This is how there ends up being a Beast curled up on the steps of the Belltower.

Aegis is the first person Jane notifies, and she's not yet managed to get herself in the middle of anything back on Peace. Bird, Aegis says, and she bounces Jane's report on the matter to Sue.

[He hasn't tried to come in,] Jane says. [He just went and curled up on the front steps. I would've let him in.]

"The hell?" mutters Sue.

He whimpers in his sleep.

[Do you want me to contact anyone else?]

[Like who?]

[Another Bell or Joker? I believe Micaiah met this one.]

He starts crying.

"Something is fucked up here," Sue announces.

Aegis asks Jane to put her in too, and appears beside Sue. "Are you okay?" she asks Beast, putting her hands on her knees and leaning over him.

"Ma belle?" he murmurs, and blinks up at her, and shakes his head, and cries some more.

"Was that - what is that, French?" Aegis says, frowning. "Doesn't Milliways have a translation aura?"

[It doesn't cover names and similar,] Jane says.

"What happened to you?" Aegis asks, reaching out to touch the side of Beast's face.

He flinches away, then presses his face into her hand with a shudder.

Aegis holds her hand quite still so he can be in contact with it or not as he likes. "Are you dreaming?" she asks softly.

"We can't go to his world if he's dreaming," Aegis murmurs, looking over her shoulder at Sue.

"I could try," says Sue. "I could go through his door."

"When Alice got stuck in Jokes's head Stella had to physically go to where he was to get him out," Aegis says. "What if you get stuck? Angela couldn't force the door to his world when she tried."

"I don't get stuck," Sue points out. "I am the anti-stuck."

"Okay, but - go in linked up to me and Jane - have you got coins?"

"Plenty," he says cheerfully, and gives her a kiss, and leans down to touch Beast's hand. Hey. I need to go where you are. Come on.

He blinks hazily, but after a moment he stands - leaning on Sue - and lets his alt lead him into the bar.

Aegis follows them in, and then sits at the bar to wait.

He coaxes the Beast out through his door, and into...

It's him. It's not him. He's dreaming. Is he dreaming?

Belle doesn't, quite, startle her husband's head out of her lap, but it's a near thing, and she clutches at his shoulder a bit and her aura flares: you have alarmed someone powerful.

"Hi," he says with a friendly smile, and tries linking her.

Bird, show Jane where you are so she can put me there, Aegis suggests.

"He's been badly hurt. How can you be another of him - found him in his dreams? - what are you talking about?"

He floods place-data at Jane and says, "It's complicated."

"I would like it explained."

Aegis pops into place. "Hi," she says. "We're versions of you and him from another, very different world, and we're here to help, can you tell us what happened to him? We can almost certainly fix it."

"He - he was traveling alone. He does that sometimes. And when I checked in on his mindscape it was damaged - an enchanter captured him and was using him - and channeling does damage to the unwilling - and I've been healing what I can but I haven't gotten him any better than this, he can barely speak, I haven't managed to get him to eat anything." She clenches her teeth again. "I got him back. I got him back and this is all I know how to do, I can't think of a way to design a mental healing spell that I'd have to channel through him in order to maintain control of it, if I could only get him to eat something I'd fetch my student and ask if I might channel through him instead but I can't leave him like this."

Beast sniffles and cuddles closer, wrapping his arms around her and nestling his head in her lap.

"...Okay. My kinda magic is good at some things, but I don't know anything about the kind of damage we're looking at, here; I'll try if we don't have a better idea, but it's always possible to word a wish wrong and minds are delicate. You think you can do it? You can fix him if you have somebody to - channel through?"

"I - yes, but it hurts the channel. If it didn't I could channel it through myself, but I have to focus on the spell at the same time."

"Does it do anything other than hurt?" says Sue. "I mean, does the channel have to know what they're doing? Because I can do hurting."

"To a willing channel, no, it does nothing but hurt and they don't need to know the details." She combs her fingers through Beast's hair. "To a willing channel."

"Okay," shrugs Sue. "Hit me."

Belle blinks, and glances between Sue and Beast, and then bites her lip, thinks, and reaches for Sue's mindscape.

It's a huge cube-shaped room with more cubes floating in the middle, and it opens up to welcome her.

Belle has been thinking about ways to heal Beast for hours now. She takes a moment to make sure of her design, and slams Heart power through the curiously-designed mindscape to restore Beast to his original state as best she can.

"Mon cœur?" Belle asks softly, and she peers around his mindscape, watching it progress into a more intact state.

"Not all the way," she says. "There's still - here and there - I can see it. But it's better." She draws him into a tight hug.

"I love you," he says, hugging back. "Ma belle."

"I love you, mon cœur." She swallows. "We have - visitors."

"I know, my love," he says. "I brought one."

Sue smiles and waves.

"...This is like that dream you had, years ago, except didn't you say the other me had wings?" Belle says.

"There's a bunch of us," Aegis says. "One of 'em does have wings."

"She does! They're pretty," says Sue. "Do you know why your mind's so spiky?"

"Because it is covered in rosethorns," says Belle.

"...Okay," says Sue. "Do you mind if I tap it again? That was kind of fun."

"I have no idea if it will harm you to do so. The only other person to run afoul of my dreamworld's temper did not survive long after making that mistake." She is holding onto her Beast rather protectively.

"That sounds like a no," he observes.

"You've helped me help my husband. I don't wish you harm, and there might be harm in the thorns that I don't know about. It doesn't affect me otherwise, though, so far as I can tell."

He shrugs, and tries again. It's a nice little jolt.

"Did you say," Belle says to Aegis, "that you have magic of your own? Different from mine, which may be able to help my husband?"

"Yeah. And it's probably safe if you've fixed most of it your own way - what way is that? You have a killer presence going on, it's awesome and I want one - to wish him fixed the rest of the way. If he doesn't object, or if he can't object right now and you don't."

"Enchantress's aura," Belle says. "It requires doing rather a lot of enchanting to acquire one this strong. Beast, love? Do you want her to try to repair you the rest of the way?"

He nods, snuggling up.

Belle makes eye contact with Aegis, searching, and nods.

Aegis wishes.

Aegis permits a brief hug, but not prolonged snuggling. "Better?"

"Much," he asserts, and scoops up Sue next.

Sue permits prolonged snuggling!

Belle will be quietly weeping with relief over here.

Aegis goes and sits next to her. "There's a bunch of us," she says. "You're ninth!"

Mmmcuddlycuddlycuddly.

"Ninth. And you're from a world where magic runs on - wishing?"

"Oh, no, that's from Stella's world," says Aegis. "She can share. My world doesn't technically have magic, although some of what we've got skirts pretty close."

"The mind-touching thing I do is from our world," Sue offers. "It's handy for talking to people, but there's some Bells it doesn't work on."

"Bells," says Belle.

"All of us have the sound 'Bell' in our names. I go by Aegis instead, but my real name's Isabella," says Aegis. "Same with most of the other, but there's one who's just named Bell."

"Well, I am named Belle," Belle says.

"You're going to need to pick a nickname," Aegis says. "What with there being so many of us, you see."

"Madame l'enchanteresse," suggests Beast, still cuddling Sue.

"Too long," says Belle with a weak laugh. "No, perhaps something like - Rose."

"Whatever you like, my love."

"I think so. Unless someone else has taken the same name."

"Nope. It's me, Aegis, and then there's Shell Bell and Stella and Golden and Amariah and Juliet and Pattern and Angela."

"Do you all have more of me, too?"

"Angela - you met her, right? - she has one, she's married to hers too, and then there's me and Sue, Stella and Alice, and Amariah and Kas. Golden has Jokes working for her but they're not together, she married this other guy. Pattern's got Queenie working for her, same deal except Pattern's not seeing anybody at all. And Shell Bell and Juliet have Sherlocks and Tonies instead."

"So many," murmurs the Beast. "I want to meet all of me."

"I'll just bet you do," Sue says cheerfully.

"It's a pity you missed the big party!" says Aegis. "Everybody - all the Jokers including a spare I didn't mention - was in one place."

"Ma belle enchanteresse," he says, turning to her, "can we throw a big party?"

"...How would they all get here?" asks Belle.

"You'd have to let me install a - a piece of a friend of mine," Aegis says. "She can pick people up and put them down, as long as she can see the person and the destination. She's not a human, she's a - you don't have computers here, do you."

"What's a computer?"

"It's a machine that - well, in some cases, thinks, but there are simpler ones that don't think and just do lots of math so fast that it's almost like magic," says Aegis, gesturing vaguely. "Jane thinks. She's a person and her body is made of metal and stuff instead of bones and guts. And it's in lots of worlds, and if I put some of her here, she'll be able to bring in lots of people to attend a party if you throw one. I'm not sure how we'll find Ghosty again, though."

"We should invite Jane here, then," Beast asserts. "And throw a big party."

"All right. I suppose. How many people does this all add up to?" Belle asks.

"Well, Stella's party had sixty-five guests after the belated ones showed up," says Aegis. "I don't know if the same friends and family tagalongs will want to come to another so soon, though."

"We should put in a ballroom," laughs the Beast.

"It sounds like it," laughs Belle.

"And make sure there are rooms for people to abscond to," says Aegis. "Certain templates are the absconding type." She elbows Sue.

"There is plenty of room. This is a castle," says Belle archly. "Even after I tell my student that he may come back there will be only three people living here."

"No kids, huh?"

"Not so far. I found a spell to postpone it, years ago - it may be time to reconsider - why, do many of us have children?"

"Golden has a daughter, Angela's pregnant, the rest of us are un-child-having," says Aegis. "But it does seem to correlate with being married, so."

The Beast laughs, kisses Sue's forehead, and hugs his wife.

"I suppose I will get to meet all these people after we've made - party arrangements, and you've put a... a part of your friend somewhere in our castle."

"All the Bells and Jokers, anyway, will almost definitely show up to meet you guys. Other guests are a maybe, maybe not deal, since the last party ended, like, a day ago, and Jane seems to be syncing up time between worlds she's got bits in."

"I want to meet them," the Beast repeats.

"We can put in a ballroom and warn the kitchen. We can probably be ready in about a day," says Belle, "but perhaps if there is reason not to have multiple parties in close succession it would be better to wait?"

"Jane," says Aegis, "you wanna check everybody's availability?"

The schedules of the Jokers are generally open. Some of the Sherlocks and Tonies have limited availability, but most of them are coming up on a weekend in a few days and will be free then. The Eos crowd has mixed responses, but Sandy, Anna, Lazarus, and Kolya are all available for most of the coming week.

"We can do that," says Belle.

"Cool," says Aegis. "Where d'you want me to put Jane?"

"Oh, how about I go make the ballroom, and we can put her in an alcove of some sort? How much space does she need?"

"Not much," says Aegis, tapping the gem in her ear. "Not even a whole alcove. If you don't have computers here there's no need for her to have a full-featured Janepoint, so you just want one of these gems to wear yourself - I can make it for you, what color do you want? - and a static point so that she can move people in and out of your world whenever she likes. What d'you want to call the world?"

"Rose-pink - does it need to be an earpiece? - and - how about Rêverie."

The Beast grins and snuggles his Belle.

"Here," says Aegis, making and handing over a square in her glowy copper. "This is a wishcoin. If you wish on it you can conjure up a whatever piece of jewelry you like, and I can swap out a gem for a Jane-gem for you, and it's really a pity that Sue can't link you because it's so much more convenient to explain things that way but I guess before we came along everybody managed so it's doable..."

Belle goes with a handflower-bracelet, with gold disks and clear pink spinels, and looks at it in fascination while Aegis ansibles the largest jewel, twists off the part that needs to be taken away to make the connection, and has it vanish out of her hand.

"Beautiful," declares the Beast.

Belle beams and kisses him on the cheek.

"Why're the married ones so freaking cute?" mutters Aegis, mostly to Sue.

"I don't know, but I kinda love it," he says cheerfully.

"I guess Shell Bell and Sherlock are also damn adorable," snorts Aegis. "So not just married ones. And we haven't met Edward so who knows about him 'n Golden."

"It will be fascinating to encounter all these - versions of myself. Of us," says Belle.

"Yeah - here, have the latest copy of the Bellbook," says Aegis, conjuring one and handing it over. "Let's go find a place to put Jane and then me and Sue can go back home and make that meeting we're theoretically on a shuttle to right now. We can carry on talking by brainphone, Jane can relay - to me or any of the others."

"If it can be so small and gemlike, perhaps we could put her in a chandelier," says Belle.

[Chandelier works,] says Jane.

"That would be sweet," declares the Beast.

Belle leads everyone down the stairs and to a back door into the garden, which she commands to move away from her, leaving ballroom in its wake, chandelier included. Her aura flickers with the order, but it's not a spell, just a manipulation of the living castle.

"I want one of those auras, you look like a walking special effects budget," admires Aegis. "I guess it'd be conspicuous though."

"I can suppress it, but if I don't, it lets everyone know that they're dealing with an enchantress," says Belle serenely. "Can you fly? To reach the chandelier?"

[Installed,] reports Jane.

The Beast follows after Belle and snuggles her some more.

With the ballroom made and Jane given eyes and ears into it, Belle turns her attention back to her husband and focuses her attention as well as her second level of sight on his mindscape. "I'm so glad you're all right," she murmurs.

"Let's have a look at this book," she says, and she opens the Bellbook that Aegis conjured for her, holding it so that he can read over her shoulder. "Huh, it's in Albish. Sort of."

"Right, sorry," says Aegis, "I wasn't thinking - Milliways has a translation feature and that's where the master copy lives, so mostly it's in English, various dialects, and Angela writes Samarian, and you'll wind up writing in your sorta-French, I guess. Maybe you should just come visit the Belltower and read it there. Or you could pentagon the languages."

"I think it would be interesting to see this Belltower regardless," Belle says. "Mon cœur, what do you think?"

"Let's visit the Belltower!" says the Beast.

Here they are!

And there is the real copy of the Bellbook. Belle can read the one she's already holding now, though.

"It's pretty," says the Beast, looking around.

"Of course it is. We have good taste," says Aegis. "So, Rose, you're obviously all-over kickass serious magic already unless your aura's a liar, but you probably want to have my kind anyway, and for Beast too. Minting's explained in there."

"So it is," agrees Rose, after getting a ways into a book. "I do not have all of the listed powers already. And it seems possibly very efficient, given how enchanting works."

"Yeah, I'm not best supplied to give you a big starter set out of all the Bells," says Aegis, "since I have been a mint for about two days and haven't spent much of that time coinmaking, but I can mint the two of you and you can take it from there?"

"Please do," replies Rose.

Hex and hex and "Here's standard bandoliers for you both," with a pair of pentagons.

"Ooh, magic," says the Beast, admiring his new bandolier.

Belle inspects it, then puts it on.

"I wanna see your coin color," Aegis says, bouncing on the balls of her feet a little.

Rose glances down at the explanation in the book about minting, then nibbles a bit at her lip and produces a glowing, sky-blue triangle. "Sky power during daylight," she murmurs.

Beast tries the same thing, and his square is a fluid-looking deep violet.

"Heart," she says, smiling. "Mon cœur."

"You guys are entirely too cute," says Aegis, wagging a finger. "Okay, we've got a spaceship to not be found missing from because no one has quite understood yet that we can teleport, but Jane can get ahold of people for you if you need help or don't understand something in the book or whatever, okay?"

"I believe we'll be all right," agrees Rose.

Sue gives Beast a hug and a kiss and then returns to the spaceship.

"Bye, Rose! Welcome to the peal!" And Aegis follows with a gesture at one of Jane's cameras.

Beast curls up at her feet.

His wife strokes his hair, and writes silent summaries of what she reads on the walls of his whole and repaired castle.