Here is Milliways. It's Milliways with an empty Belltower, but it's still a neat place to hang out between making bits of incremental progress in motion spells and coaxing advice out of the alethiometer and wedging herself into clan politics.

Author: dark_light	Here is Milliways. It's Milliways with an empty Belltower, but it's still a neat place to hang out between making bits of incremental progress in motion spells and coaxing advice out of the alethiometer and wedging herself into clan politics.
Author: pythbox	A teenager appears out of thin air nearby. Even for Milliways, that is a reasonably rare occurrence. Also, his face might be a little familiar.
Author: dark_light	"...Hey, you," says Amariah.
Author: pythbox	"Hey you," he says, cocking his head at her. "You're new and different."
Author: dark_light	"As opposed to what?" snorts Amariah. "Hey, did you write in the Belltower book a few years ago? D'you go by 'Sue'?"
Author: pythbox	"That's me," he says. "How'd you know?"
Author: dark_light	"'Cause I went to the Belltower, literally ten minutes ago, and I caught up, and there was an entry about a Bell who hasn't been here herself but who has a Whistle, and the picture was a few years younger than you but same uniform, same haircut," says Amariah. "Did you read it as well as write in it? D'you remember any of it? I'm Amariah. The witch one with the owl." Pathalan waves a wing.
Author: pythbox	"I can definitely see you have an owl," he says, observing the owl. "Cute owl."
Author: dark_light	"Don't touch the owl," Amariah adds.
Author: pythbox	"But he's fluffy," says Sue.
Author: dark_light	Path flutters nervously up to sit in a rafter. "Pathalan," says Amariah carefully, "is my soul. In my world everyone has them and most people instinctively avoid touching each other's daemons or at least learn not to by the time they're three. If you touch him you will hurt me. There is no worse feeling than uninvited daemon-touching."
Author: pythbox	Sue frowns.
Author: dark_light	"It's okay, you didn't actually grab him, I'm fine - are you all right?"
Author: pythbox	"Kind of... no," he says. "I don't know. I didn't really want to grab him anyway, I'm just tired of people ordering me around without telling me why, but then it turned out you had a good reason, and now I feel bad."
Author: dark_light	Path flutters down to Amariah's shoulder again, and says, "They haven't figured out yet that that won't work with you?"
Author: pythbox	"Nope," he says. "And instead of trying, they just put me in solitary when I started acting up."
Author: dark_light	"Solitary," murmurs Amariah. "Oh, I'm sorry. D'you want a hug?"
Author: pythbox	"Yeah," he says, wrapping his arms around his stomach.
Author: dark_light	Path hops onto her head to be out of the way, and she hugs him. "I've got a one of you, back home," she says. "D'you want to meet him?"
Author: pythbox	"Maybe," says Sue, leaning into her but not unwrapping his arms.
Author: dark_light	"Up to you," Amariah says, scritching his head.
Author: pythbox	He closes his eyes and smiles. "You're nice," he declares.
Author: dark_light	"I try. If I could take you home with me to get you out of solitary, I'd offer, but there's at least two reasons I shouldn't do that - one, you appeared here instead of walking in, so nothing would actually be accomplished if I brought you through my door, you'd still wake up eventually, and, two, we suspect that going to my world might cause your soul to manifest as a daemon like mine, and that'd just be darned inconvenient in a world where not everybody has them. Stella visited once and she made a wish against it, but it took a star, and it might not have worked if someone other than her had done it."
Author: pythbox	"I don't want my soul out where everybody can get at it," he agrees, snuggling against her.
Author: dark_light	"Yeah. That's... sometimes a problem, even at home," Amariah sighs.
Author: pythbox	Sue looks at her. "I'm sorry," he says softly.
Author: dark_light	"It's okay," says Amariah. "I'd rather have Pathalan where I can talk to him than not. And me and Path, and your alt and his daemon, are all okay now."
Author: pythbox	"Good," he says, snuggling her some more.
Author: dark_light	"How's your Bell doing since you last wrote?" Amariah asks.
Author: pythbox	"Good," he says. "We both graduated to Tactical, but then I graduated to Command and I haven't seen her since."
Author: dark_light	"...Because solitary confinement, not because of some kind of falling-out?"
Author: pythbox	"Because Command is on the other end of the solar system?"
Author: dark_light	"Oh. That's a hike, yes, I could see that being a problem if you can't teleport," says Amariah, laughing a little. "Well, hopefully she'll graduate soon too."
Author: pythbox	"Yeah, hope so," he says. "I miss her."
Author: dark_light	"I bet she misses you too," says Amariah.
Author: pythbox	"Bet she does," he agrees.
Author: dark_light	"Ah, I wish there was something else I could do to help you," sighs Amariah. "You look just like my Kas, only a bit younger, and I hate to think of him shut up somewhere with no company... and Kas at least would have Petaal, that's his daemon."
Author: pythbox	"Maybe I should go to your world," he snorts.
Author: dark_light	"You know what, if you want to I'll open the door for you, but - their standing opinion is that it's not worth it in a world with no daemons. If you had a daemon, she'd be a lot like you, you know, your soul - and nobody but you could touch her without hurting you, unless they were closer-than-close already. And I assume you'd have to hide her, too, she'd have to be little shapes and tucked away all the time."
Author: pythbox	"But I could touch her," he says. "And that'd be better than what I've got."
Author: dark_light	"Right now she's - curled up inside you asleep somewhere," Amariah says, "or you'd be a zombie, not a whole person, and right now she doesn't need things - affection, attention, people to talk to - except through you, because she's asleep. You'd be taking one very bad situation and making it a slightly less bad but duplicated situation, and it's not like you could put her away again after you had her out once. I'd recommend talking to Kas and Petaal about it."
Author: pythbox	"Okay," he shrugs.
Author: dark_light	"I'll go get them," Amariah says, and she releases Sue and heads for the door and sticks her head out. [Hey Kas! I found a fifteenish you and he's been locked up in solitary, come help me keep him company and be advicey on possibly bringing him briefly into our world so he can get a daemon and not be so lonesome?]
Author: truthwright	He appears and hugs her. "Okay," says Petaal from where she's coiled around his neck as a brightly coloured snake, "where's the little-us?"
Author: dark_light	"Over there," says Amariah, pointing. "Sue! These are Kas and Petaal. Sweeties, this is Sue."
Author: pythbox	"Hi," says Sue, still hugging himself.
Author: truthwright	Kas teleports over and gives him a great big snuggly hug.
Author: dark_light	Amariah goes and sits back down where she was a moment ago. "Sue's got a Bell, but they attend school across the solar system from each other so they haven't seen each other in a long time," she says.
Author: pythbox	He leans on Kas and closes his eyes and just... pushes the mess that is his feelings.
Author: truthwright	Kas blinks. "You didn't mention you were magic," he says, linking back and pushing the love that underlies his hug.
Author: dark_light	"Book says the word is 'mutant' and not technically magical," Amariah says.
Author: pythbox	Sue shrugs, leaning into Kas's arms.
Author: truthwright	"You can hug back if you want," he murmurs.
Author: pythbox	Slowly, hesitantly, he does.
Author: truthwright	Kas hugs him closer.
Author: pythbox	He closes his eyes and presses his face against Kas's shoulder. "I wanna go to your world," he declares, after they have spent a few minutes like this.
Author: dark_light	"Okay," says Amariah. "If you're sure." "What're you going to call her?" Path asks.
Author: pythbox	"Ivy," he says whimsically.
Author: dark_light	"Why Ivy?" Amariah asks, getting up and heading for the door.
Author: pythbox	"Something Aegis said once," he says, detaching from Kas and trailing after her. "I forget."
Author: dark_light	Amariah holds the door for him.
Author: pythbox	Sue steps through. Nothing happens at first. But there's a glimmer, then a sparkle, then a cascade of golden light in the air next to him, and it coaelsces into a girl, exactly his age and exactly his height but with different body proportions and fewer clothes. He hugs her immediately. She turns into a viscacha and cuddles into his arms.
Author: dark_light	"Aww," sighs Amariah. "Hi, Ivy," says Path.
Author: pythbox	"Hi!" she says, turning into a snake and coiling around Sue's shoulders like Petaal around Kas's. "I exist!" She sounds very happy about that.
Author: dark_light	"Welcome to existing," laughs Amariah. "...Is my 'curled up asleep somewhere' description accurate? It was mostly guessing, but now I can just ask."
Author: pythbox	"Don't know," she says. "I don't remember being separate from him until I was, but I don't remember not being separate from him. I remember his whole life but not exactly like it was mine."
Author: dark_light	"Huh. I'll call that 'close enough not to make up a new description'," Amariah says. "Well. This is my house." She gestures. It's pretty minimally decorated, and the view out the windows is of trackless forest. "Welcome! And the world's called Alethia."
Author: pythbox	Sue and Ivy go immediately to a window and staaaaaaaaaaaare out of it.
Author: dark_light	"...You like the woods?" Amariah asks.
Author: pythbox	"I've been in space since I was like five," says Sue. "I barely remember what woods are."
Author: dark_light	"Well, if you'd like, you can go out in them, it's only autumn and you probably won't freeze, especially if Ivy turns into a witch. If you want, me or Petaal can take you flying. You probably don't have time for Ivy to learn how before you wake up."
Author: pythbox	"Take us flying, take us flying!" they chorus.
Author: dark_light	Amariah laughs, opens the front door, sets her cloudpine to hovering, and reminds them, "You'll want to make sure Ivy doesn't touch me," as she beckons for them to sit on it behind her.
Author: pythbox	Sue perches on the cloudpine; Ivy turns into a mouse and hides in the collar of his IF uniform.
Author: dark_light	Flight! "If you want me to do anything fancy, let me know and I'll put a protective spell on you so you won't be too beat up if you fall. I can patch anything short of a broken neck," Amariah says. "With my native magic or with Stella's."
Author: pythbox	"Ooh, do fancy things," Sue says brightly.
Author: dark_light	Amariah pauses in midair, conjures up some bayleaves, says, "I need to tuck these into Sue's collar, Ivy," and, when the daemon is out of the way, she puts them where they go and murmurs the poem. "Stella's kind of magic," she says, picking up speed again, "is ostensibly more powerful, but there's no sense of feedback for a made wish like I get on witch spells, so I use the latter when they'll do. Hold on tight!" And then she loops.
Author: pythbox	"Wheeeeeeeeee," giggles Sue.
Author: dark_light	Amariah keeps up the roller-coaster flight for a considerable amount of time, and ultimately she lands at the house again.
Author: pythbox	"I wanna hug you can I hug you," says Ivy.
Author: dark_light	"If you really want to," Amariah says, "then yes."
Author: pythbox	Ivy jumps down from Sue's shoulder, lands on the ground as a white tiger, and bumps her head against Amariah's legs.
Author: dark_light	"Okay?" Amariah asks, looking between Ivy and Sue.
Author: pythbox	"Yeah," says Sue. "Pet me," Ivy demands.
Author: dark_light	Amariah pets her, laughing. "Oh, something you should know - you and Ivy can't get too far away from each other," she tells Sue. "It's possible to get so you can by forcing it, but it hurts - not in a good way - and you're not going to want to. Kas and Petaal had to once and now they can be as far apart as they like, and Pathalan and I did it because witches all do, but most humans never try."
Author: pythbox	Ivy purrs a loud rumbling purr. "Okay," says Sue. "But is it bad for us?"
Author: dark_light	"It won't injure you," says Amariah. "But it'd feel like you'd done something cruel and evil and untrue-to-yourself, on top of just plain hurting-in-a-bad-way. A lot of people who separate have kind of tense relationships with their daemons for a while after, sometimes indefinitely - me and Path didn't have that, and neither did Kas and Petaal so you'd probably be fine, but it's something to keep in mind."
Author: pythbox	"I mean if someone put her in a box and flew her back to Earth," he says.
Author: dark_light	"It'd still feel like that - that's just fundamentally how it feels, not a feature of doing it on purpose - but you wouldn't die, and you'd eventually be able to function after the bond was stretched enough to give you arbitrary distance. Except not so functional during the part where someone was putting her in a box," shudders Amariah, "not everyone's me, it won't feel nice if some stranger grabs her."
Author: pythbox	"Yeah," Sue says quietly. "I know. Kas showed me."
Author: dark_light	Amariah nods. She's scratching tiger-Ivy behind the ears now.
Author: pythbox	Ivy purrs some more. Sue grins and sits down next to her and hugs his tiger.
Author: dark_light	Path hops onto Amariah's knee and nuzzles Ivy's foreleg.
Author: pythbox	Giggling, she licks him.
Author: dark_light	"Ack!" says Path, fluffing all his feathers out.
Author: pythbox	Ivy snickers, leaning her head against Amariah's leg.
Author: dark_light	"Kas, Petaal," calls Amariah, "what're you doing all the way over there, huh?"
Author: truthwright	"Good question," laughs Kas. Petaal turns lioness and bounds over to flop down on Sue's other side, flicking her tail against Ivy's and pressing her nose against Amariah's leg. Kas follows a little more slowly, and sits at Amariah's feet, where he can pet both large felines and give Path scritches should Path be inclined to receive them.
Author: dark_light	Path is so inclined. Path is feeling friendly today.
Author: pythbox	Cuddlepile! "Thanks," mumbles Sue, leaning his head on Petaal's furry shoulder. "I love you guys."
Author: dark_light	"Then it's good you found us, isn't it," laughs Amariah softly, patting his head.
Author: pythbox	He emits a credible purr.