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Isabella doesn't really want to own as many things as a human. She likes the simple wardrobe, the one glorious vehicle that carries her under the stars, the rental house. Hair can do without shampoo as long as it's not accustomed to the stuff; no one really needs to own a copy of Monopoly; she sleeps comfortably in a hammock instead of having to come up with the hundreds of dollars for a mattress (let alone a frame).
She sometimes wishes she had her own computer.
She has a phone, which Charlie insists she carry with her, so that's all right and no one's going to call her unwitchly for indulging a beloved mortal. It will do simple web browsing. When she wants to do less simple web browsing, she goes to the library.
So here she is, in the Rockland Public Library, looking up alethiometers.
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Zoom!
Isabella can fly like a madwoman when she wants to. She does not, in fact, go upside-down on the sole strength of the bayleaves and two-line verse, as if he falls from a less precarious position he'll at least have a decent chance of landing on something nonessential, but she does swoop and dive and bank and go fast. Pathalan describes even more outrageous patterns in the sky, nearby.
Isabella can fly like a madwoman when she wants to. She does not, in fact, go upside-down on the sole strength of the bayleaves and two-line verse, as if he falls from a less precarious position he'll at least have a decent chance of landing on something nonessential, but she does swoop and dive and bank and go fast. Pathalan describes even more outrageous patterns in the sky, nearby.
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"That's fine," says Isabella carelessly, finishing her climb to an altitude at which she still expects him to be able to breathe and plummeting. She rises again at the bottom of the dive hard enough to press them both into the cloud-pine with the force of the direction change.
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After half an hour of continuous, half-sane flight, Isabella lands near Metis's circle and dismounts.
Permission having been granted, Kas does indeed hug her.
"That was really awesome," he says. "Thanks."
"That was really awesome," he says. "Thanks."
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Isabella hugs him back comfortably, then peers at the symbols that form the circle with academic fascination. "Sugar?" she asks Metis.
"Right in one," says Metis. "Kas and Petaal, in, if you would, don't disturb the lines."
"Right in one," says Metis. "Kas and Petaal, in, if you would, don't disturb the lines."
Kas steps carefully into the circle. Petaal zooms out of his hood and becomes a maned lioness to lounge on the ground in the middle; Kas sits down and leans against her, burying his hands in her nice warm mane.
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"Mm," says Metis. "Isabella Amariah, do you want to patch in?"
"Yes please, Teacher," and after a pause in which Metis performs no visible actions at all, she adds, "Thank you, Teacher."
Metis paces around the circle, hmming to herself. Isabella sits on the ground and closes her eyes. Eventually Metis says, "Smallest form she commonly takes?"
"Yes please, Teacher," and after a pause in which Metis performs no visible actions at all, she adds, "Thank you, Teacher."
Metis paces around the circle, hmming to herself. Isabella sits on the ground and closes her eyes. Eventually Metis says, "Smallest form she commonly takes?"
Petaal hops out of Kas's hood and cycles through more forms. Tiger; maned lioness again, then a male lion; horse; grizzly bear.
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Metis startles when she becomes a he. She'd been aware only of the late unsettledness and not of the sex-changing. "Let's see the same species, your choice, cycle between sexes a few times? Not too fast?" she says, recovering quickly.
Isabella, still sitting with her eyes closed and presumably observing via spell, smiles.
Isabella, still sitting with her eyes closed and presumably observing via spell, smiles.
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"Isabella Amariah, fetch a bucket of water," says Metis. "Can you become a New Mexico whiptail lizard?"
Isabella gets up to get what was requested.
Isabella gets up to get what was requested.
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"Have you ever been or heard any information about that species before?"
Isabella reappears with the water.
Isabella reappears with the water.
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Metis doesn't bother informing them of the answer to this question. "Please take the water from Isabella Amariah and set it down inside the circle."
Isabella holds it over the sugar lines of the divination.
Isabella holds it over the sugar lines of the divination.
Petaal decides he wants to be the one to do that.
The form best fitting the intersection of 'has hands' and 'won't mind the cold so much' is witch.
So she turns into one of those, and takes the bucket.
The form best fitting the intersection of 'has hands' and 'won't mind the cold so much' is witch.
So she turns into one of those, and takes the bucket.