"Okay. I'm tentatively willing to teach you. I'll let you know when I've done enough interviews to see if it's worth doing a class or just individual teaching."

"Okay."

"Congratulations, then."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

And then she and Odette leave.

They go back to Tapa.

So I ended up agreeing to teach some clean Amentans magic conditional on them convincing me they weren't interested in using it to make reds' lives uh, obsolete, do you want me to come over very discreetly and see if I can teach you now? she asks Peka.

Reaaaaaally discreet.

We can be invisible and inaudible and stuff.

I'll go sit outside so the door has a reason to open and close when I go back in.

Okay. Uh, I don't think I know where you live.

Peka produces a map. There's no detail in the red district, but: I'll be outside.

Okay. See you soon!

A little while later an unseen hand taps her on the shoulder.

Peka hoists Katin up into a convenient carrying position and waves at somebody across the street and goes inside her house. It's a rowhouse, not like the apartments that dominate the district.

Invisible mages follow her inside.

And they can go up to Peka's room.

Where mages re-visible!

"Hi!"

"I'm Ode--I mean, Otet. Aww, she's even cuter in person!"

"Hi! Do you wanna hold her?"

"I would love to."

Otet is given a baby. The baby says "wap."

Otet is spellbound. "Hi, Katin," she coos. "Aren't you the cleverest baby? Aren't you the cutest?"

"Pah," says Katin.

"Lookit you! Best baby."

"...I could fix it so you could feed her, if you want."

"You could? That would be great."

"Okay."

She lays a hand on Peka's shoulder. The affected area feels a little odd for a little while, and then it stops and she takes her hand away and says, "all fixed."