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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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Metis starts muttering the names of deities. Probably just in an exclamatory and not a magical manner.
Isabella returns with a couple of yards of silk. "I'd do the complicated tearing and tying, but I can't touch you, Kas doesn't know how, and Path doesn't have hands, and besides, you'll shift right out of it soon enough. Just wear it like a towel or a sari or whatever." She offers the fabric over the sugar barrier.
Isabella returns with a couple of yards of silk. "I'd do the complicated tearing and tying, but I can't touch you, Kas doesn't know how, and Path doesn't have hands, and besides, you'll shift right out of it soon enough. Just wear it like a towel or a sari or whatever." She offers the fabric over the sugar barrier.
Petaal takes it and, since she does not currently have any danger zones up top, wraps it around her waist.
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"Are there," Metis asks, "any mental differences associated with your changing sex? Witches in ambiguous or even outright male bodies exist, but in every case I know of this is associated with a feminine personality, or at most an admixture."
"Oh, huh," says Isabella. "It never actually occurred to me to wonder about witches having trans kids, either which way."
"The Newfoundland clan has an expert on the subject, if you'd care to send Pathalan to inquire about it at some time, or take time off to visit on your own," says Metis. "I myself know only what I've just said."
"Oh, huh," says Isabella. "It never actually occurred to me to wonder about witches having trans kids, either which way."
"The Newfoundland clan has an expert on the subject, if you'd care to send Pathalan to inquire about it at some time, or take time off to visit on your own," says Metis. "I myself know only what I've just said."
"Nah, it's no different," says Petaal. "I never really got why most daemons don't do it."
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"We can't, or at least some of us can't. I tried once," Pathalan volunteers from where he's sitting near the edge of the circle. "I even tried the lizard. Couldn't be one at all, just the nearby species."
"That's so weird," says Petaal. "It's just being a different shape."
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"That's what I said, but regardless he couldn't do it," shrugs Isabella.
"Have you ever been a witch before?" Metis asks.
"Have you ever been a witch before?" Metis asks.
"Nope!" says Petaal. "Didn't think of it, until we met her," with a nod to Isabella. "But I like it, I'm gonna do it lots."
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"May I see the sex change within witch form a few more times, and then human form to compare?" says Metis levelly.
"Sure," Petaal says agreeably. She cycles sexes as a witch a few times, adjusting the silk as necessary the first time she reacquires breasts, and then (briefly, shivering) becomes a human woman, then a human man. And then very quickly a tiger, for the nice warm fur.
All her human-ish forms resemble Kas to some degree, the male more than the female. Her hair as a woman of either kind is straighter; her hair as a witch, slightly darker; her skin as a witch slightly paler; her nose as a woman narrower. But all four of them look like they could be Kas's close sibling, the kind who are frequently mistaken for one another. Well, except that as a woman her body proportions are significantly changed.
All her human-ish forms resemble Kas to some degree, the male more than the female. Her hair as a woman of either kind is straighter; her hair as a witch, slightly darker; her skin as a witch slightly paler; her nose as a woman narrower. But all four of them look like they could be Kas's close sibling, the kind who are frequently mistaken for one another. Well, except that as a woman her body proportions are significantly changed.
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"Thank you," says Metis. "Now, before the water in the bucket freezes, some acquatic forms - cold-water-adapted are fine - Isabella, fetch some salt to add after we've finished with freshwater -"
And Metis goes on in a comparably exhaustive vein for some time, although her daemon comes and goes more than once. Isabella fetches various things and removes things that are no longer required. And, after several hours have been exhausted in the divination -
"Teacher. It's almost dusk."
Metis sits up. "Oh. Yes, if we don't want raw food tonight we'll need to address the firepit."
"Or pay the gas bill," says Isabella.
"Don't be cheeky, Isabella Amariah, get the sage and the vinegar."
And Metis goes on in a comparably exhaustive vein for some time, although her daemon comes and goes more than once. Isabella fetches various things and removes things that are no longer required. And, after several hours have been exhausted in the divination -
"Teacher. It's almost dusk."
Metis sits up. "Oh. Yes, if we don't want raw food tonight we'll need to address the firepit."
"Or pay the gas bill," says Isabella.
"Don't be cheeky, Isabella Amariah, get the sage and the vinegar."
Petaal turns into a small orange-and-green dragon and climbs up Kas's coat to perch on his shoulder.
"Can we come out now?" says Kas.
"Can we come out now?" says Kas.
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"Yes. Don't disturb the lines. I'm pleased with this circle and may want to use it again if it's not ruined by wind or rain tonight."
Isabella emerges from the house with a bag of sage and a bottle of vinegar, and a bowl and a dipping device. She starts mixing the ingredients, and then does her snow-swirl spell around the pit in the backyard to create a circle guide to follow. She also whispers something that thickens the vinegar mixture sufficiently to suspend the sage, and drip like the honey earlier in symbols.
"Neatly, Isabella Amariah!" calls Metis as she approaches the same location. "Is the mortal staying for dinner?"
"Hey, mortal, are you staying for dinner?" Isabella asks, slowing down and focusing harder on her designs. "Teacher - fire, control, circle, moderation - and - will?"
"Choice," corrects Metis. "And safety, not control. Choice will cover what control would have, and safety is what you meant there anyway."
"Yes, Teacher."
Isabella emerges from the house with a bag of sage and a bottle of vinegar, and a bowl and a dipping device. She starts mixing the ingredients, and then does her snow-swirl spell around the pit in the backyard to create a circle guide to follow. She also whispers something that thickens the vinegar mixture sufficiently to suspend the sage, and drip like the honey earlier in symbols.
"Neatly, Isabella Amariah!" calls Metis as she approaches the same location. "Is the mortal staying for dinner?"
"Hey, mortal, are you staying for dinner?" Isabella asks, slowing down and focusing harder on her designs. "Teacher - fire, control, circle, moderation - and - will?"
"Choice," corrects Metis. "And safety, not control. Choice will cover what control would have, and safety is what you meant there anyway."
"Yes, Teacher."
"Yeah, we'll stick around," says Kas, stepping carefully out of the circle and approaching the pit to watch Isabella draw things. "Be bigger, sweetie, it's cold out."
Petaal obligingly becomes a much larger dragon, and Kas sits down and leans on him.
Petaal obligingly becomes a much larger dragon, and Kas sits down and leans on him.
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"Fire, safety, circle, moderation, choice," says Isabella. "Proportions?"
"Circle you want only once - you never repeat circle," instructs Metis, taking up a pacing path around the firepit. "Can you tell me why?"
"It defines the border. If you don't have a defined border after drawing circle once, you aren't going to fix it by drawing another one; it's demarcation and not action," says Isabella.
"Everything else repeat until you come all the way around, but don't have more fires than safeties."
"Should I start with safety...?"
"No, just mind your spacing. Neatly, Isabella Amariah."
Isabella nods and starts marking out spaces for her runes in advance. When she's counted them and done the necessary arithmetic and then fudged the lines to add one more symbol, she starts drawing. "Did you guys have fun with the divination?" she asks Kas.
"Circle you want only once - you never repeat circle," instructs Metis, taking up a pacing path around the firepit. "Can you tell me why?"
"It defines the border. If you don't have a defined border after drawing circle once, you aren't going to fix it by drawing another one; it's demarcation and not action," says Isabella.
"Everything else repeat until you come all the way around, but don't have more fires than safeties."
"Should I start with safety...?"
"No, just mind your spacing. Neatly, Isabella Amariah."
Isabella nods and starts marking out spaces for her runes in advance. When she's counted them and done the necessary arithmetic and then fudged the lines to add one more symbol, she starts drawing. "Did you guys have fun with the divination?" she asks Kas.
"Mmhmm," says Kas. "Did you guys learn anything interesting?"
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"Some. I don't have as much practice looking at divinations as Teacher does but I certainly got more today. I wonder if it's anything like reading an alethiometer. Although our symbols are a lot more numerous and transparent to the reader."
"Well, what kind of stuff did they tell you?"
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"Well, I could tell what Petaal was turning into even when I wasn't in the room - not down to the species when it was all those kinds of sparrows, but close. And there was - sorry, I need to not talk about unrelated symbols while I'm trying to draw these, I'll wind up with an unnecessarily feminine firepit or something." Drizzle drizzle drizzle.
When Isabella's finished, Metis wants to perform the sacrifice immediately. It's not a rabbit, it's a turkey, of exactly the sort that would come from a grocery store. This one certainly did. Isabella has to cut it out of plastic packaging with a dagger that she produces from some inscrutable pocket in her silks. "Sacrifices have to be symbolic analogies, or meaningful losses, or just thematically relevant, and for a cooking appliance the last one is easiest," Isabella explains to Kas, as she tosses it into the pit.
She murmurs a fire spell - apparently that's what it is, anyway, it's not in English, but the turkey is incinerated promptly while Isabella and Metis join hands across the pit and peer down at it.
When Isabella's finished, Metis wants to perform the sacrifice immediately. It's not a rabbit, it's a turkey, of exactly the sort that would come from a grocery store. This one certainly did. Isabella has to cut it out of plastic packaging with a dagger that she produces from some inscrutable pocket in her silks. "Sacrifices have to be symbolic analogies, or meaningful losses, or just thematically relevant, and for a cooking appliance the last one is easiest," Isabella explains to Kas, as she tosses it into the pit.
She murmurs a fire spell - apparently that's what it is, anyway, it's not in English, but the turkey is incinerated promptly while Isabella and Metis join hands across the pit and peer down at it.
Kas grins. "That's awesome."
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Metis snaps her fingers in Isabella's direction. "Set up the rotisserie and roast the other turkey, thank you, I'm going to be reading until dinner's ready."
"Yes, Teacher," says Isabella. She picks up metal parts from nearby and starts arranging them over the pit. "Isn't it?" she says to Kas.
"Yes, Teacher," says Isabella. She picks up metal parts from nearby and starts arranging them over the pit. "Isn't it?" she says to Kas.
"It totally is!" he says happily. "Can you talk about the other thing again now?"
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"Oh, right. So there was practically a paragraph of symbols about gender, and we don't have enough symbols that it could be terribly clear either. It reported on the physical stuff, especially when Petaal was switching, but it was confused about the non-physical part. Do you know what's up with that?"
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"Uh, I don't remember exactly. I would have taken notes but Metis disapproves of that during spells, she thinks they distract from the pure energies of magic. Something like... and these are just the English names of the symbols, not their deep and accurate contents especially when I say 'parenthesis' - "masculine feminine parenthesis false choice parenthesis parenthesis yes no parenthesis sometimes masculine sometimes feminine always set-apart-specified-thing" - like that." Isabella finishes setting up the rotisserie and runs indoors to grab another turkey. She cuts the package open, tucks her dagger away again, and spears it on the spinning-rod-part. "Set-apart-specified-thing, by the way - that symbol just refers back to whatever the spell is about, in this case you and Petaal."