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]

"Is meditating helping? I never really got anywhere with trying to meditate," Sarsia asks Annei.

"I think it's helping me, but I don't know if you really need to?" shrugs Annei.

[missnicegirl]

"I never meditated and neither did Lavender, my friend who can fly."

[alicornucopia]

Sarsia nods and concentrates without doing the same thing Annei was trying.

[missnicegirl]

The ten degrees run out without anyone else catching.

[alicornucopia]

"Does anybody look like they might catch with more time, Matilda, or should we call it a day for this batch?" Terali asks.

[missnicegirl]

"I don't seem to be able to see who will and won't catch," she says. "At least not yet. I think we can stop for now. If anyone really wants to try again later, they can."

[alicornucopia]

"All right. Thank you all for coming," Terali says.

(Sarsia rises slowly into the air.)

[missnicegirl]

Matilda giggles.

[alicornucopia]

Sarsia smiles. Everybody else puts their books away and leaves when Matilda has put their chairs down.

[missnicegirl]

"Should I be trying to give Sarsia magic lessons too?"

[alicornucopia]

"Yes," says Teralia. "I think she and Annei should be available at similar times."

"I can rearrange things for this," agrees Sarsia.

[missnicegirl]

"Okay then." She shows Sarsia the schedule.

[alicornucopia]

And they work out times that will work for all three of them.

[missnicegirl]

And Matilda... casts a time-telling spell, sort of absently, that shows the time in both Elcenia and Lyndonville.

She giggles.

"I guess ialdae's learned that spell too now! I should go home soon."

[alicornucopia]

"I'd offer to unsummon you, but I didn't summon you today," remarks Terali.

"Thank you for the magic!" says Annei earnestly.

[missnicegirl]

"You're welcome!" says Matilda. "See you next time!"

Poof.

[alicornucopia]

Annei and Sarsia diligently do their floating homework. Annei is a bit better at it than Sarsia.

[missnicegirl]

"Hi!" she says when she sees them again. "Have you been floating? Did either of you manage to do the ialdae light?"

[alicornucopia]

"My little sister sneezed and I tried it, and I did get a light and she did stop sneezing," says Annei, "but I don't know if she was going to sneeze more than once to begin with."

"I got the light but didn't have anything to try it on," says Sarsia.

[missnicegirl]

"Well, okay," she says. "Have you floated any things that aren't yourselves? Are there things you specifically want to try to teach ialdae to do that it can't already?"

[alicornucopia]

"I can pick things up but I don't have enough motor control to, say, operate a spoon like that," says Annei.

"I moved a couch. But it didn't get off the ground. We got lists of what it's known to do already," says Sarsia, "but it said they weren't certain if they were complete."

[missnicegirl]

"I had to practice a lot before I could use a spoon or a pen with ialdae-sorcery, but now it's easy," says Matilda. "What's on your lists?"

[alicornucopia]

Sarsia pulls hers out. "Sorcery-like telekinesis. Witchcraft-like potionmaking. Light-like healing. Some less-investigated applications including ice, lightning, and fire. Interworld travel of but not necessarily limited to the ialder. Some pseudo-wizard-like applications including but likely not limited to telling time, water conjuration, and analysis."

[missnicegirl]

"I think that's pretty much everything so far. You probably shouldn't try the ice and lightning and fire. They're dangerous, and I don't think they're good for very much. And witchcraft already works perfectly well in Elcenia so there probably isn't very much point in learning to do it with ialdae, and the same with telling time with wizardry. But I think my ialdae is learning a better analysis than it started with, so you could try getting someone to put some analyses on you and see if your ialdae picks them up and improves on them. And I don't know how complicated it is to conjure water with wizardry, or whether or not you want to learn that. But ialdae seems to be very suggestible, so what sorts of things do you want to suggest to it?"

[alicornucopia]

"I haven't had much chance to think about ice and lightning but I know fire's useful, there's fire mages who put out burning buildings," says Sarsia. "Unless this is the wrong kind of fire."

"We can ask about analyses, for sure. I want to teleport," says Annei.

"Oh, good idea."