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]

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?"

[alicornucopia]

"It dusted by itself; the dust disappeared," says Annei. "Everything else was - did you ever have those toys with marbles that roll along little tracks you can build? I was moving all my stuff but it seemed easy to put it where it was going, I didn't have to pay really close attention to each thing."

[missnicegirl]

"Yeah! Sometimes I move things with ialdae like that too," says Matilda. "It's fun. Let's see if we can think of more things like that to do."

[alicornucopia]

They proceed to brainstorm about and experiment with ialdae. Eventually the lesson's duration ends. Terali takes notes.

[missnicegirl]

Matilda blinks home to grab the mug from that hot cocoa, and returns it to Jensal's house's cafeteria, and then seeks out Jensal.

[alicornucopia]

Jensal is not in the house at the moment; someone is doing paperwork for her in her office.

[missnicegirl]

"Excuse me, do you know where Jensal is?" she inquires of the someone.

[alicornucopia]

"She's on Dragon Island," says the someone. "Uh, but you probably shouldn't go there."

[missnicegirl]

"I would like to talk to her. Do you know when she'll be back?"

[alicornucopia]

"She said in time to make her appointment with the house accountant at tenth and naught, but then of course she'll be meeting with him - he might let you bump him, though."

[missnicegirl]

"Well, I'll wait," she decides, "and if she's back before her appointment I'll talk to her then and otherwise I'll see."

She blinks home to pick up a book, and for lack of a chair she levitates comfortably just outside the office door, tucked against the wall so as not to get in anyone's way.

[alicornucopia]

Jensal is back at ninth-and-same. "Matilda, hello," she says, looking rather tired.

[missnicegirl]

"Hello. Are you all right?"