does not anymore work

[campanas]

Here, in a place where she is quite an unexpected sight, is:

an eight year old girl with brown-flecked white wings, looking dismayed and lost.

with Prime (Aestrix)

with Edie and Emily (Maggie)

with Gloria (Maggie)

with Gren (Rockeye)

Comments

[jovahs_heiress]

"Anyway, assuming you want to let us our plan would be to have another Bell who can see some particularly useful things over to look at you, to make sure the world is Jane-compatible; send a Janegem there either with you or with one of our husbands' alts; scan the world for alts of ourselves and people we know; if there's a Bell, hand her copies of all our copiable magic and leave it to her; dispatch a Bell if you don't have one, which is unspecified, to lay down basic protections like forbidding earthquakes and in your case also deal with the Neuroi unless they're staggeringly intractable; see if we can copy your magic and distribute it to interested and trusted parties; and then put you back in the queue for more thorough upgrades when some Bell can be parted from her world long enough. Although you'll be able to contact us through Jane for spot assistance if something comes up."

[witchwatcher]

"I can't go home for a few hours. Teleporting to specific people takes extra mana, and across worlds apparently takes even more extra mana. Unless you fix that or something."

[jovahs_heiress]

"Well, I can try, if you like."

[witchwatcher]

"I would like. We don't have a good idea what mana actually is, all we know is that Witches power our magic with something our bodies generate slowly. We can feel how much we have, sorta. Using too much at once knocks us flat for a few minutes, and using too much in one day makes us unable to do further magic, but doesn't necessarily impair us physically. We generate less mana as we get older, which is no longer a problem for me at least."

[jovahs_heiress]

"Hmm, sounds complicated enough that just in case I should wait for Glass; she can either do it or call Lazarus, who's particularly good at seeing magic."

[witchwatcher]

"I have no objections," Lytee says.

"What's that communication magic that keeps flaring a bit? I can barely pick it out among all the - rest, but it could be really useful, telegraphs can't cross oceans or anything."

[jovahs_heiress]

[Brainphone. On the house.]

[witchwatcher]

She startles a bit. [No mana cost, unlike Chatterbox's special. Can I give it to other people?]

[jovahs_heiress]

[The option's available but not default.]

[beheld_beauty]

Rose reappears with a young-looking man in rather enchantery looking robes. "This is my apprentice, Luc. He heard I was doing magic and came to visit and became my student and he doesn't go around under any wards particularly likely to interfere with your lie detection."

"Hello," says Luc.

[witchwatcher]

"Hullo, Luc. Sorry to pull you away from whatever you were doing. In your opinion, are Belle and her counterparts people we want in our world?"

[beheld_beauty]

"I should say so," says Luc. "They're tireless, consummate altruists."

[witchwatcher]

Gren stars at Lytee for a bit. "True."

"It could be an elaborate trick," Lytee says, "But that doesn't actually make sense, they would have just come through with Pen. Thank you for indulging me. Trust but verify and all that. I'll be glad to put you and Jane in our world. Speaking of which, would you mind letting me explore some of your worlds a bit after all this is cleared up? New places are fascinating."

[beheld_beauty]

"Some worlds are dangerous, and others are not open for any but the most discreet tourism for information security reasons, but the remainder can be visited by well-intentioned people. If you're done with Luc, I can put him back?"

[witchwatcher]

"Of course."

[beheld_beauty]

Pop. Pop.

[witchwatcher]

"How many of you are there? At least three so far, and Pen said there were at least ninety-two worlds..."

[beheld_beauty]

"Most worlds don't have Bells. Most worlds on that list we just inherited when we took over our afterlife, and we discover new ones periodically - our current typical discovery mechanism yields Bells more often than not because we have a way to funnel new Bells in our direction that doesn't bother with anyone else. There are sixteen of us in contact right now."

[witchwatcher]

"And you're all probably just a few steps away from being benevolent gods. The multiverse doesn't know what's gonna hit it."

[jovahs_heiress]

"The question of whether we're gods or not depends a lot on what kind of distinction you're using the word to draw. I assumed control of an entity that most people on my planet worship and I think I'm doing a better job with the position."

[beheld_beauty]

"And the question of what the multiverse may or may not know is still above our pay grade. Glass - who will be finished playing cards with her children in a moment - is our best peek."

[witchwatcher]

"You're all carrying ridiculous amounts of power. That's sufficiently deific to count to me, even if you can't do literally anything. I'm not gonna ask to be an equal, but I kinda want an aura - how hard would it be to convince you I won't abuse the piece of your magic collection that gave you that?"

"I second the sentiment," Lytee comments.

[beheld_beauty]

"Enchanting, which is actually native to this world, is one of our more versatile forms of shareable magic. It can substitute for our default utility magic in a pinch - and I use it preferentially because I had it first, and so does one other Bell. Using the upper levels of its power, however, requires unusual personnel assistance, intense powers of concentration, a magical upgrade, or unethical behavior. And you have to do a lot of enchanting to get an aura. We have a shortcut for auras, which incidentally doesn't require very much skill either, but then you'd still have the ability to enchant in non-aura ways. And torching means you could survive a lot of untutored trial and error."

[witchwatcher]

"...You're talking about the pain? Yes, that's a significant limitation. I do suspect I'll be unusually good at learning magic - my special ability is to copy the stuff. I can't grab any of yours yet, it's too different from what Witches have, but I can understand it some."

[thaumobabble]

A new Bell appears.