The Bell's surroundings are a field behind a house near a lake. There are horses. Two of the horses have children on them, a girl who looks like an eight-year-old human and a boy who looks like... a child of approximately the same developmental age, who is either a really short human or a normal-sized member of some undiscovered species of small humanoids.

The boy is practically glowing with smug delight. (He finally convinced Grandda to get Nika a horse worthy of the name. Magic is every bit as wonderful as he hoped for, which is good because she was imported from Illyrica at considerable expense. Miles has already caught Grandda making plans for her eventual descendants.)

Magic is the best horse. With the best name. (Sorry, Miles, Fat Ninny is great but "Fat Ninny" is terrible.) And Magic has convenient gaits that are easy to not fall off during, which is very important. It is worse if Miles falls than if Nika does but it is likelier that Nika fall. Now Nika can wander around Vorkosigan Surleau and see stuff without falling into a ravine! Again! Or having to be carried, which was really getting to be a bit much at her age!

Neither of them have Bell faces. He goes in closer; he might be able to tell by listening.

"I wonder how hard it would be to have her around back home? To go into town with. I could just keep her here but I'd rather have her around all the time, she's so great."

"She is so great," says Miles, glowingly. "I don't know, ask - ask Mama, if she doesn't have a prediction she'll know where to get one."

He's not very patient or good at guessing. He goes visible.

That is a winged vaguely haut-looking boy! That's weird and distressing!

...that is weird and distressing!

He opens his mouth to yell for Grandda, and then realizes that yelling for Grandda is not at all the appropriate response—

"Where'd you come from?" he demands of the newcomer, lowering his voice so as not to attract attention.

"Really far from here I'm lost and I'm looking for the Bell - surroundings of the Bell got here, so it's one of you, or I guess it's possible it's one of the horses -"

"The bell?"

"I'm Miles and this is my sister Nika and as far as I know neither of us is a musical instrument. And the horses aren't either."

What does he do, what does he do, Mama didn't come on this trip...

"Bells aren't musical instruments they're people. There're different universes and they have alternate universe versions of people and this universe has a Bell and it is one of you if the horses are just horses."

"...and you said 'surroundings of the Bell' and you appeared out of nowhere so - you have targeted teleportation and you aimed that way?"

This is enough to distract him from the looming specter of disaster. If Grandda catches sight of the winged Cetagandan-looking kid there is going to be a problem, but - targeted teleportation!!

"Yeah, I have a lot of magic - oh, I know how to check who's the Bell - I can read minds!"

"Well don't do that!"

"At least not to anybody who hasn't agreed to it," says Miles consideringly.

"You're the Bell," he tells Nika.

"Did you read my mind to find out, you have to stop that!"

"No no of course not, sorry, I just mean, if you tell a bunch of people you can read minds the Bell is the one who has the strongest reaction of 'don't do that', so you're the Bell. I won't actually read minds. That wouldn't be ethical."

"...so are you from another universe?" she says skeptically.

"Yep! I am an Elf demon. My name is Epic. Do you need any arbitrary material objects because I can make arbitrary material objects."

"...I want to tell our parents but I bet if we tell our parents they'll say I shouldn't get a lightflyer and then learn to fly it," says Miles. "...probably couldn't hide it from them anyway though. And we can't let Grandda see you..."

"Yeah Grandda would be so angry. And they'd be right about the lightflyer!"

"Why'd your Grandda be angry -"

"Because you look like - it's complicated," says Miles. "You look like you might be genetically engineered and it sort of doesn't matter if you actually are because I'm not a real mutant and Grandda wouldn't talk to me until I was five. He'd think you were a Cetagandan or something. It'd be bad." He glances at his sister and adds as an aside, "I could so learn to fly a lightflyer, they have lots of safety features, I'd be fine."