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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.
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.
Even for Milliways, that is a reasonably rare occurrence. Also, his face might be a little familiar.
"Hey you," he says, cocking his head at her. "You're new and different."
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"As opposed to what?" snorts Amariah. "Hey, did you write in the Belltower book a few years ago? D'you go by 'Sue'?"
"That's me," he says. "How'd you know?"
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"'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.
"I can definitely see you have an owl," he says, observing the owl. "Cute owl."
"But he's fluffy," says Sue.
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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."
"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."
Sue frowns.
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"It's okay, you didn't actually grab him, I'm fine - are you all right?"
"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."
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Path flutters down to Amariah's shoulder again, and says, "They haven't figured out yet that that won't work with you?"
"Nope," he says. "And instead of trying, they just put me in solitary when I started acting up."
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"Solitary," murmurs Amariah. "Oh, I'm sorry. D'you want a hug?"
"Yeah," he says, wrapping his arms around his stomach.
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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?"
"I've got a one of you, back home," she says. "D'you want to meet him?"
"Maybe," says Sue, leaning into her but not unwrapping his arms.
He closes his eyes and smiles. "You're nice," he declares.
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"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."
"I don't want my soul out where everybody can get at it," he agrees, snuggling against her.
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"Yeah. That's... sometimes a problem, even at home," Amariah sighs.
Sue looks at her.
"I'm sorry," he says softly.