Nods. "Bella and T'Mir had sort of the same parents, is that universal -"

"No, Loki and Kib are exceptions, Kib is parentless and Loki was adopted from and by parents who are not the standard sort."

"And all of the Ardas have all the same people?"

"Space Arda has a bigger population and somewhat different contents. I think Evil Arda also doesn't match up perfectly. Other than that, accounting for points in timelines, yes."

He smiles at Bella. "Well. It's very nice to have met you. You will want to pick up wizardry right away, it's tremendously useful..."

"I will! It sounds it! Is it most efficiently taught in groups, though?"

"Not so much that I wouldn't teach you alone if they check the known worlds and can't find their way here and we have to wait for them to check for a way into my Arda, enough that it's probably worth waiting the little while until they finish the first check."

"So how did you land in Materia in the first place?"

"Space Fëanáro invented a thing called a worldleaper. It'll go from a world to a random neighbor. Loki's teleport spell requires a known destination, so worldleapers are how we find new destinations to know. Gem's Lúthien, Joy, can do a more guided teleport, but she'd land near the Melkor she was looking for if she went looking for one, and is not indestructible, so I was the scout."

He shudders. "Wise. Joy's the one looking for us, or can they all do a guided one now that you can send them more information?"

"I sent them a photo of where we are now. Loki's the one looking for me - maybe somebody else is helping, she didn't say, but it's not actually urgent or time-consuming enough to have two people on - and if there's a known world accessible to this one she'll be able to land right here on the basis of the photo."

"How many worlds are known?"

"Uh, how many planar buddies does Materia have?"

"...Almost thirty?"

"Then counting what has been discovered in my most recent jaunt, almost a hundred, but obviously Loki's not going to go through Materia. She probably counts as epic but it'd certainly still bust some of her stuff."

"I'm very glad you made it through Materia safely. Is there a standard list somewhere of all the resources you have, and how easily they're shared..."

"Yes there is." And he produces a list with items like "Allspeak (ask at Vanda Nossëo)", "free will addition or removal (add name to waiting list; distribution batched)", "indestructibility (low throughput, send request to Hex marked attn: cubed distribution project)", "wishes (1/customer, must be made in or adjacent to Wish, require Gem's personal attention, read info packet on being a magi)", "precognition (works only in Aurum, subject to schedule of relevant witch)", and so on.

This is delightful. He beams delightedly at Bella. "Looks like we have some lists to add our names to."

She cackles. "This is so great, I love having alts."

"...Resurrection is not up to all-purpose scratch, yet?"

"Not yet. You lose somebody?"

"My home planet was destroyed some years ago and my father was on it."

"...sorry. Could fix that near Edda or Wish, but this isn't. I could replace the actual planet, but not the people on it."

"I understand. I'll wait."

"Could we wish the people back near Wish, and then move them home?"