"There's a bunch of theories. I don't find any of them creditable except the idea that goddesses won't listen to anybody else. And that's only because I can't figure out how to ask Evisa Annakara and get a reply. I don't think it can just be genetics. If a witch's son has a kid with a non-witch woman all of whose male ancestors were also witches' sons, they will not have any witch children even if they have a dozen baby girls. Their kids won't even live to be 200 or be able to do tiny verse charms."

"Huh," says Kas. "Is that weird?"

"Weird as genetics goes, as far as I know, but I've been out of regular school and studying magic full time since I was fifteen, and haven't made it a side project of mine, so I'm not fully educated on that."

"Funny," he says with a grin, "I've been out of school since I was fifteen, too."

"And what do you do with your copious free time since then?"

"Stuff," he says vaguely.

"Such as?"

"I was a stripper for a while," he offers.

Isabella is confronted by an unexpected mental image and giggles. "Sorry. I don't mean to be rude," she says.

"It's cool," he says, laughing. "Why, is that funny?"

"Just unexpected." She finishes her soup. "I went to school with humans for ten years, I know strippers exist, it's just an odd concept. Witches don't even have a nudity taboo. In clan enclaves the silks only go on when convenient. It isn't as though we get cold."

"Huh," he says. "Are hookers weird too, or do you get those?"

"I don't personally know of any witches who choose to be prostitutes, but someone might have taken it up at some point," Isabella says. "I'm not sure how prevalent hiring them is but I suppose it's probably not literally nil; there are a lot of witches in the world. The concept is less bizarre, at least."

"It's bizarre that you think stripping is bizarre," he informs her with a grin.

"Well, I mean, taking off one's clothes is a perfectly ordinary activity that most people do at least once a day. I wouldn't trade - pay - to watch someone eat cereal, or fetch the newspaper, or drive to the mall, and if I heard that there was a thriving industry around doing those things for an audience - just that, without it being part of a musical or a TV show or something - then I would be confused. It's like that."

"...You've never been to a strip club, have you," he says, amused.

"No. Why? Is there singing?"

"Well, there's music. And it's not just taking off your clothes. There's whole art to it. Well, depending where you go, I guess."

"Fair enough. I could easily be missing something. So now it's like discovering that there's a form of performance art where people dance to music and eat cereal, and this is highly skilled work because otherwise they'd spill their milk, and lots of people feel motivated to watch cereal-eating dancers in particular instead of going to see Cats."

"...Do witches also not believe in sexy clothes? 'Cause in that case, you are missing out."

"We just wear this kind of thing," she says gesturing at the silks tied around her person and knotted to each other. "We're not big on owning stuff. There's a bolt of black silk in the house, so I won't be trapped in the house unable to go out without getting arrested if I accidentally set them on fire while I'm doing a ritual with flames. It'd take about five minutes to tear and tie another set. Maybe ten."

"No, I mean sexy clothes on other people," he says. "The possibility of clothes being sexy. No?"

Isabella thinks. "If it is, it's not given a lot of emphasis. The witches who've been married talk about falling in love with men who were brave or talented or powerful. The witches who prefer to see women tend to just date each other and avoid the mess of falling for mortals. I've heard 'I knew I wanted him when I saw his beautiful eyes' but not 'I knew I wanted him when I saw his sharp outfit'."

"...Okay, you've been to high school, right?" he says. "Ever get the hots for somebody there?"

"Not especially."