Author: truthwright | It turns out that there was really not much point to making a schedule. Kas and Helen visit the witch clan whenever Helen feels like it, and stay as long as she wants, and go when she wants to be somewhere else, and it all adds up to plenty more time spent with the clan than away.
After the aquarium jaunt with Ranata, it's a little more than a month before they visit the clan again. |
Author: alicornucopia | Shura is excited to see her friend! She has been up to things. She has been writing clumsy little stories, and learning spells, and making arrows to practice with. She has done rather more of all these things than would normally be expected from a child her age in the time since last Helen saw her. |
Author: carillons | Helen is likewise excited, and excited about all of the things!
"That is a lot of things," she observes. "I only saw squishy octopuses and huggable manatees and lots of cities and ate a whole bucket of popcorn and learned how to bake a cake and some more stuff like that!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "I've been getting up really early and sitting in the moonlight and the starlight and doing things," says Shura. "And my daddy took me to go on roller coasters, too, when I got mad about not being big enough to fly yet." |
Author: carillons | "Roller coasters! My spinach should take me on roller coasters," Helen declares. |
Author: truthwright | "Sure thing, button," says Kas. |
Author: alicornucopia | "They're good! You go up and up and then down," says Shura, gesturing. |
Author: carillons | "Fuuuuuun." |
Author: alicornucopia | "And some of them go upside down!" |
Author: carillons | "Ooooh!" says Helen. "Fun fun fun! Maybe even more fun than baking cakes. I'll have to try it and see!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "Is baking cakes fun?" Shura asks dubiously. |
Author: carillons | "Yeah! You make the stuff and it's all gooey and then you put it in the oven and wait and then it's a cake and you can eat it!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "I know eating cake is fun," giggles Shura. |
Author: carillons | "It's more fun when you made the cake!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "How come?" |
Author: carillons | "I dunno! Just is," she says. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Weird," pronounces Shura. |
Author: carillons | Helen giggles. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Where do you make cake when you're off away?" Shura asks, gesturing vaguely towards off away. |
Author: carillons | "Wherever we are. We made a little cake in a microwave in a hotel room once! It was extra fun because it was tiny and cute!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "I didn't know you could microwave cake." |
Author: carillons | "You can! It's fun!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "Did you put frosting? Frosting's the best part." |
Author: carillons | "We diiiiid," she giggles. |
Author: alicornucopia | "What kind?" |
Author: carillons | "Chocolate! The cake was also chocolate. And there were chocolate sprinkles." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Chocolate," say Shura, "is good." |
Author: carillons | "Chocolate is good!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "Sometimes when I get up early if I'm very quiet I take a little bit," whispers Shura. |
Author: carillons | Helen giggles conspiratorially. |
Author: alicornucopia | "I live with my daddy and brother and uncle and cousins who live together, some of the time, and they have a lot in the house." |
Author: carillons | "That's a lot of relatives!" says Helen. "Are they fun?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "They're okay," shrugs Shura. "I like my daddy." |
Author: carillons | "Good! I'm glad," she says. "I like my mommydaddyspinach." |
Author: alicornucopia | "How come you call him that still?" |
Author: carillons | "Because it's fun?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "You do a lot of things because they are fun," Shura observes. |
Author: carillons | "Yeah! It's the best reason." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Don't you sometimes have to do things that aren't fun?" |
Author: carillons | "Like what?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "Sometimes I have to clean. Or work on stuff even if I don't want to. Or listen to my uncle even if he's boring." |
Author: carillons | "Why's your uncle boring?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "He wants me to learn -" Shura gestures. "Mortal stuff. I don't have to go to school but I have to listen to him tell me stuff that I'd get told if I went." |
Author: carillons | "What kinds of mortal stuff?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "Uuuugh, like stuff about mortal wars from before even my grandma was born, and science, and boring books." |
Author: carillons | "Awwww," says Helen. "I don't have to read any boring books!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "That's lucky!" says Shura. |
Author: carillons | "I read fun books about fun things," she says. "I wish your uncle wasn't boring! He should tell you fun stuff instead." |
Author: alicornucopia | "He says I have to learn it or I'll be badly educated." |
Author: carillons | "Do you care about that?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "I don't even know what being badly educated is supposed to, you know, do." |
Author: carillons | "Maybe you should ask," she says. "To make sure it's not important." |
Author: alicornucopia | "If it is are you going to start learning the boring things so you aren't badly educated?" |
Author: carillons | "I don't know!" she says. "I like learning the fun things. Maybe I can just be really well educated about things that I like." |
Author: alicornucopia | "My uncle says that's not how it works." |
Author: carillons | "But he never said what's so bad about being badly educated?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "No, just that being not-badly educated has to do with knowing lots of different things even if the things are boring." |
Author: carillons | "That's weird," says Helen. "Does that mean you're badly educated if you don't know any boring things?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "I guess so!" |
Author: carillons | "What if you like everything, then are you just badly educated no matter how much stuff you know?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "Maybe not. I'm not sure. Sometimes when I say something is boring he says it's not. He's wrong though." |
Author: carillons | "Sometimes stuff that's boring for one person is fun for somebody else," says Helen. "Maybe lots of things are fun for your uncle and that's why he doesn't care that they're boring for you." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Maybe," says Shura. "Whatever, I don't have to do it a lot. I can just learn magic and stuff most of the time." |
Author: carillons | "Magic is fun!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "Yeah!" agrees Shura brightly. |
Author: carillons | "And so is cake. I wonder if there are spells about cake?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "There are spells to warm stuff up!" |
Author: carillons | "Maybe you can bake cake with some of them! I wanna find out," she says. "Who should I ask?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "I dunno. Maybe my mom knows." |
Author: carillons | "Let's ask your mom!" |
Author: alicornucopia | Off they go in search of Shura's mom! |
Author: carillons | "Hi, Shura's mom! Are there spells you can use to cook stuff when you don't have an oven?" says Helen. "Like cake?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "If you don't have an oven, you can cook with magic," says Shura's mom. "It would never be worth the trouble if you did have one, though. Lot of runes." |
Author: carillons | "I want to learn how!" she says. "I like cooking and I don't have ovens all the time!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "You're not up to runes yet," says Shura's mom. "Too fiddly for little witches. You'll start them when you're nine or ten depending." |
Author: carillons | "Awwww," says Helen. "Not even if I try really really hard and learn really really well?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "You'd have to be a little prodigy," says Shura's mom. |
Author: carillons | "Well, how do I do that?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "You'd need to learn all the verse and herbs you're supposed to learn before getting to runes," says Shura's mom. "And convince whoever would be teaching you runes that you are responsible and not reckless." |
Author: carillons | Helen giggles.
"Okay!" she says. |
Author: alicornucopia | "You're off away from witches a lot," says Shura. "Unless you are hiding a mom somewhere off away." (She gestures again to off away.) |
Author: carillons | "I am not hiding any extra parents anywhere!" she says. "I only have the one. But that's why I wanna learn an oven spell, see, because when I'm with the clan I can cook at Charlie's house but when I'm off away sometimes there isn't anywhere to cook at all!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "I think you are the only person who only has one parent," says Shura thoughtfully.
Even orphans "have" parents, now. |
Author: carillons | "Maybe I am!" says Helen. |
Author: alicornucopia | "That's pe-cu-li-ar," says Shura, sounding it out. |
Author: carillons | Helen giggles.
"Where'd you hear that word?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "I don't remember. I read it someplace." |
Author: carillons | "It's a fun word! Pecuuuuuuuuuuliar," she says, giggling again. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Peculiar peculiar," echoes Shrura, and Nicoa adds an iteration. (He's on her shoulder as a squirrel.) |
Author: carillons | "Pecuuuuuliaaaaaaaaaaaar," trills Kalavar, climbing up Helen's hair as a teeny tiny dragon. |
Author: alicornucopia | "You're so often dragons," Nicoa comments to Kalavar. |
Author: carillons | "I like dragons! Dragons are fun!" says Kalavar. She flaps her flame-red wings. |
Author: alicornucopia | "In some years we'll be birds forever," says Nicoa with mixed feelings. |
Author: carillons | "Maybe not," says Kalavar. "Not everybody settles. Petaal didn't!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "That's pecuuuuuliar," says Shura. |
Author: carillons | Helen and Kalavar both giggle.
"My spinach is a peculiar person," says Helen. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Yep," agrees Shura. |
Author: carillons | "He's the peculiarest!" |
Author: alicornucopia | Shura says, "I don't think I'm very peculiar."
"We're going to be a bird," Nicoa finishes. "I don't know what kind though." |
Author: carillons | "I wish I could be a dragon," says Kalavar. "I like dragons." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Dragons aren't birds," says Nicoa. "Maybe if you were a feather dragon." |
Author: carillons | "I could be an archaeopteryx!" she crows. |
Author: alicornucopia | "What's that?" asks Shura. |
Author: carillons | "It's a like this," says Kalavar, shifting. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Looks like a bird to me!" says Nicoa. |
Author: carillons | "It's a dinosaur sort of!" says Kalavar. |
Author: alicornucopia | "But it looks like a bird," Shura says. |
Author: carillons | "It's like the first bird there ever was or something," says Kalavar, draping her long feathered tail over Helen's shoulder. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Wow!" says Shura. "I guess there weren't witches around then, huh?" |
Author: carillons | "Nope!" says Helen. "But there were dinosaurs and stuff!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "I think lots of dinosaurs were too big." |
Author: carillons | "No way," says Helen. "The biggest ones are the most fun! I saw a T. Rex skeleton once that was so huge it could've eaten me up in one bite!" She giggles. |
Author: alicornucopia | "I don't think getting eaten up in one bite would be very nice!" protests Shura. |
Author: carillons | "Nooooo. But it was still really cool to look at, since it wasn't alive and wasn't going to eat me." |
Author: alicornucopia | "I guess," allows Shura. |
Author: carillons | "It was! I loved it," she beams. |
Author: alicornucopia | "I still think they're too big. Some of them were very very big." |
Author: carillons | "Big things are cool," says Helen.
Kalavar perches on her shoulder and turns into a velociraptor, chicken-sized and feathery. |
Author: alicornucopia | "I like big trees," says Shura. |
Author: carillons | "Me too! They're fun to look at." |
Author: alicornucopia | "When we get older we can go get cloud-pines off of really, really big trees," says Shura. |
Author: carillons | "That'll be fun!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "And then we can flyyyyy!" |
Author: carillons | Helen giggles happily.
Over the coming months, she does her very best to be a little prodigy. She studies hard at magic, and seems to pick up dagger skills almost effortlessly. She still goes off away with Kas - on a trip to three different amusement parks, where she discovers that rollercoasters are more fun than cake - but the lost time doesn't seem to slow her down much. Her seventh birthday comes and goes; she celebrates by baking a cake and sharing it with Charlie and Ranata and Kas and Shura and anyone else who wants some, and then she goes off away again. |
Author: truthwright | This time, they wander across Canada. Now that Helen is a little older, Kas is letting her be by herself more, as long as he's nearby; he takes hotel rooms near libraries so she can go down the block and have lots of books to keep her company, or sits in the outside sections of restaurants while she plays in the park across the street. |
Author: carillons | On one of the latter occasions, Helen gets bored with the park and goes back across the street to collect her spinach so he can find her more fun things to do.
He is not there.
She frowns at the empty tables. |
Author: alicornucopia | There is no spinach here, except in the salad, but there are some witches.
"Are you lost?" one of them asks Helen. |
Author: carillons | "Not exactly," says Helen. "I know where I am, I just don't know where my daddy is." (She has learned that the 'mommy' and 'spinach' parts are best left out when talking to strange grown-ups, because they get terribly confused and it's a bother to untangle them.) |
Author: alicornucopia | "Oh, goodness," says the witch.
"Hmm," says the other. "What about your mommy?" |
Author: carillons | "I don't have one," says Helen. |
Author: alicornucopia | "What a pity," says the second witch.
"We're just about done here," says the first witch. "Why don't you come with us and we'll look after you while we find your daddy?" |
Author: carillons | Helen peers at the witches.
"Maybe," she says. "Can you find him? He should be close by. Maybe I should look in the bathroom first." |
Author: alicornucopia | "But he'd be in the men's room," says the first witch. "We can find him for you, you needn't worry." |
Author: carillons | "I'm going to look in the ladies' room," says Helen.
She goes into the restaurant. |
Author: alicornucopia | The witches do not expect that she will find her daddy in the ladies' room. They wait. |
Author: carillons | And sure enough, Helen comes out again.
"He wasn't there," she reports. "And I asked somebody to look in the men's room for me and he wasn't there either. I guess he's lost. How are you going to find him? Will you use magic?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "We know plenty of magic," replies the first witch reassuringly. |
Author: carillons | "I know lots of magic too!" she says. "But I don't know any daddy-finding spells. Will you teach me one? Or are there runes and things in all the ones there are? I don't know runes yet." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Lots of runes," says the second witch. "If he's very hard to find it might even take a sparrow or a pigeon." |
Author: carillons | "Can I watch?" says Helen, fascinated. |
Author: alicornucopia | "I suppose," says the first witch. |
Author: carillons | "What are your names? I'm Helen," she says. "Helen Ianthe." |
Author: alicornucopia | "I'm Kana Setira and this is Loviisa Lerandi," says the first witch. |
Author: carillons | "It's nice to meet you!" she says. "Where are you going to do the spell to find my daddy?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "All our magic things are home," says Kana. "It's not a long flight. You can sit on my cloud-pine with me." |
Author: carillons | "Okay," Helen says agreeably. |
Author: alicornucopia | And so off they fly. The flight is a little long, but Kana happens to have a children's book on her for Helen to read. |
Author: carillons | She hasn't read it before, but it is cute and she likes it.
"I hope he's not worried," she says when she finishes it, most of the way through the flight. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Well, if he is, he will soon stop," says Kana. "All done with the book?" She tucks it away again. "Do you like magic? Are you studying old languages?" |
Author: carillons | "I love magic!" says Helen. "It's so much fun! I can count to fifty in Svaaric, but I don't know real words yet." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Counting is a fine place to start," says Kana.
They land in a little cottage in the middle of nowhere, and Kana helps her off the cloud-pine. An osprey daemon is peering out the window at them. |
Author: carillons | Kalavar perches on Helen's head and becomes a gorgeous violet dragon with black-edged scales and blue-striped wings. |
Author: alicornucopia | In they go. Loviisa starts setting up a complicated spell diagram, with lots of runes and lines, out of dark wine. |
Author: carillons | Helen peers thoughtfully at it. She doesn't really understand it, but it's interesting anyway. |
Author: alicornucopia | It takes a long time to set up the spell. The osprey - Loviisa's - keeps murmuring to Kana's bluejay softly, not near where Helen can hear. Kana summons an animal to sacrifice; the pigeon takes a while to arrive and doesn't look happy about it when it shows up. Loviisa scatters a great many different herbs around the diagram.
And then she recites a verse in Svaaric. |
Author: carillons | Helen listens, but there aren't any numbers, or any words she vaguely sort of recognizes. Or any goddesses.
She waits to see if they have found him or not. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Now we wait," Kana tells Helen. "Would you like a snack?" |
Author: carillons | "Okay!" says Helen. |
Author: alicornucopia | Kana makes her a little plate of fruit with frosting to dip it in. |
Author: carillons | Om nom nom. |
Author: alicornucopia | And then there is tea, and Kana has more books. |
Author: carillons | Tea! Books!
Helen settles into a comfortable chair near an open window, and she waits. |
Author: truthwright | She hardly has time to get comfy; only about five minutes after the spell was cast, a raven flies in the window and turns smoothly into a naked witch. |
Author: carillons | Helen jumps up and claps her hands. "Petaal!" she exclaims. "You got unlost!"
Kalavar launches herself from the back of Helen's chair into Petaal's arms. |
Author: alicornucopia | The witches peer at this scene.
They are very confused. |
Author: carillons | "Where's my spinach?" says Helen. "I wanna hug him! Was he worried?" |
Author: truthwright | "He's back at the hotel, button," says Petaal, cuddling the now chincilla-shaped Kalavar. "I'll fly you back, c'mon." |
Author: alicornucopia | The witches start whispering to each other. |
Author: truthwright | Petaal leads Helen out of the cottage. |
Author: carillons | "Thank you for finding my daddy!" says Helen, waving to the two witches. "Bye now!" |
Author: alicornucopia |
The witches decide not to follow them. |
Author: carillons | It's a much shorter flight back, for some reason. Maybe Petaal's cloudpine is faster. Anyway, after only a few minutes Helen can see the city in the distance. |
Author: alicornucopia | Back in the cottage, another small animal dies. |
Author: carillons | The first Helen knows of this, the branch on which she sits starts to fall out of the sky. She twists around and sees a blur of flame where Petaal should be. |
Author: truthwright | The flame unblurs - she's a peregrine falcon, diving to catch the falling branch - she's a witch again, clinging to the back of the cloudpine while Helen clings to the front, and their flight levels out.
"You okay, button?" she says shakily. |
Author: carillons | "What happened?" |
Author: truthwright | Petaal angles the branch up to regain lost altitude.
"Somebody's trying to kill me," she says. "But I'm very immortal." |
Author: carillons | ...Helen can only think of one obvious suspect.
"Oh no," she says, dismayed. |
Author: alicornucopia | The witches are in flight, now, but they won't catch up if Petaal continues to make forward progress. |
Author: truthwright | Especially since Petaal's branch is considerably augmented.
They land in front of the hotel - Petaal brought enough silk with her to cover one problem area, and assumed the appropriate witch shape, so no one gives them excessive trouble while they go up to their room. |
Author: carillons | Where Helen immediately flings herself at Kas.
"I met these witches and they said they'd do a spell to find you but they did it in Svaaric and—"
She can't finish the sentence; she just bursts into tears. |
Author: truthwright | "I know," he says, hugging her and kissing the top of her head.
And he brainphones Ranata Ekamma.
[So a couple of witches just tried to kill me and take my daughter.] |
Author: alicornucopia | [What? Who? What clan?] |
Author: truthwright | [Don't know. I'd ask Helen if they told her anything, but she's busy crying.]
[Didn't see any clan tattoos,] says Petaal. |
Author: alicornucopia | [Where are you?] |
Author: truthwright | [Toronto.] |
Author: alicornucopia | [Most likely the Ontario clan then, but not a guarantee - do you have any idea why?] |
Author: truthwright | [Nope.] |
Author: alicornucopia | [What did they do, just come at you blades out on the street -] |
Author: truthwright | [Helen was in a park, I went to the bathroom, I came out, Helen wasn't in the park. Then somebody hit me with a death curse out of nowhere while I was looking for her. But I am extremely immortal, so it didn't put me down for long.] |
Author: alicornucopia | [I'm going to need to tell the queen, and Helen should talk to her, too, can you bring her here as soon as you're both up to the trip?] |
Author: truthwright | [Yeah, of course.] |
Author: alicornucopia | [All right. Please let me know right away if you learn anything else that could be a clue to who it was.] |
Author: truthwright | [Yeah.] |
Author: alicornucopia | [I can't believe someone would - it's an act of war.] |
Author: truthwright | [No shit,] he says. [You mean between witches, though?] |
Author: alicornucopia | [Yes.] |
Author: truthwright | [Guess they really wanted Helen,] he says, hugging his daughter some more. |
Author: alicornucopia | [Or didn't think they'd be caught because her mother's not in evidence, I suppose,] says Ranata disgustedly. |
Author: truthwright | [Sucks to be them, either way.] |
Author: alicornucopia | [Oh yes.] |
Author: truthwright | Kas cuddles Helen. Petaal cuddles Kalavar. |
Author: alicornucopia | It's about six hours later when a sudden shock of cold descends over Kas and Petaal, freezing them solid and stuck together. |
Author: carillons | They are all asleep by then, so Helen doesn't notice until the next morning.
She shouts. She cries. She hugs the parts of Kas that are not too close to icy Petaal. She inventively boils the kettle and pours hot water over them. It freezes.
She curls up in bed with Kalavar as a fluffy viscacha, and she tries to think.
She wishes Ranata were here. Ranata could protect her from the scary witches, and maybe even fix what happened to Kas and Petaal, or bring them to the clan and find someone else who could.
She closes her eyes, and—listens... |
Author: alicornucopia | Ranata is asleep, apparently, and snores whuffly little snores. |
Author: carillons | "Ranata!" says Helen, putting her voice where her listening is. "Wake up, wake up! Something scary happened and I don't know what to do!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "Wh- huh - Helen?" |
Author: carillons | "Kas and Petaal froze all up," she says, sniffling, "and I don't know how to melt them, and the scary witches who tried to kill him might be coming for me again!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "How - I - where are you exactly?" |
Author: carillons | "In our hotel room in Toronto," she says. She even has the hotel address and room number memorized. |
Author: alicornucopia | "...I can come for you, but it will take me hours to fly there. Are you all right right now?" |
Author: carillons | "Yeah," she says. "I'm just really scared." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Okay. Don't you open up the door until you see Castarilan at the window telling you it's okay, all right? Call the front desk from the hotel room, and tell them that some witches from another clan cursed your daddy, but that someone from your clan is on the way, and they shouldn't let any witches except me in, tell them Castarilan's a broad-tailed hummingbird." |
Author: carillons | "I'll do that," says Helen. She gets out of bed and finds the phone and calls the front desk. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Are you still - how are you talking to me?" Ranata asks. There are the sounds of silk tying on and cloud-pine brushing against and lifting from the floor. |
Author: carillons | "I dunno," she says to Ranata, "I can just do that, it's a magic thing," and she explains the situation to the front desk person. She doesn't know how to make her voice heard where Ranata is and over the phone at the same time, so Ranata does not get to hear what she's saying to them. |
Author: alicornucopia | The front desk person agrees not to let any witches past the lobby unless they have broad-tailed hummingbird daemons, and asks if Helen wants a staff person to come sit with her while she waits for her clanmate. |
Author: carillons | "No, that's okay," says Helen. "I'd just be scared if it was more people I don't know. I'll wait for Ranata Ekamma by myself." |
Author: alicornucopia | "All right. Call us if you need anything," says the front desk person. |
Author: carillons | "I will," says Helen. "Bye now."
She hangs up the phone and curls up in bed and cries, still listening to Ranata. |
Author: alicornucopia | The wind is whistling past Ranata; she's flying fast, murmuring to Castarilan about possible spells that could have afflicted Kas in spite of his largely mysterious protections from Isabella. |
Author: carillons | Helen definitely listens to that. |
Author: alicornucopia | "I don't know what she did," Ranata is saying. "I don't know anything about what she did, or how. It sounds like any number of curses - why wouldn't she have - or couldn't she? - but if she could make him immortal -"
"Helen's the important thing," says Castarilan, "even if he's not fixable we can look after her." |
Author: carillons | "I love you, Granatee," Helen murmurs in their ears. |
Author: alicornucopia | "You're still - how does this work? I can't tell when you're listening or not," frets Ranata. "I love you too, Helen." |
Author: carillons | "I don't know how it works," she says. "I just - listen for you, and there you are. And it helps me not be scared." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Okay," says Ranata. "I'm coming. I'll be over the national border soon." |
Author: carillons | "Good," says Helen. |
Author: alicornucopia | "I'm going as fast as I can."
Ranata decides to save the question of whether she'll be able to fix Helen's spinach for when they're talking in person. |
Author: carillons | "I know," says Helen. |
Author: alicornucopia | "The queen will find whoever did it and make sure they can't ever do it again." |
Author: carillons |
Softly but still very, very clearly: "Are you sure?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "It might take her a while, but she will find them." |
Author: carillons | "Okay," says Helen.
She hugs Kalavar, and listens to Ranata, and waits. |
Author: alicornucopia | Ranata is out of things to say, but there is still the rush of wind, and her breathing. |
Author: carillons | The time passes with an occasional 'I love you' or 'where are you now?'. |
Author: alicornucopia | Ranata always answers her - "I love you too." With the number of miles yet to go. |
Author: carillons | Eventually the number of miles becomes small, and Helen says, "Can you see the building yet?"
She remembers the approach with Petaal; she can say what it looks like from the air. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Not yet, I need to get my bearings - I'm coming up the street now." |
Author: carillons | "Okay."
She hugs Kalavar. |
Author: alicornucopia | "I'm going to go show the front desk people Castarilan and then he'll come find your window."
A minute later, there is a hummingbird at the window. |
Author: carillons | Helen goes to it and opens it, and Kalavar buzzes up to Castarilan as a fuzzy bumblebee. |
Author: alicornucopia | In comes Castarilan, and presently there's a knock at the door. |
Author: carillons | She hears it with a funny echo, because it's where Ranata is and where she is.
She stops extra-listening and runs to the door and opens it and hugs Ranata the huggiest hug of all hugs that have ever hugged. |
Author: alicornucopia | Ranata hugs her back hard, and says, "Let's get Kas tied to the cloudpine, and go home." |
Author: carillons | "Okay," she says, looking dubiously at Kas and Petaal where they are snuggled up and glazed over. Petaal is coiled around Kas as a constricting snake of some kind; the species is hard to tell under the ice.
Helen cannot imagine how they are going to get Kas tied to a cloudpine branch. |
Author: alicornucopia | It's pretty difficult, and on one occasion Ranata asks Kalavar to turn into something big so they can roll him over onto the rope Ranata brought when the easiest way to do this involves touching Petaal, but eventually she has them coiled up in rope, secured to the cloudpine, and does not dislodge them in an experimental low circuit around the room.
"Okay," she says. "Do you need to pack anything?" |
Author: carillons | She picks up Kas's backpack off the floor and puts it on, and picks up her own backpack and holds it, and looks at Petaal's cloudpine branch leaning against the wall by the door. |
Author: alicornucopia | Ranata considers the cloudpine, then picks it up and wedges it in under one of the rope knots. "Okay, up you get, she says, helping Helen onto the cloudpine.
She flies them into the elevator, descends with it, and then goes out the lobby and into the sky, cursed spinach still hanging where he's tied. |
Author: carillons | Kalavar turns into an albatross and flies along beside them.
Helen holds onto the branch and hugs her backpack and is uncharacteristically quiet. |
Author: alicornucopia | "It'll be okay," says Ranata. |
Author: carillons | "Are you sure?" says Helen. |
Author: alicornucopia | "You'll always be taken care of. And the clan can protect you from the bad witches." |
Author: carillons | "I want my spinach, though," she says unhappily. |
Author: alicornucopia | "I know, sweetie." Ranata is out of the cityscape now and doesn't need both hands to steer; she strokes Helen's hair. |
Author: carillons | Helen sighs.
"I love you, Granatee." |
Author: alicornucopia | "I love you too."
And on they fly.
It's a long trip. They land in the clan grounds, and Ranata cuts the ropes to detach Kas from her cloudpine rather than go through the complicated rigmarole of avoiding Petaal again.
"I need to speak to the queen, and then start asking the best cursebreakers what they can do," Ranata says. "Do you want to come with me or do you want me to bring you to Charlie's house to wait?" |
Author: carillons | "I want to come with you," she says, with a sad glance at frozen Kas. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Okay."
Queen Narida Memma is not in her house, but she's not too hard to find once that's ruled out; she's with her sister.
Ranata goes up to her. "Helen and I need to speak to you alone," she says.
The queen looks between grandmother and grandchild, then makes her excuses to her sister and goes aside with them.
"Can you tell her everything that happened?" Ranata asks Helen gently. |
Author: carillons | Kalavar turns into a fluffy bunny. Helen hugs her.
"I was in the park and I went to look for Kas across the street and he wasn't there," she says, "and some witches were there and they asked if I was lost, and I said no, I was just looking for my daddy, and they said they'd help me find him, and I looked in the bathrooms first but he wasn't there so I went out and asked the witches their names and they said Kana Setira and Loviisa Lerandi, and I asked if they could find him with a spell and they said yes, so they took me to their little house far away from things and did a spell but I didn't understand the verse because it was in Svaaric, and they gave me books and tea and snacks and told me to wait, and then Petaal came in the window and they looked really surprised and kind of started whispering at each other and didn't say anything while Petaal took me out to fly me back to the hotel."
She takes a deep breath.
"And on the way back the cloudpine fell a little bit and I looked at Petaal and she was fire, and then she wasn't and she was a witch again and she made the cloudpine work, and I asked her what happened and she said somebody tried to kill her, and that's why those witches were so weird, they were kidnapping me only I didn't even know until I was almost back at the hotel! And when we got back I cried a lot and Kas called Ranata and I went to sleep and when I woke up Kas and Petaal were all frozen! I think the scary witches cursed them again! I tried to melt them but it didn't work so I called Ranata with some magic and she came and got me. And I'm scared and I want my mommydaddyspinach. He is not a mommydaddyicecube." |
Author: alicornucopia | "How did you try to melt them?" asks the queen. |
Author: carillons | "I poured hot water on Kas. But it just froze." |
Author: alicornucopia | "You called Ranata with magic?" asks the queen next. |
Author: carillons | "Yeah," she says. "I don't really know how. I can do a thing, where I can listen far away, and I can put my voice far away too." |
Author: alicornucopia | The queen contemplates this.
"This was in Toronto," Ranata adds.
"I'll speak to the queen of the Ontario clan. Consult Rinda about the curse. Helen shouldn't leave clan lands until this is settled."
Ranata nods. |
Author: carillons | Helen hugs Kalavar. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Come along," Ranata murmurs to Helen, and she leads her away to look for Rinda. Castarilan splits off to cover more ground. |
Author: carillons | Kalavar turns into a dark red dragon with bright orange spines, and climbs up onto Helen's shoulder, and preens Helen's hair with her nose and her bright orange claws. |
Author: alicornucopia | Rinda takes longer to find than the queen did, but eventually she's located, and brought to see Kas.
"Hmm, don't know," she says, after looking him over, tossing some celery seed onto him and muttering a verse, and looking him over some more. |
Author: carillons | Helen sniffles a bit. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Deep curse, very fast, very permanent," says Rinda, mostly to Ranata. "Might be able to unravel it with the sacrifice they used but they'll have burnt it, yes?"
"Probably," says Ranata softly. |
Author: carillons | Kalavar curls her tail around Helen's arm and arches her wing around Helen's head. |
Author: alicornucopia | Ranata puts her hand on Helen's other shoulder. Castarilan hums in patterns around girl and daemon both. "Is it worth finding a second opinion?"
"Oh, if you must, call the allied clans, ask them what their cursebreakers say, but I think they'll tell you the same," says Rinda, shaking her head. |
Author: carillons | Kalavar becomes a viscacha and flumps into Helen's arms, and Helen hugs her and cries into her fluff, leaning on Ranata. |
Author: alicornucopia | "I'm so sorry," Ranata murmurs to Helen.
Rinda makes an apologetic gesture and departs. |
Author: carillons | Kalavar buzzes bee-shaped up to Castarilan, and Helen hugs Ranata and cries on her instead. |
Author: alicornucopia | Prolonged hugs ensue. |
Author: carillons | A lot of hug.
And a lot of crying.
And then... Helen doesn't know what then.
Her tummy grumbles. Well, that's a suggestion. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Let's go to Charlie's house," murmurs Ranata, "or - no - should stay on clan grounds - let's get some food into you, at any rate."
The clan grounds are culinarily self-sustaining, and presently they have scared up some chicken and vegetables. |
Author: carillons | Helen eats the chicken and also the vegetables, and she leans on Ranata, and she shivers. Kalavar turns into a mouse and perches on her foot. |
Author: alicornucopia | "It'll be okay," Castarilan tells Kalavar. |
Author: carillons | "We're scared," says Kalavar. |
Author: alicornucopia | Long hummingbird beaks are not very good for nuzzling, but Castarilan does his best to be comforting anyway. "You'll be fine. We'll take care of you." |
Author: carillons | "Will Kas be fine?" cries Kalavar, huddling mousily against Castarilan. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Oh, sweetie," says Ranata. "We'll try the other clans' cursebreakers. Rinda doesn't know everything." |
Author: carillons | Helen sniffles and hugs Ranata. |
Author: alicornucopia | Hugs.
"I can call Charlie and he can come here," she offers. |
Author: carillons | She nods between sniffles. |
Author: alicornucopia | Ranata has a phone; she calls Charlie.
"He'll be here in an hour," she reports. |
Author: carillons | Helen nods again and closes her eyes. |
Author: alicornucopia | Hugs.
After the promised hour, Charlie finds them. He sits on Helen's other side and puts his arm around her; his daemon snuffles at Kalavar. |
Author: carillons | Kalavar turns into a chinchilla and huddles up to Kesathi; Helen sits between her grandparents and closes her eyes and sniffles periodically, and if she's not crying she only just barely isn't. |
Author: alicornucopia |
"Y'know," says Charlie, "if you can't break the curse - then - well, I died, once, got out easy because I was - special to Isabella."
Ranata makes a hmm sound. |
Author: carillons | "Is it okay being dead?" sniffles Helen. "Is it better than being frozen?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "Oh, it's not bad there at all," says Charlie. "I didn't stay long but - it's not bad, better than being frozen. And Kas was special to Isabella, too." |
Author: carillons | "Then..."
The thought of killing Kas is terribly frightening. But the thought of Kas just staying frozen forever is also terribly frightening.
Helen falls silent. |
Author: alicornucopia | Charlie pets Helen's hair. |
Author: carillons | Helen hugs him and sighs.
"Everything is scary and I don't know what to do," she says. |
Author: alicornucopia | "It'll be okay, honey," Charlie says. |
Author: carillons | "Are you sure?" she says plaintively. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Nobody's ever perfectly sure," Charlie says. "That's one of the hardest things there is. But that doesn't mean it won't be okay." |
Author: carillons | She hugs him some more. Kalavar nuzzles Kesathi's paw. |
Author: alicornucopia | Kesathi is a huggy creature. She demonstrates this now.
"It's probably worth checking with a couple other cursebreakers, but if they say the same thing, I don't know what else we can do," says Ranata. |
Author: carillons | Helen nods and hugs Charlie tighter. |
Author: alicornucopia | Ranata delegates hugging to Charlie and starts calling other clans. |
Author: carillons | Charlie is a good hug delegate. |
Author: alicornucopia | He is.
The first foreign cursebreaker declines to second-guess Rinda at all. The second listens to the symptoms and the circumstances, asks whether Kas happens to smell of mace, and eventually concludes that he cannot be helped. The third's phone is answered by her son-in-law, who says that she's going to be spending the next six months on a retreat in the Alps and will not be speaking to anyone until the end of same.
Ranata puts her phone away.
"Not much sense in waiting," she murmurs. |
Author: carillons | Helen sniffles and hugs Charlie.
"What are you going to do?" |
Author: alicornucopia | Ranata kisses her forehead. "I'm not sure what will get through the ice. It's probably better if you don't watch." |
Author: carillons | She shakes her head.
"I want to," she says. |
Author: alicornucopia | "No, sweetie. Stay here with Charlie, okay?"
Charlie holds Helen securely. |
Author: carillons | "Please?" she says. "I want to see. Even if it's going to be scary and awful. Not seeing would be worse, because then it would be scary and awful and I wouldn't know—" She clings to Charlie and presses her face against his shoulder. |
Author: alicornucopia | "I don't want you having that image in your head, Helen," says Ranata.
"She's right," Charlie opines. |
Author: carillons | Helen shakes her head vigorously. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Stay put," says Ranata, and she leaves. |
Author: carillons | Helen starts crying and trying to get away from Charlie. |
Author: alicornucopia | Charlie holds onto her. Kesathi wraps her forepaws around Kalavar and nuzzles her. |
Author: carillons | Kalavar turns into a flea and hops away, and turns into a dragon and launches herself into the air, flying after Ranata. She can't get very far, but she pulls as hard as she can, even though Helen is now crying hysterically. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Helen, honey," says Charlie. "Looking won't help. Kalavar, come back - sit down - just wait. It'll be over soon." |
Author: carillons | "Let us go," wails Helen.
And she listens to Ranata. |
Author: alicornucopia | "We said no, Helen," Charlie says.
Ranata is producing footsteps.
And the sound of a dagger unsheathing.
And an apprehensive sigh -
And the sound of ice shattering. |
Author: carillons | "Mommydaddyspinaaaaaaach!" |
Author: truthwright | The crackle of flames.
"—Button? What the hell—" |
Author: alicornucopia | "Oh, thank goddesses all," says Ranata, sitting heavily down on the ground. |
Author: truthwright | "Did you just—? What happened? And where is my daughter?" |
Author: carillons | "They wouldn't let me see!" says Helen, the words inaudible to Charlie, unless he can hear her all the way from where Kas and Ranata are. "I'm with Charlie—Granatee, bring him here!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "This way," says Ranata, getting up again and leading Kas Helenward. "The witches who took Helen cursed you, and it wasn't looking breakable - I was betting on your extra immortality. Isabella's afterlife if it didn't work; it let Charlie out quick enough." |
Author: truthwright | "Thank you," says Kas, and he hugs Ranata. Petaal bounds along beside them as a doe.
As soon as they're in sight of Charlie, Kas rushes forward and scoops Helen out of her grandpa's arms.
"Button, I'm here, I'm okay, see?" he says. |
Author: carillons | Kalavar dives onto Petaal's back and clings.
Helen clings likewise to Kas, still crying. |
Author: alicornucopia | Ranata sits down again. She puts her dagger in its sheath, and leans her head on Charlie's shoulder, looking drained. |
Author: truthwright | "It's okay," Kas murmurs into Helen's hair. "I'm right here, I'm fine." |
Author: carillons | "Are - you - sure?" she sobs. |
Author: truthwright | "Sure as sure," he says, hugging her tight. "I promise." |
Author: carillons | In half an hour or so, Helen is calmed down enough to say,
"I wanna see Shura." |
Author: alicornucopia | "I'll go find her," says Ranata, and she gets up and flies away.
A while later, Castarilan leads Shura to where they've all been sitting; Ranata returns a minute later.
"Helen, what's wrong?" Shura asks. |
Author: carillons | "I got kidnapped by some scary witches from another clan and they froze Kas into ice and Ranata had to stab him to make him better!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "How does stabbing make somebody better?" asks Shura, peering at Kas, who doesn't look very stabbed. |
Author: carillons | "I dunno," says Helen, "but she did it and it worked." She hugs Kas tightly. |
Author: truthwright | Kas pets Helen's hair.
"It's 'cause I'm so peculiar," he says to Shura. "If somebody tries to kill me, I get better from things instead." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Wow," says Shura, "I bet that comes in useful. And now you are all okay?" |
Author: truthwright | "Yeah," says Kas. |
Author: carillons | "I'm still scared, though," sniffles Helen. |
Author: alicornucopia | "The clan lands are blessed a lot. Nobody can curse us here," says Shura. |
Author: carillons | "That's good," says Helen.
Kalavar turns into a kitten and bounds up to Nicoa. |
Author: alicornucopia | Nicoa has been being a turtle, but now he turns into another kitten. |
Author: carillons | Kalavar snuggles up to him.
Helen sighs and hugs Kas.
"I'm still scared," she murmurs. "Even though we're safe now, I'm scared." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Can we help?" Nicoa asks. |
Author: carillons | "You're helping now," says Kalavar, nuzzling him.
"And you reminded us the clan lands are blessed," says Helen, "that helped." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Any witch who's any good at magic does a blessing of the lands when she gets to be about fifty or sixty," says Ranata. "They add up. I did one myself." |
Author: carillons | Helen nods slowly. |
Author: alicornucopia | Nicoa snuggles Kalavar and purrs soothingly. |
Author: carillons | Kalavar is soothed. So is Helen. |
Author: alicornucopia | That is good. That is the idea.
"The queen will find who did it," Ranata sighs. |
Author: carillons | "I hope so," says Helen. "She should find them and make them stop." |
Author: alicornucopia | "She will." |
Author: carillons | Helen nods. |
Author: alicornucopia | The queen does in fact do this.
The Ontario queen is not interested in defending her subjects; they are flown onto Olympic ground, trussed up and gagged, their daemons tangled up in nets with them. (While not as traditional as bows and daggers, nets are sometimes used for things like this.)
"Are these those who harmed you?" the queen inquires of Helen and Kas. |
Author: carillons | Helen inspects them.
"Yeah," she says. |
Author: truthwright | "Yeah," Petaal confirms, wearing her witch shape. |
Author: alicornucopia | The accused are not given an opportunity to speak in their defense; there is always the risk of verse. The queen reads off the charges - kidnapping of an Olympic, interference-spell on an Olympic, attempted murder of a relative of an Olympic. She then sentences them to death. This is open to supervision. |
Author: truthwright | Kas supervises. |
Author: carillons | So does Helen. |
Author: alicornucopia | The queen slits their throats. The associated birds dissolve into gold and vanish. |
Author: carillons | Helen turns to Kas and hugs him tight, hiding her face against his chest. Kalavar curls up in Petaal's arms as a blue-grey dragon with soft pebbled skin. |
Author: alicornucopia | The queen sends someone to burn the bodies, clasps hands with Ranata in a sort of ceremonial acknowledgment that the damage to her family has been avenged, and departs. |
Author: carillons | "What does 'interference spell' mean?" says Helen to Ranata. |
Author: alicornucopia | "That is how we think they found you. It's a complicated kind of spell that makes little chances add up over a long time to get something - like making you cross their path so they could take you home," says Ranata quietly. |
Author: carillons |
Helen shivers. |
Author: truthwright | So does Kas. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Hardly anyone does them." |
Author: truthwright | "Yeah," murmurs Kas. |
Author: alicornucopia | "It's all over," Ranata says reassuringly. "If they hadn't acted alone, the Ontario queen wouldn't have turned them over so quickly." |
Author: truthwright | Kas nods and pets Helen's hair. |
Author: alicornucopia | It's not too long before this mess is well in the past and it is time for Helen to go up to the cloudpine forest and cut her first branch and learn to fly. |
Author: carillons | Well in the past but not entirely in the past; Helen has been more serious, more withdrawn, and even more dedicated to studying magic.
None of which makes her any less enthusiastic about her very first cloudpine. |
Author: alicornucopia | That's good! It is a time to be excited. Ranata flies her up to help her pick one out. |
Author: carillons | She spends some time looking at all the trees - they are beautiful trees, and worth looking at - before she finally starts inspecting the branches, and then picks one that is pretty and looks right, and cuts it from its tree. |
Author: alicornucopia | It will float for her, because she cut it herself, in the way that Ranata's or Petaal's won't. |
Author: carillons | Eeeee! Helen hugs it. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Try flying!" beams Ranata, taking a picture. |
Author: carillons | Helen tries flying.
Flying works.
"Wheeeeeeeeeeeee," she says, zooming around Ranata in an only slightly wobbly circle. |
Author: alicornucopia | Ranata grins and zooms as well. |
Author: carillons | Helen chases her!
"This is better than rollercoasters!" she shouts. |
Author: alicornucopia | "It is!" agrees Ranata.
She leads Helen around in a series of maneuvers that will let her surreptitiously check for balance or steering issues. |
Author: carillons | No such problems manifest themselves.
"Wheee!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "Whee!" agrees Ranata, and homeward she leads her grandchild. |
Author: carillons | Her flying grandchild.
(Along the way, she listens for Kas and tells him that she cut herself her very own cloudpine branch and it is perfect and nice and she's flying and flying is the best thing. Petaal agrees that flying is super great.) |
Author: alicornucopia | Flying is super great!
It is a long flight with plenty of opportunities for learning the finer points of the sport back to clan lands. |
Author: carillons | Helen is extremely attentive.
Whee! |
Author: alicornucopia | Ranata is good at teaching small witches how to fly!
Don't mind the occasional nostalgic expression on her face; they are soon cleared away by smiles. |
Author: carillons | Helen has so many smiles.
And the very second they get back and land, she has so many hugs. |
Author: alicornucopia | Hugs! Hugs are wonderful. |
Author: carillons | Hugs are wonderful.
"I can flyyyyy," beams Helen. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Of course you can. You're a witch," grins Ranata. |
Author: carillons | "I'm a grown up enough witch to flyyyyyyyyyyy!"
She twirls around and around and around and around and dizzily hugflops onto Ranata. |
Author: alicornucopia | Ranata laughs and catches her. |
Author: carillons | "Flyyyyyy," she mumbles into Ranata's silks. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Just mind you don't spin yourself dizzy and then crash into a tree." |
Author: carillons | She giggles. "I won't!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "Good." Forehead-kiss. |
Author: carillons | Hug. Hug hug hug hug hug hug hug. Also, hug. |
Author: alicornucopia | All the hugs. |
Author: carillons | When she un-dizzies, she races off to find Shura. |
Author: alicornucopia | Shura is in her grandma's house, reading a storybook. |
Author: carillons | "Shura Shura Shura I can flyyyyyy," says Helen. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Lucky, I still have to wait!" |
Author: carillons | "When you can fly too we should fly together!" says Helen. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Yeah!" agrees Shura. "We can go way out over the ocean and swoop around the big waves!" |
Author: carillons | "Yeahhh," says Helen, beaming. "It'll be fun! Tell your mom to hurry up and take you to the cloudpine place!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "She says in two months," grumbles Shura. |
Author: carillons | "Awww." Helen hugs her. "Wanna come flying on mine?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "I dunno, are you gonna drop me? You just started." |
Author: carillons | "We can go only a little bit and not very high," she says, "and then I'll learn how to not drop you, and then later I can fly you more!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "Okay," says Shura, finding this satisfactory, and she puts down her book. |
Author: carillons | And off they go onto Helen's cloudpine, and their feet dangle not very high off the ground at all, and Helen flies her around the clan grounds. |
Author: alicornucopia | Wheee!
"I can't wait to do this myself," chatters Shura. |
Author: carillons | "It's lots of fun!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "Yeah! I bet it's better at night." |
Author: carillons | "I'll try it at night when night happens and then I'll see!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "Yeah! It's almost dinner time now." |
Author: carillons | "It will be night soon and then I will be flying at night!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "Yeah! Flying under the staaaaars." |
Author: carillons | Helen giggles delightedly. |
Author: alicornucopia | "And the moon but it's a new moon tonight." |
Author: carillons | "Yeah. So the moon later when there is more of it." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Yes. It will grow." |
Author: carillons | "Moons do that!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "And then they shrink!" |
Author: carillons | "And then they grow some more!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "Forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever." |
Author: carillons | "Until the sun explodes," says Helen. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Explodes? Why would the sun explode?" |
Author: carillons | "Suns aren't immortal! They live a really really really really long time, and then they go boom," says Helen. "I learned that the other day." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Going boom is a funny way to die," snorts Shura. |
Author: carillons | "Not if you're a star!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "I guess! Why do they do it like that?" |
Author: carillons | She shrugs. "I dunno!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "Oh. Do moons die?" |
Author: carillons | "I don't think they die the same way," Helen says consideringly. "But I dunno if they do at all." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Do any other things besides stars die by exploding?" |
Author: carillons | "I'm not sure! I wonder how to find out," she muses. "Maybe my spinach would know." |
Author: alicornucopia | "Maybe. Should we ask him?" |
Author: carillons | "Sure!"
She listens for Kas and says, "Do any things other than stars die by exploding?" |
Author: truthwright | "I dunno, button," he laughs. "Maybe galaxies or something." |
Author: carillons | "He says he doesn't know but maybe galaxies or something," Helen reports. |
Author: alicornucopia | "Galaxies are made of stars," says Shura. "I know that." |
Author: carillons | "So maybe a galaxy dies when all of its stars explode," muses Helen. "I wonder if it happens all at once or one by one?" |
Author: alicornucopia | "Dunno. I didn't know they did it at all." |
Author: carillons | "Now you are better educated," giggles Helen. |
Author: alicornucopia | "And I didn't have to do any boring things!" |
Author: carillons | "That's the best kind of education! The kind that isn't boring!" |
Author: alicornucopia | "It is the best kind," agrees Shura. |
