The Forgotten Zodiac

((Poor Kai. Tyler's not sorry though. Animals are tasty.))

"Okay, Israel. Who else should we talk to? We could go bother Kyle. I'll bet he's fun to bother."

Israel nodded and laughed. "Most Beorc are," he said, going over to Kyle so that he and Tyler could annoy him.

Tyler poked Israel's cheek. "I'm not. It makes you terribly sad to bother me. You don't like it at all, and I know that because you are my best friend, and so you can't like bothering me." He then reached over and poked Kyle in the cheek. "Hi Kyle. Do you like being tied up?"

Israel laughed. "You're right, Tyler," he said. He laughed again at the boy's question, and noted the even the Hawks gave a chuckle.

Kyle glared at Tyler and probably would have slapped the boy, but he was completely tied up and, after all, he was better than these people, so he had no reason to rise to any of their insults.

Tyler poked him again. "Since you're tied up, can I just keep poking you? Forever?" He poked Kyle again, hard. "I can! This is fun." He looked up at Israel. "Can I keep him tied up and with us forever, Israel? PLEASE? He's so fun to poke!"

Israel laughed. "As long as you like," he said.

"Cool!" Tyler leaned down and jabbed Kyle in the side, then poked his face again. It was extremely lucky for him that Charlotte's attention was elsewhere, otherwise she'd be leaping to her older brother's defense, despite what she thought of his tact. "I'll bet I know why you don't like Israel. You don't like Israel because Israel is much, much smarter than you. He's lots smarter than you, you know."

Israel smiled slightly. "Thank you, Tyler,' He said.

Tyler shrugged. "No problem. He's not very smart, though. You need to be smarter than someone smart." He puffed out his cheeks, attempting to think of someone who Israel could be smarter than. "You're smarter than... I dunno. Who are you smarter than?" The little boy reached over and jabbed Kyle again, grinning almost maliciously as the noble twitched, clearly losing his tight hold on his emotions. "You should help me bother him, Israel. He's fun to bother."

One of Israel's wings fanned out to smack Kyle in the back of the head. He grimaced slightly, but they didn't hurt as bad as they had before. "Like that?" he asked.

Tyler grinned. "Exactly! Now I'll poke him some more and you tell me who you're smarter than. I think you're smarter than everyone but my daddy. My daddy's the smartest person in the world ever. You could never be smarter than he is." He poked Kyle repeatedly, hoping for the same reaction Israel had gotten. Kyle's reaction to Israel was fantastic, and Tyler intended to bother him until Kyle freaked out and yelled. That would be fantastic.

"Hm, Kai's pretty smart. I don't think I'm smarter than Kai. He's a lot older than me," he said, thinking about it.

Tyler shook his head. "You're smarter than Kai. You have to be. Kai's not older than you, he's lots younger. I can tell. He has a young brain." Tyler said this as if his predetermined conceptions controlled everything. "Kyle? How come you're so much stupider than everybody? Especially Israel and Kai. You're much stupider than them."

"No, he's several decades older. He just doesn't know the Modern Tongue. You should hear the things he says in his language."

Tyler frowned. "Kai has his own language? What's it called, the Kai Language? The Language of Kai?" This new piece of information was infinitely more interesting than bothering Kyle, granting the bothered a much-needed reprieve. "Can you teach me? That'd be fun."

"It's the Heron Tongue. Isabella knows it, too," he said. "I've heard that they speak it in Hatari, but I'm not sure,' he said. "And I can't speak it. I can understand what they're saying, though."

Tyler pouted slightly. "You don't know what they're saying but you know what they're saying? That doesn't make sense." His pout became more dramatic as he tried to think of a reason that Israel should teach him anyway. "What else can you teach me?"

"No, I can't say what they're saying, but I can understand what they're saying. I can teach you how to win a staring contest," he said.

Tyler shook his head. "I don't want to win a staring contest. I like losing a staring contest and then getting the person who beat me in trouble by crying. They deserve it, though. It's not my fault they made me have a contest with them." He grabbed Israel's shoulder and leaned as far back as he could, nearly touching Kyle with his face. Considering that, it was perfectly natural for him to stick his tongue out and poke Kyle in the arm. Perfectly natural. "I wanna learn how to talk like a not-normal person."

"Then why don't we make up our own language?" Israel asked.