"That sounds like a fine idea to me," says Bella.

"Yeah, sure!" says Tony.

Sherlock smiles.

"All right," says Marianne. "I'll write back."

After tea, Bella informs the children that they'll be getting visitors soon from Toure-on-Marsh.

"Where's that?" wonders Tanalin.

"It's a little past Sathem-by-the-Mountains, where Kanim is from. I can show you on a map if you'd like."

"Yeah!"

"It's little!" coos Kiawen.

"It has a bunch of people in it, though," says Bella.

"Are they teeny tiny people?" giggles Tanalin.

"Teeny people!" cries Kiawen. "Elves. Smaller! Double-elves, so high!" She holds a hand at her own knee level.

"Ordinary-sized people," laughs Bella. "They just live close together in cities, instead of all spread out like in the Enchanted Forest."

Tanalin giggles some more.

"But what do they do when they want to be alone?"

"They still have their own rooms per person and houses per family," says Bella. "The houses are just right next to each other."

"Who's visiting?"

"Duchess Kiria is going to bring her children to meet you. They're twins - regular ones - and about your age."

"Are they nice? I only like nice people," says Carinna.

"You'll have to decide for yourself if they are nice enough for you," says Bella.

"I am!" says Kiawen. "Guess which one, there are six!"

Kiawen grins and hugs Cricket for no particular reason; Cricket tolerates this. "Yes but which one?"

"That's a hard question!" exclaims the man. "I didn't know there would be hard questions."

"I'll give you three guesses," suggests Kiawen generously.

"You didn't even need all three!" says Kiawen, letting go of Cricket to clap for him. Cricket tends to his much-abused fur.

"I'm not even a bit terrified. Hello, it's nice to meet you! Carinna says I should find out if you are nice so she can stay away if you are not nice," says Kiawen. "She only likes nice people."

It turns out that Tanalin is in the forge with Tony and Howard, watching them argue excitedly about flying armour. Tony is doing most of the talking.

Cricket cannot make himself understood to anyone in the room, but he can bat expressively at Tanalin's elbow with a paw.

"Hi, Cricket!" says Tanalin. "Do you want to show me something?"

"Mew." He turns and leads her out to the front part of the palace grounds, where are visitors and Carinna.

"This one is Tanalin!" says Kiawen. "I won't make you guess because you heard me tell Cricket."

"Hi!" says Tanalin. "Are you the people from the tiny kingdom?"

"Do you think they're nice?" Kiawen asks Tanalin. "I don't know how to tell but Carinna wanted us to make sure."

"I don't know how to tell either!" says Tanalin. "Maybe we should ask a mom."

"Yeah! Let's ask a mom. Which one, do you think? If there's a magic to learn about niceness I bet Bella knows it but maybe there isn't."

"Sherlock is good at finding stuff out!" says Tanalin. "But I don't know where she is, and I don't know where Bella is, and I do know where Tony is, she's in the forge with Grandpa Howard."

"Is she busy?"

"Maybe. She's not busy busy, she's not making stuff or anything."

"Hi, kitty!" says Valeria. "Cricket, right?"

"Mow," agrees Cricket.

"Tonyyyy," says Kiawen when she gets to the forge.

"I wanna pet you," Val declares, reaching for Cricket.

"Hey, you," says Tony. "What's the occasion?"

"Carinna wanted us to make sure the people from Toure-on-Marsh were nice! But we don't know how to tell! Can you tell?"

Cricket decides to permit petting.

"I don't know!" says Tony. "But I'm not gonna find out just sitting here! Let's go meet the people."

Petpetpet!

Flop. Purr.

Kiawen leads her out to where the visitors and Tanalin and Cricket are.

"You're fluffy!" Val tells Cricket. "I like you. 'Cause you're fluffy."

"Well, she's making friends with Cricket, that's a plus," laughs Tony. "Hi! I'm Tony! You must be Duke Ian. Do you guys wanna come inside?"

Ian glances at his son and says, "Yes. Yes we do."

"Mrow," Cricket agrees.

Ian collects his children and follows Tony into the castle.

Cricket unhelpfully winds around Valeria's legs while she walks. It is a cat obligation.

Tanalin tags along, giggling.

Valeria is doing her best not to step on Cricket. Icarin is doing his best to be visible to as few people as possible, which amounts to imitating Cricket with his father as the target instead of Valeria.

"Are you okay?" says Kiawen to Icarin. "We're nice. You can tell because Carinna will talk to us!"

"I've never met Carinna," says Icarin, peeking out from behind his father. "And there are a lot of you. Two small princesses and one big princess and a cat! I didn't know there was going to be a cat."

"He's Bella's cat," explains Kiawen. "He's soft!"

"Do you not like surprises?" asks Kiawen. "Even soft cat surprises?"

"Well - they're surprising," says Icarin. "So I don't know what to think about them."

"Sometimes Carinna doesn't like surprises either. Like if you hide and then jump out she hates that."

"That is unpleasant," Icarin agrees.

"I don't mind it! That's why I can test people for her even though I'm not very good at it."

Cricket, having deemed Valeria an acceptable source of petting, solicits additions to the extant amount of petting that has gone on.

Cricket is exceedingly fluffy.

"Maybe!" says Kiawen. "I dunno. Tony, do you think he's nice enough for Carinna or will she cry?"

"I think he's probably nice enough," Tony decides.

"Okay," says Kiawen, "come on then, I'll show you where she is."

Off he goes!

"Hi," sas Icarin nervously.

"Tony thinks he is nice but if he's not you can shoo him," Kiawen assures her sister, and then the youngest princess skips off.

"So, um," says Carinna, "what do you like doing?"

"...Reading," says Icarin. "And building stuff."

"I like reading too. I'm not sure if it's a visitors thing, though," says Carinna thoughtfully. "You have red hair. Are you a fire-witch?"

"Yeah! So's my sister and both my parents," he says. "But not all my grandparents."

"My grandma is a fire witch but kind of thinned out, and Sherlock and Tony only a little bit and they don't have the hair, and me and my sisters can touch hot stuff but that's all. I like hot glass. It feels neat."

"I've never held hot glass," says Icarin. "What's it like?"

"It's kind of gooey," says Carinna. "I am not supposed to get it under my nails because it would be hard to get out if it cooled there."

"Yeah, I guess it would," he agrees. "Like mud but way worse."

"Yeah. One time I did get some under one of my nails and it was stuck, and this was before Bella got extra-fancy-magic, so I just had to hold my hand in the fire until it got soft again and then get it out like that."

Icarin winces. "I bet that wasn't fun. I hate when I get stuff stuck to me."

"It didn't hurt," says Carinna consideringly. "But it was annoying. I had to hold my book with just one hand while it was warming up."

"It wasn't icky or anything?"

"No. Kind of itchy, when it was all cooled off and hard."

"Weird," he says. "I wonder what that's like, but I don't think I wonder enough to try it."

"Yeah, I don't think you should," agrees Carinna. "I get my nails cut before I'm going to make glass things that way, now."

"That is sensible!" says Icarin, smiling a little.

"'Wen and 'Lin mostly do things with metal, not glass. Bella is the mom who does glass. She likes it for magicking."

"You have a lot of moms," Icarin observes. "Most people I know only have one."

"We're lucky like that," says Carinna. "Bella said when I asked that technically I'm hers and Sherlock's and technically 'Wen and 'Lin are hers and Tony's, but it doesn't matter, we're all all of theirs and they are moms together."

"How come you're the only kids with three moms?" he wonders.

"Bella did magic to make us," says Carinna. "And Sherlock and Tony are identical twins and they both wanted to marry her. So they did! And now they are all moms together."

"That is cute," Icarin announces.

Carinna giggles. "If I hadn't come along then Tony couldn't have married Bella. Since there had to be heirs, since Grandma wasn't immortal then."

"Your grandma's immortal?" says Icarin.

"Yeah. And Grandpa and all my moms and me and my sisters and Cricket and Kanim and some other people, too. That's some of the extra fancy magic Bella got. She can immortal people."

"She should immortal my parents!" asserts Icarin.

"They should ask her, then, she probably will," says Carinna.

"I should go find my dad and tell him to! Otherwise he might not think of it," says Icarin.

"Oh. Okay. Do you want me to come with?" asks Carinna.

"Yeah," he says. "Otherwise I might get lost. I don't know your castle very well yet."

Icarin locates his father, marches up to him, and says, "You should ask Princess Bella to immortal you!"

"All right," Ian says agreeably. "Where is Princess Bella?"

"Probably in one of the stacked rooms," says Kiawen. "The library or her workshop or something."

"And how would I go about finding her?"

"There is the brainphone!" says Carinna. "Then she can just come here. I almost forgot it." And she closes her eyes and tilts her head and summons Bella.

Pop. "What is it?" Bella inquires. "Oh! You're here! I didn't realize. Hello, it's nice to meet you, I'm Bella."

"Hello, Bella! I'm Ian!" says Ian. "And this is Icarin and that's Valeria and I've just been told," he ruffles his son's hair, "that I should ask you to immortal me."

"Oh!" laughs Bella. "Let's see - is there any reason you or I might regret that? It's very permanent."

"Well, I don't know, is there? How does it work?"

"Once I've done it, if you would die for some reason, instead you reset on the spot," says Bella. "It also tends to pull appearances towards mid-twenties - for humans - but it's compatible with normal growing for people younger than that." She scritches Carinna's head.

"Well, if it works for you and your family, I don't see any reason not to want it for me and mine," he shrugs.

"That's fair. Will you want me to visit the Duchess and cover her as well?"

"That would be very nice of you!"

"Okay then." She peers at Valeria and Icarin. "D'you two want to live forever?"

Bella makes three illustrative gestures. "Done, done, and done. Will Duchess Kiria be alarmed if I just teleport directly to her?"

"You know, I'm really not sure," says Ian. "You could bring me along, I'm sure she'd find that much less alarming."

"Princess Bella, of the Enchanted Forest," Bella says. "Pleased to meet you, Duchess Kiria."

"Of course. I've just made them and your husband immortal and dropped by to ask if you'd like me to cover you as well."

"Goodness," blinks Kiria. "I don't see why not, I suppose."

Bella explains how torching works, and awaits confirmation.

"Well, all right, then!" says Kiria.

Bella gestures at her. "There you are."

"Thank you!" says Kiria. "Do you want a cup of tea or anything before you go?"

"I'm fine, thank you. Ian, would you rather come back to the Enchanted Forest, or should I just fetch your little ones home when they get bored?"

"Well, if you don't mind, then I don't mind either," shrugs Ian.

"It's no trouble," Bella assures him.

"Oh good."

"I'll see you then. And here -" She adds them both to the brainphone network. [If you want them home before that or want to check in, you can do this.]

[Ooh!] says Ian. [Nifty.]

"You are spectacularly magic!" says Icarin.

"I made some very magical friends, and they shared," she says, smiling. "And I was a magician even before that."

"Sharing is nice!" says Icarin. "What sorts of things did they share?"

"The immortality power, for one thing, and some other stuff I can do like teleporting and the brainphone," says Bella.

"What's the brainphone?"

[It's this,] says Bella. [That's how Carinna told me I should come here to immortalize you and your dad.]

[Nifty!] says Icarin. [How's it work?]

[It's a kind of magic that this world didn't use to have until my friends brought it here. It works by wishing, but not like the kind of wishes a genie gives.]

[What kind of wishing is it instead? And where are your friends from if they're not from the world?]

[They're from another world. The wishes work entirely by magic with no person involved except the wisher.]

"There's more worlds?" says Icarin. "How many? How do you get there from here?"

"A lot. I don't know how many, but at least eighty-eight." (Chronicle was eighty-fifth in Downside numbering, Alethia and Syntropy lack Downside numbers, and some Bells were on their way to check out a new one when Jane broke.) "There are usually two ways to get from one to another, but one of them is broken right now. The other way is to wait for a door to turn into a door to a bar called Milliways, that can touch all of those worlds. I met my friends when Kiawen found a door like that."

"Woooow," says Icarin. "That's amazing!"

"The friends are like people here but not!" says Kiawen. "I went and I found a Sherlock who wasn't Sherlock and she didn't even know who I was because her and her Bella and Tony don't have any kids. And her Tony is a boy! And there are more of all of them and there's so many Bellas and Sherlocks and Tonies and other people too."

"...Are there any of me?" wonders Icarin.

"I didn't meet any," says Bella. "But sometimes I can tell anyway..." She crouches down to his eye level, and lets her aura out (attention-super-extra-magical-magician!), and squints. "I think there might be more of you. And of your sister too; you look pretty attached, I don't think you'd find an Icarin without a Valeria... Although there might be alts of Valeria who don't quite have Icarins, I'm not sure, I would need to look at more of you."

"You are really super extra magic!" says Icarin, staring back at her with wide eyes.

Bella laughs and puts her aura away. "Yes."

"I want to be that magic," Icarin declares.

"Maybe you should start with regular magic from this world," suggests Bella gently.

"Sometimes Bella or Kanim gives us magic lessons!" says Kiawen.

"I'm already going to be all the magic from this world," says Icarin.

"Oh, you want to be a magician? Good for you."

"I'm going to learn all the magic," Icarin asserts.

"Excellent. I have to be a little careful with giving out some of the kinds. I don't have infinite amounts of all of it. I can immortalize as many people as I like, put as many people on the brainphone as I want, teleport as often as I please - I can't give out the first power by myself at all, though, and the others are expensive. So I don't think you will be taking any of the fancy offworld magic home with you today, but maybe another time."

"As long as I get it eventually," he says magnanimously.

"You're immortal now."

"We get to live forever and try everything that is fun to try!" beams Kiawen.

Icarin shrugs.

"I'll leave you kids to play. You can brainphone me if you need anything," says Bella, and away she pops.

"Do you like magic too?" Carinna asks Valeria tentatively.

"What kind of glowy thing?" asks Kiawen.

"A glowy kind!"

"Yeah but what does it do? Do you glow? Do you make other stuff glow?"

"Now we all know about it," points out Kiawen.

"Do you wanna see?" says Valeria.

"Yeah!"

Valeria shrugs and holds out her hands. Glowy soft-looking white stuff wells out of her palms, then merges together into a big puffy ball.

"Can I touch it?" asks Kiawen.

"Sure!"

Kiawen pokes the puffy ball.

It is soft and squishable like a pillow, but with a smoother surface.

"It's nice! If I could do it I would have it for blankets and pillows and stuff," says Kiawen. "'Lin, Carinna, you should try it!"

"I wanna hug it," says Tanalin.

Valeria giggles, and makes the puffy ball big enough to hug. It flops squashily onto the ground.

Small princesses hug the ball!

The ball extends squashy arms and hugs them back.

Kiawen is charmed!

Carinna is alarmed!

Tanalin giggles!

Val, who still has both hands pressed to the back of the ball, slurps the arm hugging Carinna back into it.

Carinna declines to hug the ball further regardless, but at least she doesn't cry or run from the room.

The ball unslurps its arm after she has gone away, and resumes hugging the other two princesses. Valeria grins at it.

"What other stuff do you do with it?" asks Kiawen.

"I dunno! Whatever I want," she shrugs.

"What would happen if you tried to eat it?" wonders Kiawen.

"I dunno!" she says. "I don't really want to, it doesn't taste like anything."

"Okay," giggles Kiawen. "Hey, I'm hungry, who's hungry?"

"I kind of am."

"I'm a little hungry," says Tanalin.

"I think we add up to enough hungry to find Sherlock and ask her to make something!" declares Kiawen. "I wonder where she - oh! I can brainphone her instead of looking through the whole castle." [Sherloooock!]

[Yeeeees?]

[We're hungry! Can you make food for us?]

[Of course.]

Sundry persons follow.

Beads and their guests lurk outside the kitchen.

Soon there is food!

It is nummy.

The nummiest!

Om nom nom. "Thank you Sherlock!" says Kiawen winningly.

"You are welcome."