Magania is in her garden, making subtle adjustments to the placement of stones in the path that leads to her door.

"I See you."

"I See you, Isibel," she says, getting to her feet and dusting off her hands. "It would please me very much to take tea with you."

"And myself as well. I seek your advice on how to go about the traditional calling of my template in this world. I do not believe the exact approaches chosen by any of my alts will suit precisely, most particularly since I fear I must be conservative with my coins for an unknown period of time."

Isibel follows her in and sits. "My beloveds traveled to another world, to assist Pattern with something there, but they have been stranded; Jane is in some way unwell. This has happened before, and she recovered, but it may be any amount of time before that day."

"You have the most interesting problems," Magania murmurs.

"Some of them, certainly. But the last time Jane suffered this problem, I was yet in recovery, and I think that I am now well enough to go about using my foreign magic - much of which I can still use - for the benefit of the world at large. Yet I fear missteps. I will speak to Liselen, as well, but I would hear anything you had to say to me on how to order and present interventions."

"It is my thought that if one would do a great magic in the world, one should consult first the Wild Magic, and then the dragons," says Magania. "And if one would do a great magic in the Elven Lands, one should consult the King."

"I will speak with the dragons, yes, especially to inform them of where my beloveds have gone, and perhaps to discuss magical address of their population issue," says Isibel. "The only immediate need in the Elven Lands is, I think, for genuine immortality - our ancestors sacrificed greatly for the long lives we enjoy, but still we age and die after a few centuries. I can consult the King about it first, I suppose. And then I would be inclined to move outward and speak to other kinds of people about their needs."

"If you could bring genuine immortality to the Elven Lands, without causing any old troubles to return, that would be a great gift," says Magania.

"The sort which I have received is easily distributed, but only in person. I think it will be the best choice for the dragons and their Bondmates, who do not number many. However, when my beloved and I defeated the most recent incursion of Darkness, we found some research belonging to its author, some of which might work without the other effects he unfortunately was poised to bring about. This would be simpler to spread without my personally following at its heels everywhere it must go."

"A fine plan," says Magania. "Particularly if you keep Liselen close to hand while you are conducting your research."

"Yes, it has been made clear that his presence is invaluable when using or interacting with large amounts of native Thilanushinyel magic."

Isibel drinks. "I confess I do not know how to approach the King."

Magania nods, as though this is entirely reasonable. "I will convey something of the situation to him, and let him speak with you as he deems appropriate."

"I am uncertain what the best policy is for managing the details of my - extraworldly friends and adventures," says Isibel. "With the King or otherwise. Some Bells act with complete openness, others with secrecy, others with partial publicity about their power but full transparency about their deeds."

"A thing that is not known may be told," says Magania, "but a thing that is known may not be hidden. It would be wise, I think, to tell all to the dragons and the King; beyond that, perhaps not yet."

"...I remember with perfect clarity the King standing over me and my beloveds, suggesting that they die, in spite of my remarks about their benign nature and Liselen's prior words. Liselen's own presence sufficed to stay his hand, but - I have no other personal memory of the King, his judgment, or his... ability to handle the unfamiliar."

"Then it may be that you will not tell him everything," says Magania. "And it may be that he will be wary of your promised immortality until you do. Perhaps Liselen could be some help to you there as well; I have heard that he was - most persuasive, when last he spoke with the King."

"I shall speak to Liselen before the King, then, perhaps he will wish to join me."

Magania nods, and sips her tea.

"Perhaps that is true," says Magania. "Good luck."

"Thank you for the tea and the advice." Isibel gets to her feet, leaves the house so as not to be standing around awkwardly while ensuring that Liselen has no company who will find her unpleasant, and says: [Liselen?]

[Hi!] says Liselen.

[Hello! I would speak with you, but do not wish to discomfit any other unicorns who may be in your company.]

[Good call, I'm kind of surrounded,] he says. [What did you want to talk about? Should I meet you somewhere?]

[I can go wherever you can appropriately receive me.]

Port.

Liselen is quite alone, in the middle of a forest, with a herd of unicorns just barely in earshot to the north.

"I See you. And would hear your advice on some of my ideas for improving Thilanushinyel, now that I am quite recovered from my previous breakage."

"Ooh," says Liselen. "My advice, or the Wild Magic's?"

"I am on the lookout for anything the latter may have to say, but your personal advice could also be relevant. Particularly - you were present on the one and only occasion I have met the King of the Elves. Some of the things I wish to do will be of scope sufficient to - warrant his attention."

"I could call him a clod again," Liselen says brightly, swishing his tail. "'Cause it worked so well the first time."

"I am hoping he will not behave in a cloddish manner again."

"Yeah," he sighs, "me too. Okay. I'm with you there." He brightens a little. "Especially since I can actually have a conversation with him without feeling like my blood is made of ants!"

"You invariably come up with such colorful metaphors to describe that sensation."

"Might as well get something good out of it, right?"

Isibel chuckles. "Magania also advised that I be on alert for notifications from the Wild Magic on the subject of popularizing the immortality research I recovered when I and my beloved defeated the most recent essay of the Darkness."

"Got it," says Liselen. "Nothing yet!"

"Please do be advised that you can brainphone me at any time should something urgent be revealed to you."

He swishes his tail and dips his head. "Of course!"

"Magania will be speaking to the king on my behalf, first - if there are constraints on your schedule it would be good to learn them now."

"Nah," he says, tossing his head. "Hey, can I have one of that nifty teleporting power?"

"...Yes. But please be aware that I must be careful with the magic that does that kind of thing; I have a limited supply. My beloveds have been trapped in another world."

"Aww, I'm sorry to hear that!" he says. "I bet it'll be more convenient for me to follow you around helping you with stuff if I can teleport, though."

"Yes. And some other things I can do with enchantment, and other things still with elfmagery - but teleportation in particular draws from my limited supply of coins." She makes the wish. "You can do it now, regardless."

"Thanks!" says Liselen, and he prances closer and leans his shoulder against her side.

Isibel pets his mane.

He makes a happy whuffly sort of noise and shoulder-leans her again.

"I do not know much of what unicorns in general do in their spare time, let alone you, but admit to some curiosity as to what you do when you are not communicating with me on behalf of the Wild Magic."

"Hang out with friends and family and stuff. Eat. Learn things."

"All good things."

"Yep!"

"Well. Thank you very much for your willingness to help."

He swishes his tail. "I like you. You're gonna be good for the world."

"I will try my very best. So far my accomplishments are limited to helping my beloved find the would-be raiser of Darkness, and making a charming little village on the island."

"Ooh, a charming little village! Can I see it?"

"It is among my favorite uses of magic," agrees Isibel. She shows him into the tiny village. "It takes up less than one square mile, but it contains more than it would seem by that logic."

"Nifty," says Liselen. He investigates the village.

It is spatially inconsistent in the most convenient possible way, and the buildings are elvishly subtle.

"It's beautiful!" says Liselen. "I love it!"

"Thank you. It is what I made to generate my enchantress's aura."

He swishes his tail. "What's yours do?"

"The same things all auras do, and -" She releases it; it's a cloud of elveniness, wrapping her up in the perfection-grace-and-loftiness that elves have relative to others, but a step above her fellow elves. "And it protects my mind, too late but perhaps usefully in the future."

"I do not know. It seems like it would either improve or worsen matters, but I cannot readily predict which."

"Me neither," he says with a swish of his tail. "Maybe better not, then."

"Unless things go so badly that worsening the situation would be meaningless."

Liselen snorts. "Yeah, that."

"I hope it does not come to that, but I do not feel easy about it, when the last occasion on which I spoke to him nearly went so awry."

Swish. "I think it'll be better this time."

"Perhaps I could share your confidence if I knew why you thought so."

"No demons," he says succinctly.

"I suppose that would be a mitigating factor, yes. It is fortunate that it was only I who found my beloved in the lake, and not someone else."

"Yeah," says Liselen. "It really was."

"I wonder what Glass would have to say about that. I wish I had found out when she was accessible. Perhaps Jane will return soon," sighs Isibel.

"What Glass would have said about what? The Wild Magic did it," says Liselen. "I mean, I don't know that completely for sure, it didn't tell me or anything, but - the Wild Magic did it."

"...Glass has the ability to see templates, like that which I have in common with other Bells, and things related to them. She might have been able to explain why or how the connection between Bell and Joker templates ensured that I and not another would find my beloved. I do not understand what you mean about the Wild Magic having done it."

"Well, the Wild Magic knew you were going to have to save the world together, right, that's why it sent for me to tell you so," he says. "So the Wild Magic probably made sure you'd meet each other, too."

"Not only that I found him, but also that no one else found him for ten thousand years, is necessary for what you describe."

He tosses his head. "It doesn't sound like it would've been that hard, weren't they on an island all by themselves for most of that?"

"Yes. It is not clear why it was never previously colonized."

"The Wild Magic did it," Liselen reiterates.

"Perhaps. Yet in other worlds, too, Bells and Jokers manage to find each other through - not identical but significant odds against it."

"I wouldn't know about those," says Liselen.

"That is why I wished to speak to Glass. She has seen them all and might know."

He tosses his head again. "I guess you'll see her someday, right?"

"Someday, yes. Even if Jane is irrecoverable we will eventually find Milliways again, I think."

"Probably," says Liselen.

"You are welcome to explore the village as long as you like," Isibel adds. "I believe I will go to the borders of the Elven Lands and begin flying, to see what there is to see where our neighbors live."

"Have fun!" says Liselen.

Her loves love her very much! They have been on Saturn, refining the ecosystem. They are delighted that she's keeping busy.

They can both keep busy and update each other on what they are doing. She is so glad the bond works across worlds. It would be unbearable otherwise.

...She can hover. She can hover without having to give it a bit of thought, a mile above everything.

Then perhaps they should pass some time together. Their bodies may be apart, but their minds are not.

She loves them back. Exquisitely much. She wishes they did not have to be so far from her, and she has opinions about what she would do about it if they were not.

Her beloveds are quite pleased by her opinions! They have opinions of their own, which they are willing to share in detail and at length.

That's... useful.

Is it?

Yes, rather. Quite.

Oh, good. They do so love to be... useful... to her.

They are the usefulest! She hopes they find her useful likewise.

Extremely.

Good.

[I am.]

[I have spoken with Andoreniel. He wishes to meet with you, and will see you if you present yourself at the House of Leaf and Star at a time that is convenient.]

[I can be there instantly, if that would qualify as a convenient time.]

[I would not know; I have returned home since speaking with him.]

[I could collect you or you could meet me at the House of Leaf and Star.]

[I'll meet you there,] he decides. [Poof!]

Isibel catches up to Liselen.

He is some distance away from the House of Leaf and Star, because it is always worth walking through an elven city when you have the opportunity.

It is! They walk together towards the House companionably.

Several elves peer at them as they pass, but no one says anything.

Isibel follows agreeably.

Isibel picks up a cake and offers it to the unicorn, laughing softly.

Liselen nibbles the cake delicately out of her hand and swishes his tail contentedly.

She offers him items such that he may try them all until they are joined by their host or he loses interest.

"I See you," agrees Isibel, and she sits down as soon as her hand is empty of cake and cleans off the sheen of sugar from her palm with a triangle.

"While we are taking tea, I hope that we can discuss some of my planned projects. I do not know which Magania may have told you about in advance of my visit."

"To everyone, eventually, but most relevantly to you, elves. Yes. I can do this individually and in person, easily, in one way - the way I now possess for myself - but there is other research I have recovered which would propagate more readily without my personal supervision if allowed to do so."

"It would also make good hearing if I could be assured that you would not leap to your own conclusions before seeking Liselen's statement on this, or any other, matter that is of particularly grave importance," murmurs Isibel.

Andoreniel regards her impassively.

He knows why she might say that. She regards him impassively right back.

Isibel drinks some tea.

Isibel offers him another cake.

Liselen noms it.

"By matters of particular importance I primarily mean large magical projects or suggestions that anyone's loved ones be put to death. I have no particular complaints with your day-to-day governance," Isibel clarifies after a silence.

"Large magical projects are a matter for the Wild Magic," says Andoreniel. "As, it seems, are your loved ones."

Isibel smiles thinly.

Andoreniel sips his tea.

Ah, tea, that indispensable social lubricant.

"I will," he says, "consider all that you have told me."

"That is good to know. Since," she adds magnanimously, "the dragons presently reside within elven borders, perhaps you would like to know that I mean to offer their population and their Bondmates both the kind of immortality I already possess, and a means of addressing some of their population constraints."

Tea. Sip sip.

Sip sip.

"This is a fine leaf, and finely brewed," comments Isibel.

Andoreniel nods. "The teas of autumn have been particularly fine this year."

"Autumn tea has always been my favorite."

"Each tea is best enjoyed in its own season," says Andoreniel, "but I find for the most part my taste runs to the teas of summer. They have a lightness to them which I find pleasing."

"I am sure they will be pleased to see you," says Andoreniel.

"Liselen, I would be much obliged if you would accompany me," Isibel adds to the unicorn.

"Sure!" he says brightly.

Isibel inclines her head to the King, and she brings herself and Liselen to the cave that her beloveds once lived in.

"I See you," chuckles Isibel. "I have come to offer all the dragons and their Bondmates true immortality, if Liselen offers no warning from the Wild Magic."

"Nope," says Liselen. "Not a peep. There's something about the other thing, but it's not coming clear yet."

"One caution about the matter is that - while I cannot access the ability now and do not know when I will recover it - the dead of this world are not irrecoverable, and under other circumstances I can retrieve them to a condition indiscernible from life," Isibel says. "I know that under my particular circumstance, my Bond was cut and then restored when I died and then awoke, but I do not know what may happen when there are larger numbers of Bondmates about."

"That'll cause a stir," Saravasse remarks.

"Yes, I would imagine. But it could be many years before that power is restored to me, and in the meantime it will help no one if dragons or their beloveds who are alive now should die."

"Not to mention, at least we'll stop accumulating new ones," says Saravasse. "Come on outside and let's all have a nice chat."

Isibel nods and follows her.

"There is a certain afterlife, shared between many worlds, including, now, this one," says Isibel. "If someone who has died and gone there suffers lethal damage, they reset to a healthy state on the spot instead. And it is possible to distribute that power to those who have never died. I can do it."

Isibel torchables them all. "I can do the same for your Bondmates if they are willing, but only in person," she says.

"Perhaps some or all of you would like to be added to my network of telepathy so that you may speak to me and each other at any distance," suggests Isibel.

[Here you are, then,] she says to all the dragons, and she explains the features of the brainphone.

[Fascinating,] says Saravasse.

[I think so. I can teleport and do not sleep, so you may ask for me whenever it is convenient for you and your beloveds.]

"You are welcome. And while I am here - there is another matter I can help you with to some degree. The matter of your collectively - limited ancestry. I am unsure how you would most like to address this issue, beyond what my beloved has already assisted with - but I do not think it beyond my current abilities to conjure from nothing some modest number of dragon eggs unrelated to any of you, for instance. Not a large number, at least not while my beloved is gone, because he assists me with magic in more ways than one, but a few."

"I will design that in," promises Sarion.

"Your opinions about timing or other traits would be valuable," says Isibel.

One evil produces one dragon egg to her specifications.

"I can do - five. If five would be a good number," Isibel says, evaluating her coin supply. Aurora was always generous; she is not short on evils but is reluctant to expend many in a single go. "...This one is a female. I can produce whatever gender ratio you prefer." The egg she has made has a pretty red-and-white-swirled eggshell.

"Four girls and a boy," Saravasse says firmly.

"All right." And Isibel makes four more eggs, all next to the first, designed the same way. One is a glittery, cloudy gray; one is gold, patched with red; one is midnight blue with crackling white patterns; and the last, the boy's, is iridescent black.

"I know you will," says Isibel. "With that I think our business is concluded until your Bondmates are available to be made immortal."

Ancaladar nods.

Isibel inclines her head and vanishes back to her folded-up island village.