+Fucked if I know!+ he laughs.

+Have any of them got life on them at all, or are they managing to have oxygen atmospheres without?+

+Nothing you could see without a microscope, mostly. I think I remember some algae somewhere.+

+Algae'll do it. Were the sand colors all mixed together or separate?+

+Mixed together, mostly. I think there was, like, a big streak of green off in the distance.+

+Sounds pretty. Maybe I'll bring a camera.+

He giggles.

The rest of the school day proceeds uneventfully. Bella still sits out of gym, stretching and doing simple yoga poses on her mat in the corner. +If only moving around on the ground were as straightforward as flying.+

+It's not?+

+No, I'm pretty lousy at, like, walking. Running is worse, running and trying to do anything else basically impossible, that's why I'm over here while everybody else plays volleyball, I would die.+

+Wonder if there's a spell for that,+ he says musingly.

+Good question. I should see about inventing one. Trouble is I don't actually know what's wrong with me, it seems to be a case of the "just super clumsy".+

+Well, so a healing spell might not fix it, but... I dunno... something that makes walking more like flying, I feel like there's room for experimentation there. Maybe we can try it when we go hang out on the sand planet.+

+Sure. Just half an hour to go.+ Stretch-arch-hold-breathe. +I won't miss yoga, it's boring.+

+What even is it, I am hazy on some of the things you bio-people do with your bodies,+ snorts Brilliance.

+It's this family of postures and exercises you're supposed to combine with mindful breathing to accomplish - something. Flexibility, I guess, though there's a lot of spiritual woo wrapped up in it too.+

+That does sound boring. But then, maybe breathing is more exciting when you have to do it all the time.+

+No. No it is not.+

Brilliance cracks up.

+Like, there is a reason we are wired to ignore it unless there's something unusual going on. There is a reason we can do it in our sleep.+

Yep, still snickering.

+So you're not even biological enough to breathe when you're dude-shaped?+

+I can breathe, I'm pretty sure I can even eat food, but it took me a while to figure out that humans don't just do it when they need the air for something. Or - you know what I mean. And I'm not totally sure I get the point of eating.+

+You're pretty sure you can eat food, you haven't tried it? 'Cause unlike breathing that one has recreational applications.+

+Yeah, never really got the chance,+ he says. +Maybe I should take Dude Form for a test-drive sometime soon.+