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Mehitabel reads a lot.
She starts calling herself "Tab", for short, not that anyone calls her anything apart from Kers. She writes suitably encrypted emails to Aelise about ideas for fixing the world - mostly she asks questions, to start, forming a picture of the exact problem she has to solve.
She misses her parents, but not very much. At least she got to say goodbye.
When her brain won't absorb new information, she bounces around in zero-g.
After six months, Aelise visits again.
Tab says, "Anybody you store up here must be important somehow. If I don't know about the other secret person, I won't know how to come up with ideas that work with them being important however they're important."
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giftedandtalented
salus-populi
"Harley's gone missing again," she says. "Be a dear and haul him back to me, would you?"
"Sure. Wow, he got a ways away, this is gonna take a while, and I need to requisition a boat."
salus-populi
"I think he might have learned how to teleport. I recommend you knock him out when you find him."
"Learned how to teleport? Lucky kid, I want to do that. Will do."
A few hours see Demauri and a laughing fishing crew speeding along in a boat to the correct location, Demauri calling directions to the driver.
They reach the correct location and Harley is - down.
The fishermen haul him up while Demauri loads up a tranq gun.
A few hours see Demauri and a laughing fishing crew speeding along in a boat to the correct location, Demauri calling directions to the driver.
They reach the correct location and Harley is - down.
The fishermen haul him up while Demauri loads up a tranq gun.
Hauling him up is an interesting proposition, because he drowns along the way and for a moment the net is holding nothing but spectral flames. But drowning is slow enough that he doesn't do it again on the way up.
Demauri's really tempted to try bantering again, but instead he just tranqs the kid, puts him on the floor of the boat head turned sideways so he can cough up ingested ocean on reflex without just swallowing it again, and ties his ankles together and his hands behind his back.
The fishermen turn around and head back for shore. Demauri watches the kid.
The fishermen turn around and head back for shore. Demauri watches the kid.
Harley is too unconscious to be very interesting. But even unconscious, he doesn't look happy.
Perhaps it's all the drowning that did it.
Perhaps it's all the drowning that did it.
Demauri reserves judgment on that. Aelise wants him, and he loves her, and he can take or leave Harley.
He hauls a salt-stained Harley before the Empress, when he gets there.
He hauls a salt-stained Harley before the Empress, when he gets there.
"Love and loyalty. See if you can keep him teleporting to such inconvenient places, that immortality thing he does can foul up a net," says Demauri, half-smiling.
Demauri salutes, and sees himself out.
salus-populi
And Aelise makes sure Harley is tucked in safe and sound, and then she goes about her business.
She comes back a week later to do the whole thing over again.
There's no way to get him unconscious again instantly after the draining stops, so she tries persuasion this time.
"Can't we talk about this...?"
She comes back a week later to do the whole thing over again.
There's no way to get him unconscious again instantly after the draining stops, so she tries persuasion this time.
"Can't we talk about this...?"
"No," he snarls, scrunching his eyes shut. A wavering moment, and then he's gone again.
salus-populi
Aelise sighs.
At least this time she drained him for longer. She probably has a few thousand years' worth of immortality stored, to be distributed as she pleases, unless it drains faster over time when it's all piled up like this.
She calls Demauri again.
At least this time she drained him for longer. She probably has a few thousand years' worth of immortality stored, to be distributed as she pleases, unless it drains faster over time when it's all piled up like this.
She calls Demauri again.
"On it," sighs Demauri, and he follows the trail.
Harley is, it turns out, in Hawaii.
Specifically, in Mauna Loa. And that is in, not on. He is somewhere in the middle, well below sea level, and not going much of anywhere.
Specifically, in Mauna Loa. And that is in, not on. He is somewhere in the middle, well below sea level, and not going much of anywhere.
...Demauri is not equipped to handle this.
He calls Aelise.
He calls Aelise.
salus-populi
"Of course he is," she sighs. "I'll deal with it. Thank you."
Then she finds Sandre and Anneia.
Then she finds Sandre and Anneia.
salus-populi
"I need to borrow you two for a little while. Could be dangerous. Likely to be painful," she says with a quirk of a smile.
salus-populi
"Yes, that's what I thought you'd say."
She explains on the way: Harley, whom she's sure they remember, has managed to get himself stuck in the middle of a volcano. She is hoping that some combination of Sandre's telekinesis and Anneia's indifference to extremity will let them conspire to fish him out. It's likely to push Sandre's range, but maybe not that far. And although Kers is protecting both of them and is more than proof against a little lava, her protection against unpleasant sensations has been known to give out long before her protection against real physical harm. Hence why Anneia will be the one diving in after Harley, with Sandre keeping hold of her to haul them both out.
She explains on the way: Harley, whom she's sure they remember, has managed to get himself stuck in the middle of a volcano. She is hoping that some combination of Sandre's telekinesis and Anneia's indifference to extremity will let them conspire to fish him out. It's likely to push Sandre's range, but maybe not that far. And although Kers is protecting both of them and is more than proof against a little lava, her protection against unpleasant sensations has been known to give out long before her protection against real physical harm. Hence why Anneia will be the one diving in after Harley, with Sandre keeping hold of her to haul them both out.
