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

[missnicegirl]

"I'm sorry," she says. "I have to go, then."

And she crosses off the first address in her column and teleports to the next.

[alicornucopia]

There are a considerable quantity of babies to take care of. Jensal duplicates the link paper until it's a larger network, delegates writing down addresses from the Council, and starts filling up her column; Ludei follows.

[missnicegirl]

When there are no more un-crossed-out addresses in anyone's column, and no more addresses coming in, Matilda teleports back to Jensal's house and finds somewhere to sit and flumphs there. She wishes very much that she had learned about all these terrible magic problems a month ago.

[alicornucopia]

A miracle notices her flomped in the library and brings her a hot cocoa.

[missnicegirl]

"Aww, thanks," she says. Hot cocoa is very improving.

[alicornucopia]

"You're welcome," smiles the miracle.

[missnicegirl]

And now it occurs to her that there are probably lots and lots of dragons who are old enough to spontaneously die, and she takes her hot cocoa and gets up to go find Jensal.

[alicornucopia]

Jensal's in her office talking to some people about house operations.

[missnicegirl]

"I want to give all the old dragons magic transplants so they won't die either," says Matilda.

[alicornucopia]

"We can take care of it," Jensal says. (One of the people she was talking to looks mildly affronted about being interrupted.)

[missnicegirl]

Matilda looks slightly doubtful, but Jensal has been an exemplary grown-up so far and is probably going to be appropriately serious about the matter.

"Okay," she says. "Sorry for interrupting." And she vanishes home with her hot cocoa.

She is still very tired by the time of her next witchcraft lesson. She sends a note explaining that she is not feeling well and needs to stay home.

[alicornucopia]

Terali does not attempt to summon her in defiance of this note.

[missnicegirl]

Two days later, at her next lesson with Annei and Sarsia, she shows up on time but looking uncharacteristically subdued.

[alicornucopia]

"Hello, Matilda," says Terali, who is sitting in.

"Is something wrong?" Annei asks.

[missnicegirl]

"Not exactly," says Matilda. "I figured out how to stop dragons from dying of old age or the thing they die of when they're little babies. That's a good thing. But I'm sad about all the ones who died before I found out about them."

[alicornucopia]

"Dragons get to live longer than anyone else," Sarsia points out. "I mean, if they make it past the first month they do."

[missnicegirl]

"That doesn't make it not sad when they die," says Matilda. "It might make it sadder when everyone else dies, and I haven't figured out how to make any of the rest of us immortal."

[alicornucopia]

"I mean, the dead still get to be watchful spirits and then go to Heaven," says Annei.

[missnicegirl]

"How do you know for sure?"

[alicornucopia]

"I'm an Aleist," says Annei. "I mean, all of us are, as far as I know, except you because you're from a world that Sennah hasn't spoken to yet I guess."

[missnicegirl]

"In my world there are people who believe in Heaven too, but it's a different Heaven with a different god and a lot of them don't agree on the details and there are a bunch more religions that I know even less about," says Matilda. "And there are lots more religions in your world too, and nobody actually knows for sure, and I think it's very important to actually know for sure because if I really thought it was true about the watchful spirits then I wouldn't try to make people immortal and then everyone would go on dying and if it wasn't true that would be very bad."

She pauses thoughtfully.

"I think," she goes on, "I'm going to try to find out for sure."

[alicornucopia]

"...How?" asks Terali.

[missnicegirl]

"I don't know yet," she says. "I'll think about it. Maybe I'll ask Jensal. Jensal is very sensible for a grownup."

Then she shakes her head slightly and refocuses her attention.

"But I'm supposed to be teaching now. Sarsia, Annei, how has your practicing been going?"

[alicornucopia]

"...I got ialdae to clean my room," says Annei.

"I can fly around pretty well now even if I'm paying partial attention to something else," says Sarsia.

[missnicegirl]

"That's good!" She is beginning to achieve more normal levels of cheerful. "Did it clean your room by itself or was it more like just moving all the things around?"