"There was some trouble just recently when Sarion joined the peal that could've been avoided if they'd asked me to take a look before anyone started wishing."

"I guess they were in some kind of hurry? I wouldn't describe Be- Glass - as patient."

"They were in a lot of a hurry! It was a very... tense situation," he says. "And emotionally and magically complicated. But it turned out okay in the end."

"That's good then!"

"Yes!"

"So..." Kanim waves vaguely around. "I know what Fire-flower Meadow feels like, because I attended both Bella's weddings, and I know that this isn't it, but I know almost nothing else, what can you tell me about what's going on here?"

"It's a Bellparty," he says. "There are some wishes up, like the nametags and the orgy chambers. Various attendees are also magical - about half the Jokers, about half the Bells, more if you include anyone who's been minted and enchantified. All the Bells and Jokers have enchanter's auras now; I don't think anyone else does. There's ingots from Eos and witches from Aurum. Which parts do you want explained?"

"Well," says Kanim, "I think Glass will explain to me any new powers she brings home with her, so stuff she's likely to not bring home with her is I guess more important - for instance, that looks sort of like a dragon but feels nothing like one, that looks like a weirdly-colored unicorn but feels nothing like one..."

"The dragon and the unicorn are from Thilanushinyel. That's what dragons and unicorns are like there," he says. "Liselen - that's the unicorn - gets very excited about coming to parties like this because until recently he was subject to the usual restrictions for the species about only coming in contact with virgins. The dragon is attached to the very red person with wings and a tail who I swear I saw out here a minute ago. They belong to the Joker template."

"So the virgin thing isn't a myth, there... Attached to - huh, so that's what - and - that Bell with the pointed ears over there, similar attachment?"

"Yes. The demon and the dragon spent about ten thousand years together like that, and then they met Sarion. That's what dragons do in that world; they attach to people."

"Dragons here do not do that. And unicorns here don't really have a thing with virgins, but it's a common myth."

"Interesting," says Lazarus. "But you don't have demons?"

"No. Should we?"

"Most worlds don't seem to. But most worlds don't have dragons, unicorns, or elves, either, and Thilanushinyel does."

"Elves? I don't see any of those. We have them, though."

"Sarion is an elf of the Thilanushinyel variety."

"Are your elves shorter? Has anyone named this world?" he wonders.

"Uh, no, it is without a name. Adult elves range from yea big to yea big," says Kanim, hovering a hand at about knee height and the other just below his ribs. "Depending on the sort. They do have pointed ears, but there are also some proportional differences and facial structure things that Sarion doesn't have."

"Someone should remind Glass to name it, then, if she hasn't already."

"All the Bells name their worlds as well as themselves, then?"

"Thilanushinyel had one already, I believe. I think the rest are Bell-sourced."

"I'm starting to follow this general undercurrent of 'wait, there is a queen and it is not Glass?' I'm detecting from my eavesdropping."

"The fact that there is a queen who is not Glass is mildly unusual," says Lazarus. "But I'm not sure why it deserves all this attention. Stella didn't overthrow the President."