exploratory kidnapping

[alicornucopia]

In this room are two women, one gray and sixty years old, one just thirty and red-haired, both wearing elaborate outfits. The younger casts a spell.

In this room is now also a third person. (On whom the elder woman promptly also casts a spell, which she had at the ready.)

Comments

[alicornucopia]

"Viractalmewerianderixhalarbenequirvahimtharoguamirzinsenknarouvterienzalumigarisetsenyprashesuumigreltimerispuldaniretchamiqueslarc," says the diamond dragon.

"Virac in particular, unlike many shrens but like most dragons," says Jensal, "has a line name. Virac is his personal name, talme is the equivalent of a surname, and the rest of it is syllables he's added on from friends and family."

[missnicegirl]

"That's a lot of name," says Matilda. "But I guess it would be hard for you to write it down. Okay. I'll try."

When she concentrates, she can see the empty places where the name should go. She puts ialdae there, and she tells it that this person knows what his name is and he should have it all again just the same as he did before, and go on having it definitely forever no matter what. This magic's job is to be dragon name magic, with the song and the collecting syllables and everything just like how dragons usually have it.

[alicornucopia]

"Ah, there it goes," says Virac.

"As it was?" asks Jensal.

"I believe so."

[missnicegirl]

"Okay, good," says Matilda. "Now what's left is... shapeshifting and firebreathing and colour-group magic, right? And the thing about having kids? Which part do you want next?"

[alicornucopia]

"Shapeshifting next. I believe my ability to have children will remain entirely academic if I can't do that," says Virac, the latter bit under his breath.

Jensal stifles a smirk. "What forms did you have all told?"

"Swallow, elf, halfling, porpoise. Do you need the specific species of swallow and porpoise?"

[missnicegirl]

"I don't think so," says Matilda. "Because when you have a form it's not just a species, it exists somewhere, right? You can tuck things away with it and dye its hair and stuff. So either I can get those exact ones back just like you had them and I don't need to know what they were, or I can't and you might as well learn them over again."

She contemplates dragon shapeshifting. She wonders where all those forms actually go.

[alicornucopia]

"I didn't have anything vitally important tucked, I suppose. I do like the shoes on my halfling form."

[missnicegirl]

"Okay," says Matilda. "I'll do my best to get them back right."

She looks very hard at Virac. She looks at where his shapeshifting magic used to be. She tries to look past it, to wherever it used to store those forms when there was magic there to access them with.

She puts ialdae in the places where the shapeshifting magic used to go, and tells it that its job is to be dragon shapeshifting magic. To hold onto his forms for him, all four of the ones he already had, and swap them out correctly when necessary, and for the leftover magic to wait around until he picks another form and then make that one and hold onto it the same way.

"Okay," she repeats, in a slightly more satisfied tone. "Try shifting now."

[alicornucopia]

Virac turns into a halfling and investigates the state of his footwear.

[missnicegirl]

His footwear is exactly as expected.

"Good, that worked," says Matilda. "What next?"

[alicornucopia]

"It seems clear that you will be able to fix everything; I have no strong opinions about the order in which you do the rest of it," says Virac.

[missnicegirl]

"Firebreathing, then. That seems pretty easy."

Matilda looks at the part of his patchily refilled magic container that is supposed to govern firebreathing. It seems reasonably simple. She fills it with ialdae, and reminds the magic of its job, which is giving Virac the ability to breathe diamondy fire.

"For the colour group thing, I might want to see someone else from the right colour group so I know for sure exactly what goes there," she says. "Jensal, can you find someone who can come and sit with us? It shouldn't take much more than a degree."

[alicornucopia]

"I'll get Ludei."

She vanishes with a twinkle. She and Ludei appear with a pair of twinkles.

[missnicegirl]

"Thanks, Ludei," says Matilda. She peers at him. She studies his colour-group magic, how it makes him better at flying.

Ialdae seems to be getting the hang of doing dragon magic's job. She hardly has to concentrate at all before it just springs into place.

"There, that part's done too. Now the kids thing, I guess."

She has two dragon examples to go on there, and it doesn't seem to vary much. She finds that empty spot in Virac's magic and puts ialdae there.

"That was easy. Okay. I think I got everything, and it should all work fine. Do we have any idea why your magic all ran away, though?"

[alicornucopia]

Virac shakes his head.

Jensal, however, says slowly: "If he weren't a cured ex-shren... it doing that would have killed him, if I'm not mistaken."

"What do you mean?" Ludei asks.

"I mean, if there weren't ialdae placeholding in the top - compartment - then it would have looked like he just died for no reason. Of old age."

[missnicegirl]

"...is that what dragons dying of old age looks like?" wonders Matilda. "Then... oh, that's no good. Imagine if he'd been shifted, and in a building or something. When you lose a form, you shift back, right? If this happens to everybody eventually..."

[alicornucopia]

"Usually when a dragon or a shren dies of old age they don't shift," says Ludei. "There are a few forms of death that will leave a body in whatever shape the deceased was occupying at the time; that's one of them."

"Except Virac didn't die," says Jensal. "He was already in natural form at the time, but if he'd suddenly lost the ability to shapeshift and not died and he'd been in another form, possibly indoors? I don't know what would have happened but it could have been very bad."

[missnicegirl]

"So what do we do to make sure that doesn't happen to anyone else?"

[alicornucopia]

"Round up all the dragons we've fixed over or approaching the age of two thousand and give them full magic transplants, I guess," says Jensal. "We might need to see you do it again before we can take over."

[missnicegirl]

"Okay," says Matilda.

[alicornucopia]

"Both Ludei and I are over two thousand," Jensal adds. "Can you transplant the magic without it having fled of its own accord?"

[missnicegirl]

"I think so... you should probably be in natural form when I do the shapeshifting part, in case something funny happens," she says.

[alicornucopia]

They stand back. They shift.

[missnicegirl]

Matilda looks at Ludei first.

"Firebreathing," she says. Ialdae jumps into the container. "White-group magic." Ialdae takes that too. "Shapeshifting." More ialdae. "The kids thing." Ialdae. "Your name." Ialdae. "And language." Ialdae. There are now little bits of leftover dragon magic hanging around in between the dense blobs of ialdae, especially in parts of the filled form slots, but for the most part, the contents of his magic container have been completely replaced. "It's way easier to do it when there's already magic in there," she adds.

[alicornucopia]

"What's the dragon magic doing?" wonders Jensal. "Is it going to have any effects lingering like that?"