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Two girls are moving their hands through the air and speaking together in perfect parallel.
Two girls are looking expectantly at a circle of red chalk on their floor.
Two girls have done something exceptionally stupid.
Nick in Elcenia
Someone appears, posed as if climbing something, with his hands outstreched and one foot in the air. With the something he was climbing no longer there, he falls two feet.
On the way down he yelps in fright and pulls a cord hanging from his jacket without pausing to think about it. Spring-loaded mechanical wings pop out of the bulky article - and promptly smash themselves against the side of an invisible cylinder.
He observes he has landed on something. "What."
On the way down he yelps in fright and pulls a cord hanging from his jacket without pausing to think about it. Spring-loaded mechanical wings pop out of the bulky article - and promptly smash themselves against the side of an invisible cylinder.
He observes he has landed on something. "What."
One of the girls says a word. It is incomprehensible, but from her tone, might mean "wow".
The other one goes for a book on her shelf.
The other one goes for a book on her shelf.
He turns to watch her, dragging the snapped wood-and-canvas wings along the edge of the ward circle. "No, seriously, what the hell. Where am I?"
The one who spoke before, the younger browner one without the crazy ears, says something else. Still incomprehensible.
He looks around. Wooden floor. Books. Two girls. Chalk? Pointed ears?
"Is this a dream? Not funny, subconscious."
"Is this a dream? Not funny, subconscious."
There is no sign of understanding from the girls.
The blonde one makes a gesture and says further gibberish.
"You should be able to understand us now," she adds, perfectly comprehensible.
The blonde one makes a gesture and says further gibberish.
"You should be able to understand us now," she adds, perfectly comprehensible.
"Where am I? Why am I here? Why is there an invisible wall that broke my glider? Who are you? In decreasing order of importance."
"In our room," says the blonde with the ears, "at our school, in Elcenia. Because the summoning spell picked you at random and we're going to show you to Nemaar. The ward is in case you're dangerous. I'm Korulen and that's Saasnil."
"Okay. Three things. One, magic is not a thing. Two, if I assume that magic is, in fact, a thing, why are you randomly summoning people? You know, without asking them first? Three, you're going to pay for materials to fix my glider."
"One, yes it is," pipes up Saasnil. "And she said, we're going to show Nemaar, and we couldn't really ask you when it was random."
"Pay you in what currency? Besides, it'd take forever to get anything into the circle for you to take home," says Korulen.
"Pay you in what currency? Besides, it'd take forever to get anything into the circle for you to take home," says Korulen.
"I could have been doing something important. I wasn't, not particularly, but what if I was trying to put out a fire, or pulling my airship out of the way of hitting something? This seems incredibly short-sighted. And I am strongly opposed to not receiving some sort of compensation for you making me break my glider. Long pieces of wood are expensive, you know."
"We didn't make you deploy it," says Korulen.
"Why would long pieces of wood be expensive?" asks Saasnil, bewildered.
"Why would long pieces of wood be expensive?" asks Saasnil, bewildered.
To Korulen, "Yes you did. You made me think I was falling to my death." To Saasnil, "Because there's only so many trees. Come to think of it - how big is this place? I haven't felt the ground shift once."
"You're not falling to your death. There's a floor," says Saasnil.
"The building?" asks Korulen. "Why would the ground shift? I mean, maybe if it were tall enough to sway in the wind, but it's not that tall."
"The building?" asks Korulen. "Why would the ground shift? I mean, maybe if it were tall enough to sway in the wind, but it's not that tall."
...He moves to get a better look out the window, trying not to smash up the glider any more.
"Please, uh. You have solid land. Can I see a land chart?"
"A what?" says Saasnil.
"Do you mean like... a... map?" asks Korulen.
"Do you mean like... a... map?" asks Korulen.
"Whatever you call it. Yes. A thing that shows how to find places. Holy hell, you have solid land. No wonder the ground feels so weird, you use wood for floors and have so many books because you actually have enough trees and I bet you can even mine metal. I've changed my mind, I'll consider my glider paid for in exchange for five kilograms of iron."
"It would be an enormous hassle to get the iron into your circle," objects Korulen. "We would have to draw an entire separate circle, and conjure the iron - realistically I'd have to do that - and we weren't planning on keeping you that long."
"Hey, I could totally conjure iron," objects Saasnil, pouting.
"Hey, I could totally conjure iron," objects Saasnil, pouting.
"You're being an enormous hassle to me, you know. The least I can do is return the favor."
"We don't have to do anything for you at all," says Saasnil, crossing her arms.
"If you're not going to do anything for me in exchange for showing me off to your magic friend, put me back where I came from please. Preferably before my ship runs into anything without me there to pilot it."
"...Um," says Korulen.
"What?" asks Saasnil.
"I'm pretty sure reversing this will put you back in the same place relative to the planet you came from."
"What?" asks Saasnil.
"I'm pretty sure reversing this will put you back in the same place relative to the planet you came from."
"And you broke my glider. Do NOT put me back where I came from."
Seeing Korulen about to object to the glider thing, "Yes, you broke it, not me. Fuck. You're teenagers, aren't you? I need to talk to someone in charge."
Seeing Korulen about to object to the glider thing, "Yes, you broke it, not me. Fuck. You're teenagers, aren't you? I need to talk to someone in charge."
"Neither of us is a teenager," objects Saasnil.
"He means adolescents, it doesn't matter that you're twelve and I'm past forty," sighs Korulen, hand over her eyes. "Ugh. This is a mess. Why did I let you talk me into this?"
"I didn't have to convince you very hard!"
"He means adolescents, it doesn't matter that you're twelve and I'm past forty," sighs Korulen, hand over her eyes. "Ugh. This is a mess. Why did I let you talk me into this?"
"I didn't have to convince you very hard!"
Nick has dealt with teenagers before. He's angry enough that saying anything would not improve the situation, so he ignores the bickering and starts trying to take off his jacket without breaking the glider any more than it already is.