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]

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."

[missnicegirl]

"It is the wrong kind of fire. It's the throwing-fireballs kind. If you want to teach ialdae how to do things with fire, teach it how to do better things. Do you think it would be good to teach ialdae about mages? I'd like to put out burning buildings! That would be useful! Teleporting would be neat too. I've only ever done it between worlds but it would be very, very silly if that was the only way I could."

[alicornucopia]

"Well, you can also put out burning buildings with water conjuration. Mages are more generic. I'm not sure I know any," says Annei.

"Wizards can teleport," says Sarsia. "And people who just learn how, but it might be nice to do it without casting a spell."

[missnicegirl]

"I'm going to see about teleporting," Matilda decides. "Let's see. Where should I try to teleport to, if I wanted to test that it worked as well as teleporting does here? I wouldn't want it to only be able to go across rooms..."

[alicornucopia]

"The Aspelin Mountains," suggests Sarsia. "Top of Mount Ress."

[missnicegirl]

"Okay!"

Matilda thinks for a tick, and then vanishes.

She's gone for about a tick and a half.

"I think that probably worked," she says when she reappears. "It was the definitely the top of a mountain, anyway, and so far my magic hasn't really done any things wrong that it's tried. It seems like sometimes people's ialdae learns the things they've had done to them somehow or other; should I try teleporting you both and see if you pick it up that way?"

[alicornucopia]

"Uh, sure," says Sarsia.

[missnicegirl]

Poof. Now they are all on top of a mountain.

"It's really pretty!" says Matilda. It is indeed really pretty.

[alicornucopia]

"This is Mount Ress," confirms Sarsia.

Annei grins.

[missnicegirl]

"Yay! Okay, now you try going back to the room," she suggests.

[alicornucopia]

They try.

Annei gets it first; Sarsia follows soon after.

[missnicegirl]

Matilda poofs back into the room, still with that distinctive little flicker of light.

"Congratulations!"

[alicornucopia]

Annei is giggling her head off; Sarsia's pleasedness is more restrained.

[missnicegirl]

Matilda is definitely on the giggly side here.