"Yeah, that won't work." Mataya paused, considering just how to explain the little woman currently amusing herself upstairs. "How can I put this" Juno's not human, Ethan. She's something called a Sanagi, and apparently the last of her kind, so we don't really know the full extent of her abilities. What we do know is that she can read surface thoughts and tune in to other people's dreams - it's the former you'll need to guard against. She's already proved she'd rather pick a line out of someone's head than disappoint anyone by admitting to not being able to read."

Well, that could prove a particular problem in that Ethan concentrated as much on the letters, words and sentences as he expected his pupils to do. His mouth became a line again and a tiny line appeared between his brows as he thought. "Well, I do know of one approach. It takes a bit longer, but it should work. It'll include a lot of course work in which neither you nor your fiance can assist her with." He shrugged imperceptibly. Juno sounded like a challenge and if Ethan loved anything, it was a challenge. "How much longer?" 'Taya asked curiously. She knew Juno was a quick study, but learning to read and write was still a challenge that could snag up even the most academic of personalities. "How long would you expect the learning process to take with a human?"

Ethan didn't want to dash Mataya's hopes with a dour prediction. "I honestly don't know," he admitted. "With some testing to determine what she does and doesn't know ..." He paused with a slight shrug. "How old is Juno' Small children learn much faster than adults. If they've already mastered the language, but not the writing or reading of it, the letters and words are foreign to them. When they're little, their brains are like sponges." He stopped again, took another sip of ice water, then continued. "And I've never tried to use her trick of mind reading to my advantage before. So it's going to be trial and error the first few days, even weeks, depending on how much time I'm given to spend with her." "As much time as you need," the actress told him immediately. "Once the run of Macbeth is over, she'll be more available, too. Right now she's performing six nights out of seven, and the only way we're keeping her going is by having someone reading the play as it's performed." Mataya shrugged lightly. "We don't actually know how old she is, or even how that would compare with human years. It's a bit of a tricky situation." She glanced toward the door. "Look, do you want to meet her" And after that, you can decide if you can get through to her. I'm not going to ask you to take on something you're not comfortable with." Which was how they'd managed to go through six interviews already without hiring anyone.

It was hard for Ethan to keep from snorting, rolling his eyes, and saying what he thought. It was no wonder the girl would rather pluck lines from a prompter's mind than possibly blunder by reading and memorization. Macbeth was difficult in and of itself. Performing it on stage took things to a whole new level. Still, he kept his features schooled and pleasant. "I'd love to meet her." He smiled and lifted from his lean on his elbow. 'Taya's smile widened again as she realised somewhat belatedly that Ethan was probably expecting a precocious child. This was going to be fun to watch. "All right, wait just a minute," she told him, rising to her feet and slipping from the kitchen. She paused at the bottom of the stairs, calling up to the next level. "Juno! Can you come down here, please?" "Coming!" A moment later, quiet footsteps jogged down the stairs, and Juno was ushered into the kitchen. All five foot one, redheaded young woman in a cute summer dress - not at all the child Ethan seemed to be expecting. She offered the man sitting at the table a half-smile. "Hello."

Ethan nodded, partially rising from his chair when Mataya stood. When she left the room, he sat down once again. Their informal way of calling out to each other was charming and he smiled. He lifted his eyes to the ceiling when he heard the patter of small feet across it and then he followed with his eyes as those tiny feet descended the stairs. The voice wasn't the high soprano of a little girl though, and that was puzzling. His head turned towards the doorway between the kitchen and the stairs in time to see the young lady join her mother. Ethan's eyes widened and it was impossible to hide the shock at just how pleasing Juno was to his senses. His jaw hung slack and he blinked slowly. Once, twice, a third time before he regained himself. Rising and schooling his features back into pleasant blandness, he smiled. "Hello Juno." Mataya squeezed Juno's shoulders gently, feeling the little woman in front of her tense just a little as the apparently gobsmacked Ethan rose to his feet. She was an actress; she knew a mask when she saw one, and besides, there was no disguising the shock in his eyes. Smiling to herself, she gave Juno a gentle push forward. "Juno, this is Ethan. Try not to scare this one." Hearing her adoptive mother's voice by her ear brought Juno out of her wide-eyed contemplation of the tall man standing in their kitchen, her shy smile making itself known as she was pushed. "I'll try," was promised in a quiet voice, her hand offering itself hesitantly toward Ethan. "It's nice to meet you, Ethan."

"Likewise." He reached for her hand and shook it once or twice before letting go. Mataya's warning about Juno's talent of reading minds washed through his brain and he immediately searched for something to think about than those startling beautiful green eyes or how her thick, lush hair would feel between his fingers. Better to think about....fishing. It was something he knew how to do very well, in one shape or another. "I look forward to working with you." He smiled then and took a step back, not sure how to proceed. Was this part of the interview" Would Mataya watch while they made small talk" Was he to begin tutoring right away" "You mean you want to teach me" Even though you think my hair would feel like a dead fish between bear claws?" the tiny redhead asked innocently, showing her teeth just a little. It didn't appear that Juno was happy to have been caught out in her inability to read, and was deliberately sabotaging interviews. 'Taya snorted with laughter, rolling her eyes, and moved away to slip through the patio doors and into the garden. "Play nicely. Ethan, if at any time you'd like to run screaming from the house, please try not to trample her on the way out."

Ethan's jaw set and ticked just a little as his mouth formed a line. It was disconcerting, her sarcastic question. His eyes moved to Mataya, watching as she left. "I'll try not to hurt her, too much." He was able to smile then and turned that smile onto Juno. "No more of that. Yes, I do want to teach you to read, write and memorize your lines without cheating."

He turned back to the table, and as Mataya had patted it earlier in an open invitation, he did so now. "Have a seat." He took one without waiting for Juno, and opened the briefcase. He pulled the pad of paper out and a pen. In bold, block letters, he spelled her name. "What does that say?" He kept his mind carefully blank, wanting to see if she could figure it out.

"Teaching first," Mataya's voice interrupted in a laughing tone as she passed back through the kitchen, reminding Ethan that he wasn't entirely alone with the little woman by his side. "Dating can happen later, if her dad can be convinced you're not going to tear all her clothes off and impregnate his baby girl." Juno giggled as 'Taya walked in, fairly certain that Max could be prevailed upon to let her at least develop a friendship with Ethan. If Ethan chose to come back after today, that was. "Can I see your bear sometime?" she asked her tutor curiously, though she was pretty sure she was going to be rebuffed. Everyone seemed to think she needed protecting from the weird that was everyday in Rhy'Din.

Upon hearing Mataya's voice, Ethan quickly sat back in his chair, suddenly aware of how closely he had been sitting to Juno. He then scooted his chair back a bit to allow Mataya a clear view of what they'd been doing. He was beginning to turn red; it was his turn to be embarrassed by the current conversation. It was Juno who had saved him, and he latched onto that question as if it were a lifeline. "Yes!" He hadn't meant to exclaim and cleared his throat. "I mean, sure. Someday." His smile was back and he gestured to the paper. "She's writing her name." "And flirting like a trooper," 'Taya chuckled, sipping the glass of juice she had poured from the fridge. Unlike Max, she wasn't wildly over-protective, figuring that Juno had more than enough talent at her fingertips to protect herself if it came to it. "I'm being a responsible adult out in the garden. Juno, don't forget you need to be at the theater by half six." "I won't," the redhead promised, her attention once again back on tracing letters on the paper in front of her. "J ....U ....N ..." The pen nib squeaked against the paper as she drew the last letter of her own name. "O?" she guessed, keeping her mind out of Ethan's with no little effort.

Ethan wasn't quite sure if Mataya was referring to himself when she said that bit about flirting. He flushed slightly, then turned back to their work as Mataya went back outside. He watched Juno's writing and smiled, his teeth actually showing this time, when she guessed the last letter correctly. "Very well done, Juno." He gently pat her on the shoulder. With Ethan, he was very careful of how he touched people. A pat on the shoulder ended up being a blow that knocked men three times Juno's size to their knees, before Ethan had learned to control himself. "Now, write your name underneath, right here." He pointed to a spot on the page. Mataya's mention of her fiance earlier had Ethan wondering what the man was like and if they'd get along if....He shook his head, no reason to get ahead of himself. Again, his smile brought her own to her lips, green eyes dancing happily as she felt the rush of his pleasure with her quick guess. Mataya had been right, it seemed; Juno was quick, and intelligent, and when she wasn't cheating or trying to make life difficult, she picked things up easily. "Smaller, like other people's writing?" she asked curiously, tapping the end of the pen against her lips. She couldn't help following the line of Ethan's thoughts, wondering why he was so curious about Max.

He felt that tickle and looked at her, his smile fading. Canting his head, he lifted his brows and went back to thinking of the sunflowers and stream. "If you can write it smaller, then go for it." He nodded and glanced back down to the page. Unwittingly or not, Ethan wasn't going to allow her to romp through his head anytime she wished. He'd had to learn to control what was inside of him, and so would she, if he had anything to say about it. The disapproval did more good than a hundred scoldings could have done. Juno was a little too used to simply allowing her mind free rein to violate other people's privacy, and to be fair, she had never truly tried to curb it. But no one had ever been able to catch her doing it before. The fact that Ethan could surprised her. She ducked her head, forcing her whole attention onto the pen as she drew the letters, small enough to fit easily between the lines on ruled paper. Her handwriting looked as though it would be neat and petite, sweetly rounded. A little like her, in fact.

Ethan watched her, proud that her writing was already looking more mature than a kindergartner's scribbling. Once she'd finished, he picked up the paper and then turned a smile onto her. Ethan was anything but than cruel, and seeing her humbled made him just a tiny bit sad. "I think you should put this on the fridge, so your mom and dad can see just how quick and intelligent you are. Not many people learn to write their names in under an hour." Juno's answering smile was a little subdued. Yes, she was spoilt, but she had what 'Taya constantly referred to as a 'heart of gold', whatever that meant. "Thank you," she smiled to Ethan, glancing up at the clock on the wall. "I didn't mean to go where I'm not wanted. I'll try harder not to."

"It's alright," he heard himself answering her. The need to comfort her was getting stronger. He pulled his gaze from her and looked up at the clock. "We all learn to control what we can do, eventually." When he turned back to look at her, his smile was back. "So, do you think I got the job?" She laughed softly at that, surprised he even needed to ask. "You didn't run away," the little redhead pointed out cheerfully, her mood restored by how easily his smile encouraged her own. "I want you to come back, anyway." Her gaze flickered to the clock once again, and she sighed. "But I have to go to work now."

"So long as it's all right with your parents, then I will come back." He nodded for emphasis. Reaching for the pad of paper, he tore off the top sheet and slid it over to her. "You did very well today, Juno." There was a certain amount of pride in his eyes as he said that. Picking up the paper and the pen, he tucked them neatly into the briefcase and then shut it tightly. "I'll work out a schedule with Mataya." Pushing back his chair, he stood up then and picked up his briefcase. "It was very nice meeting you, Juno." Standing up with him, Juno's smile warmed again. "You're too tall," she complained, turning to climb up onto the seat of her chair, bringing herself only a little above his eye line. Apparently satisfied with this, she grinned. "Thank you, Ethan." Her arms wrapped about him in an unexpectedly intimate hug, her face pressed into his neck as she breathed in the slightly wild scent that clung to his skin, memorizing her new friend in a manner that most people would consider strange. The embrace lasted barely ten seconds, but was long enough to either make him uncomfortable or, perhaps, too comfortable. She drew back with another smile. "I won't disappoint you. I promise."

Ethan chuckled at her astute observation of his height and he turned to say something when she suddenly hopped onto the chair. Her embrace was unexpected, and he resisted just a little at first. But then his arms tightened around the tiny woman and he lowered his head to breathe in her scent near her ear. It was of little surprise to Ethan that she was doing the same. When they broke apart, he grinned and stepped back. "I know you won't, but just make sure you don't disappoint yourself in the process, alright?" "I won't," she promised him through a smile that suggested she hadn't actually understood what he meant by that in the first place. "I have to go, sorry." She jumped down from the chair, calling a goodbye to 'Taya as she swept into the hallway, dragging a jacket from the hooks by the door together with a bag from the floor. A moment later, she'd disappeared through the front door, apparently at a dead run. "So ..." Mataya rose from where she had been lounging in the shade, moving to lean in the doorway, amused by Ethan's reaction to Juno's affectionate side. She wished Max could have seen this first meeting; he might not resent the man so much if he saw just how relaxed Juno had been with him. "Does this mean you're taking on the challenge, Mr Ward?"

Ethan nodded and then waved to Juno as she took off at a dead run. He was about to walk to the door when Mataya's voice was heard behind him. Turning slowly, he nodded with a smile. "I'll take that challenge, but only if you call me Ethan. Mr. Ward was my father." His green eyes danced a little and he was feeling at home more and more. "She's going to be fun to teach, I think. She takes instruction well and....well, you know her better than I." He shrugged just a bit. "When do you think it'd be best for me to come back? I know that the theater has a strict schedule, and I don't want to interfere." 'Taya smiled back, pleased to find someone apparently normal who wasn't running for the hills at the first sign of weird from Juno. "All right then, Ethan, you're on," she chuckled, moving into the kitchen. "She's caught up with Macbeth until last night next Saturday, so for the next week, I'd suggest mornings, whichever are best for you. After that, you two can arrange your time as you like. Just don't take her to any strip clubs without warning me first," she added teasingly. "I'll have to hold Max back when you drop her off again."

"I'll be here first thing," he smiled and nodded with enthusiasm. Mataya held within her a look of a woman who could easily go from soft and tender to tough and deadly in a split second. Ethan made note of it and when it was made mention of her fiance, he blanched at the thought of a man who could possibly keep up with Mataya. "And I appreciate that, wouldn't want to lose my head first day on the job." He chuckled then and turned to walk towards the front door. "Thank you, for the opportunity. I'm sure we'll have her reading and writing in no time."

It was only when he'd gone that Mataya realised he hadn't even brought up the subject of payment. Now that was a surprise. All the other tutors who had made it through the front door had been very quick to lay out how much they cost, even before meeting Juno. But Ethan had met the girl, begun the process of teaching her, asked about her schedule ....and not once had money been mentioned. 'Taya grinned to herself as she went back to her book. There was going to be a surprise waiting for Mr Ethan Ward in his account very soon. After all, he'd just taken on Max's pride and joy. He was going to need the honey pot a little sweeter than just green eyes and warm smiles once he met the unpredictable force that was Juno's adoptive father.

((Humungus thanks to Ethan's player for this scene. Turned out good, didn't it' :grin: ))