Golden gives her a little bracelet of glowing golden squares and triangles. "Wishcoins," she says. "These are small ones. A square will conjure a non-magical object. Triangles do smaller things. Flick lightswitches without having to get up and so on."

"Ooh, shiny."

"I'm glad you like them."

Mine look like this, Elspeth adds, with illustration, but don't let on, it upsets Jake.

Chris raises an eyebrow at Elspeth.

Wolves get extremely protective of their imprints, and wishcoins are made out of pain. Not much, for little ones, but enough to bother him. Oh, this is my witchcraft - you can answer [like this.]

[Magical,] says Chris.

Yes, very!

"Good," says Bella. "It is 2031 and none of us dabble in time travel, so if you wished to go back to something more familiar it would be inconvenient to arrange."

She snorts.

"Perhaps you'd also like a summary of the last hundred years or so," suggests Bella. "Edward will do better at that than me; I don't have even half a century under my belt yet. Although Elspeth could manage it."

"With pictures and sound, and from multiple perspectives," agrees Elspeth.

"Ooh, pictures."

Elspeth laughs, and launches into a comprehensive illustrated history of everything that has gone on of importance since Chris died. She is much faster than Edward, since she goes on being comprehensible even if she talks a little faster than her audience could normally track.

It is fascinating! Chris is fascinated. Best great-niece.

Elspeth is the best and all her relatives should be glad to have her.

Someone should give her a cookie.

Elspeth can in fact eat cookies! She can even keep talking while eating them without violating any commonly accepted etiquette guidelines. Is someone going to give her a cookie?

Yes.

Elspeth noms the cookie.

Elspeth is an adorable granddaughter.

Presently she is an adorable granddaughter who has finished summarizing. "Those are the highlights. There's always more detail to be had, of course."

"Whew," says Chris. "Okay. Now, do us dead people have anywhere to live, or do I have to sleep in the creepy empty room?"

"There are spare quarters for people with humanlike needs in the wolf village," laughs Elspeth, "we can show you."