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Bella's empire settles down, grows, expands, produces art and music and designs for interesting lamps. She works doggedly at getting the populations of both planets torchable and the former population that she didn't get to back up and running. She goes on a charming television spot with a little old man who managed to avoid or staggeringly misinterpret every reference to magic and Saturn he ever heard until the other day when his son-in-law put in a request for his wife to come back, and she shows him a few little tricks and then presents him with his wife. (Bella did not just resurrect her on TV. She was prepped a few hours ahead of time.) The Imperial Society puts on annual parties, then shifts to years-divisible-by-five. Bella puts in more bubbles. She and Ripper test out some of these, from the trampoline playground to the slightly less buggy encapsulation of a mock rainforest to the large self-cleaning white room supplied with crayons and paint. (This last is ostensibly intended for children, but so what?)
Out they all go. Once Milliways is full of Bells and Aianon and Ripper and the door is closed, Shell Bell opens it again, and this time it's Thilanushinyel.
The rest of the peal will not be hearing from them for a while.
"So, it's been sixteen years here, and it could easily be another sixteen if we leave unless Tune shows up to anchor the place or something, do we just have to wait for the happy reunion to end? I mean, we can time-dilate them, I don't think Sarion'll mind."
"Oh, no, we have that covered," says Tab, holding up a Kersible, "these aren't exactly Janegems but they'll sync all right. Is this a good place to drop it?"
"Yeah, this is Sarion's house, although it doesn't look like she uses it that much lately," says Juliet. She keeps looking at Ripper funny from the corner of her eye, and is the only member of the peal with her aura withdrawn.
"I'll leave her a brainphone message," volunteers Glass, "so she doesn't sit up next month wishing she'd asked us to wait in a panic expecting to be adrift. Juliet, why are you looking at Pattern's Rupert like that?"
"That's why you look familiar," says Juliet, snapping her fingers, "you're an alt of Giles, that's just -" And she cannot continue her sentence because she is laughing too hard.
"No! I didn't really talk to Giles and I saw Merryweather out of the corner of my eye once and - Juliet, will you stop?"
"Oh, he's," laughs Juliet, "he's got to be at least fifty and he's a high school librarian and belonged to the Watchers' Council till one of them murdered me, and," she dissolves into helpless laughter again.
"The other one, Merryweather, is from Peace," volunteers Aurora. "Picked Aegis out for the prodigy space soldier program."
"Right," says Ripper, "moratorium on new facts about my alts until I actually meet them, please. This is one kind of Bell story I am just not up for."
"Let's not," says Tab, picking out a nook into which she deposits Thilanushinyel's Kersible. "It's just Rose and Angela before we have everybody who wasn't spun off, right? Who first?"
"Doesn't matter," shrugs Golden, "no strandees, let's get Angela first."
"Samaria it is," says Shell Bell, and she opens the door to Milliways again.
"I'm sorry if you didn't want me to mention your template," Glass murmurs to Ripper. "I figured Pattern would have had a chance to find out and would've said something if it was a secret."