Alec's curiosity was fully aroused. And not only his curiosity. Perhaps the man in the bath with him was just an illusion, but it was a very thorough illusion, and a very pretty one. Even if there was nothing more behind the slim blond, he would be a very nice distraction.

The mind behind the illusions and machines, though, was even more interesting. Alec’s brief contact with Cir showed him that Cir was strong, through untrained, and his ability to interact with machines led Alec’s battle-honed mind off onto new avenues for development. Once, very long ago, Alec had plans to do just that sort of thing — to train new talents, to look for ways to overcome the mind's limitations. Even now, when he knew he had no time and no strength to spare for this, it was impossibly intriguing opportunity.

Then, of course, with all his abilities Cir wasn't out to kill him, and that was also a big attraction.

He sighed, stretched and saw the blond's nervous gaze. "Isn't it time to get out of this bath?" Alec asked.

As he guessed, his suggestion turned Cir on a familiar path and calmed him down. Alec allowed himself to relax too. "Are you able to change everything in this room?" he asked. "And I assume you can change your appearance too..."

"Yes. Are you unsatisfied with my appearance?"

"No," Alec grinned. "No problems here. How do you do it?"

"It's a kind of holograms... Do you wish for a detailed explanation?"

"No!" he exclaimed hurriedly, then added with a laugh, "I'll ask you if I need to know."

They were drying themselves with large fluffy towels, pleasantly heated, which reminded Alec again about what he wanted to ask.

"So... about the room. Are there any limits? I mean, do you only change furniture, or..." He shrugged slightly, disgusted by his inability to speak straight. He was out of habit of asking things done for him, especially silly useless things.

"No," Cir turned to him with an inquiring look. "I can make it into any place I know of. And I have a lot of places remembered," he added. "Do you have any request, ma... Alec? It's not difficult," he said reassuringly.

Alec saw the desire to reassure and was slightly disturbed by it. It was far safer to act from the position of strength. Then again, he *was* the stronger one here, so Cir's attitude did not matter much, and maybe would even make him less careful around Alec.

"The beach," he said finally. "I haven't been on the beach in a long time..."

He discounted the possibility of going to a beach long ago. It was a place with nowhere to hide, and he taught himself to avoid long stretches of open land. So Alec did not even think about what he could not have until now, when he learned of a possibility of making this place look like anything. Suddenly he wanted an afternoon on the beach very much...

"Will that do?" Cir asked meanwhile, and Alec looked up to see a sandy beach with sea waves in the distance where the bed was.

"Oh yes," Alec said and smiled at Cir. Flopping down on the sand — God, it even *felt* like sand to his body! — he waved Cir to join him — and then slipped down the link into Cir's mind again, giving him the mental equivalent of an appreciative pat.

The Key gasped, and Alec looked up at him. "Sit down, will you," he said to the young man. "I hope you didn't think we're finished with that — because you'd be disappointed then."

Cir sat down, and Alec smiled again. "Now that's beginning to look like a vacation. I hope real food is provided — holograms are probably not very nutritious..."

Cir laughed. "No, the Palace servants bring food. Do you have any special requests? I can relay the..."

"And what about you? If that," Alec made a gesture encompassing the body next to him, " is a hologram, will you eat with me? And how exactly do you eat in reality?"

Alec could see that the topic of his real body made Cir uncomfortable. He could have taken the exact reason for this out of the other man's mind, but decided not to. It was unlikely that Cir's personal hangups were any danger to him, and if he used his abilities aggressively too often, perhaps when he really need them Cir will be too well prepared for an attack.

"I am fed through the machines," Cir explained meanwhile. The look in his eyes was pure impersonal obedience. This Palace trains the slaves well, Alec decided. But he still did not understand Cir's real attitude to all this, to the slavery he seemed to take with such a matter-of-fact attitude. Not pain - he would have felt pain, emotional or physical. But what, then? Perhaps in some way Cir's shields worked very well.

"I can't really eat in this body, as it is just an illusion, but I could created illusions of food for myself to keep you company."

"You do that," Alec agreed absently. He was not hungry yet, but he figured the food would take some time to get here.

It was warm in the room before, but now Alec began feeling the kind of heat that would be normal for a sunny beach. "Good," he said, stretching lazily. "Who did all this, these machines and systems of yours?"

"Well," Cir begun, "the Palace hired contractors..."

Alec stopped him with an impatient gesture. "That's just technicalities. I meant the Palace, mostly. Who started the Palace?"