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It's winter, and all is well with the tribe. Their new magic, an ability to make portals from one place to another, which was found by one of their members during the early-summer trip to meet with the other tribes in the area, let them both build up a decadent food stockpile and move to a much deeper part of the cave system without the worry of being unable to find their way back out. No-one has had to go hungry, and even the fiercest ice storm doesn't reach them; they are as content as kobolds can be.
Well, aside from their new mage, that is. She's bored, and curious. Making portals to known places is straightforward enough, with the magic she found, but that's far from the limit of what it can do... so one day, she slips away, portals off to a different cave system - one can't be too careful, after all - and experiments.
Temperature roughly the same... gravity roughly the same... air the same, not into stone or underwater or in a volcano or on top of a mountain... but, instead of patterning it after a place she knows, what happens if she only specifies those things, and lets the innate patterns of the spot she's casting on do the rest? Particularly this one part, which seems to specify the world...
She finishes the spell, and hesitates for just a moment before activating it.
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lurkingkobold
calescent
She pulls the paper aside and the rock thunks really hard into the grass. "That could have some interesting applications for, say, fountains, if I ever run out of more practical things to do," she says.
...She does not really like having this piece of paper threatening her life if anything happens to it which doesn't happen to destroy it, though. "Do I have to break it any particular way or can I just burn it?"
...She does not really like having this piece of paper threatening her life if anything happens to it which doesn't happen to destroy it, though. "Do I have to break it any particular way or can I just burn it?"
lurkingkobold
Burning it is fine. Ripping it into two pieces would also work.
(That would be neat to do to some water. Maybe she'll try it when she gets back home.)
(That would be neat to do to some water. Maybe she'll try it when she gets back home.)
calescent
The paper is near-instantly incinerated in Kiri's hand.
"Dinner, then one more, then bedtime?"
"Dinner, then one more, then bedtime?"
lurkingkobold
Hmmm.
Yeah, she can spend the night, and then presumably stick around for a while tomorrow - her tribe was doing fine when she checked in a couple days ago, they should be all right for another day.
Yeah, she can spend the night, and then presumably stick around for a while tomorrow - her tribe was doing fine when she checked in a couple days ago, they should be all right for another day.
calescent
"Thanks. I'm glad I can do magic but it's a little scary knowing that if I do it wrong enough I will die, so. Do you want to eat in the dining room? This would involve telling the people who work for me that you're here, but they will behave."
lurkingkobold
Yeah. She'll see if she can get her tribe's other mage to teach her the usual training spell - its miscasts are usually 'obnoxious glowing', much less risky than teleportation might be - before she comes back to do the big portals.
Eating in the dining room sounds nice, but she won't mind it if Kiri wants to keep her as much of a secret as possible still.
Eating in the dining room sounds nice, but she won't mind it if Kiri wants to keep her as much of a secret as possible still.
calescent
"No, it's okay, you're not much of a secret anymore and it's already been a little difficult trying to keep you away from the staff. I'll go explain you to them."
lurkingkobold
Okay.
The kobold follows Kiri inside, and goes to lurk someplace comfortable while she waits.
The kobold follows Kiri inside, and goes to lurk someplace comfortable while she waits.
calescent
And Kiri tells the cook and the maid that she has a guest who is from very far away and not a human but has been teaching Kiri foreign magic. And no, she does not have a name but may be called "the kobold" because she is a kobold. And here she is and isn't she cute? And she will be joining us for dinner.
The cook and the maid are very professional about all this, if not entirely at ease.
The cook and the maid are very professional about all this, if not entirely at ease.
calescent
She is very cute.
And she receives dinner with everyone else.
And she receives dinner with everyone else.
spinnaker
This is also the first time the kobold has met Kiri's little brother. "Hi! I'm Jayce. Kiri mentioned you but she didn't say you were so fuzzy."
lurkingkobold
She grins and nods. "Spring: new fur, new plants, new small kobolds," she indicates the size of a hatchling kobold - much smaller than a cat, closer to a guinea pig - "very awww."
lurkingkobold
She grins a little wider, and then has an idea.
One twine-portal later, she has a little stone statue of a hatching kobold, about half life-size, to pass around.
One twine-portal later, she has a little stone statue of a hatching kobold, about half life-size, to pass around.
calescent
Ardelay siblings admire the sculpture - Kiri clarifies the scale - and then pass it back.
lurkingkobold
And back it goes through the portal. A startled 'eep' comes through from the other side, and the kobold looks briefly guilty and closes it.
calescent
"She knows who it was, they'll be fine," Kiri relays to her brothers.
lurkingkobold
Kobolds' awareness of each other doesn't really condense down to a single easily-defined thing, and certainly not a name. That particular one, the kobold knows as one of the more easygoing and jovial in the tribe; often hunts, often looks after others' children, sometimes acts as a wet nurse, is one of the better hunting teachers. Likes music and sweet food; tends to sleep late; always makes a point of looking for something pretty to bring back to the tribe when they go on a hunting expedition. Prefers high-up hiding places for the hiding-and-finding game. Has an egg, this year, which is probably why they were near the egg supplies. Not a friend, exactly, but certainly an ally, someone the kobold trusts.
calescent
"They don't exactly have names to identify each other with and they're not a close friend or relative, just a tribemate, but they have an egg this year and were near the egg-related objects," Kiri reports. "...No, Aleko, they do not polish their eggs, they carry them around and use slings and insulation to keep them warm and safe."