In again, out again. Arthur blinked his way into the wide world once more. A week with Melisande, and a week in the Chantry, and his mind spinning with all the thoughts and readings. He sorted it out, once more, and they fell into their allotted places again. He noticed in himself a bit of eagerness to get back to Melisande's well appointed laboratory and research quarters - though the Chantry library held some works the like of which could be seen nowhere else, the whole hidden place, wherever it was, was really quite small, and felt old, though Arthur realized it might not actually be old. It felt timeless, where Melisande's felt bracingly modern. Melisande also had what was either a better grasp of his true ability, or a more ruthless will to use all his capacities, because her research schedule was of the two a bit the more demanding. Arthur preferred this, he worked better, he felt, the more that was asked of him. He thought this with the satisfaction of a man who has never had too much asked of him.

Also, outside the Chantry, lay all his other interests. The other vampires, including the astonishingly beautiful one he'd met at that nightclub, Sally - he paused a moment as she came vividly recalled to his mind's eye, a vision in black and white - they were all intricately interesting. The human world of the few local contacts he'd made so far. He had a schedule of students to tutor in various subjects - Arthur was particularly good at helping those who did not think in the normal way of things, to find a way that they could bend their mind toward and learn it nevertheless. He somehow understood how they thought better than they did themselves. He enjoyed this very much, and did it completely on a volunteer basis - never charged for these services. He had research grants to apply for, to maintain his position at the university. He did not want his inroads there to slip away. Bits of his work and of ideas sparked by Melisande's own had led him to several viable grant request topics.

Never too soon to get started, he thought, and got right to work.