278****** That afternoon, Alden was distracted with his new tablet and his book, but it was still hard for Stu to leave him behind at the cottage and head to the summonarium. This friendship they had woven was revealing new colors and greater strength with every passing moment. And despite Stu’s heartache over his parents, it had been a most beautiful day.Going to LeafSong to ask one of his housemates for a favor seemed almost disrespectful to what he and Alden were doing right now. But Eeaner-ket wasn’t easy to predict. He might decide to make a potion today. Or he might decide to drop the rings Stu wanted from him into a potion to see what happened. So Stu rushed to the summonarium and teleported to his university, promising himself, as he called a cart to take him across campus, that this trip would be swift no matter what ridiculous things his housemates were up to on a weekend. I’ll be back at the cottage before Alden has time to miss me. I won’t even save a single klerm.He heard a desperate skeek and looked before he could stop himself. To his right, one of the animals was being sucked down into a plant. Freshly caught, it hadn’t yet learned the pain of being digested.I’m not going to save it, he told himself. I am very busy.Skeeeeek!He ordered the cart to reverse. “I’m only saving one of you today,” he said firmly, leaning over as far as he could and grabbing the creature. “And I’m not taking you all the way to the summoning pool.”He held it in a pocket until he reached the canopy residences, and then released it into one of the fountaining puddles that lined the path beneath the house he shared with Eeaner and Bayab. The cart moved along to serve another passenger, and Stu stepped onto a disc of wood marked with the symbol that designated a lift. It carried (...)