combinatorial explosion | Glowfic Constellation

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The strangers have six casters, in their group, that Qiri can count. Qiri's group has four counting him, and they got split up awhile ago when the strangers started that earthquake. Qiri is stuck with Master Huo. Master Huo is dying, but since Qiri is chained up he can't use that to escape, or attack Master Huo. The master's magic is uninjured, and he can reach Qiri's from where he lies, and Qiri is sitting there, goosepimpled, enduring it. He wonders if Master Huo might be in enough pain to distract him, if Qiri tried to wrench his magic away, but he doesn't think so. He can squirm around a fair bit under Master Yu and Master Zao if only one of them is using him for a spell - and if he wants to earn himself a beating - but not Huo.

He doesn't get nauseous anymore, like he did when he was a kid. So there's that.

Huo's casting a healing spell, moving Qiri's magic around this way and that to set it up. Qiri assumes it's going to target Master Huo, but spells don't know who anyone is. Qiri can't distract himself, not with his spine tingling and all his magic cringing under the slide of Huo's. Instead he tries to concentrate on something less directly sensory: how's the spell targeting? How is Huo going to make sure it heals him, and not Qiri's irritated skin under where the chains sit, the injuries to his fingers from the last time he irritated Master Yu, the probably broken toe sustained in the earthquake?

He figures it out when the spell is probably almost over: it's going to target the most injured person, and Qiri is a little banged up but Master Huo's got an arrow to the gut and a slice through his thigh that's probably going to bleed him out before the abdominal wound can kill him. It's objectively pretty impressive that he can concentrate enough to make his magic force Qiri's through the motions he wants.

Then, dimly around the cloying sensation of Huo's magic over his, Qiri notices a group of the stranger mages approaching, standing close together, back to back to back, doing something -

And he and Huo are banished somewhere else.

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"No, humans have their own human languages. Though I guess lots of them picked up Thindarin by now probably."

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"I think all the humans who live in the borders of the Tiger Emperor speak Yisi but I guess I don't know about ones from farther away, I didn't live near the border."

"Since Elves learn languages faster I think humans might be less likely to bother."

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"I guess that makes sense, you're very fast."

"Souls are really useful."

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"Yeah. I don't understand how they do all those different things, but they sound very useful."

"Maybe some day we'll figure them out for humans."

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Nelyafinwë Maitimo (Maedhros)

"That'd be cool!"

He spends a month practicing his facial expressions. It shouldn't take that long, but he often can't practice at all. He often can't move at all. He didn't have this problem when he was a computer. He watches himself through other peoples' eyes and he tries again and again.

He's not sure whether the forks are him or not. They could easily be Sauron's by now. They could have been Sauron's starting the instant he separated from them.

After a month he thinks he can manage it.

Echel shows him movies and more VR settings and the swimmable bit of the underground river.

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"I don't know how to swim."

"Well, do you want to learn?"

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"Yeah!"

Then they can go swimming! There are floatation devices "mostly for people who are injured but they'll work for people who are learning" -

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"Makes sense," he agrees, clinging to his float.

She is used to teaching skills by sending the mental actions for them but can try to do it by describing or demonstrating them.

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Nelyafinwë Maitimo (Maedhros)

He figures it out, although not without any mishaps and spluttering.