"That sounds like it kinda sucks," he says. "'Was' because... they're all cured now?"

"Yeah, all of 'em. It's especially good for the babies, because if they didn't fly it hurt them, but they can't learn to shapeshift until they're twenty."

"No wonder somebody was wishing to fix it."

"Yeah, I guess that's how. How does the magic work exactly?"

"You wish or pray for something, and maybe you get it. Or maybe you don't. Or maybe you get it and a half a ton of jelly beans as a bonus. People have tried to figure out why some prayers are answered and some aren't, but so far all we know is that prayers mostly get answered for a few hours at a time and then nothing for the rest of the day. But sometimes there's stray ones. Really obvious stray ones, too, half-ton-of-jellybeans obvious, not just 'I wished I'd win this race and then I did'. Oh, and it matters who you're praying to. Probably. Sort of. Nobody's sure how. Praying to 'whatever does the magic' definitely works as much as anything ever does, though, so it's not that important to figure out the details."

"That's weird."

"You think?" he says, grinning.

"Yeah. So - entrance hall! - what do you need?" The lift trundles towards the entrance hall.

"...Things? I dunno. What do people usually bring to their dorm rooms that isn't already there?"

"Sheets and toiletries and books and stuff."

"Sheets do sound useful," he concedes. "Sheets and toiletries. And maybe some stuff."

"Okay. Oh, and clothes, I guess."

"Clothes! Clothes totally qualify as stuff."

"Yeah. Okay, I know places to get the basics, at least."

"...Oh, and shoes," he adds, looking down at his bare feet. "Shoes would be nice."

"...Oh, yikes, I didn't even notice. I dooooon't think I can carry you into town shifting or no shifting. I could maybe try to find a pair to borrow that would fit you long enough to get into town?"

He shrugs. "It's not that big a deal. If you know somebody you think would lend me shoes, though, then sure."

Korulen squints at his feet. "I mean, the roads are generally pretty clear, but it's kind of a long walk. I don't usually pay that much attention to how big people's feet are... I guess I can try Min, and Lutan's boyfriend, and Kaylo, and after that I'm kinda out of ideas, my dad definitely has bigger feet than you and I think Daanten has smaller."

"Okay," he says cheerfully.

...Teah giggles. "How many miraculous surprises have there been?"

"I don't know. There are the big sweeping ones, those I doubt the reporters missed any, but people are reporting little things too and some people could have easily kept their mouths shut about extras."

"What kinds of little things? Because I'm pretty sure this is my world's magic doing its thing, and I could tell you what sounds like its style."

"Kinda her fault," he says, indicating Korulen with a gesture. "Not sure about the 'how I got here' part, I was asleep for the getting here and half-asleep for the explanation, but from what I've been hearing all the sudden weird magic stuff sounds like it'd fit right in back home. Basically: if you wish or pray for something, sometimes you get it, but nobody's sure exactly why you do or don't, except that there's periods of time when it works and then it doesn't and then it does again, usually pieces of a day. And you don't always get exactly what you were asking for, but you usually get something that more or less covers it, or at least helps, sometimes with weird extras but they're nice weird extras or at worst inconveniently silly. A lot of the time there's candy. There's some old stories that say if you ask for something really nasty you could end up with donkey ears or food screaming every time you eat it or something, but I haven't heard of that actually happening to anybody for sure in the last, like, fifty years."