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The following morning, Bell hears what sounds like a fire alarm. It's not in their building - it's at least a block away. From her window, she can clearly see the house that's caught, near the train station, and just as clearly see that there isn't any bucket brigade handling it yet.
She seizes her wand from the nightstand and assumes control over the fire; if there's anyone in the unburnt part of the house they'll be able to get out. "SHERLOCK! TONY!" she calls.
Bell wants a second opinion before she snakes this fire down the corner of the house and over the grass to destroy the train station.
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she_sells_seashells
"Yeah. And magical artifacts don't glom magic onto people, so that's perfectly safe. Is there any other object-type stuff you might want?"
she_sells_seashells
Bell thinks.
"Water can also be a problem. What we have is only modestly sanitary and could be cut off. It doesn't sound like you'd be too willing to make us weapons, but what about shields? So that they can't blow us up, or send tracker-jackers into town at night, or whatever."
"Water can also be a problem. What we have is only modestly sanitary and could be cut off. It doesn't sound like you'd be too willing to make us weapons, but what about shields? So that they can't blow us up, or send tracker-jackers into town at night, or whatever."
"I can make you unicorns!" she says. "They're not in the official manual yet; one of my grad students came up with them."
She doesn't snap her fingers this time; she makes a circle in the air with her hands and then brings them away sharply. A small pearly figurine appears: a unicorn, one hoof raised, bending its head so the blunt point of its horn is on a level with the other three.
"If you put it in water, or even something that's mostly water, it purifies it and then makes more."
She doesn't snap her fingers this time; she makes a circle in the air with her hands and then brings them away sharply. A small pearly figurine appears: a unicorn, one hoof raised, bending its head so the blunt point of its horn is on a level with the other three.
"If you put it in water, or even something that's mostly water, it purifies it and then makes more."
dark_light
"Why is it a unicorn?" asks Isabella quizzically. "I mean, does it have to be, or could you make it a little sphere or a cup or something?"
"It's easier to invent artifacts that do complicated things if their form has a symbolic resonance that the person making them will understand," she explains. "Hence, unicorns for water purification. And when I make you cornucopias, they'll probably be little golden... cornucopias."
she_sells_seashells
"It is," agrees Bell, wiping tears off her face. "So shields would look like... shields? Or more like our protection amulets?"
"That depends what kind of shield, I think," she says. An absent wave of her hand sends the unicorn drifting Bellward. "And I want to get the cornucopias working for sure before I start on shields."
When she gets back, Matilda has another small decorative statue for her: a golden cornucopia, as promised. She hands it over.
"Name a food," she says. "Something you want to eat, and not too complicated or specific."
"Name a food," she says. "Something you want to eat, and not too complicated or specific."
An apple appears, hovering in the air in front of her.
she_sells_seashells
Bell snatches it out of the air as though afraid it'll fall, and then bites into it. "It's good," she says, more happily than she was a moment ago.
"I made sure it'll only make things that the person doing the summoning can safely and enjoyably eat," she says.
she_sells_seashells
"So if Isabella asked it for belladonna it wouldn't work," Bell says.
"Correct," she says. "It probably wouldn't do dried apple peel, either."
she_sells_seashells
"But it's not for spell components, it's for food. And it does food. Thank you," says Bell sincerely.
"You're welcome!" says Matilda.
she_sells_seashells
"I think I'm composed enough to go set up a Belltower, now," Bell says to Isabella. "Let's go get some keys. And see what furniture we have to start out. Tony, do we get a furniture budget too, in exchange for whatever Isabella wound up doing for your cooling system?"
toblameforit
"Sure," he says. "I mean, don't start installing diamond chandeliers, but I'll cover some furniture and general prettying-up."
she_sells_seashells
"If we want a shiny chandelier we'll buy a bucket of ice and have Isabella cast at it," says Bell, smirking slightly.
she_sells_seashells
They each collect a key to "a room of suitable size" and the room number from Bar, and head for the stairs.