As the Cynn opened the little jar and dipped the pointed end of the awl into its contents, the odd metal snake with the magnifying glass in place of a head slithered over of its own accord and draped itself over the Cynn's arm, angling its glass head to magnify the ring held between his fingers.

"Don't look directly at this," he told Liya, and sent a little bright arc of green lightning down along the awl and into the jar. "It's bright."

Liya, who had leaned forward to watch the snake thing interestedly, said, "Oh. Okay."

The Cynn put the tip of the awl to the surface of the ring, and a pale blue-green light and a sharp buzzing noise followed. Liya had obediently stepped back and turned her face away--it was bright, though the goggles the Cynn wore seemed to allow him to stare directly into it without any trouble. For a moment they were both quiet, while the Cynn worked.

After a while, he said, "The short version is this: I work with Shinobu consulting for certain governments at times. Her on the bestiary, myself on spellwork. Yoshi ended up in the custody of one of these governments, after her mother left her. They asked us what should be done with her. Shinobu decided to take her, out of obligation, at first anyway. She could not sponsor Yoshi, being an immigrant herself, so I did."

He could see Yoshi in his mind's eye, a small child sitting with her back to him, limned in orange light, holding a stuffed animal of some description. "She was so young, but already felt so unwanted. They were looking after her, but a child needs rather more than that, yes? It just didn't seem fair. Sponsoring her seemed the very least I could do for her."

Liya frowned, mulling this over. Finally, she admitted, "You're not anythin' like I thought you'd be."

"How did you think I would be?" the Cynn inquired. Liya huffed.

"I dunno!" she said, almost embarrassed. "Mean? Hoity-toity?" The Cynn started to ask, but Liya went on, "Not someone who cares about people like--like me an' Yoshi?"

"Ah." The blue-green light faded as the Cynn put the awl down. He blew gently on the ring, which was smoking, and removed his goggles. Hanging the ring on the first part of one index finger, he watched in satisfaction as his own finger began to dissolve in a hiss of color and light. He said, "Well, I'm rather glad to have failed to meet your expectations, then."