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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.
Harry Dresden in Elcenia
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Saasnil sniffles. Kanaat glances at Harry, not so much glaring as assessing.
Harry has had a very long day, and his reaction time is slow enough that it takes him a fraction of a second too long to look away from the man's eyes before he's
falling
spiralling
into them.
Shit.
falling
spiralling
into them.
Shit.
It's very green in there.
This man is not himself. Or rather, he is not alone. He is wrapped up in, interpolated by, coextensive with, someone who is not him - or at least wasn't; it looks like they've been doing this for a very long time.
He's also a teacher, a wizard, an academic, but these are all relative afterthoughts compared to the She that is -
- shutting the soulgaze down hard, kicking Harry out of her husband's mind.
When Harry's paying attention to the world again, she's in the room, standing beside him, the same green of her presence showing up in her hair, hand over Kanaat's eyes, frowning at him.
"What was that?" she asks.
Harry cannot answer at the moment, because he has a psychic hangover that feels like Magog is hammering on the inside of his skull with an ice pick. Also, he's gibbering a bit. That... that wasn't quite as bad as gazing on the Faerie Queens on the field of battle, but she's really, REALLY big. That kind of thing stays with you.
After gasping and trying not to vomit for a while, he stutters out, "It was... it was, not on purpose. Soulgaze. I'm sorry, I, don't hurt, don't hurt me?"
After gasping and trying not to vomit for a while, he stutters out, "It was... it was, not on purpose. Soulgaze. I'm sorry, I, don't hurt, don't hurt me?"
"What is a soulgaze?" asks Green Lady. "...Korulen, Saasnil, go be elsewhere."
The girls scamper.
The girls scamper.
Harry breathes. He recites a mnemonic in his head. The memory recedes into the background of his mind (it'll never go away, it'll never fade, but it's not everything anymore). Once he trusts himself to speak, he explains.
"It's... when a wizard, a wizard from my world, looks in someone's eyes for too long, we see into their soul, and they see ours. It's not usually that, uh, dramatic. You're a scary lady. In a complimentary sense. Why is your husband you?"
"It's... when a wizard, a wizard from my world, looks in someone's eyes for too long, we see into their soul, and they see ours. It's not usually that, uh, dramatic. You're a scary lady. In a complimentary sense. Why is your husband you?"
"He isn't, exactly. We're mindlinked," she says. "It's among my abilities. Another thing I can do with them is determine if it's safe to let you out of the circle, with your permission to perform a minimally invasive scan."
At the mention of scanning he reflexively crawls as far away from her as he can within the confines of the circle. Minimally invasive sounds... vaguely promising, though. And he's getting sick of this circle.
"How minimally?" he asks, instead of "Get the hell away from me with your creepy psychic god-magic."
"How minimally?" he asks, instead of "Get the hell away from me with your creepy psychic god-magic."
"All I need to know is if you're liable to be violent or lawbreaking in a way that is more inconvenient to deal with than keeping you in this circle is likely to be. I can leave everything irrelevant to those questions completely alone."
"That sounds all right," he allows. And it's not like there's a chance in Hell I could stop her, he adds mentally. He's pretty sure he's not violent or lawbreaking enough to cause significant trouble unless trouble is caused to him first.
"This won't feel like anything. Just relax," she advises.
It doesn't feel like anything.
She steps forward and smudges the chalk line. "There you go. Unfortunately, we can't send you home yet, but you don't have to stay in the circle."
It doesn't feel like anything.
She steps forward and smudges the chalk line. "There you go. Unfortunately, we can't send you home yet, but you don't have to stay in the circle."
"Well, thanks anyway," he says. With a glance down at his state of attire, he adds, "There any chance I could get some clothes? Preferably the clothes that I own?"
"We can summon belongings, send things, even summon other people and then send them back - it's only you who's stuck," she says. "Let's get out of this particular room, first, though. Please maintain a hold on your towel. There are a lot of teenage girls on this hall."
Kanaat opens the door.
Kanaat opens the door.
Holding onto his towel is, at the moment, Harry's number one priority. He will guard this towel with his life. (Public nudity is a thing that happens to him, on a distressingly frequent basis, but he'd rather not make a hobby of it. Especially not with teenage girls involved.)
"So, I can say goodbye, or whatever I need to say, in person? That's... that's good. Thank you." Saying goodbye with a heartfelt letter was never going to sit well with him. Saying goodbye at all doesn't sit well with him, but there are ways and ways. Plus, if he ever gets back and he did just send a letter, Murphy would probably punch him. And it'd hurt.
"So, I can say goodbye, or whatever I need to say, in person? That's... that's good. Thank you." Saying goodbye with a heartfelt letter was never going to sit well with him. Saying goodbye at all doesn't sit well with him, but there are ways and ways. Plus, if he ever gets back and he did just send a letter, Murphy would probably punch him. And it'd hurt.
"I recommend sending letters first so that whoever we summon for you doesn't appear while they were in the middle of something," says Green Lady. "But yes. Also, you shouldn't expect to be stuck here forever. When Korulen has bound a familiar she will probably have enough channeling capacity to send you back without having to co-cast."
Harry reddens slightly at the thought of inadvertently catching Karrin the same way they got him. Or, for that matter, Michael. "Yes, letters, good policy. Warnings to not be naked for a while."
He doesn't respond to her second point. He's long since learned that Murphy's Law is not just a suggestion. And he's a bit worried that by the time he gets back, it might not be a world he wants to live in. He's not bigheaded or anything, but it doesn't escape his notice that he's personally stopped the apocalypse four or five times in the past seven years.
He doesn't respond to her second point. He's long since learned that Murphy's Law is not just a suggestion. And he's a bit worried that by the time he gets back, it might not be a world he wants to live in. He's not bigheaded or anything, but it doesn't escape his notice that he's personally stopped the apocalypse four or five times in the past seven years.
"Exactly."
At the end of the hall is a closet. Green Lady, her accessory, and Harry - assuming he obeys her gestured suggestion - enter this closet.
At the end of the hall is a closet. Green Lady, her accessory, and Harry - assuming he obeys her gestured suggestion - enter this closet.
Harry raises an eyebrow (or something like that - he's working on the expression, okay), but follows her in on the assumption that the closet is more than it appears. If she's going to store him in the supply cupboard, he reserves the right to be confused and irritated.
There isn't any evidence of supply storage in the closet.
"Headmaster's office," she says, and it moves. Sideways.
"Headmaster's office," she says, and it moves. Sideways.
Harry lurches a bit, but takes it in his stride. "Is this technological, or do you just have enough magic lying around that you can be hilariously excessive with your enchanted items?"
"The lift is magical," she says. "What's your name? I'm Keo and this is my husband Kanaat."
"I'm Harry, nice to meet you," he responds. "You really weren't kidding about that "minimally invasive" thing, huh." He appreciates that. Unless this exchange was just to throw him off guard, but he's not dealing with Mab, here; he can afford to be slightly charitable with his assumptions.
"Your name wasn't attached to any of my questions," she says.
The lift starts going down. Then forwards. Then up.
The lift starts going down. Then forwards. Then up.
Harry leans against the closet wall and enjoys the ride. It's been a while since he was on a rollercoaster or anything. Inertia is fun!
A thought strikes him. "So, how advanced is your technology here? Because wizards kind of mess up anything past the invention of the steam engine, and I'd rather not break all your stuff, you seem like nice people."
A thought strikes him. "So, how advanced is your technology here? Because wizards kind of mess up anything past the invention of the steam engine, and I'd rather not break all your stuff, you seem like nice people."
"Well, I don't know what a steam engine is, if that answers your question," says Keo.
The lift comes to a halt and opens on an office with a lot of bookhelves and a desk and some chairs. Kanaat heads for the bookshelves and looks for a book.
The lift comes to a halt and opens on an office with a lot of bookhelves and a desk and some chairs. Kanaat heads for the bookshelves and looks for a book.