The girls immediately start chattering to each other in an unrecognizable language. They seem like they might be concerned for his welfare. The older of the two, who has improbably long and pointed ears, goes for a book on a nearby desk.

"...Evidently yes," he says, blinking at the pair of them. "Hello. Where am I?"

"Thank you. Next question: how did I get here?"

"We summoned you," says Saasnil. "It's only for a little while, we need to show you to Nemaar and then we can send you back."

"...And why," he inquires, "do you need to show me to Nemaar?"

"He was making fun of her," says Korulen, putting her book down. "Specifically suggesting that she wouldn't be able to do what we just managed."

"Well," he says, tucking the block of wood into a coat pocket and sitting up straighter on the floor. "Congratulations, I suppose. But in the future, I suggest that before setting out to prove you can do something, you first question whether or not you should."

"How long is a degree?"

"Twenty-five ticks," says Saasnil.

"Thank you," he says, and he stands up to get a better look at the display. "That's interesting. How does it work?"

"Angle," says Korulen.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Nemaar will be out of class pretty soon and then one of us can go get him," she adds.

"Very well. Accepting the premise that I am not going to be let out of the circle, is there any chance of passing one of those chairs in?"

Korulen shakes her head. "We could send you stuff, but not pass things physically through the ward in either direction apart from air. And sending you stuff would mean drawing another diagram and it'd take longer than you're even going to be here."

"I'm Saasnil, by the way, and that's Korulen," says the human.

"Ekador," he says, looking up at her when she speaks. "Not entirely pleased to meet you, under the circumstances."

"Sorry," says Korulen sheepishly.

"Y-you can't co-cast a reversal," stammers Korulen. "And neither of us has the CC for this spell by ourselves.'

"Which I presume," says Ekador, "means that I will be stuck here for rather longer than two degrees?"

"Perhaps," Ekador suggests dryly, "you will find it a valuable lesson in considering the possible consequences of your actions before taking them."

"At what stage in this process will I be able to sit down on something other than the floor?"

"That probably depends on whether Mom clears you to leave the circle or not. You're not going to murder us, are you?" Korulen asks dubiously.

"I am not going to murder you," he assures her.

Ekador observes their conversation.

There doesn't seem to be much value in hurrying them. Ekador ponders his block of wood. He was going to shape blessing symbols out of it, to be subsequently arranged on a string and tied into his hair, but now he has the more immediate practical problem of wanting to sit somewhere comfortable. Surely there is some way to design a structurally stable chair or stool that could be made out of this much wood. He just needs to apply more ingenuity.

"It's appreciated," he says. "I would also appreciate a chair, and perhaps a meal."

"Do you object to a minimally invasive scan of your mind? The fact that you've been disenfranchised through no fault of your own doesn't guarantee that the spell chose a non-dangerous target. If you do object we can certainly arrange for a chair and a meal within the circle."

"...Define minimally invasive."

"All I need to know is whether you're dangerous, so that's all I'll look for and all I'll find," says Keo.

"Thank you," says Ekador. He sits down. The much-travelled block of wood goes back to his pocket.

"I see," he says. "That sounds... convenient, given the circumstances."

"If there's anything else that could make your stay here less inconvenient please do let me know," says Keo. "How about I show you to one of those empty rooms, and Korulen's father will be here presently to talk to the girls about what's next for them?"

"Reasonable," says Ekador. He stands up again.

Keo leads him out into the hall, and down to the end. Behind a door at said end is a small boxy room with no other exits. She waves him in.

He follows, inspecting the small boxy room curiously.

Ekador makes a startled sound, abruptly made aware of the fact that he is in a box not physically supported by any structure he can detect, and that box is now falling. He reacts on instinct - the walls of the lift chute are made of wood, the lift likewise; the movement of one relative to the other is directly perceptible to him and he can likewise directly cause it to stop, by commanding the lift and the walls to behave as though they are one solid object despite the intervening space. He does not so much decide to do this as do it and then understand how he did.

"Yes," he says. "I suppose on reflection it's obvious that there was magic at work, but I reacted to apparently falling before I had time to question that appearance. I apologize."

"...Can you undo it, or do I need to teleport us out of here and arrange for repairs?"

They descend at a not-uncontrolled-falling pace.

Ekador relaxes when this becomes clear.

Then the lift starts going left.

"How does it do that?"

"The lifts are enchanted to travel through the chutes via the most efficient non-interfering path available," says Keo.

"That seems more... complicated than the magic I'm familiar with," he says. "But then, so does summoning me at random out of a chair in another country."

"...World," says Keo. "Another world. If you were just from another country getting you home would be dramatically simpler."

"...define world."

"A contiguous quantity of locations."

"I... see. Yes. That does present a problem," he says. "And, for that matter, goes some distance towards explaining why your magic works so strangely."

"It's usually different world to world, yes. It's fortunate for you yours still works here at all. Wizardry doesn't travel well, which is one reason we usually have very little contact with other worlds."

Keo nods. "Mine, too, apart from the wizard spells. But it wasn't a given." The lift, stops, and opens, and Keo shows him the first room on the left of the hall they have arrived at.

He steps inside and compares the layout with that of Korulen and Saasnil's room.

"Yes," he says.

"All right. I'll have Korulen accompany you into town on a shopping trip for the essentials at her and Saasnil's expense, at your convenience - now or later?"

He considers this question, glances around the room again, and says, "It may as well be now."

"All right, she'll be along presently. If you need me for anything, you can just think my name very clearly and firmly and I'll contact you."

"...Is this another case of minimally invasive mindreading?"

"After a fashion. My name, thought with intent, is the only thing I listen for - even my daughters have to get ahold of me that way; I can't be on the lookout for every thought of 'Mom'. I'd get flooded."

"Every thought of 'Mom' among...? Do you just have access to everyone's minds?"

"Not literally everyone. Only people whose empathic signatures I've been in contact with before. And I don't get anything I don't look for."

"I see."

Korulen chooses this moment to emerge from the lift, looking apprehensive.

"Hello again," says Ekador.

Ekador is amenable to being shooed.

Ekador observes its movements. He also notes that it is not the same box in which he came here with Keo, but it makes sense that there would be more than one, so he doesn't comment.

"I can't fly," he confirms.

"Okay, I guess we walk, then." She starts towards the city.

"I could probably come up with something, in the absence of available horses, but it would likely take longer than walking to the city and back."

"What's a horse?"

"A kind of animal upon which one rides to get from place to place faster than walking."

"Huh. We have camels," she offers. "I've never heard of a horse."

"They are... broadly similar," he says. "Mind you, I've only seen drawings of camels."

"I don't think I've seen one in real life either. They're not popular around here, mostly people hire teleporters or use scoots."

"Scoots?"

"A magic vehicle. I've never been in one of those either, when I want to get places I usually fly."

"I suppose they operate on a similar principle to lifts? Floating from place to place? It seems convenient."

"Well, you have to steer them, they don't do it by themselves like that, but yeah, they fly."

He smiles at some private joke.

"What are you going to need besides sheets and clothes?"

"A supply of wood," is the first thing that comes to mind. "If it's possible to obtain some at a price you find reasonable. I have magic with it, and I'd like to continue my experiments."

"I'm not actually sure where to get wood. Art supply store, maybe?" muses Korulen. "What kind do you need, what's it for?"

"Any kind will do, more or less. It's not for any one purpose in particular, although I suppose if I'm staying here long enough I'll want to make a full set of blessing tokens and that would be the easiest way..."

"Blessing tokens?"

"They are... another kind of magic, I suppose you could say. Or possibly religion. In Welce the distinction is less than clear. Forty-three symbols, divided into five groups each associated with an element, and the last three blessings are called 'extraordinary' for not belonging to any element in particular. It's common practice in Welce to go to a temple every so often and draw some blessings from the bin, and the drawn blessings usually prove relevant to one's immediate future in some way. For example, a few hours before you summoned me, I drew 'surprise' three times in a row."

"...Weird. Huh. You think it'll work here?"

"I plan to find out."

"So how much wood do you need for those and for your experiments?"

"Not too much to carry back. I'd be more precise if I was familiar with your units of measurement."

"I'm not very good at estimating weights of things so I'm not sure how to - I weigh about a hundred and ten pounds? Right now, I mean, if I shapeshifted it would obviously be more."

"I'm not made of spun sugar," laughs Korulen. "Maybe we should go to a furniture store and ask who supplies them? Or - do you need natural wood? I bet there's a way to conjure it."

"...I'm not actually sure," he says. "Certainly, now that you mention the possibility of unnatural wood, I would like to find out if it works just the same."

"I'd have to look up a spell, but I bet it's doable."

"That should be interesting."

"So art supplies unless we see a place advertising - lumber or whatever - and also clothes and sheets and what else do you need?"