Since I'm a fussy pedantic schoolmarm when it comes to grammar, I try to avoid splitting infinitives, but sometimes it's the natural construction in a free-structure language like English, and I'd rather sound natural than stilted but correct. Consider, for example, a negated verb. Where should one place the negation? Generally, negatives (like most adjectives) preceed the modified term. Consider: "Not to split", "To not split", or "To split not". I prefer the middle construction.
Admittedly, the fussy pedantic schoolmarm causes me to write "to avoid splitting" and avoid the question entirely :-).
Splitting a proposition is another grammatical rule foisted on us from the strict and exacting sentence structure of Latin and German. Word position means a great deal in those languages, and shifting a word can alter a sentence far more than in the more free-form English, although, of course, English pays a price in ambiguity. I'm not convinced that keeping prepositional phrases strictly together improves the clarity of the sentence. "Whom does this belong to?" seems clearer, really, than "To whom does this belong?" given that that the prepositional phrase is functioning in an adverbial role, and as such, there's a clear reason to place the key word of the proposition (to) closer to the word being modified (belong) that slapping it way at the front of the sentence, far away from functional place.
So I don't take offense at either of these misdemeanors, especially in dialog.
Cheers,
Onyx Tao
And EVERYTHING goes out the door as soon as you bracket something in quotation marks, because none of us speaks with 100% proper grammar. The human mind simply does not work fast enough to catch every minute error. Writing dialog with no grammatical oddities is a sure-fire way to make your characters sound wooden and unbelievable.
Carry on as you were. ;-)
tj
Well, soon enough you start policing your own and everyone's. I trust I am not so churlish, though, to correct any speech but my own.
Cheers,
OT
On the plus side, Worm is now a finished work, so, unlike HPMOR (or, ahem, [i]I, Dacien[/i]) -- there's nothing to leave you hanging.
Cheers,
OT[/color]
It's a tad confusing, since [i]Polychrome[/i] can refer to all the bulls serving in intelligence and counterintelligence, the director of the intelligence service, or the senior member of the service in charge.
Referring to it that way in conversation keeps other Clans' intelligence services from penetrating deeply.
Polychrome maintains a tight cell structure. Only Polychrome himself knows everybody. Osaze manage a major branch of Polychrome -- but there are other branches. As of Teodor's ascension, Polychrome is primarily an intelligence / counterintelligence gathering organization. They don't really meddle with other clans.
We will find out who Polychrome is, and why that worthy can't make contact with Teodor just yet ...
Cheers,
OT[/color]