chalk

[alicornucopia]

In Paraasilan, Esmaar, a pair of roommates are about to break a rule that, compared to the one about running in the corridors or even the one about unlicensed teleportation, is there for a good reason.

In unison, they complete their shared spell.

~~~

with Adarin (Aestrix)

with Ekador (kappa)

with Brilliance (kappa)

with the admin (kappa)

with Teah (kappa)

with Katran (lambda)

with Hall (kappa)

with Joy (kappa)

with Kalinda (Christy Hotwater)

Comments

[lookingforwardtoit]

She shrugs. "'Kay."

[alicornucopia]

"Narax will - probably want to talk to you anyway," Keo says. "Possibly without you in the room, Eights," she adds.

[lookingforwardtoit]

"All right," she says. "I'll go wander."

[alicornucopia]

"Think my name really hard if you need me," Keo says, and then she contacts her brother.

[lookingforwardtoit]

Eights goes wandering.

[alicornucopia]

Narax arrives a few degrees later.

"My wife," he says. "She died - almost a decade ago - and now I can supposedly just summon her?" he asks the admin. "And I'm supposed to cast a spell that one of Kanaat's students is inventing?"

[ending_of]

"It is possible to summon the dead from my domain," she says. "Kaylo is inventing a spell that will allow for permanent travel, as opposed to individual summons which I am given to understand die with the caster."

[alicornucopia]

"But inventing a spell like that would take weeks, if a half-trained wizard could do it at all - I could summon my wife right now?"

[ending_of]

"Yes."

[alicornucopia]

"Right, Keo, there's a circle in Kanaat's office?"

"Yes. Smudged, but you can use it."

Narax teleports away.

He is back less than a degree later.

"It didn't work," he says in a low almost-growl.

[ending_of]

"I am not familiar with your magic," says the admin. "But the most obvious explanation, if the spell correctly looked for her in my domain and failed to find her there, is that she is not dead."

[alicornucopia]

"She was murdered, I can't find her empathic signature, her friend crema-" Narax stops midsentence. "Oh, that bitch would have done it, wouldn't she, if she could, if she got the chance? But..."

"I don't know what to think, now," says Keo, shaking her head.

[ending_of]

"Who would have done what?"

[alicornucopia]

"Would have faked Samia's death to get her away from me. If everything had lined up for it."

[ending_of]

"This is usefully informative," the admin muses. "When I index the stored dead, I should provide a clear result if the person being sought is still alive."

[alicornucopia]

"Yeah. But - if she's alive she's incredibly damaged, somewhere," says Narax.

[ending_of]

"That is not a problem within my power to solve."

[alicornucopia]

"Right. Well, I'm going to be busy for a while, and Keo, when I find her -"

"Of course," says Keo.

Narax teleports away.

[ending_of]

[alicornucopia]

Meanwhile, in the library, Kaylo is FURIOUSLY INVENTING.

[lookingforwardtoit]

Eights wanders in.

...The FURIOUS INVENTION is kind of a spectacle.

[alicornucopia]

It kind of is!

He notices her when he's switching between reference volumes. "What?"

[lookingforwardtoit]

She doesn't speak the local language, but she can guess what he meant. "Sorry, it's just kind of amazing how intense you're getting with those books," she says, in... the same language the admin was speaking.

[alicornucopia]

"Well, while I get to do theoretically revolutionary things on a pretty regular basis this is special - where did you pick up this language?"

[lookingforwardtoit]

"It's my native language, actually, where did you?"