“Er, hello, Chewie," he said politely."Woof," the dog said back."Chewie is a Newfoundland," Beka explained. "They're great water dogs. They swim better than we do, and even have webbed feet. They're often used for water rescue, and the breed started out as working dogs for fishermen.""Uh-huh... Chewie - I guess you named him for Chewbacca in Star Wars. I can see why; they're both gigantic and furry."Beka giggled. "I never thought of that. Actually, Chewie is short for Chudo-Yudo. Also, he chews on stuff a lot, so it seemed fitting.""Chudo what?" Marcus said. The dog made a snuffling sound that might have been canine laughter."Chudo-Yudo," Beka repeated. "He's a character out of Russian fairy tales, the dragon that guards the Water of Life and Death. You never heard of him?"Marcus shook his head. "My father used to tell the occasional Irish folk tale when I was a kid, but I'm not familiar with Russian ones at all. Sorry.""Oh, don't be," she said cheerfully. "Most of them were pretty gory, and they hardly ever had happy endings.""Right." Marcus looked at the dog, who gazed alertly back with big brown eyes, as if trying to figure out if the former Marine was edible or not. "So, you named him after a mythical dragon from a depressing Russian story. Does anyone get eaten in that story, just out of curiosity?"Chewie sank down onto the floor with a put-upon sigh, and Beka shook her head at Marcus. "Don't be ridiculous. Of course people got eaten. But don't worry. Chewie hasn't taken a bite out of anyone in years. He's very mellow for a dragon.”

“You wouldn't believe the things that go missing in these labs. Remind me to tell you the story about the radioactive spider sometime.”

“You guys must use some interesting parenting techniques." "You have no idea," Liam said dryly. "You have no idea.”

“This is the strangest family vacation ever," Liam said.”

“My brother, are you aware that you are presently taking the form of a rather large and distinctly emerald-hued bear? Not that it isn't an improvement on your usual excessive good lucks, but...”

“Thanks, Baba. You are always such a comfort." She gave him a wry look. "I know. I've been considering becoming a counselor. Or possibly a nurse." Day shook his head. "If I were you, Baba Yaga, I'd stick to your day job.”

“If you ignored the benign ghost that haunted the place and the witch who lived inside, it was practically the picture of normalcy.”

“I'm not sure I'll be doing a lot of dancing in the near future."Marcus tucked the end of the bandage securely into place and reached for the radio to call his Da to turn the Serpent around and come get them. But first, he gave in to irresistible impulse and kissed Beka so hard their teeth clashed."Just so long as you save a dance for me," he said. "I'll wait as long as it takes.”

“If you're still hungry, I could probably find some nice roots by the riverbank we passed," Mick teased. "Mind you, some of them insist on yodeling while you eat them, but you get used to that after a while.”

“At Jenna's questioning glance, he explained, "As the White Rider, I used to wear all white. Few people here have ever seen me dressed in any other way. I wouldn't wonder that most of them could be standing right in front of me, wearing these clothes, and not even look twice." Jenna grinned at him. "Not if they're female, they won't. I doubt there's a woman alive who would not look twice at you, babe." He snorted, absurdly pleased by the flattery, although he tried not to show it. "We'll just have to try and stay away from women, then, won't we?”

“They sat in silence for a moment. Then Jenna said," The son of a god, huh? That explains a lot." He raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" Jenna smirked at him, a mischievous look in her sparkling blue eyes. "You know, the whole super strong, ridiculously gorgeous thing. But obviously you've been told that a lot over the years. I don't expect it means much anymore." A voice far in the back of head said something faint about bad ideas, but he hit it with a large mental stick until it sputtered and shut up. "It depends on who says it," he answered, and bent his head down and kissed her.”