No, actually, that was really surprising when I found out it was different here. All the other planes we knew about - that I'd heard of, at least - were the same. But we have fiction about worlds where it works called 'science fantasy'.

What an interesting people writes about experimentation even when they can't do it.

Do people here never write about things that aren't possible?

Well, people here don't write. But most songs are about things we've done, or things we want - like, seeing the dead again - not things that couldn't ever happen at all. I can't even think of any of those.

Huh. I guess we want more impossible things than you because more things are impossible.

She almost smiles. Hearing about your world is - I'm not sure what, but I feel something.

Would you like me to check?

Sure.

Peek.

Curiosity, worry, protectiveness. Very mild and vague, but there.

Might be easier to parse if I bounce it back at you? Or I can just describe it.

Can you do both?

Sure. She bounces it, waits a moment for Miriel to have a look at it from the "outside", and then says, I'd call it curiosity and worry and protectiveness, in about that order.

It's a much nicer emotion than feeling flat and tired.

Most things are.

Tell me more about your world.

Sure. It's a sphere, with continents and oceans all over it, and high up in the sky, too high to get to unless the universe likes you, is a crystal sphere where the lights of the sky are set. There's lots of different species besides humans - She shows pictures. And lots of magic, of which I know a little tiny bit but I might be able to reinvent more if I work on it and I have forever and nothing will swat me for experimenting here... The sky is blue, she adds.

Sounds beautiful.

Bella shows the sky, with sun and clouds, and the night sky, with stars and moon. Yeah.

If I get better I'll do a tapestry for you, I can make them look like staring through an open window.

Wow, that must require really tiny stitches, especially since you see so much better than I do.

Yes. Usually I have verysteady hands. And there's a bit of magic in it, you sort of persuade the threads to bring the world alive.

Is it sort of like persuading trees to give up branches they don't want or persuading the river to be fizzy?

Not exactly, those are Valar things and I want my art to be beautiful wherever it's hanging. It's like knowing the materials so well that you can weave other things along in with them.

That sounds really different from the kinds of magic in my world. I wonder if I can learn it or if it's species-specific.