And Cam should go get the population of his refugee planet now.

The population of his refugee planet remains ignorant of events since he last visited them during the war.

He lands.

"War's over."

They look like they are torn between celebrating because that can only be good news and not celebrating because his facial expression is a bit scary.

"Did we win?" someone ventures eventually.

"Yes. Do you want to go to Endorë or Valinor?"

" - we're exiled from Valinor," someone ventures after a pause.

"Not anymore."

"Would you mind very much explaining what happened?"

"It's a long story. Also, I think none of you know how to pilot a lightleaper so if my summoner is horrified by war stories and wants rid of me you'd be stuck till someone else came to get you."

"The King'll send someone for us if the war's over, if you told him where we are now that it's safe. - what happened -"

"Yeah your whereabouts are known now. The short version is that we dealt with the Enemy, his oath to cut it out for the destruction of Valinor -"

This does not go over well. At all.

"But then the Valar fixed it. You can see if you want."

"You're lying," someone says, "you're lying, the King would never -"

"Dealt with the Enemy -"

"Is everyone okay - my whole family - they stayed behind so they'd be safe -"

"Everyone who was on it is back now."

"They all died?"

"But what about -"

"He's lying, he's lying, the Valar would never let that - the King would never let that -"

And then Cam is in Hell.

There are a lot of summons open for him!

Of fucking course there are.

Are they coming in new at much of a clip?

Nope. 

He writes Minor.

Please summon me at one minute intervals till I answer one so I can tell them apart from the other open circles.

An hour or so goes by. Then - sure let me find someone who can summon and a place where we're synced.

There's a summons an hour after that.

And then another one. 

No Cam.

"Keep it up, I'll write him -"

He will continue completing circles every sixty seconds!

If you decided to come in through the door or something instead let me know. 

No answer. No summonee.

What do Cam's surroundings look like -

Large open space with a ton of circles.

"Stop doing that, go get Timothy." Scale model of the planet with the circles -

That's not a planet, it's a moon! Not Luna, a Jovian moon.

Who's the summoner -

Some lady in business casual.

He pulls up the circle to look at.

It's a really thorough binding, pages and pages wrapped around the circle in tiny mass-printed typeface. He's allowed to move around within a designated holding compound but not get within ten meters of anyone who doesn't approach him of their own accord or in the case of daeva under a like binding nod at him as he comes closer. He's allowed to nod and shake his head as an exception to the gag. If he is given explicit verbal permission by his summoner he is allowed to make things specified by that summoner in a carefully proscribed manner.

That's it.

Timothy comes in.

"I think Revelation is trying to try your boyfriend for war crimes."

" - fuck. Write my Singularity alt - we don't have a way to get a door to Revelation, Cam was our way to get a door to Revelation - write Cam and tell him we're getting it sorted out -"

"This binding doesn't let him talk it definitely isn't going to let him check his mail."

All of the paper Minor's conjured recently spontaneously catches fire. "But how dare we injure fucking kittens," he snarls. "Bar, I need a book from Revelation about prominent summoners in the 21st century Minor did you send those letters I need circles for a bunch of people -"

Early Figures in Summoning.

He reads Minor a list of names.

He makes safe circles, he's very good at that now.

He finishes them.

One of the angel circles is answered first.

"Hi, I'm Timothy, I need you to open this magic door while thinking about a place you lived back when you were human, payment is any material object."

"...magic door? Wait, how did you know I -"

A fairy circle is answered.

He waves his hand angrily and the rest of the circles go up in flames. "I know an ex-summoner and he told me how it works. And he's stuck in a stupid fucking zoo summons and I'm going to go get him but I need the magic door."

"Whoa, hey, I don't go in for offing summoners," says the angel, "that's bad karma -"

"Who's zooing people?" asks the fairy, alarmed.

"I'm not going to kill anyone, I promise, I have another way." To the fairy, "hi, I'm Timothy, I need help opening this magic door and then I need a ride to Jupiter, payment is any material object -"

"Um, does it need me to be pure of heart or what -"

"No, it needs you to have formerly lived on Earth and be able to concentrate for a couple seconds on the place on Earth where you used to live."

"Uh, okay, sure." The fairy goes and opens the door onto an apartment balcony.

"Can I get you anything for your time," he asks the angel.

"...Suncast edition of Glitter Legend 4?"

Minor hands it to her. "Sent the letters - do you want me to come too -"

"Yes please." And through into Revelation. "How long does it take to get to Jupiter -"

"Couple hours but I brought my own star nav. You're pulling off the outfit, by the way."

"Thank you. Let's go."

Zoom.

He pulls out his computer and writes his Singularity alt.

Who gets the message between meetings and writes back - I can try to go through official channels to get an expedited trial or something, but if I try that and then he mysteriously gets broken out that'll cause a lot more problems than if he mysteriously gets broken out when I've no knowledge of the situation. 

"Minor can you read Quenya -"

"Yep why -" - Timothy hands him the note - "this is Tyelcormo's weird alphabet but I can read that too - uh he says 'I can try to go through official channels to get an expedited trial or something, but if I try that and then he mysteriously gets broken out that'll cause a lot more problems than if he mysteriously gets broken out when I've no knowledge of the situation.'"

"Ask how expedited an expedited trial would be."

"Says like a week."

"Then we'll ask Cam."

"Gagged."

"I mean I am super tempted to make his summoner break his binding and then he can stick around for the trial if he so pleases, just to prove a point, but that would be wrong."

"Yeah kind of."

"I thought you said this was about a zoo summon."

"The whole story's really long - I guess not two hours of long, though - have you heard about the thing where there are several worlds?"

"Yeah... sounded kind of tabloidy..."

"I'm from one. That's why I couldn't get a door to Earth myself."

"I wouldn't know anything about how your magic door works."

"Yeah, true. I can't prove any of this. But magic doors sound tabloidy themselves, right? Minor, you want to make little models of Valinor and Endorë -"

He does that. "You could still be making it up and just have an art department."

"I know. Anyway. The rest of the multiverse does not consider gags acceptable treatment, and in fact already had a conduct review about this exact thing and decided there'd been no misconduct, but apparently this world is still stuck in the Dark Ages."

"...okay. Uh, I am not killing anybody for you when we get to Jupiter. Just to be clear."

"Yeah, understood. I'm not going to kill anybody. I'm actually going to hang out far away and have Minor go talk to Cam, insofar as a person can talk when they have been gagged, and even if that goes very badly Minor isn't going to kill anybody either."

"I actually feel kind of protective of summoners at risk of being killed by daeva, considering."

"Oh, did that happen to you?"

"Yeah."

"Doodled on the floor when you were little?"

"No, I was thirteen and I was using a textbook but it wasn't a sufficiently thorough textbook. I translate better ones for new worlds, now."

"Nice work if you can get it."

"Yeah. If you're into translation stuff there's lots of demand, now, with all the new places."

"I'll keep an eye out."

Zoooooom.

Timothy frets. "I should've brought a soul Elf - since he can't talk -"

"Elves would overextrapolate from the fact they'd die under these conditions, freak out -"

"What the fuck is served by not letting them talk, Azkaban lets people talk." 

"I don't know." Pat pat.

"Where is he, what's he doing -"

He conjures.

Curled up on a couch wrapped in his wings.

He scowls. The tiny model Cam catches fire in Minor's hands.

"Owww - that wasn't even flammable material -"

"How about now -"

Minor conjures again. 

Cam hasn't moved.

"If you keep setting things on fire we might have problems with our air budget," says the fairy.

"I'm sorry," he says, and does not set any more things on fire all the way to Jupiter.

Jupiter is very pretty. The fairy puts them on the correct moon by the correct arcology.

"Thanks so much - what can we get you -"

The fairy has a modest shopping list.

Minor fills it. They head over to what appears to be the entrance to the arcology.

The airlock opens to admit them.

Timothy thanks the fairy and sends him home. 

Pop.

Someone comes over. "You're not expected - and you really shouldn't travel by bare fairy interplanetary, not safe - what can I do for you?"

"Sorry, I wasn't sure how to schedule a visit in advance. We want to see a prisoner, is that possible?"

"Lemme show you how you make an appointment for next time first, here -" He has a chiplocked computer, shows them the form they're supposed to fill out.

He doesn't have a chiplocked computer yet but Minor does; it's compatible. They fill out the form.

"If it was expecting you I could tell you where to find it but it could be anywhere in the section, unfortunately. I can announce you now and see if it'll come out to the visiting area."

"Referring to your prisoners as 'it' is I guess not strictly incompatible with respect for human rights but it's sure not reassuring on that front."

"We don't have human prisoners here," blinks the bureaucrat.

"Apparently you guys decided that elephants might be people and deserve rights, that seems like a harder problem than noticing that daeva are."

"Sir, I can't let you visit if you don't remain calm."

"If I put you on trial for violating peoples' rights I assure you I will leave you capable of speaking," he says very calmly.

"...anyway, I'll announce you." He gets on the intercom and announces that the demon Campbell Mark Swan has visitors and their names, and peers at security camera feeds. "Yeah there it goes. Down that hall third door left."

A random painting on the opposite wall falls off. "Thank you," he says, and they go down the hall.

"I didn't even know you could do accidental magic as an adult -"

"That was not accidental." He opens the door.

Cam's there sitting on a stool. He almost gets up to go to Timothy but doesn't quite.

He looks around briefly to check if there's some reason why they shouldn't.

Security camera? Not like a sign forbidding physical affection or anything.

"Oh, the binding had a thing - he can't go within ten meters of people -"

Timothy growls and then rushes forward and hugs him. 

Hug, hug, hug.

"Minor, you want to go ask at the front if they have assistive communication devices for people who can only nod or shake their head?"

"They aren't gonna."

"Yeah but I want to make a point."

Off he goes.

"If there's something a demon needs to be able to use language for then the summoners authorize them to make written material," says the guy.

"I see. Thank you." And back he goes. "Nope."

Nod. "Given that we're on camera -"

He switches to Quenya. "If you want we can break you out right now. Timothy's guessing that he wouldn't need to Imperius your summoner if he just implicitly threatens to kill her but I think he's prepared to if he needs to; if you are not okay with that we can instead have the Singularity Maitimo kick up a big fuss about jurisdiction and get a trial expedited and hopefully it goes well. If there's a superior option I have not mentioned, nod."

Cam shakes his head.

"If you want the first option - plus your suggestions, obviously, we're not going to go off and do it before you've approved the details - nod."

Headshake.

"You want to wait for a trial?"

Sigh. Nod.

He switches to English. "Are there specific things we can do for you that I have any hope of thinking of -"

Nod.

"We're staying, obviously," Timothy says. "Are you allowed to use a computer if we happen to have brought yours with us in my pocket -"

Cam neither nods nor shakes his head.

"Gag might interfere with some functions but not all of them? Would physical books be better, I also happen to have brought some of them in my pocket."

Headshake.

Sigh. "There should exist some kind of assistive communication device that works for this, you could narrow down letters by nod shake or nothing to make it go faster - Minor, do you know how a curator'd catalogue that -"

"...maybe?" There's a chip in Timothy's pocket.

He pulls it out and loads it onto his computer. 

The most promising options track gaze.

"Well since I have your computer anyway I can give it to you and we can see what 'not yes or no' means..." He pulls Cam's computer out of his pocket and hands it to him.

Cam seems to be able to navigate existing files but not create new things.

If they load a gaze-tracking program can he spell anything out with it?

He can't spell, but he can use the pictorial options.

Do they provide any insight on things they can do for him?

The pictorial options are poorly equipped to tell them to send somebody to the refugee planet to retrieve them, but Cam does his best.

"Should we go fetch a soul Elf?"

Nod.

"There's an almost-complete circle for a fairy in my robes -" now there is and he takes it out. "We should probably go ask at the front desk if this is allowed."

And off they go.

"Summoning's allowed here according to international licensing regulations."

"Great, thanks," Timothy says, and completes the circle.

Fairy! "Hi, what can I do for you?"

"I need a ride to Earth and back. I have one of those star navigation things if you need it and there's a demon on Earth who can pay you."

"Sure thing!"

(Timothy quietly confirms the deal.)

"See you soon."

"Yeah." He goes back to the reception area and starts booking appointments with every single prisoner here.

The front desk guy is nonplussed but doesn't obstruct him.

Great! Then he will go to every daeva who wants to see him and teach them the public/private thoughts distinction.

The angels and fairies are actually just allowed to talk.

Then all demons get to learn it (with Legilimency demonstrations of mindreading if needed to convince them he's not insane) and angels and fairies get asked if they need anything and if there's anyone who'd want a summons to come and visit them.

Many of them would like summonses for their friends, yes.

He takes down all the names and promises he'll get to them as soon as he can. 

He writes Amriac to tell Michael they need another door somewhere on Earth and to tell him where.

Amriac hands Michael his mail without reading it next time she conjures for it.

And he sighs and tells her "they're getting into complicated adventures again, want to pay some angel or fairy for me?" and goes downstairs and asks Bar for the book she got Timothy and summons people. One at a time.

Amriac pays the angel they get on the first try, who is willing.

And they write Minor with a location in India and a little while later he and a fairy show up. 

"We need a soul Elf. They arrested Cam and there's a gag so he can't tell us to do something important."

"I want to come!!"

"Great."

And the fairy hauls them to Jupiter again.

He pays the fairy before they get to the arcology. They go inside. 

He has appointments with Cam booked continually for the next year.

"...I'm not sure it's legal to transport kids by bare fairy," says the front desk guy, looking at Mingling.

"If anything happens I guess you'll try me for negligence. Luckily I'm human so you won't render me unable to speak without a trial, or for that matter at all."

Timothy hugs him.

"Usually you people just send ranty extranet messages," says the guy.

"Oh, there exist people who think that rights shouldn't depend on whether one's wings are feathered? I really have a visceral understanding now of how God felt when he said to Abraham 'if there are ten decent men I will spare the city' -"

"Timothy."

"Let's go see Cam."

Cam is in the visiting room.

Hi! I'm your interpreter also I think I understand why there are murderdaeva now and I am sad.

Aw kiddo.

Uh, I was about to take the people on my refugee planet to Valinor or Endorë, they didn't pick, and someone should still go do that.

He reports this to Minor, who writes a note. 

"I taught all the demons the private thoughts distinction and got a list from everyone else of friends they wanted to see but Mingling can be here at least the next couple hours. Need anything else -"

That's all that's time-sensitive to speak of.

He conveys this.

I'm here so you can talk, not just so we can have better information.

I appreciate that, thanks for coming. You could remind Timothy that I cannot go hug him of my own accord.

He does this.

He hugs Cam. Very tightly.

Hug. Tell him I love him. How'd you get into Revelation?

Cam loves you, he tells Timothy, and Michael summoned an angel ex-summoner. Dunno how they did it -

"Same. Well, a fairy."

Nod. That makes sense. How expedited is expedited?

When this is relayed-  "A week, he thought."

That's not so bad.

"I am not convinced of the justness of a justice system that definitionally won't let you speak in your own defense." He takes off his necklace and gives it to Cam.

I appreciate the thought but this doesn't seem like the most entertaining time to have extra attention to spare. When the trial rolls around I will be allowed to write.

He puts it back on. "If you have to conjure it all at once you can't - communicate the way you talk, at all."

I don't have to make it all at once, I can do paper and then ink as I go.

Sigh. "Okay. There is also the fact that - either the fact you can make people becomes part of a very very public record, or a ton of information fairly critical to evaluating the incident gets left out at trial."

This has occurred to me but threatening some random functionary doesn't sit well.

"I know. But I'm not okay with you being stuck like this for - how long do people in 2179 even live - eighty years?"

They usually live longer than that but she was probably at least thirty.

Uh, if anyone notices Minor is a demon they can check his binding by parlor trick and will freak out, it's designed for accidents of limited physics background, not to stop him from doing things. They will not shoot you because you're not his summoner but they will panic.

He's been avoiding openly making stuff. They can tell I'm not his summoner -

Yeah, they can. If they check, not impossible they'd assume and shoot you anyway.

Wizards can with warning be bulletproof, I'll just go around vaguely shrouded in protective charms - it'll interfere with hugging, but - will they at least check before shooting Mingling as another adjacent human -

Probably.

People are not very nice when they're scared, he comments after relaying this. Maybe we need to make them less scared.

Is it better if we tell them up front so they notice in an unpressured situation and have time to verify that we're not his summoners -

They haven't noticed yet, but maybe get him dismissed when no one's looking and get a different better bound demon.

I'm okay with maybe getting shot I like having Minor here. 

Me too but it's not our call if other people might get hurt when they're panicking - is that likely -

If they think his summoner might be near, yes.

Sigh. "Okay. Minor want to write whoever it is -"

"Sanity's Tyelcormo? I really don't think he checks his mail but yeah sure." Type type. 

Or have Amriac tell him.

"Yeah I'll message her too. These people kind of suck."

They have reasons.

"Yeah. Slaveholders have reasons, too, trust me, I've heard them. Everyone in the universe who is treating a bunch of other people terribly has reasons."

Sigh.

What do summoning licenses look like and where's a jurisdiction we can pretend to have them from?

You can't, they look you up in a database. Unlicensed safe summoning is not an execution offense though.

Are they going to look us up and notice we don't? Because if so, Timothy, you should get to all those people before they do -

Yeah, I should.

If they haven't yet, probably not until the bureaucracy has a shift change.

Okay. I promised people I'd do that. I'll be back if I get the sense someone's inclined to look, or tomorrow at the latest. Kiss. Mingling can relay for you wherever we are. 

Kiss. Squeeze. For limited values of 'wherever'.

Yeah. But we're staying here at least until the trial.

You don't have to do that.

Even if you announced you were breaking up with me I would stay here until everyone who had friends they wanted summoned got to meet their friends. As it stands I'm here as long as you want me.

I love you. However, consider you could maybe legitimately acquire a summoning license from one of the more lenient jurisdictions with relevant reciprocity policies.

That'd probably let me help more people, yeah. Do you happen to know the relevant jurisdictions or how to look them up -

At a guess Federated Stations - satellites of the Earth pretending to be a polity together - will have a written test and check that you can bring a properly bound daeva to your test site and that's probably easiest.

Okay. Minor, tell them not to dismiss you yet, I actually don't want to do bare fairy interplanetary travel.

He summons another fairy. He completes the written test on the way there.

Meanwhile he makes a few phone calls and arranges a meeting. 

The president of Mars will be happy to speak with him.

"This is a vital strategic secret, shouldn't leave this room, and more urgently should not be committed to recorded form under any circumstances, do you know a location where you can ensure that?"

"Not if you don't want to leave the room," jokes the President.

"I apologize for not explaining myself in advance so this could be arranged."

"We could go for a walk, have our environment suits conjured fresh by the staff demon so they're clean, if it's so important," smiles the President.

"Sounds perfect."

So they go to the staff demon and receive fresh environment suits and go out for a stroll in the unterraformed redness of Mars. "What's on your mind?"

"Demons can make Elves. This was discovered during the war; it is very important that it not become widely known in Hell. The backup chips in our brains don't work if they make them naively, the same as if they tried to make a human; but if you copy the data to a fresh chip, which is easy to learn how to do, then you can make a body around it just fine."

"My god, that's horrifying."

"Yes. You recently arrested the demon who was involved in our war, Campbell Swan. The, ah, natural defense in the murder trial he is facing would be that he brought the people back to life afterwards, which he did. It seems to me that it would be a serious miscarriage of justice to try to conduct a murder trial without mentioning that the victims are alive and well, but it is also not an option to commit to the record of a trial that will doubtless attract a lot of interest that this is a thing demons can do."

"By 'you' I assume you mean the Ganymede Circling Police? Mars subscribes but does not administer."

"Yes. I don't know how long they've had a circle out for him but he answered it this morning. It was my hope that Mars would be equipped to help me navigate this while sharing the sensitive information as minimally as possible."

"Inconveniently I am away from my computer and cannot look up whether that is even his only charge."

"We can conduct the rest of the discussion elsewhere if you think we can talk around the sensitive information carefully enough."

"I do not think my office is actually bugged."

"Of course. You'll forgive my paranoia."

"That is why we are on this walk, of course. Is there anything I should know before we turn around?"

"I did confirm he has no outstanding charges from conduct in this star system; they are all related to the war. I would really appreciate it if the Ganymede Circling Police found the case outside their jurisdiction entirely, and allowed Elven governments to pursue cases involving our worlds and our citizens, particularly ones as sensitive as this."

"Jurisdiction is a funny concept with daeva. If they find he's dangerous, matters less who he was dangerous to and more who he might be dangerous to later."

"That is understood, but the evidence that he is not dangerous is almost entirely constituted in 'he didn't kill anyone until we had a way to bring them back, then undertook an operation with significant collateral damage on my authorization as part of the course of a war and immediately brought them back'. Without that information they can't evaluate the answer properly, and they cannot have the information."

"Look," says the President, "I'm not sure what it is you want me to do; I don't run the GCP."

"I would like your advice on how to get him released while telling as few people as possible what I have just told you."

"You need him cleared or just dismissed?"

"Just dismissed, we'll handle it from there."

"Could pretend you're very upset with him, want somebody immortal doing the summoning so he doesn't skip out in a few decades."

"- thank you. Who should I complain of this to?"

"I can introduce you to the GCP representative to Mars."

"Thank you very much."

"It's no trouble, my friend, no trouble at all!"

And the president of Mars introduces him to the planetary GCP contract.

He is so pleased to meet them! He foresees a productive future of Elven collaboration with the GCP, especially since Elves are immortal and could help with the summoning.

That is indeed very promising! They have an occasional problem with their summoners dying and having to rearrest daeva.

"I asked the president to introduce me because I am very worried that the GCP is attempting to conduct an investigation they are not equipped to conduct correctly, touching very closely on matters of our national sovereignty and national security. Until close collaboration between the GCP and the governments of Valinor and Endorë is made possible, it will be very damaging to relations between our peoples for these investigations to erroneously go forward."

"Oh? What do you mean?"

"It was brought to my attention that you arrested Campbell Swan this morning for crimes committed in the course of a recent war in Valinor. The GCP is of course not equipped to justly try the case; any information you have about it must be thirdhand through our emissaries or through conjuring, and a lot of information relevant to the war was deliberately made not conjurable. The demon possesses a great deal of information vital to our national security which he could share in a trial, unless you mean to conduct it in secret. And whoever summoned him will die in a century or less, meaning the maximum penalty for holing a planet is in practice a single human lifespan. We have more resources to conduct that case, it touches on our people, it endangers our security to have it prosecuted by humans, and you can't lock him up very long."

"It'll be on the lookout for another batched summons; you can't guarantee successful rearrest."

"Among the resources we have to conduct that case are means of ensuring a successful rearrest."

"Would you be willing to share with the GCP how you accomplish that?"

"I would be willing to demonstrate the capacity by bringing in a few daeva you name. I hope we can develop a partnership which would enable freer sharing of resources than that."

"I'm sure we could arrange to have him sent to your planet under his current summon. Surely your methods will still work later on."

"Your binding doesn't meet our standards for rights of the accused."

"How so?"

"Under our laws everyone has the right to speak in their own defense."

"During the trials demons are allowed conjured writing if they have anything to say for themselves," she assures him.

"I am aware. That does not meet our standards for rights of the accused either. And being unable to talk ever again does not meet our standards for acceptable restrictions on prisoners."

"It's a safety precaution; we don't do the same thing with angels or fairies."

"I understand that it might be necessary given your resources; that does not make it acceptable given ours."

"I can talk to my superiors but I can tell you now they're going to want to know how you can guarantee arrest."

"Does the binding permit the demon to lie?"

"Binding doesn't let it talk at all. In writing, yeah, it could, we have to corroborate."

Sigh.

"We can travel to Hell for law enforcement purposes. It's not safe for us to do but the Valar are immaterial and not in danger."

"...huh. Yeah, I can write the commissioner."

"I appreciate it tremendously."

"No problem, sir."

And he writes Timothy to say that he's working on it.

Timothy is getting licensed as a summoner.

The written is insulting ("why do we gag demons?" "all of the above", and similarly leading questions) but the practical just requires turning up with an adequately bound and tasked daeva.

He has Minor make him a circle and doesn't snark on the written at all and then he's licensed and can take Ister instead of Minor back to Jupiter with him.

Ister is happy to help.

He actually has a hard time getting into the right mindset for the Imperius. Other people not thinking daeva are people will do that. But he gets it eventually. 

And now if anyone wants to check he is in fact a licensed summoner.

He starts going down peoples' lists of their friends.

Some of the friends show up. There are reunions of various tearfulness.

He promises everyone that this will be ongoingly available from now on. He takes a break to eat. He goes to find Cam.

Hi. How's it going?

Reunions are good. I'm going to ask one of my alts to stay here and do it indefinitely, the poor people. I've been abusing the sleep-skipping song. Imperius'll wear off while I'm asleep and Ister can't do anything without me at his side so I sent him home. Wanted to fall asleep with you, if it's convenient...

I think we're allowed, yeah. I'm not sure there's enough prison population to warrant a full time job.

Could be located here and also do other stuff. Also my alt might've promised to help them arrest people in exchange for getting you out, his note said he was working on something along those lines no promises yet.

Bit late for us to object to prison summonses in concept. Snuggle.

Snuggle. Yeah. I hope -

And then he is asleep.

Mingling curls up at Cam's feet and sings.

Cam tries to sleep too. Eventually he manages.

When he wakes up he takes Mingling with him to go interview demons about friends they might like to have visit them.

Some demons have friends!

Then their friends can visit them. Can his demon, who looks weirdly dazed and out-of-it, make them anything?

Plenty of the inmates want stuff. Is his demon on drugs. Will this affect stuff quality.

A lady who does not seem to work for the GCP comes by and wants to know if Mingling is Timothy's little brother?

Stuff quality is unaffected. 

"...cousin. Can we help you with anything?"

Should I telepath at her or not -

- probably not have you picked up any English -

- not a lot -

You're little, no one expects you to know a lot.

"And where are your parents?" the lady asks Mingling.

"Home working."

"Did they ask your cousin to look after you?"

Say yes -

"Yes."

"The people who work here are a little worried that your cousin is distracted and not remembering to make sure you're getting enough food and sleep. You've been here for a long time and it's not really a great place for kids. Can you tell me where your parents work?"

Shrug. "I want be here - to be here? I want to be here. I'm helping. I'm getting enough food or sleep."

"...Do you not speak English as your first language? What do you speak?"

Shrug.

"What's his first language?" she asks Timothy.

"Greek. He's not bad with English, though."

"Would you rather talk to someone who speaks Greek?" the lady asks Mingling.

"Can talk to who wants."

"It would take a few hours for me to go get someone who speaks Greek but I can if you want me to, all right? When was the last time you had a whole meal all at once, not just snacks?"

You should tell them you had breakfast this morning.

I don't know the words for breakfast or morning. "Not long. Meal soon. Want eat - want to eat - with us?"

"I wouldn't want to take your food from you. The people who work here have been keeping an eye on you and they haven't seen you eat much."

"Ister demon," he says patiently.

"He means you can't take his food because it's not like we're short of it," he says. "We eat together, he's just one of those kids who eats like a bird."

"Birds eat lots for how small," he corrects him.

"You're right, I'm terribly sorry. What would be a better animal?"

Shrug.

"They also haven't seen you sleeping."

"I don't like sleeping."

"Me neither! But it's still really important for your health that you sleep, every day. Most kids your age need naps, too."

"I need singing! I need lots of singing this place."

"Singing's plenty of fun, but it's not as important as sleep."

...shrug. "For me singing more important. Can sleep if you want."

"He's not tired or fussy or out-of-sorts or anything, and it's not like I've been giving him coffee, he legitimately doesn't need much sleep."

"He doesn't seem like there's an emergency, but it can't be helping that this is, well, a prison colony and not really intended to host children. I'd like his parents' contact information, please."

"Uh, write Finis and Nell Way, c/o Amriac, they conjure their mail. I don't think they have a stable address."

She writes this down, and confirms the spelling.

Yep, she got it. Does she want to stay for a while and observe?

Wouldn't hurt.

Then she will watch Timothy summon some friends for a demon and talk to them in Greek and take them off to meet their friend and Mingling cling contentedly to Timothy and witness one-sided but weirdly conversant communications between the gagged demon and the visitors, and then Mingling singing a hauntingly pretty sad song while some angel meets a friend without facilitators required, and then Mingling bouncing to Timothy and saying "Cam? Cam? Cam?" as they go off to meet another demon prisoner for lunch.

Timothy kisses this demon and murmurs "I think we've worried some sort of child agency."

I should've thought of that, they'll assume he's a human and needs three meals a day and at least eight hours of sleep and this is not exactly a hotel.

I should've thought of it too, 1802 doesn't have anyone who'd care but they'd wonder.

Mingling would like a winghug from Cam.

I'm not sure the child services lady would like that. She might not care, but, might.

So it would be useful information about whether she is mean or nice.

If she cares she's that much more likely to kidnap you.

She would do that?

If she thinks Timothy isn't taking good care of you, maybe. You don't look upset or malnourished but she can't go solely on that.

Kidnapping is not a very okay way to help people. He clings to Timothy. 

There are times it makes sense. This isn't one and she is only probably good enough at her job to know that.

Nod. Sigh.

They eat lunch.

"Maybe we'll take the afternoon off, have Ister make Mingling something pretty."

"Ooooh." Can it look like the courtyard of my house I miss it.

It can! He might have to clear it up later but for now it'll look exactly like that.

The child services lady goes away after a bit but makes sure Mingling knows the name of the communications officer of the prison and where she works and that she is a good person to tell if he needs anything.

The prison bureaucrats do not really want a courtyard in their arcology.

"I'll summon an angel and clear it up, don't worry. I really do appreciate your flexibility with all of this."

"Now, please," says the irritable fellow who has been sent to complain about the courtyard.