"I'm a dragon," says Kaylo. "Just how many offworlders did Korulen summon?"

"Not sure who that is. Keo's the one who grabbed me," she says.

"Keo did? Why?"

"To get a local opinion on Downside, I guess. What're you busy revolutionizing?"

"...I'm inventing the summoning circle to allow stable traffic from here to there. You're from it?"

"I am from it!" she confirms. "You must be Kaylo. Admin said she found you charming. What's your secret?"

"...I don't know that I've actually been called charming in recent memory, so I have no idea. I was looking for Korulen because she used to live in that room and instead there was a person in a circle and she wanted my input on dragon related things and I said I would invent this thing. Also I need to talk to a Sand Dusk Chanter, which I'm not looking forward to, because the library doesn't have any decent references on their little culty spells."

"Little culty spells?"

"They worship the source of wizard magic, only - you called her the admin? I didn't catch her name - anyway she says it's actually aware, might want to talk to it, and while I think considering it a deity is still ridiculous the Chanters are the state of the art in making it say anything. I'll probably have to invent more on top of that but at least I can try to build on whatever they've groped their way towards in the blinding light of being a cult."

"I'm not sure she actually has a name," says Eights. "You are really aggrieved about these cult guys, huh?"

"Religion in general is irritating, Chanters in particular get on my nerves because they're pretending to be academic and drive perfectly good class discussions off the rails."

"We don't get a whole lot of religion Downside. Not none, but not much."

"Got all kinds of it here, and they'll run around out of their minds about it when they hear you exist."

"Fun and excitement," she says dryly. "They'll get used to it. Everybody does. Although I guess this'll be the first time this many people have had to get used to it at once."

"Don't tend to get billions of newbies at once?" he asks wryly, crossing something out and flipping to a chart in the back of one of his books.

"Not so much! I mean, I won't say it's never happened, but definitely not in the last twelve thousand or so. —Years. However many come in at once, we still get 'em one at a time."

"Well, she's restructuring, Elcenians are gonna be able to get people out at will, I'm gonna get my mom and dad back."

"Good for you," she says, apparently sincerely. "I don't think I'd wanna go back at this point even if I could, but if your world's this new I doubt your parents are even awake yet and they definitely haven't had thousands of years to get used to the place."

"Even if they didn't want to come back I'd make them change their will, but I'm expecting the not awake yet thing."

"Change their will?"

"They put this cutesy little clause in it about how my aunt gets all their money if and only if she funds all the education I can stand first. They didn't count on the fact that I hate my aunt. I could have passed the tenth tier tests five years ago probably, but I'm stalling because I have no money and I'd rather yell at her on a crystal every couple months than get cut off."

"Seems like bad planning," she says. "Hope it works out okay."

"...Do you need something? Translation spell so you can read the cafeteria labels or something?"