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]

Raha looks it over. "Yes, this looks fine."

[missnicegirl]

"Miss Honey?"

"Yes," says Miss Honey, "that looks fine to me too. Congratulations, Matilda." She pats Matilda on the head. Matilda beams.

[alicornucopia]

"So that's a schedule up until the end of Sutaahel. I'll get you an ingredients reference and a basic recipe book for next time," says Raha.

[missnicegirl]

"Thank you!"

[alicornucopia]

"You're welcome!"

"Do you want to go home now or do you have more questions?" asks Terali, holding out her hand for the schedule.

[missnicegirl]

Matilda hands the schedule to Terali.

"I have lots more questions! Are you going to try to find someone to give me language lessons too? Are there any more kinds of magic in your world besides witchcraft and wizardry and sorcery?"

[alicornucopia]

"Since nobody here speaks English," Terali says, "except for dragons, we'll have to find a dragon to handle the language lessons, and that might take a little longer. There aren't that many dragons."

"There are also lights and mages," says Raha. "And some that you have to be particular species to use."

[missnicegirl]

"What do lights and mages do? And what's a dragon? 'Dragon' in English is a word for an imaginary creature."

[alicornucopia]

"The translation spell might be glitching," says Terali. "Dragons are real here. Winged firebreathing reptiles."

"Lights are healers and mages each can control one element," says Raha. "And dragons are a sort of person. They can shapeshift and speak any language and a few other things."

[missnicegirl]

"Well, the imaginary kind of dragon is also a winged firebreathing reptile, so I guess it makes sense why the translation spell would do that," says Matilda. "Dragons sound neat! I'd like to meet one if you can find one who wants to teach me your language!"

[alicornucopia]

"That's the plan," says Terali. "It'll just be a little harder than finding a witch. Since we had a witch just down the hall."

Raha laughs.

[missnicegirl]

Matilda giggles.

[alicornucopia]

Kerah comes back with a book. "I can check you for a channeling capacity, but you shouldn't expect me to find anything," she says.

[missnicegirl]

"Okay."

[alicornucopia]

Kerah casts.

The result is an empty box that appears in the air like the time spell does.

"Nothing. Sorry, Matilda."

[missnicegirl]

"That's okay," she says. "I'm going to have lots of fun learning witchcraft."

[alicornucopia]

"It's nice to see somebody so enthusiastic about it," says Raha. "I spend so much time around wizards I can almost imagine I don't do proper magic at all."

"Raha," reproaches Terali. "We know perfectly well it's magic."

"You know perfectly well it's technically magic, but you don't think it's exciting, not a bit," says Raha.

"Anyway. Probably time to send our visitors home until -" Kerah peers at the schedule. "Tomorrow morning."

[missnicegirl]

"Okay," says Matilda. "Bye, everybody."

[alicornucopia]

"Bye!" says Raha, and they are sent home.

[missnicegirl]

The next day, Matilda is ready to be summoned at the appropriate time, with a notebook and pencil of her very own in case she has to take notes on things. Learning! Yay!

[alicornucopia]

And she is summoned, and this time there isn't even any chalk-smudging before Terali leads her down the hall to the witch's office. There is another woman there. "Matilda, this is Lesirra. She's an anthropologist. Do you mind if she sits in on your lesson?"

[missnicegirl]

"Sure, she can do that! It's nice to meet you, Lesirra!"

[alicornucopia]

"It's nice to meet you too!" says Lesirra. "You can ignore me completely if you like, I'm just going to be paying attention to how you talk and what you know and things like that."

Raha has found Matilda a ingredients reference - this is a very thick book - and a thinner volume entitled Assorted Introductory Potion Recipes.

"There are millions and millions of things you could put in a potion, in the world," says Raha, "so instead of learning about every single one before you get to make everything, we're just going to cover all the ones mentioned in this recipe book." And she sets about doing exactly that. Every item mentioned in the book has an entry in the reference, with pictures of it in various states and color-coded lists of uses and interactions. (The books look handwritten.)

[missnicegirl]

Matilda takes some notes in her notebook, and listens attentively.

At one point she asks, "How were these books made?"

[alicornucopia]

"Someone writes them, and then someone with nice handwriting and an illustrator make a clearly legible version with pictures, and then they're copied over with wizard magic as many times as necessary," Raha says.