Their Isabella having just gone to welcome a new Bell into the peal, Kas and Petaal snuggle up together and take a nap. They'll want to be well rested for the party.
When they wake up, she still isn't back.
[Jane?]
No response.
Kas teleports down to the Janepoint, Petaal wrapped snake-shaped around his shoulders.
The display reads: error 7788: lycanthropy
"...So that's new," he says.
"No shit," says Petaal. "Now what?"
He shrugs. She coils tighter.
"Hang around and wait, I guess."
Generated:
Post last updated:
i might as well be the man on the moon
Kas Petaal
truthwright
It's four days later, with no Isabella walking through the door from Milliways, and no change in Jane, when a witch queen next shows up to meet with the revolutionary young witch (who is now, thanks to some savvy dead people, widely rumored to be responsible for the funny dreams everyone's been having about their loved ones). Queen Atassa Mikalmia knocks on the door.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas has hung around and waited.
He answers the door wearing sweatpants, a Queen T-shirt, and a frilly pink apron, with fox-shaped Petaal tucked into the apron pocket.
"Hi."
He answers the door wearing sweatpants, a Queen T-shirt, and a frilly pink apron, with fox-shaped Petaal tucked into the apron pocket.
"Hi."
"Hallo," says the queen, whose daemon is not accompanying her today. "I'm looking for Isabella Amariah. This is her house, isn't it?"
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Yeah. She's not home," says Kas.
"But I made an appointment. She was expecting me."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"She's not home," he repeats. "Something came up. I don't know when she'll be back. Could be ten minutes, could be ten years."
"What is it that came up?" asks Atassa testily.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Last I heard of her, she went to check on the afterlife," he says. "But that was days ago. I expected her back by now."
"...Oh," says Atassa, far less testy. "I see. Might I borrow the use of pen and paper to leave a letter for her?"
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Sure," says Kas. He grabs a notebook and pen out of a drawer that didn't contain a notebook and pen until just before he opened it. "You can have some muffins, too, if you want, I just baked 'em."
"Thank you, I accept." She starts writing.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas goes to fetch the plate of muffins from the kitchen. When he comes back with it, the fox in his apron is a different colour - white instead of orange.
Atassa looks at Petaal, but doesn't comment; either she's heard about Amariah's boyfriend's weird daemon or it just doesn't interest her. She takes a muffin and eats it while tapping the notebook thoughtfully with the pen.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
He takes a muffin for himself and hands one to Petaal. They stand around nomming contentedly.
Atassa eventually finishes her muffin and her letter, the latter of which she folds up and presents to Kas. "For her eyes only, please."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Sure," he says agreeably.
And out Atassa goes, and up up and away on her cloudpine.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas finds somewhere slightly reasonable to put the letter.
He eats his muffin.
He changes his clothes.
He puts Isabella's alethiometer downstairs at the Janepoint and makes the room impassable and its contents inviolable to anyone but himself and his girlfriend.
He packs his own alethiometer in a little backpack, and closes and locks the door, and pins a note to it: Isabella Amariah is gone on important business and may be some time.
And then he teleports to a random city on the same continent.
He eats his muffin.
He changes his clothes.
He puts Isabella's alethiometer downstairs at the Janepoint and makes the room impassable and its contents inviolable to anyone but himself and his girlfriend.
He packs his own alethiometer in a little backpack, and closes and locks the door, and pins a note to it: Isabella Amariah is gone on important business and may be some time.
And then he teleports to a random city on the same continent.
After Jane has been down and Amariah gone for two weeks, Ranata, her mother, tentatively brainphones Kas. [Hello?]
Kas Petaal
truthwright
[Hi.]
[Isabella is not answering me - do you know what's going on?]
Kas Petaal
truthwright
[Not really. I just know she went somewhere that time works differently and something went wrong. She's going to come back, but it might take - a long time.]
[Oh. Oh dear. Does this have to do with what people are saying about - about the dead?]
Kas Petaal
truthwright
[What are people saying about the dead?]
[People are saying that the dead are contacting them in their sleep. I haven't been contacted, but Mother says Father has spoken to her and plans to invite me, later. And people are saying it has something to do with Isabella.]
Kas Petaal
truthwright
[Yeah, that was all her. She fixed the afterlife.]
[Is - that why she's gone? That must have been - I can't even imagine the spell that would take - and some of them - require sacrificing - things -] says Ranata plaintively.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
He hesitates.
[...She had help,] he says. [She's going to come back. I just - don't know when.]
[...She had help,] he says. [She's going to come back. I just - don't know when.]
[Oh,] breathes Ranata. [Oh, that's good, if she's going to come back. Do you know approximately how long...?] She says this with the mild curiosity afforded an immortal.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
[There's no way to know.]
[Oh. Well. Thank you very much for letting me know, Kas.]
Kas Petaal
truthwright
[No problem,] he says wryly, and goes back to his wandering.
It's not all that different, really, from having her waiting for him at home. There's only the one thing between them.
But she isn't waiting for him at home, and it is different, and he hates it more than a little.
He drifts around the States, then up into Canada. He visits his friend Augustine in Quebec City. While he's there, staying in a mediocre hotel, he buys a postcard.
He writes on it: I miss you. And when he checks out of his hotel, he drops it in the trash.
It's not all that different, really, from having her waiting for him at home. There's only the one thing between them.
But she isn't waiting for him at home, and it is different, and he hates it more than a little.
He drifts around the States, then up into Canada. He visits his friend Augustine in Quebec City. While he's there, staying in a mediocre hotel, he buys a postcard.
He writes on it: I miss you. And when he checks out of his hotel, he drops it in the trash.
At least in this subworld in the Alethia sheaf, the effects of the revamped afterlife slowly becomes more well-known and well-acknowledged. People who have communicated with dead individuals go on television and talk about it. Several dead people are haphazardly dictating books. Amariah made it so inconvenient and - relatively speaking - pointless enough to return to life that not many have done it, but the first few are met with fanfare and media deals.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
He wonders vaguely if any of the dead people he knows will invite him to visit. None of them do. He's glad.
After the first one, he writes more postcards. None of them reach the mail. Sometimes he's passing by a store and sees a cute one that he wants to write on; other times, he thinks of something to write and goes out and gets a postcard.
I love you. I miss you.
You wouldn't believe the cookies we just made. Love you.
Got laid last night! Fuck, I miss you.
A month goes by like this, and then another one. He shoves his postcards down gutters and into recycling boxes and occasionally burns one.
Eventually, he checks on the house.
After the first one, he writes more postcards. None of them reach the mail. Sometimes he's passing by a store and sees a cute one that he wants to write on; other times, he thinks of something to write and goes out and gets a postcard.
I love you. I miss you.
You wouldn't believe the cookies we just made. Love you.
Got laid last night! Fuck, I miss you.
A month goes by like this, and then another one. He shoves his postcards down gutters and into recycling boxes and occasionally burns one.
Eventually, he checks on the house.
There are a few letters from various witches and news outlets tucked into the mailbox.
The Janepoint is undisturbed.
The Janepoint is undisturbed.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
He puts the witches' letters with that first one and the news outlets' letters somewhere else, and he cleans the place and stays there for a few days cooking and sewing and feeling sorry for himself. Then he gets the hell out.
For lack of anywhere better to go, he takes Petaal to the cloudpine forest where they cut their first branch - the long way, no teleporting. They cut another one and fly to England. Why England? Well, why not?
A lot of things are like that, these days.
He cries. He writes a postcard about it. He writes a postcard apologizing for the postcard about crying. He giggles over that one for so long that he starts crying again, and a stranger asks if he's all right, and he says his girlfriend might be dead, and the stranger says that's not so bad these days, and he wants to hit something but instead he just cries some more.
His supply of coins is - well, not running low, but it's been neglected for a while. He and Petaal spend a week on a certain asteroid replenishing it in creative ways. He feels better for a little while after that, until the next time he bursts into tears in the middle of breakfast.
It occurs to him one day that he hasn't seen a movie in a while, so he spends a day in a movie theatre, writing on his tickets like they're postcards before he throws them out and goes to get one for the next show. Little miniature reviews about which parts made him laugh or which characters he wanted to fuck or how fucking much he misses her. (He tears that one in half before he throws it away.)
For lack of anywhere better to go, he takes Petaal to the cloudpine forest where they cut their first branch - the long way, no teleporting. They cut another one and fly to England. Why England? Well, why not?
A lot of things are like that, these days.
He cries. He writes a postcard about it. He writes a postcard apologizing for the postcard about crying. He giggles over that one for so long that he starts crying again, and a stranger asks if he's all right, and he says his girlfriend might be dead, and the stranger says that's not so bad these days, and he wants to hit something but instead he just cries some more.
His supply of coins is - well, not running low, but it's been neglected for a while. He and Petaal spend a week on a certain asteroid replenishing it in creative ways. He feels better for a little while after that, until the next time he bursts into tears in the middle of breakfast.
It occurs to him one day that he hasn't seen a movie in a while, so he spends a day in a movie theatre, writing on his tickets like they're postcards before he throws them out and goes to get one for the next show. Little miniature reviews about which parts made him laugh or which characters he wanted to fuck or how fucking much he misses her. (He tears that one in half before he throws it away.)
Months wear on.
And years.
Dead people go on trickling back into life at a slow, filtered rate. The afterlife is a decent hub for inter-world communication, since they all go to the same place. Witches and scientists alike are talking about finding a way to make permanent gates.
Someone makes a movie about Isabella creating the afterlife. It's fictionalized to hell and back, they spell her second name "Ammaria", it's clear they couldn't get interviews with anyone who knew her more than passingly, and it makes a ridiculous amount of money anyway.
And years.
Dead people go on trickling back into life at a slow, filtered rate. The afterlife is a decent hub for inter-world communication, since they all go to the same place. Witches and scientists alike are talking about finding a way to make permanent gates.
Someone makes a movie about Isabella creating the afterlife. It's fictionalized to hell and back, they spell her second name "Ammaria", it's clear they couldn't get interviews with anyone who knew her more than passingly, and it makes a ridiculous amount of money anyway.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas... goes on.
After the movie tickets, his repertoire of things he writes to Amariah on expands considerably. He'll scribble a heart on a grocery receipt or doodle an owl on a bar napkin. He writes her little notes on hotel stationery about who he just fucked and how much he got paid for it.
When the movie comes out, he writes HA FUCKING HA in red Sharpie across the first poster he sees. A few weeks later he gives in and watches the damn thing, and by the end his ticket is too shredded to write on and he doesn't feel like stealing someone else's.
One of the postcards says, I don't know whether I'm writing these to you or to me.
After the movie tickets, his repertoire of things he writes to Amariah on expands considerably. He'll scribble a heart on a grocery receipt or doodle an owl on a bar napkin. He writes her little notes on hotel stationery about who he just fucked and how much he got paid for it.
When the movie comes out, he writes HA FUCKING HA in red Sharpie across the first poster he sees. A few weeks later he gives in and watches the damn thing, and by the end his ticket is too shredded to write on and he doesn't feel like stealing someone else's.
One of the postcards says, I don't know whether I'm writing these to you or to me.
It's not the last movie. She's a public figure, not intellectual property; anyone can make a movie (write a book, put on a Broadway production) about Isabella Amariah (subsequent media gets the name right). There are various subtitles for her, ranging from the fanciful "Shade-Dreamer" to the preposterous "Second Coming of Christ" (playing on the absurd self-sacrifice angle; Amariah's old teachers have talked but apparently Ranata hasn't).
She's been gone fifteen years before Kas is likely to run into any information about the little cult that's sprung up about the latter interpretation.
She's been gone fifteen years before Kas is likely to run into any information about the little cult that's sprung up about the latter interpretation.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
A little before then - it's been about eleven and a half years - he writes her a letter.
There are fewer notes after that. Writting the letter helped a little. Less crying, less I miss you. But still plenty of both.
When he finds out about the cult, he considers telling these people that he fucked their messiah, but it would be mostly pointless and only a little bit funny, so he leaves them alone.
Sweetie,He signs it with tearstains and sets it on fire.
I can't handle this. I really can't. I miss you too much. I don't know what to do. If you were here I could see you, and if I knew when you were coming back I could wait, and if you were gone forever I could be wrecked about it and then move on. But I know you're coming back, I just don't know when, and it's killing me. I keep wondering what happened, where you are, how you're doing, if you're okay. And I have no idea and no way to find out.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you're not coming back.
I love you.
There are fewer notes after that. Writting the letter helped a little. Less crying, less I miss you. But still plenty of both.
When he finds out about the cult, he considers telling these people that he fucked their messiah, but it would be mostly pointless and only a little bit funny, so he leaves them alone.
Isabella passes into the generic public consciousness along with all the other cultural touchstones. Some people name their children after her; some people start using her name as a component of irreverent oaths. More religions incorporate her; the original cult shoots up in membership, schisms twice, settles down into relative obscurity again.
Isabella doesn't come home.
Isabella doesn't come home.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
More years go by.
The frequency of postcards to nowhere waxes and wanes unpredictably. He stops really counting the years. Twenty, thirty. How old is he? He forgets, he doesn't care; he's as ageless as a witch.
He's friendly and chatty but he doesn't make friends. He drops in on Augustine once in a while, but not very often. When she dies, she invites him to visit and it's the first he hears of it. She tells him that she doesn't think she'll come back anytime soon. He hugs her. Her fur is thick and warm.
They don't talk again after that.
The frequency of postcards to nowhere waxes and wanes unpredictably. He stops really counting the years. Twenty, thirty. How old is he? He forgets, he doesn't care; he's as ageless as a witch.
He's friendly and chatty but he doesn't make friends. He drops in on Augustine once in a while, but not very often. When she dies, she invites him to visit and it's the first he hears of it. She tells him that she doesn't think she'll come back anytime soon. He hugs her. Her fur is thick and warm.
They don't talk again after that.
Ranata Ekamma witches around as much as ever. She pops up in random places.
Once it's a random place where Kas is.
She doesn't recognize him, but -
She looks a lot like her daughter.
Once it's a random place where Kas is.
She doesn't recognize him, but -
She looks a lot like her daughter.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Except for the broad-tailed hummingbird, yes she does.
Kas recognizes her immediately.
Petaal climbs out of his sleeve as a shrew and then flits over as a sparrow to say hi to Castarilan.
Kas recognizes her immediately.
Petaal climbs out of his sleeve as a shrew and then flits over as a sparrow to say hi to Castarilan.
"Hi!" Castarilan says.
He doesn't recognize Petaal, either.
He doesn't recognize Petaal, either.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Guess who, guess who," Petaal says merrily. She changes into a blue jay in midair.
Castarilan is surprised! He backs up in his eternal hovering a bit, then flies forward again. "Petaal! Hi! We haven't seen you in ages!"
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Petaal giggles, flutters back to Kas, and drapes herself across his shoulders as a linsang.
"Sure haven't," Kas agrees, petting her head. "How've you been?"
"Sure haven't," Kas agrees, petting her head. "How've you been?"
Ranata joins the conversation directly. "I've been all right," she says. "Traveling, avoiding the media, sidestepping politics - Charlie died a little while ago but he came right back, looks thirty again, it's really something - how about you, how've you been, dear?"
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"I've been... getting by," he says. "I miss everybody's favourite legend a lot."
"It's been such a long time... She must've done a fantastic spell on you before she left - or did you die and come back too at some point?"
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Nope, this is all her."
"Well, you look fantastic," asserts Ranata.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"You bet I do," he laughs. "How's Charlie, besides revenant?"
"He's all right. Considering getting his job back again. He'd retired for the last few decades, he has to catch up on how things are nowadays, but he doesn't like puttering around the house now he's got the energy again."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Good luck to him, I guess. What are you in town for, anything in particular?"
"Me and Lutammi are following Micaela and the Pages on tour," explains Ranata.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Cool. They any good?"
"Of course, or we wouldn't be following them," laughs Ranata. "We traded for season passes, but if I remember right Petaal can turn witch and you can fly - tonight's show is outdoors, you can just hover over it, no one will give you trouble."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"That sounds like fun," says Kas. "Count us in."
"Excellent, have you got a pen...?" Ranata writes down the showtime and location for him when a pen is provided.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Thanks!" he says, tucking the paper away somewhere. "We'll be there for sure."
Ranata smiles. "Now, I'm supposed to meet someone for lunch while I'm in the area, got to fly - see you at the concert!" And she and her hummingbird are up in the air a moment later.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
He buys the first postcard he sees and writes, Talked to your mom today. She's still adorable. I miss you so much.
He and Petaal show up at the concert, Petaal witch-shaped and wrapped in appropriate silks, both of them riding a cloudpine branch.
He and Petaal show up at the concert, Petaal witch-shaped and wrapped in appropriate silks, both of them riding a cloudpine branch.
The concert is loud and frenetic and lyrically impossible.
Ranata and her friend are in the front row, whooping at intervals.
Ranata and her friend are in the front row, whooping at intervals.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
It's awesome. They love it.
Ranata and her friend loiter around afterwards; they don't go backstage, but they hang out where the band members are signing merch.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Just for the hell of it, Kas acquires a T-shirt. But he doesn't get it signed.
He catches Ranata's eye and waves to her as he leaves.
He catches Ranata's eye and waves to her as he leaves.
Ranata waves back.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Yeah. And that's the end of that.
The next postcard he writes, a week later, says: I can't do this anymore.
He burns it, cuddles his sweetie for a while, and leaves that city the next morning.
It's true: he can't do this anymore. He can't live his life around the empty space where Isabella used to be. There's other people he misses, too, but he's not so completely and utterly fucked to hell over the rest of them.
But thinking about the Jokers, about the Joker, makes him realize what he really needs.
He thinks about it for a while. There's no rush. He switches sex and lives that way full-time, to get used to it first, because he's going to be stuck in it a lot longer than the Joker and he doesn't want to get fed up in the middle.
And then, a year and a half after he saw Ranata, Kas wishes himself pregnant.
He doesn't get fed up in the middle.
The baby is born in late summer. He names her Helen.
The next postcard he writes, a week later, says: I can't do this anymore.
He burns it, cuddles his sweetie for a while, and leaves that city the next morning.
It's true: he can't do this anymore. He can't live his life around the empty space where Isabella used to be. There's other people he misses, too, but he's not so completely and utterly fucked to hell over the rest of them.
But thinking about the Jokers, about the Joker, makes him realize what he really needs.
He thinks about it for a while. There's no rush. He switches sex and lives that way full-time, to get used to it first, because he's going to be stuck in it a lot longer than the Joker and he doesn't want to get fed up in the middle.
And then, a year and a half after he saw Ranata, Kas wishes himself pregnant.
He doesn't get fed up in the middle.
The baby is born in late summer. He names her Helen.
Helen is a very loud baby, but well-behaved other than that. Well, it might just be that her parent has a broad definition of good behaviour.
When she is four months old, being carried along the side of a country road late at night, the moonlight falls on her and she reaches her little hands up and coos intensely. Her daemon - Petaal named her Kalavar - takes the form of a duckling and flaps her small fuzzy wings as though trying to fly.
When she is four months old, being carried along the side of a country road late at night, the moonlight falls on her and she reaches her little hands up and coos intensely. Her daemon - Petaal named her Kalavar - takes the form of a duckling and flaps her small fuzzy wings as though trying to fly.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas stops walking.
"What is it, sweetie?" murmurs Petaal.
"Maybe nothing," he says.
But now that he's thought of it...
When he wished himself a child, he never specified a father. Or would that be mother? Whichever way around, he left it to chance. He definitely didn't specify that the kid should be a witch.
He spends a square to conjure an illusion of Helen's other parent.
Helen's other parent has a very familiar face.
"Well, fuck," mutters Kas.
"What is it, sweetie?" murmurs Petaal.
"Maybe nothing," he says.
But now that he's thought of it...
When he wished himself a child, he never specified a father. Or would that be mother? Whichever way around, he left it to chance. He definitely didn't specify that the kid should be a witch.
He spends a square to conjure an illusion of Helen's other parent.
Helen's other parent has a very familiar face.
"Well, fuck," mutters Kas.
Helen makes noises and waves her hands in the moonlight some more.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas sighs. He cuddles his baby.
He brainphones Ranata Ekamma.
[Hey, you busy?]
He brainphones Ranata Ekamma.
[Hey, you busy?]
[Not at the moment. What's up?]
Kas Petaal
truthwright
[...I think I accidentally gave you a granddaughter,] he says. [It's - kind of complicated.]
[...It sounds that way.]
Kas Petaal
truthwright
[Do you wanna meet somewhere and talk about it?]
[I can do that. Where?]
Kas Petaal
truthwright
[I'm just outside of New York City right now.]
[I can be there tomorrow afternoon.]
Kas Petaal
truthwright
[All right.]
[Where should I find you?]
Kas Petaal
truthwright
He names a hotel.
[All right.]
Kas Petaal
truthwright
[See you then.]
Ranata cruises into the city and finds the hotel the next afternoon, as promised.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
And there he is, sitting in the lobby with a cute little baby in his arms.
Ranata lands, strides into the lobby, looks at Kas, looks at the baby, and says, "I don't understand."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Me neither," says Kas, getting up. "You wanna come upstairs? I've got something to show you that... will probably just confuse you more."
Ranata doesn't look happy about being as confused as she is, but she shrugs and nods.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas brings Ranata and the baby up to his hotel room.
He closes the door.
He switches sex.
"I've got a lot more weird magic stuff going on than just immortality," he says, cuddling the baby.
He closes the door.
He switches sex.
"I've got a lot more weird magic stuff going on than just immortality," he says, cuddling the baby.
Ranata turns her head, looks at him out of the corner of her eye.
"What did she do with you before she left?" she murmurs.
"What did she do with you before she left?" she murmurs.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Magic," says Kas.
"Yes - but - I knew she was working on some astonishing spells, but -"
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Okay, well," he says, "this is my daughter. I made her by myself. I wasn't expecting her to be... anyone else's in particular. But I think she's a witch, and I've only ever been with one witch. So - I don't know - is there some way you could check...?"
"How old is she?" Ranata asks.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Four months."
"Then there's still time for me to put a birth blessing on her and see if it sticks, but I don't have all the materials I'd need..."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"What do you need?"
"It depends on which goddess I want to call down for her..."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Well, I don't know all the goddesses, so I can't help you there."
"There are seven. Is there something in particular you'd like her to have? It's not guaranteed, but I can try. Isabella's was Evisa Iannakara; Mother was aiming for an art blessing but she got her protection from mind-affecting spells instead."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"I don't know," he says. "How about - the goddess Isabella was named after? Just... because."
"Amariah Lytess. All right. Then I need pine sap and white peppercorns, ideally I'd cast during the full moon, and it would be better if I worked outside."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Okay," he says. "Can you find the stuff? Is the next full moon soon enough?"
"Yes, I can get it." She peers at the baby. "You really think she's - hers? Somehow? ...She does have Isabella's eyes."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"I don't know who else's she'd be," he says. "If she's a witch, I mean, and I think she is - she's never cold, she likes moonlight..."
"But how did this happen, I don't understand."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"I don't either," he says. "I didn't think she was going to be anybody's. But I guess that's what I get for messing around with magic stuff." He cuddles the baby. "Her name's Helen," he adds.
"If she's a witch she should have a second name," says Ranata.
"What's her daemon called?" asks Castarilan.
"What's her daemon called?" asks Castarilan.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Kalavar," says Petaal.
"Hi, Kalavar," coos Castarilan.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kalavar turns into a duckling again.
Kas thinks.
"Ianthe," he decides. "Helen Ianthe."
Kas thinks.
"Ianthe," he decides. "Helen Ianthe."
"May I hold her?" Ranata asks.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Sure."
He hands over the baby.
He hands over the baby.
Ranata joggles her. "Aren't you precious," she coos.
"So cute," agrees Castarilan.
"If she's a witch," Ranata says, "she should be brought up like one."
"So cute," agrees Castarilan.
"If she's a witch," Ranata says, "she should be brought up like one."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"What's that mean?"
"Learning to do magic, and fly, and shoot and dagger-fight, and if she's Isabella's she's in our clan and should learn about that, and she'll need to separate when she's old enough, and - well, witches are different, dear."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas shrugs.
"Sure," says Petaal. "Can we just bring her to you to learn all that stuff?"
"Sure," says Petaal. "Can we just bring her to you to learn all that stuff?"
"Of course," says Ranata.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Okay then," Petaal says unconcernedly, snuggling Kalavar.
"Why don't we go back to the Olympic enclave tomorrow? It will be the full moon the day after."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Sure," says Kas.
Ranata nods. She goes on holding Helen, rocking her slowly. "And when your mommy comes back she will find the cutest little baby ever, won't she," she murmurs to Helen, apparently provisionally buying the story that this is her grandchild.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Helen waves her arms and babbles.
Kas looks away.
Kas looks away.
"She is coming back, right? You told me she would," Ranata says, looking up at Kas.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Yeah," he says. "I just don't know if she's going to be back while Helen's still little."
Ranata pets Helen's hair. Cas hovers closer to Kalavar.
"Oh."
"Oh."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Petaal, in the shape of a fox, curls up around the duckling and licks her face.
Cas lands.
Ranata sighs, sits down, and starts singing a lullaby without any lyrics. It's probably hazardous for witches to sing songs with lyrics.
Ranata sighs, sits down, and starts singing a lullaby without any lyrics. It's probably hazardous for witches to sing songs with lyrics.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas sits on the floor.
"Well, I can teach her to be a witch. I did it once and Isabella turned out beautifully."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas giggles.
"If she's a witch," amends Ranata. "But it sounds like she is. Somehow.'
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Yeah. It does."
The next day, they fly to the Olympic clan's enclave, and Ranata collects her materials, and under the light of the full moon she casts an elaborate spell calling the blessings of Amariah Lytess down on Helen Ianthe.
It sticks.
Ranata gets help from a cousin to cast the spell to see what it actually did, and concludes: "It's about Kalavar. Daemons are in Amariah Lytess's portfolio. Helen will have an easier time of separating, when it's time, than most people. Kalavar will be stronger than she looks, too."
It sticks.
Ranata gets help from a cousin to cast the spell to see what it actually did, and concludes: "It's about Kalavar. Daemons are in Amariah Lytess's portfolio. Helen will have an easier time of separating, when it's time, than most people. Kalavar will be stronger than she looks, too."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas cuddles his daughter.
"How 'bout that," he says.
"How 'bout that," he says.
"Helen isn't a very witchy name," says the cousin.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Didn't know she was a witch when I named her," he says. "It's hers until she says different."
"How could you not know your baby daughter is a witch?" says the cousin.
[...I haven't explained that she's my granddaughter,] Ranata tells Kas. [I don't know what to say instead, though.]
[...I haven't explained that she's my granddaughter,] Ranata tells Kas. [I don't know what to say instead, though.]
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas switches sex.
"'Cause I'm her mother," he says, "and I'm not one."
"'Cause I'm her mother," he says, "and I'm not one."
...The cousin blinks at him. Her potoo daemon squawks. "I want to know what's going on," she says.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Yeah, don't we all," says Kas.
"Where did this baby come from?" asks the cousin.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Me."
"Then why is she a witch? What is going on? Are you from some other world?"
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas shrugs. "It is what it is," he says.
"The clan is entitled to know what Ranata Ekamma has brought into it," says the cousin, pointing at Helen.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
He shrugs again.
Ranata sighs. "Can you keep a secret?" she asks.
"From the rest of the clan, absolutely not, we should all know! From everyone else, of course."
Ranata looks at Kas.
"From the rest of the clan, absolutely not, we should all know! From everyone else, of course."
Ranata looks at Kas.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
[She's not here,] he says. [It's up to us. What do you think?]
[The clan probably should know. I'm just worried it will leak beyond that and Helen will have more attention than she should.]
Kas Petaal
truthwright
[Make really sure that doesn't happen,] he says. [If she gets too much attention, I'll just keep her away from whoever's bugging her.]
"I'll explain to the queen," Ranata suggests to the cousin.
"Fine," huffs the cousin. "As long as this doesn't stay something mysterious you've cooked up with this mortal."
"Fine," huffs the cousin. "As long as this doesn't stay something mysterious you've cooked up with this mortal."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Watch who you're calling a mortal," Kas snorts.
"The possibility of revenance doesn't make you an immortal," says the cousin dismissively, and she hops on her cloudpine and flies away. The potoo stays behind a moment later, inspecting Kalavar, and then flies after his witch.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas just laughs.
"...So, let's go speak to Narida Memma," says Ranata.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Sure."
Ranata leads him to where the queen lives, which is in a handmade-looking but beautiful cottage within the enclave area. She is accompanied by her daemon, stark naked, and sitting in front of her house crosslegged with her eyes closed, apparently in some sort of contemplation.
Ranata lands and stands quietly, waiting for the queen to acknowledge her.
Ranata lands and stands quietly, waiting for the queen to acknowledge her.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Petaal shifts into a male tiger and sits, setting Kalavar in front of her. Kas remains female and cuddles his daughter.
After a minute the queen opens her eyes. She sweeps her eyes over the assembled. "What is it, Ranata Ekamma?"
"Hello, Narida Memma. This is Kas. My daughter was Kas's girlfriend. This is their child Helen Ianthe, conceived by magic I don't understand in spite of her departure. I've birth-blessed her and it stuck. My honored cousin Lisset Arainen does not understand where Helen came from, but I fear for the comfort of her childhood if her parentage were widely rumored. Can you assure the clan that Helen is a witch, and under my shadow a member of the Olympics and that I will have charge of her as she learns to be what she is - and that all is well - but say nothing more?"
Narida peers at Kas.
"That the legendary Isabella Amariah could have performed such a feat, I do not doubt. That she would be motivated to do so - I doubt," she comments.
"Hello, Narida Memma. This is Kas. My daughter was Kas's girlfriend. This is their child Helen Ianthe, conceived by magic I don't understand in spite of her departure. I've birth-blessed her and it stuck. My honored cousin Lisset Arainen does not understand where Helen came from, but I fear for the comfort of her childhood if her parentage were widely rumored. Can you assure the clan that Helen is a witch, and under my shadow a member of the Olympics and that I will have charge of her as she learns to be what she is - and that all is well - but say nothing more?"
Narida peers at Kas.
"That the legendary Isabella Amariah could have performed such a feat, I do not doubt. That she would be motivated to do so - I doubt," she comments.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Mm?" says Kas.
"Why would she have been motivated to do as Ranata suggests?" Narida asks.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"I'm pretty sure she didn't mean to get me pregnant with her daughter fifty years after she disappeared," Kas says. "If she did, she didn't tell me, so I couldn't tell you why. She did give me the magic that let me get pregnant without anybody else's help, but I only just figured out that I could use it for that. She might not even have known."
"So you have magic she gave you, under your own control," muses the witch queen, "is that right? What else can you do?"
Kas Petaal
truthwright
He switches sex.
"That," he says. "And I'm the first person she made immortal."
"That," he says. "And I'm the first person she made immortal."
"Interesting," says Narida. Her daemon hops from her knee towards where Petaal and Kalavar are curled up. "Yes, we can surround the inclusion of Helen in the clan with enough vagueness to keep her away from Isabella's shadow, I think. Thank you for coming to me with this matter, Ranata."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Petaal becomes a lion.
Kas smiles.
Kas smiles.
"Mysterious motives indeed," mutters Narida's daemon, and he hops back towards his witch.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Nope," says Petaal. "That one's all us."
Narida shrugs. "Is there anything else?"
"I think that's all. Thank you," says Ranata, and she hops on her cloudpine again.
"I think that's all. Thank you," says Ranata, and she hops on her cloudpine again.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Petaal changes to human form - female - and scoops up Kalavar. She and Kas leave the presence of the witch queen.
"So that's it, huh?" says Kas to Ranata.
"So that's it, huh?" says Kas to Ranata.
"Narida will put the word out that Helen's mother is not a question of interest, and that I'm sort of fostering her," says Ranata, shrugging. "You were never nearly as well known as Isabella, and even people who might recognize you wouldn't expect you to look like this at this time without having gone revenant, and you don't have the - air of shadow about you that revenants do. People might wonder, but no one will know." She looks at Helen and sighs. "Poor Isabella - when she comes home - she'll have missed so many things, but this most of all."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas sighs.
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
"She will come home, right? I've got only your word to go on that she'll be home one day," Ranata says quietly.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"I think she will. I hope she will. I don't know if I believe she will, but that's just because fifty years is a long time to me and it's hard to keep waiting."
"Where did she go?"
Kas Petaal
truthwright
He shrugs helplessly.
Ranata sighs.
"Well," she says. "I think I should have Helen here - you can take that time off or stay here too, as you like - at least one week of every month, and one solid month out of every year, does that sound reasonable to you?"
"Well," she says. "I think I should have Helen here - you can take that time off or stay here too, as you like - at least one week of every month, and one solid month out of every year, does that sound reasonable to you?"
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"...Not really," he says. "I wander around a lot. Coming back here once a month for a week would make it hard to do that."
"I can come pick her up wherever you are," says Ranata. "I don't have a lot of demands on my time, and she's important."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
He shakes his head.
"I don't mean it would be hard to get here, I mean I'd only ever have her to myself for three weeks at a time and that's not okay. Why not one week every other month? And one month every year."
"I don't mean it would be hard to get here, I mean I'd only ever have her to myself for three weeks at a time and that's not okay. Why not one week every other month? And one month every year."
Ranata nibbles her lip. "...For now. If she likes magic, when she gets old enough to do it, she may want more lessons than that, to keep up with the other little witches."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas shrugs. "That'd be up to her."
"All right then," says Ranata. "There's really no good place for a mortal in the enclave, but Charlie's house isn't far, I live there most of the time anyway. Shall we go introduce Helen to her grandpa?"
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Sure."
Ranata leads the way through the air to the house in Forks where Isabella grew up.
Inside, there are pictures of her everywhere.
Charlie's sitting at the kitchen table with a jigsaw puzzle, and apparently Ranata's already briefed him about Helen, because he says, "This must be Helen."
Inside, there are pictures of her everywhere.
Charlie's sitting at the kitchen table with a jigsaw puzzle, and apparently Ranata's already briefed him about Helen, because he says, "This must be Helen."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Yep," says Kas.
Helen yawns.
Helen yawns.
"Lemme have a look at her," says Charlie, holding out his arms, and his wolverine Kesathi sits up attentively at his side.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas hands over the baby.
Charlie rocks her. "Hi there, Helen. I'm your grandpa. But that's a secret. You can just call me Charlie. Your mommy did that too when she thought I couldn't hear her."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas giggles.
Kesathi wants to nuzzle Kalavar. Where is Kalavar?
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Petaal has Kalavar!
Kesathi trots up to them and nuzzles grandbaby-daemon as is right and proper. Kesathi can be fierce and toothy, but right now she just looks like a fuzzy critter.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Petaal is being a smallish dragon. Kalavar is being a duckling. Kalavar makes excited noises and bops her beak against Kesathi's face.
"Hey little fuzzy one," Kesathi says to Kalavar.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kalavar bops Kesathi's face with her beak again.
Petaal giggles.
Petaal giggles.
Charlie chuckles and goes on holding the baby. "Thanks for bringing her by. Will we get to see much of her?"
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Yeah, once in a while," says Kas. "Grandma wants her with the clan a lot."
"Gonna learn to be all witchy like her mommy," murmurs Charlie. "Just - mind she doesn't get into anything too big?"
"Kas says Isabella's coming back. I told you."
"Kas says Isabella's coming back. I told you."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Yeah," says Kas.
"It was still too big," says Charlie.
"You're back," Ranata murmurs.
"So," Charlie says, "I can say that."
Everyone thinks the disappearance was related to the afterlife; it's a natural thought.
"You're back," Ranata murmurs.
"So," Charlie says, "I can say that."
Everyone thinks the disappearance was related to the afterlife; it's a natural thought.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
A natural thought and a rumour Kas started.
"If Helen wants to do something that impressive, I'm not stopping her," he says with a shrug.
"If Helen wants to do something that impressive, I'm not stopping her," he says with a shrug.
Charlie grits his teeth, and he doesn't tighten his grip on Helen, but he looks like he'd like to. The hackles on the back of his daemon's neck rise a bit.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"What would I even do? I can ask her to be careful, but I can't make her listen."
"Well," says Charlie. "Do ask her."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Of course."
Charlie nods, and he pet's Helen's hair. Ranata sits next to him and puts her arm around his shoulders.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Petaal nuzzles Kalavar's fuzzy feathers.
It's a couple months after Kas has departed when Ranata says, [Are you thinking of bringing Helen by soon, dear?]
Kas Petaal
truthwright
[Has it been two months? Yeah, sure,] he says.
[Do you want me to come get her or are you coming too?]
Kas Petaal
truthwright
[I'm coming too,] he says. [I'll be there in a while.]
[We'll see you soon, dear. The queen's got everyone to quiet down about where she came from.]
Kas Petaal
truthwright
[See ya!]
Cheating with teleportation, he arrives by cloud-pine a few hours later.
Cheating with teleportation, he arrives by cloud-pine a few hours later.
Charlie and Ranata are both home; Charlie reading a newspaper on the porch, Ranata fixing a few missing shingles on the roof.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Petaal lands on the roof, wearing witch-silks and carrying Kalavar while Kas carries Helen.
"Hello, dear," says Ranata, holding her arms out for the baby. Cas lands on Petaal's wrist to peer at Kalavar.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas hands over the baby to her grandma.
"Hello there, Helen," coos Ranata. "How's my secret grandbaby? Is she cute as a button? She is." She abandons the work in the middle and swings herself onto her cloudpine to come down off the roof and let Charlie have a look, moving slowly so Petaal can follow with Helen's daemon close enough for comfort.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Petaal obligingly follows.
Charlie coos over the baby too, and asks, "So what have you and Helen been up to?"
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Nothin' much," shrugs Kas. "Went to Europe for a bit. Came back."
"What all did you see in Europe?" Charlie asks.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Just places. A few big cities in France and Germany. None of the big touristy stuff. I'm not that interested and she's not old enough to notice."
"'Course," laughs Charlie. "She's half a year old now, right, when's her birthday exactly?"
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"August."
"August what?" Charlie asks.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Third."
"Have to get her something nice," murmurs Charlie.
"A set of silks," Ranata says. "That's when the first set gets given - before that witch babies are just carried in slings if we have to go among mortals with them."
"A set of silks," Ranata says. "That's when the first set gets given - before that witch babies are just carried in slings if we have to go among mortals with them."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas giggles.
"You can get her silks. I'll find something else," chuckles Charlie. "Maybe a teething ring." His wolverine plants her forepaws on his knee, peers at Helen from a safe distance, settles down at his feet again.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kalavar turns into a gosling and flaps her little wings industriously, going absolutely nowhere. Petaal kisses the top of her head.
After an afternoon where Charlie gets to shower attention on the baby, it is time for a trip to the witch enclave. ("The more she's seen there, the less of an oddity she seems, and there are a couple of small children almost her age and one witch due in four months who's expecting a girl, she can have witch friends and should start now.")
These people do in fact all exist, and the two babies who have been born are playing together on a beach part of the enclave, pushing sand around; they aren't really interacting, just sitting near each other. The elder of them can walk, and she sometimes toddles naked into the frigid water and splashes before her mother determines she's gone too far and fetches her out again.
These people do in fact all exist, and the two babies who have been born are playing together on a beach part of the enclave, pushing sand around; they aren't really interacting, just sitting near each other. The elder of them can walk, and she sometimes toddles naked into the frigid water and splashes before her mother determines she's gone too far and fetches her out again.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
So Kas brings Helen to the beach to play next to the other babies.
The babies all three play next to each other and their daemons change shapes and knock one another over into the sand, mothers and Ranata supervising from farther up the beach. It's absolutely freezing near the water. The witches don't care.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas doesn't care either, and Petaal is being witch-shaped so she really doesn't.
Kalavar squalls every time someone's daemon knocks her over, but Helen giggles.
Kalavar squalls every time someone's daemon knocks her over, but Helen giggles.
The eldest baby's daemon becomes a snake, cleverly acquiring immunity from knocking-over, and the middle baby finds this a frightful disappointment; her daemon whines, kitten-shaped.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kalavar becomes a dragon, almost as big as Helen, and bops her nose against the snake's middle as though trying to use her face as a shovel.
The snake rolls over, then rights himself, making a noise that sounds like "wheep!" He turns into a katydid and lands on his witch.
The middle daemon stops being a kitten and starts being a marmoset, and then a lungfish; he goes a few feet towards the water and is buoyed up slightly by the next wave.
The middle daemon stops being a kitten and starts being a marmoset, and then a lungfish; he goes a few feet towards the water and is buoyed up slightly by the next wave.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kalavar flaps her wings triumphantly.
Kas and Petaal giggle.
Kas and Petaal giggle.
Katydid becomes sandpiper. He hops towards Kalavar, pecks inquisitively at her foot.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kalavar peers at him, and then nudges him with her nose.
"Wheep!" Now he's a clam, digging under the sand.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kalavar nudges him again.
He undigs. He's a sea turtle, itty-bitty.
Middle daemon is a seagull chick now.
Middle daemon is a seagull chick now.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kalavar flaps her wings.
Eventually eldest witchbaby's mother scoops her baby into her sling, and the crane daemon puts the turtle in after her, gently-carefully, and off they fly.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Helen and Kalavar keep playing in the sand. Kas and Petaal keep awwing at them.
Ranata's enthralled too. She takes occasional pictures, and video snippets.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
After a little while longer, Kas starts writing a postcard to Isabella.
Pregnant Witch drops by - with her husband, who's bundled up in several coats - to acquaint herself with Ranata and with the other witch baby's mother.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
But not with Kas?
The husband appears to be trying to figure out who Kas is. "I know you're not Renata's husband or Luda's," he says.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"I'm Kas," he says, and points at Helen. "She's mine."
"I thought she was Ranata's? Maybe I misheard something."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"She's not Ranata's kid."
"Ranata's what, then? My honey tells me things, but it's hard to keep straight."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"I'm the only parent she's got. Ranata's giving me a hand with the witch stuff."
"Yours run off?" asks the fellow sympathetically.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas shrugs and shakes his head. "It's kind of not my favourite subject," he says.
"Sorry," says the guy. He produces a beach towel, unrolls it on the sand, and sits with his pregnant wife.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"It's okay," he says.
The remaining non-Kalavar witchbaby daemon turns into a cygnet, and then a lizard, and then a barn owlet.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kalavar turns into a series of different brightly coloured dragons.
Kas giggles at her.
A week later, the visit draws to a close; Kas collects his daughter and wanders away. He's back in two months, at Ranata's prompting. He decides that the month Helen spends with the witches every year should be August, since so many witchy things seem to depend on birthdays.
He gets back in the habit of burning postcards. Most of them are about Helen, one way or another.
Kas giggles at her.
A week later, the visit draws to a close; Kas collects his daughter and wanders away. He's back in two months, at Ranata's prompting. He decides that the month Helen spends with the witches every year should be August, since so many witchy things seem to depend on birthdays.
He gets back in the habit of burning postcards. Most of them are about Helen, one way or another.
When Helen turns five, she is supposed to start dagger lessons. Work with a blade doesn't start right away; first she has to learn footwork and drawing and some basic moves with a wooden practice dagger. Shura starts at about the same time; she is younger than Helen, but she's been getting early coaching from her mother.
small belldaughters
carillons
Helen is very excited about her wooden practice dagger!
Shura wants a real dagger. She wants to learn to make arrows, and stab dummies, and cut her cloud-pine.
But she knows the fastest way to get her real dagger is to be good with the wood one, so here she is, lunging and slashing it through the air, insulting imaginary enemies. Since she is not even five yet, this mostly consists of calling them: "Frostbitten - um - spinach heads!"
But she knows the fastest way to get her real dagger is to be good with the wood one, so here she is, lunging and slashing it through the air, insulting imaginary enemies. Since she is not even five yet, this mostly consists of calling them: "Frostbitten - um - spinach heads!"
small belldaughters
carillons
This makes Helen giggle uncontrollably, which in turn makes it difficult for her to properly attend to her lessons.
"Wha-a-at?" giggles Shura.
small belldaughters
carillons
"Spinach heads," says Helen, still giggling. "Spinach heads! Spinach heads!"
"Spinach heaaaaads!" hollers Shura gleefully, stabbing invisible spinach heads.
small belldaughters
carillons
Helen giggles helplessly and fails to stab any things. She cannot see the invisible spinach heads when she is laughing so hard!
"Girls," says the dagger teacher. "If you want to fight spinach heads or anything else you will need to work on your footwork."
small belldaughters
carillons
Helen attempts to stop giggling.
"Up you get, come on," says the teacher, and Shura stops stabbing invisible spinach heads and listens while the teacher describes how to correctly place your feet for optimal mobility.
small belldaughters
carillons
Helen listens too! She wants to learn these things.
(She keeps grinning, though. Spinach heads!)
(She keeps grinning, though. Spinach heads!)
The teacher keeps them pivoting and lunging around the practice area until they're both tuckered out. She quite ignores the supervising Kas until the lesson is over.
Shura's mother is apparently a little late to fetch her.
Shura's mother is apparently a little late to fetch her.
small belldaughters
carillons
Helen prances up to Kas and says gleefully, "Spinach heads!"
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"So I've heard," he says, ruffling her hair.
"Are you a spinach head?" Shura asks Kas. Her Nicoa is clinging to her hair as some kind of lizard.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"I don't know," he says innocently.
And for just a moment, his head looks extremely leafy and green.
And for just a moment, his head looks extremely leafy and green.
Shura shrieks with half-laughter and half-alarm. She flings her wooden dagger at his head.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
The hilt of the dagger bonks off his forehead. He catches it on the way down and laughs.
"Ouch! What was that for?" he says, handing it back to her.
"Ouch! What was that for?" he says, handing it back to her.
small belldaughters
carillons
"It was 'cause you're a spinach head!" says Helen.
"Yeah! Spinach heaaaaad!" giggles Shura.
"Shura!" says the dagger teacher. "If you attack innocent people with wood, we will not give you steel!"
"Sorry!" says Shura contritely.
"Shura!" says the dagger teacher. "If you attack innocent people with wood, we will not give you steel!"
"Sorry!" says Shura contritely.
small belldaughters
carillons
Helen giggles and hugs Kas.
"It's okay," she says, "I love you even when your head is made of spinach."
"It's okay," she says, "I love you even when your head is made of spinach."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Aren't I lucky."
Shura inspects her dagger from damage it may have sustained during contact with the spinach. "Spinach head, spinach head, spinach hea-a-ad," she sings.
"Shura! Too close to meter!" says the dagger teacher. "You know better!"
"Sorryyyyy," groans Shura.
"Shura! Too close to meter!" says the dagger teacher. "You know better!"
"Sorryyyyy," groans Shura.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Careful, or you might turn me into spinach," laughs Kas.
"Then could Helen come live with meeeee?" asks Shura thoughtfully.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"I dunno! Helen, if I turned into spinach would you move in with your new best friend here?"
small belldaughters
carillons
"We-ell, that depends," she says. "Would you be talking spinach?"
"Spinach can't take care of a kid," says Shura. "Even if it talks. That is why when you play house there is a mommy and a daddy and not a spinach."
small belldaughters
carillons
"...Which one are you?" says Helen, peering at Kas.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"I can't be all three?"
Shura giggles. "He's a daddy, isn't he? Also maybe a spinach."
small belldaughters
carillons
"He's a mommy too! I came out of his uterus," Helen asserts. "He has one of those sometimes. He's a daddy and a mommy and a spinach."
"I don't think that is how mommies," says Shura dubiously. "Adopting mommies don't that thing."
small belldaughters
carillons
"Show her the thing, mommydaddyspinach!" says Helen.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas laughs, and switches sex.
Shura tilts her head. "Mommydaddyspinach," she concludes. "Do you have a - a daddymommyspinach? Or a spinachdaddymommy?"
small belldaughters
carillons
Helen shakes her head.
"I just have Kas," she says.
"I just have Kas," she says.
"Why?"
small belldaughters
carillons
"Dunno!"
"Did grownups who like spinach eat the other one?"
small belldaughters
carillons
Helen giggles.
"Noooo," she says. "I don't think so."
"Noooo," she says. "I don't think so."
"Then why?"
small belldaughters
carillons
"I dunno! Mommydaddyspinach, why aren't there two of you?"
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Because I made you by myself," he says, hugging her.
"Why?" Shura asks.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Because I wanted to have a kid."
"How come she's a witch?" Shura asks.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
He shrugs, and suggests, "Magic?"
"Can you just make anybody a witch? Can you make my daddy a witch?"
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"I didn't make her a witch on purpose," he says, ruffling Helen's hair. "She just came out that way."
"Why not on purpose?"
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"I didn't really think about it one way or the other," he says, very truthfully.
"Are there going to be more witches with spinaches instead of witch mommies?"
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"I have no idea," Kas says cheerfully.
"Are you going to make more ones?"
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"I'm pretty happy with the one I've got," he says. "I think I'll wait for her to grow up first."
"That will take a long time," observes Shura solemnly.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Not that long," says Kas. "Another ten years or so."
small belldaughters
carillons
"In ten years I'll be... fifteen," says Helen, frowning arithmetically. "Is that grown up?"
"Mommy says I will be most of the way grown up when Nicoa picks something and we separate," says Shura. (Nicoa becomes a polecat and slithers from her head into her arms.) "And the rest of the way grown up when I like to eat vegetables - so -" She points at Kas. "Watch out!"
small belldaughters
carillons
"What are you going to be when we grow up, Kalavar?" says Helen.
Kalavar becomes a snake and coils around her shoulders. "I'm gonna be like Petaal and never ever settle," she announces.
Kalavar becomes a snake and coils around her shoulders. "I'm gonna be like Petaal and never ever settle," she announces.
"You have to be a bird," opines Nicoa. "Mommy says." He illustratively turns into a tawny frogmouth.
small belldaughters
carillons
"Only if I be something," says Kalavar, turning into a tiny dragon with gold-edged green scales and green-streaked gold wings.
"If you don't be anything how will you know when to separate?" asks Shura. (Nicoa becomes a crow, and a bluejay, and a chickadee.)
small belldaughters
carillons
"I dunno!" says Kalavar. "Maybe we won't. Maybe we'll just never grow up." She giggles, curling around Helen's neck as a fuzzy little red panda.
"I guess then you won't eat your spinachdaddy," allows Shura.
small belldaughters
carillons
"I wouldn't eat him anyway! He's nice," Helen asserts. She hugs her mommydaddyspinach.
Shura giggles.
"I'm going to be a pretty bird," asserts Nicoa, experimenting with finches now.
"I'm going to be a pretty bird," asserts Nicoa, experimenting with finches now.
small belldaughters
carillons
"I'm going to be a scary bird," says Kalavar. She turns into a vulture.
Shura giggles.
small belldaughters
carillons
Kalavar stands on Helen's head and flaps her wings. Helen squeaks.
Shura's mother chooses this moment to appear and pick up her daughter.
"Mommy, he's a spinach head," Shura reports.
"Really," says Shura's mother. "That's unusual."
"Mommy, he's a spinach head," Shura reports.
"Really," says Shura's mother. "That's unusual."
small belldaughters
carillons
"He's my mommydaddyspinach," giggles Helen, and she hugs Kas some more. Kalavar turns into a dragon again and lands on Petaal, who is being a white tiger at the moment.
Shura's mother plunks her child onto her cloud-pine; Nicoa turns into a bat and hangs from the branch, and off they fly.
small belldaughters
carillons
Helen sits in Kas's lap and declares him her favourite spinach in the whole wide world.
Magic lessons start a bit later, and Helen has these with Shura, too - and also with Inkeri and Kaydi. They begin with simple verse spells, in non-English to discourage making up variations. This doesn't stop Shura from identifying a goddess's name in one spell, replacing it with another, and causing a small explosion and getting a time-out.
small belldaughters
carillons
"What'd you do that for?" says Helen.
"I didn't know it'd explode!" says Shura, when she bounces out of time-out and bends over her book of introductory spells again. "I just wanted to try something."
small belldaughters
carillons
"Your something exploded," says Helen. "What was it supposed to do if it didn't explode?"
"I dunno," says Shura. "We don't have to know to get stuff to happen, right? That's why we don't verse out of lessons?"
small belldaughters
carillons
"Well, which one was it? Do it properly and let's see."
"It was this one -" Shura reads off the syllables from the book, and Nicoa starts glowing; he cycles through several forms and the glow persists and he laughs. "It's to see in the dark!"
small belldaughters
carillons
"Coooool," says Helen. She reads the spell, and Kalavar turns into a firefly and flutters bright bright circles around her head.
"I wonder what all these words mean. Do you think I should learn these old witch languages nobody our age speaks?"
small belldaughters
carillons
"Yeah!" says Helen. "I'll learn them too and then we can both speak them!"
"And nobody will understand us!" giggles Shura. "Except really old people. My great-great-grandma knows them!"
small belldaughters
carillons
"Will she teach us, do you think?"
"Maybe!"
The magic teacher says, "Perhaps, but right now we are studying spells. Keep reading your books."
The magic teacher says, "Perhaps, but right now we are studying spells. Keep reading your books."
small belldaughters
carillons
"Okay," says Helen. She looks in her book for another spell.
There are several in this little book. Simple first-aid, the snow-circle, a spell to thicken liquids so they'll make clear runes without soaking into the ground or splashing, a few they can't use yet that pertain to cloud-pine maintenance. It also has a section about the uses of herbs, although none of the spells in this book actually use them - that's more advanced.
small belldaughters
carillons
She reads that section anyway, fascinated.
The teacher's style is to assume that they know all the things they have read, and quiz them, impromptu single questions that require synthesizing the knowledge - creatively or logically; either can world. "Kaydi. What would adding marjoram to the spell for small cuts do?"
"Uh - make it work faster?" guesses Kaydi.
"Inkeri. The spell on page sixteen invokes Segaard Oskei. What might happen if you substituted Farakhel Nimah?"
"...It would make the liquid hot?" Inkeri supposes.
"Helen. What would happen if you omitted a line from the middle of the snow-circle?"
"Uh - make it work faster?" guesses Kaydi.
"Inkeri. The spell on page sixteen invokes Segaard Oskei. What might happen if you substituted Farakhel Nimah?"
"...It would make the liquid hot?" Inkeri supposes.
"Helen. What would happen if you omitted a line from the middle of the snow-circle?"
small belldaughters
carillons
"I'm pretty sure it wouldn't make a snow-circle," she says, "but I don't know what it would do instead." With a glance at Shura, "Hopefully not explode."
The teacher smiles. "Shura. You exchanged goddesses in the daemonglow spell and got an explosion, which you are very lucky did not involve your daemon. What might happen if you used a different one - any of your choice?"
"Um, it said Amariah Lytess... probably because she does daemons... and I put Farakhel Nimah and it exploded - because she does fire?... um... maybe if I put Yambe Akka it would make something cold?"
The teacher inclines her head. "That spell is actually a very versatile one, which you will be able to vary to assorted effects as an adult; it calls on numbered domains from the named goddess, which in the case you see in your book results in combining your daemon and the full moon, but if the numbers, the goddess, or both are changed can do any number of things. Including make something cold."
"Um, it said Amariah Lytess... probably because she does daemons... and I put Farakhel Nimah and it exploded - because she does fire?... um... maybe if I put Yambe Akka it would make something cold?"
The teacher inclines her head. "That spell is actually a very versatile one, which you will be able to vary to assorted effects as an adult; it calls on numbered domains from the named goddess, which in the case you see in your book results in combining your daemon and the full moon, but if the numbers, the goddess, or both are changed can do any number of things. Including make something cold."
small belldaughters
carillons
"What if you put in Kas Petaal?" wonders Helen.
"If you don't change the numbers, it will snuff out light around a target male mortal," says the teacher. "Not particularly useful."
small belldaughters
carillons
Helen giggles.
"Because this spell is so useful, though," says the teacher, "it is worth learning the numbers in this language even if you learn nothing else. Turn to the back; there is a chart."
Little witches turn pages.
Little witches turn pages.
small belldaughters
carillons
Ooh, a chart. Helen peruses the chart.
It has goddesses in it, and domains in neat columns, and numbers in the spell's language.
small belldaughters
carillons
This is a good chart. Helen likes this chart. She reads it over and over and hums to herself.
"This is worth memorizing," comments the teacher. "Just remember that if you need a mnemonic -"
"No verse," chorus little witches.
"Especially with all those goddesses," says the teacher. "Anything could happen."
"No verse," chorus little witches.
"Especially with all those goddesses," says the teacher. "Anything could happen."
small belldaughters
carillons
Helen giggles.
"Explosions! People turning into spinach!"
"Explosions! People turning into spinach!"
"Spinach is specific enough that it would probably need herbs or runes or both, but yes," says the teacher gravely.
small belldaughters
carillons
Helen looks speculative.
"Do not try it," says the teacher sharply. "Someone could be badly hurt."
small belldaughters
carillons
"He's already a spinach head, though," muses Helen.
The teacher crouches down to Helen's eye level. "If you make jokes about using magic unsafely when I am trying to be serious, I will assume you are going to use magic unsafely, and you will be sent away and not learn any for at least another year. Is that what you want, Helen?"
small belldaughters
carillons
"I wasn't even doing that!" she exclaims unhappily.
"People do not have spinach for heads," says the teacher.
"Yeah," says Kaydi. "If they did they'd die."
"He does though, I saw," Shura pipes up.
"Don't you start," says the teacher.
"Yeah," says Kaydi. "If they did they'd die."
"He does though, I saw," Shura pipes up.
"Don't you start," says the teacher.
small belldaughters
carillons
"I saw it too," says Helen, "it was all green and curly and floppy! So people's heads can be spinach and they don't die!"
"Magic lessons are not the time to make up ludicrous stories," snaps the teacher. "We are working with dangerous forces. Shura could have easily hurt someone playing carelessly with the most basic of spells. Later we learn to control immense forces and to curse and to kill! If your judgment does not even extend to controlling your imagination while I am explicitly telling you to, perhaps you are not mature enough to be studying spells!" She reaches for Helen's book and closes it with a snap; the raven on her shoulder croaks. She looks speculatively at Shura's book, too, and Shura starts sniffling.
small belldaughters
carillons
"That's not fair!" she yells. "Mommydaddyspinaaaaach!"
The wailed word fills the air like a shockwave. It's not especially loud in comparison to what any other five-year-old's lungs could generate, but it carries like nobody's business.
The wailed word fills the air like a shockwave. It's not especially loud in comparison to what any other five-year-old's lungs could generate, but it carries like nobody's business.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas arrives almost immediately, flown by a witch-shaped Petaal on their cloudpine.
The teacher is still looking quizzically at Helen.
Shura looks hopefully in Kas's direction.
Shura looks hopefully in Kas's direction.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Helen, sweetheart," says Kas, coming up to the semicircle of rocks and hugging his daughter, "what's wrong?"
small belldaughters
carillons
Helen hugs him fiercely, pressing her face into his chest. "The teacher thinks I'm making it up!" she says, somewhat muffled now.
"About the spinach!" Shura clarifies.
"As I was just explaining to Helen," the teacher tells Kas, "we are working with potentially hazardous forces; if she cannot take that seriously, she can study magic later, when she is more mature. It's too dangerous to teach magic to a girl who persists in silly games when receiving serious warnings."
"As I was just explaining to Helen," the teacher tells Kas, "we are working with potentially hazardous forces; if she cannot take that seriously, she can study magic later, when she is more mature. It's too dangerous to teach magic to a girl who persists in silly games when receiving serious warnings."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas sighs.
"No, that's my fault," he says. "They were calling me a spinach head and I made it look like it was true for a second. The kids saw what they said they saw."
"No, that's my fault," he says. "They were calling me a spinach head and I made it look like it was true for a second. The kids saw what they said they saw."
"...You made it look like it was true," says the witch skeptically.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Yep."
"And how did you do that? Moreover, why?"
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"A trick," he says, "and... because it was funny?"
"If your daughter goes around imagining that people's essential organs can be transformed into salad ingredients with no lasting damage she could easily kill someone before she turns seven. Does this prospect appeal to you? Is it funny?" asks the teacher.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"Okay," he concedes, "no, that doesn't sound like fun." He pets Helen's hair. "Don't turn people into spinach, honey, okay?"
small belldaughters
carillons
Helen sniffles.
"The safe use of magic requires an understanding of what reality is, and what effects are needed, and what further effects they will have. I strongly advise against little tricks like that until Helen is old enough to see them for what they are."
But she gives Helen her book back.
But she gives Helen her book back.
small belldaughters
carillons
Kalavar climbs up onto the book as a scarlet dragon with orange-red claws and curls up on top of it. Helen keeps hugging Kas.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas sighs and hugs his daughter. Petaal flits to Kalavar's side as a tiny hummingbird, then curls up with her as a chinchilla.
Nicoa is coiled around Shura's neck as a long white ferret.
The teacher sighs. "I think we should call it a day, girls; we'll go on tomorrow. Run along."
Inkeri runs along. Kaydi lingers, looking suspiciously at Helen. Shura dawdles.
The teacher sighs. "I think we should call it a day, girls; we'll go on tomorrow. Run along."
Inkeri runs along. Kaydi lingers, looking suspiciously at Helen. Shura dawdles.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas sits and snuggles his daughter.
small belldaughters
carillons
Eventually, Helen turns around in his lap to see who is still there. She's a little red-eyed, but not actively crying.
"How'd you yell like that?" Kaydi asks.
small belldaughters
carillons
"Like what?" she asks, blinking.
"Like a - a boomy thing."
small belldaughters
carillons
"Dunno," says Helen. "I just yelled really loud."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas hugs her. Thoughtfully.
"I heard it too, it was different," opines Shura.
"Not normal," says Kaydi.
"Not normal," says Kaydi.
small belldaughters
carillons
Helen shrugs.
"I didn't do it specially on purpose. I was just - yelling."
"I didn't do it specially on purpose. I was just - yelling."
"Can you do it again?" asks Shura curiously.
"Don't!" says Kaydi, clapping her hands over her ears.
"Don't!" says Kaydi, clapping her hands over her ears.
small belldaughters
carillons
Helen considers.
"I don't really want to yell right now," she says.
"I don't really want to yell right now," she says.
Kaydi puts her hands down. Lexaryn, on her shoulder as a mouse, chitters.
"What if you did, though?" asks Shura.
"What if you did, though?" asks Shura.
small belldaughters
carillons
"What what if I did?"
"If you wanted to yell could you do it like that again," says Shura.
Kaydi runs along.
Kaydi runs along.
small belldaughters
carillons
"I don't know! Maybe," she says. "Do you want me to try?"
"Yeah!" says Shura. (Nicoa turns into a box turtle and hides his head in his shell.)
small belldaughters
carillons
Helen giggles at Nicoa, and un-sits from Kas's lap, and thinks for a moment, and yells, "I'm yelling for no reason!"
It doesn't come out quite right; she can feel it. She frowns for a moment and then tries again.
"I'm yelling for no reason!"
There it goes. She giggles again.
It doesn't come out quite right; she can feel it. She frowns for a moment and then tries again.
"I'm yelling for no reason!"
There it goes. She giggles again.
Shura laughs and claps.
small belldaughters
carillons
Helen beams.
"I did a thing!"
"I did a thing!"
"What thing is it, though? How do you do it? I'm yelliiiiiing," Shura tries experimentally.
small belldaughters
carillons
"I don't know!" she says. "I don't knooooooooooooow..."
This time she does it without the volume, just filling a twenty-foot radius with her ordinary voice.
"Maybe it's magic," she says more normally. "But it's not in the book anywhere."
This time she does it without the volume, just filling a twenty-foot radius with her ordinary voice.
"Maybe it's magic," she says more normally. "But it's not in the book anywhere."
"And you didn't verse it. Have you been eating funny herbs or spilling honey in shapes or something?"
small belldaughters
carillons
"Not even a little bit!" says Helen.
"Then how'd you do it?"
small belldaughters
carillons
"I dunno! I just did," she says. "It's just a thing I can do."
"I don't have a thing like that."
small belldaughters
carillons
Helen shrugs.
"Well, I don't know what kind of thing it is. Maybe I'm just the only one who has it."
"Well, I don't know what kind of thing it is. Maybe I'm just the only one who has it."
"That's not fair," huffs Shura.
small belldaughters
carillons
"I'd give you one too if I could!"
"It's not your birth blessing, right?" says Shura, scrunching up her face trying to remember.
small belldaughters
carillons
"No, my birth blessing's something about Kalavar," she says. Kalavar arches her spiny neck.
Nicoa turns into a puffy rabbit. "Mine is boring, and I don't even get a shouting power," Shura says.
small belldaughters
carillons
"What is yours?"
"I don't get sick much," shrugs Shura. "I guess it's okay, it's just not interesting."
small belldaughters
carillons
"What one would you pick, if you could pick one?" wonders Helen. She nudges Kalavar off her book and opens it to the goddess chart.
"Something cool. Like - like my great grandmother only has to sleep three hours a day, I like that one."
small belldaughters
carillons
"That would be cool," Helen agrees.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"It sure would," says Kas.
And it's not even a hex. A pentagon will do it.
(There's tricks, and then there's tricks. He's willing to risk this one.)
And it's not even a hex. A pentagon will do it.
(There's tricks, and then there's tricks. He's willing to risk this one.)
"Oh well," sighs Shura theatrically. "I'm gonna go find grandma and we are going to the lake to feed ducks." (Nicoa becomes a duckling, illustratively.) "You can come probably."
small belldaughters
carillons
"Okay!" says Helen, scooping up Kalavar onto her shoulder with a last glance at the book. "Let's go feed ducks!"
They locate Shura's grandmother, and they go to the lake, where there are ducks.
small belldaughters
carillons
"It would be more fun if you got to pick your birth blessing," says Helen, apparently out of the blue during duck-feeding. "I'd want grace as mine."
Kas Petaal
truthwright
(Kas is writing a postcard. He crushes it in his hand and stuffs it into his pocket.)
"That would be a good one too," agrees Shura. "It'd be good for dagger fighting!"
small belldaughters
carillons
Helen giggles.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
It's a pentagon.
Shura flings corn kernels to the ducks and giggles when they quarrel over them.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Well, that's adorable.
small belldaughters
carillons
Kalavar becomes a duckling and squeaks and flaps her wings at Helen until Helen feeds her. This is a source of great amusement to both of them.
"You're not a real duck," Nicoa scoffs at Kalavar.
small belldaughters
carillons
"So?" says Kalavar, and she flaps her fuzzy wings some more.
Nicoa, quite at random, becomes an anteater and sticks out his tongue at Kalavar.
Shura giggles and goes on feeding ducks.
"Even the ducks can tell the difference between themselves and daemons, whatever the daemon form," remarks Shura's grandmother.
Shura giggles and goes on feeding ducks.
"Even the ducks can tell the difference between themselves and daemons, whatever the daemon form," remarks Shura's grandmother.
small belldaughters
carillons
"Why's that?" wonders Helen.
"It's a little like magical sensitivity, except animals don't react in special ways to enchanted things," says Shura's grandmother, "they can only tell the difference between daemons and animals. In people, being able to tell that easily and quickly usually comes with being able to tell things about magic. The faster a mortal could tell that Kalavar isn't a duck, the more likely they'd be to notice my dagger's enchantments, or my birth blessing, or tell that I'm not a mortal even if I dressed up like one. Of course witches have higher magical sensitivity than mortals do."
small belldaughters
carillons
"Oh," says Helen. She pets Kalavar's fuzzy head and throws a handful of corn kernels to the ducks. "Why's it different for animals and people that way?"
Shura's grandmother starts explaining evolution. If animals couldn't tell that daemons were part of people, they could not act correctly afraid of them - which they must do. Daemons don't have to eat for themselves, and if they help their people hunt, they may attack animals that their current shapes would not disturb. Children's daemons are even more versatile; if the ducks were fooled by Kalavar, Helen could hide, Kalavar could go among them, and then she could turn into a fox right on top of a real duck and there would be dinner.
small belldaughters
carillons
...Kalavar turns into a small blue dragon and looks speculatively at the ducks.
The ducks don't react to this transformation. They are just as inclined to keep their distance as before. (Which isn't that much; when witches want to kill these ducks they lure them away with magic, they don't attack them in front of the flock.)
small belldaughters
carillons
Helen giggles.
Kalavar becomes a duckling again. Ducklings are fuzzy.
Kalavar becomes a duckling again. Ducklings are fuzzy.
Nicoa is tempted by fuzz. He turns into a small monkey and pets Kalavar.
small belldaughters
carillons
Kalavar snuggles up to Nicoa and makes happy duckling squeaks.
Shura giggles.
"How come you make so many animal-noises?" Nicoa asks Kalavar.
"How come you make so many animal-noises?" Nicoa asks Kalavar.
small belldaughters
carillons
"Because they are fun and cute!" says Kalavar. Squeak!
Nicoa tries some experimental monkey-noises, then shakes his head.
small belldaughters
carillons
Kalavar giggles and duckling-squeaks at him some more. It is indeed adorable.
Nicoa turns into a dragonfly and adorns Shura's hair like an ornament.
The ducks seem to be pretty full.
The ducks seem to be pretty full.
small belldaughters
carillons
Kalavar turns into a fuzzy moth and perches in the palm of Helen's hand.
"You're tickly," she giggles.
"You're tickly," she giggles.
"Well," says Shura's grandmother, setting her cloudpine in the air and setting Shura on it, "we're going to have dinner. Say goodbye, Shura."
"Bye," says Shura.
"Bye," says Shura.
small belldaughters
carillons
"Bye, Shura!" says Helen. "Bye, Shura's grandma!"
And off they go.
It is later, when Helen is just past her sixth birthday, that Ranata brainphones Kas who is off somewhere. [There's a lovely-looking children's aquarium opening in Chicago,] she says. [I thought perhaps Helen would like it. We could all three go, with Charlie if he's up for the flight but he probably won't be.]
Kas Petaal
truthwright
[Ooh, sounds like fun. Sure, we can go.]
[Can you meet me there Tuesday or Wednesday?]
Kas Petaal
truthwright
[Sure! Tuesday works.]
[Okay!] And she supplies the address. [There's a lot of exhibits, we should start at at least ten in the morning to see everything before Helen gets tired.]
Kas Petaal
truthwright
He laughs. [Sounds good to me.]
At ten in the morning, Ranata hovers over the walk that leads up to the aquarium entrance. She's already healed an ailing otter for tickets.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Kas arrives on foot, with Helen. Petaal is coiled around his neck as an iridescent black snake, and Kalavar is perched on Helen's ear as a fuzzy bumblebee.
Ranata lands to join them and scoop Helen up in a hug. "Hello there!"
small belldaughters
carillons
"Hi, Ranata!" says Helen, giggling and hugging her. (Kalavar buzzes over to say hi to Castarilan.)
(Castarilan hovers and chatters politely at his granddaemon.)
"Are you ready to see lots of cool swimming animals? There are tanks with friendly ones that Kalavar can go into if she's the right shapes," says Ranata.
"Are you ready to see lots of cool swimming animals? There are tanks with friendly ones that Kalavar can go into if she's the right shapes," says Ranata.
small belldaughters
carillons
"Oooooh," says Helen. "I wanna see!"
In they go! Ranata flashes the pass she got for the otter's healing. There are themed wings; different environments, divided with glass for civilized coexistence, lit in colors and architectured with coral and plants and populated with fish and mollusks and aquatic mammals and birds and cnidarians and echinoderms and undersea arthropods. There's a show by a woman with a dolphin daemon - keeping real cetaceans in captivity hasn't been allowed for years now, but some people have inconvenient settlements and find the performing arts more appealing than separation or living on a houseboat or trying to finance a home tank, so the general idea persists, in choreography if not in the impressiveness of training across the communication barrier.
There are touch-tanks, where little human hands can pick up starfish and gingerly run their fingers along urchins and unglue snails from tank walls, and there are swim-tanks, where little humans can cross a bridge or creep through a tunnel into central islands surrounded by inhabited water, and their daemons can turn into penguins - or rays - or trout - or eels - or creative little sea-serpents - or otters - and join similarly shaped creatures in capering around. (There are signs up; it is important to turn into a saltwater or freshwater creature, in the corresponding tanks, although exact shape doesn't matter very much. The aquarium is not responsible if some child's daemon provokes an animal and the daemon is pulled farther from their human than they'd like, although none of the tanks in question are big enough to make this more than moderately uncomfortable. Daemons are not to chase, attack, or frighten the animals.)
There are touch-tanks, where little human hands can pick up starfish and gingerly run their fingers along urchins and unglue snails from tank walls, and there are swim-tanks, where little humans can cross a bridge or creep through a tunnel into central islands surrounded by inhabited water, and their daemons can turn into penguins - or rays - or trout - or eels - or creative little sea-serpents - or otters - and join similarly shaped creatures in capering around. (There are signs up; it is important to turn into a saltwater or freshwater creature, in the corresponding tanks, although exact shape doesn't matter very much. The aquarium is not responsible if some child's daemon provokes an animal and the daemon is pulled farther from their human than they'd like, although none of the tanks in question are big enough to make this more than moderately uncomfortable. Daemons are not to chase, attack, or frighten the animals.)
small belldaughters
carillons
Helen is delighted by the dolphin dance, and pleased with the snail-petting, and then Kalavar gets to play with the creatures and that is just the best thing. Penguins! Otters! They are especially fond of the otters.
Ranata is perfectly charmed to watch Helen amuse herself with the creatures.
small belldaughters
carillons
Helen is so amused.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Don't tell anyone, but the iridescent snake is missing from around Kas's neck and there is an extra otter going around.
Ranata's lips are sealed.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Good, because he doesn't feel like explaining that to a bunch of strangers today.
small belldaughters
carillons
Kalavar totally knows, though, and she is cheerfully playing tag with Petaal-the-otter. They go around and around, and the other otters join in, and a fun time is had by all.
And whenever they want to move on, there are plenty of neat creatures to see! Ranata picks up Helen so she can see the higher informational plaques and helps her pronounce words.
small belldaughters
carillons
Ooh, pickings-up! Ranata is best grandma.
She is pretty great! And she can send Castarilan humming through the aquarium to get a better feel from the place than the map affords, and they traverse it efficiently but at a leisurely pace, never lost or backtracking.
small belldaughters
carillons
It is fuuuuuuuuuun. Helen is the most delighted of children.
That's the idea!
Here is an octopus. It wafts around its tank like a particularly purposeful, solid plastic bag on the wind.
Here is an octopus. It wafts around its tank like a particularly purposeful, solid plastic bag on the wind.
small belldaughters
carillons
"Awwwww," says Helen, clapping her hands. "It's pretty!"
"It is!" Ranata agrees. Kalavar isn't allowed to play with this one, but they can watch it. It gloms onto the near glass, showing off suckers.
small belldaughters
carillons
"And squishly," says Helen. Kalavar turns into an octopus-like fantasy creature with bright green-and-gold tentacles and pokes the glass where the octopus is.
The octopus mirrors this motion, peering curiously out.
small belldaughters
carillons
Kalavar wiggles her tentacles. (There are seven of them. She is only octopus-like.)
The octopus loses interest and wafts away and squeezes into its tiny little hideyhole, which should not be able to accommodate so much octopus.
small belldaughters
carillons
"It is very squishly," Helen observes. "Look at it squish!"
"It doesn't have any bones," says Ranata. "It's an invertebrate!"
small belldaughters
carillons
"No bones at all? Wow," says Helen. "No wonder it squishes!"
"Well, lobsters don't have bones either, on the inside," says Ranata. (They saw lobsters a little while ago.) "They have exoskeletons - their shells hold them together. But octopuses don't even have those."
small belldaughters
carillons
"I like octopuses more," she says. "Because they squish up."
"They do! They can get through really tiny spaces."
small belldaughters
carillons
"I saw!" she says. "It's coooool."
"The next time we come to a saltwater swim tank maybe Kalavar can try." It won't make any difference to the inhabitants of the tank whether Kalavar is an octopus or a shrimp or a shark; daemon is daemon, exactly the same threat level as attached person and less edible due to their habit of disappearing.
small belldaughters
carillons
"Squishy!" says Kalavar, twining her green-gold tentacles in Helen's hair.
"Yep!"
Next is a tiny cuttlefish, its little beard of tentacles constantly flexing.
Next is a tiny cuttlefish, its little beard of tentacles constantly flexing.
small belldaughters
carillons
"Wiggly!" says Helen, thoroughly charmed.
"Yep! This is related to the octopus. They're both molluscs."
small belldaughters
carillons
"Does this one squish too?"
"Not as much," says Ranata. "A little, though, it still doesn't have any bones."
small belldaughters
carillons
"What makes it less squishy, then?"
"This sign says it has something a little like a shell inside of it. It's called a cuttlebone, but it's not really a bone." Ranata picks her up for a better look at the sign.
small belldaughters
carillons
Helen oohs at the sign and reads it carefully. It contains knowledge about the squishiness of cuttlefish!
It does!
This section also contains small squids.
This section also contains small squids.
small belldaughters
carillons
Small squids.
Small squids.
SMALL SQUIDS.
Helen might just want to stare at the small squids forever.
Small squids.
SMALL SQUIDS.
Helen might just want to stare at the small squids forever.
Ranata will let her observe small squids for a good long time, certainly.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
Helen being delighted by creatures is adorable.
small belldaughters
carillons
She is definitely just going to keep staring until she gets hungry.
But she does, in fact, get hungry.
"Can we have lunch now?"
But she does, in fact, get hungry.
"Can we have lunch now?"
"Of course."
The aquarium has a cafeteria, with tables oriented around a koi pond. (You are not supposed to feed the koi, but daemons may join them.)
The aquarium has a cafeteria, with tables oriented around a koi pond. (You are not supposed to feed the koi, but daemons may join them.)
small belldaughters
carillons
Kalavar turns into a tiny sea serpent with brilliant turqoise scales and a dragonish head, and she swims around with the pretty pretty koi.
Meanwhile, humans eat food! It is adequate cafeteria food.
small belldaughters
carillons
Om nom.
"What other creatures are there to see?" wonders Helen. "Are there more squishy ones?"
"What other creatures are there to see?" wonders Helen. "Are there more squishy ones?"
Nothing quite as squishy, but:
sea cucumbers!
sea cucumbers!
small belldaughters
carillons
Ooooooh.
"They're lumpy," she giggles.
"They're lumpy," she giggles.
"Yup!"
And there are many kinds.
And there are many kinds.
small belldaughters
carillons
Helen is pleased with all the kinds. She goes and looks at them all.
And then there are assorted sharks!
small belldaughters
carillons
Ooooh, sharks.
Sharks are not squishy, but they are very sharky.
small belldaughters
carillons
They are!
"I like sharks," Helen announces.
"I like sharks," Helen announces.
"They are cool!"
Next: brightly colored tropical fishes all mixed up together.
Next: brightly colored tropical fishes all mixed up together.
small belldaughters
carillons
"Ooh, colours," says Kalavar. She sits on Helen's head and turns into a dragon with big arched wings that contain all of the colours.
There are a lot of colors, although a surprising fraction of the fish just use black and white and yellow.
small belldaughters
carillons
Still, it is plenty of colours! And Kalavar is all of them. She is so pretty.
She is. A few passing children's daemons copy her.
small belldaughters
carillons
She preens her vivid wings with her little dragon nose.
Aww.
After the colorful tropical fish are eels. Including electric ones.
After the colorful tropical fish are eels. Including electric ones.
small belldaughters
carillons
"Ooh," says Helen. "They're wiggly!"
They are wiggly, and the electric ones have sensors in their tanks to tell you how electric they are being at any given time.
small belldaughters
carillons
Kalavar becomes a snake and coils around Helen's shoulders while Helen peers at the wiggly eels and reads the sensors on the electric ones.
After eels are funny fishes that pop up vertically from the sand at the floor of their tank, like grass.
small belldaughters
carillons
She giggles at the funny fishes! They are funny.
Next are manatees. They drift about peacefully and eat lettuce.
small belldaughters
carillons
"They look huggable," Helen declares.
"No swimming with these ones, sorry," says Ranata, peering at the sign. "But they do, don't they?"
small belldaughters
carillons
"I will just have to hug you instead," says Helen, and she does.
Hug!
small belldaughters
carillons
"You are huggable like a manatee," says Helen.
"Oh, I'm not sure I'm like a manatee. I think I'm differently huggable," laughs Ranata.
small belldaughters
carillons
"But you are huggable and they are huggable! And you are out here where I can hug you! You're the best manatee ever," Helen declares.
"I do seem to have a practical advantage, there!"
small belldaughters
carillons
Beam!
Hug.
Hug.
Hug.
Here there are frogs. Brightly colored poisonous frogs.
Here there are frogs. Brightly colored poisonous frogs.
small belldaughters
carillons
"Ooh, pretty colours," says Helen. Kalavar turns into a dragon with many colours again, but a more rounded froggy sort of dragon.
There are many pretty colors, and the frogs are cute, and tiny.
small belldaughters
carillons
They are so tiny and cute! Kalavar flaps her colourful wings in glee, clinging to Helen's shoulder with her rounded froggy toes.
"If Kalavar ever becomes something poisonous to touch," Ranata tells them, "she won't hurt you, Helen, but she can still hurt other daemons."
The question of her hurting other people is not mentioned.
The question of her hurting other people is not mentioned.
Kas Petaal
truthwright
"And animals. And people," says Petaal.
"Well," says Ranata. "Technically, but people wouldn't be touching Kalavar anyway. And if they did, and they didn't stop right away, she can turn into a poison frog and Helen can scream at the top of her lungs. Understand, dear? If anyone ever does that and it's not an accident they correct right away, you be poisonous or spiky or slippery and you get away. That's not ever okay until you are grown up and decide so."
small belldaughters
carillons
Helen nods.
"Because it's bad," she says.
"Because it's bad," she says.
"That's right. Everybody's daemon belongs to them and nobody else."
small belldaughters
carillons
Helen hugs her rounded froggy dragon daemon.
Next are water bugs, that skim across the surface of their water.
small belldaughters
carillons
"Oooooooh," marvels Helen.
Puffins!
These are swimmable-with.
These are swimmable-with.
small belldaughters
carillons
Kalavar swims with the puffins as a magnificently colourful sea serpent with winglike fins.
The puffins are rather friendly!
And now, they have seen everything, from anemones to zebrafish, and the aquarium will close in fifteen minutes.
And now, they have seen everything, from anemones to zebrafish, and the aquarium will close in fifteen minutes.
small belldaughters
carillons
"That was fun," says Helen, hugging Ranata again. "You're my favourite manatee."
Ranata laughs, and picks her up for a properly snuggly hug. "I'm so glad."
small belldaughters
carillons
It is snuggly and huggly!
"I love you, favourite manatee!"
"I love you, favourite manatee!"
"I love you too, Helen." Forehead-kiss.
small belldaughters
carillons
Huggly snug.
Yup.
Out they go.
Far away, a spell is cast, with herbs and a design in thickened goat's blood and low chanting and the death of an owl.
Out they go.
Far away, a spell is cast, with herbs and a design in thickened goat's blood and low chanting and the death of an owl.