"I found a river with nice harmonics, and also another fairy. Who is also a river, apparently. She was friendly enough at first, but when I tried to leave wouldn't leave me alone until I threatened to set her on fire. I used too much magic trying to fly faster than her. I'll be fine in half an hour."

"River isn't a river, she just lives by one. She didn't manage to slip you anything?"

"I drank from her river, but purified it first like you said. I probably would have purified it anyway, water safety is part of not-dying-in-the-wilderness 101. I'm starting to believe you about the food thing, she totally acted like it was a thing. The way she was acting it sounds like the river's got something of hers in it."

"I think she cultivates some underwater plants."

"That'd probably do it, huh. Well, I purified it. I'm starting to dislike this place. There's no bluestream infrastructure, I can't do things nearly as easily as I'm used to."

"You know, if harmonics and bluestream are really exactly the same thing I wonder why there's a rumor that sorcery doesn't work in the mortal world. Weird mutable harmonics shouldn't make it impossible, just awkward."

"Maybe the fog makes it completely impossible, and weird patterns just make it hard? I can make a little patch of fog off in the forest if you want to try, and disappear it after too. In a few minutes. Still recovering."

"I'd definitely be curious to try it. No rush. I'm going to need to fly to the library to get books on how to make gates; do you want me to let you into my tree first or would you rather stay out here?"

"Tree's probably safer. If River found me right now, she could probably force-feed me."

"All right. Please do not break anything or rearrange my books. The water in the pitcher's pure. If you leave the tree you won't be able to get back in without me. You might fit in my bed above the bookshelf if you scrunched up, if you want a nap." Promise lets her into the tree.

"Oh, I don't need a bed to sleep." Into the tree she goes. She's taller than average, which makes it a bit difficult, but she manages. "Mind if I read the books? I'll try to put them back in the right order."

"You can read the ones on the shelf, sure. If you find any that aren't there don't read those."

"Got it." For now, though, she's apparently going to close her eyes and stay absolutely still.

Promise lets herself out and flies away.

Steel naps, and reads some books, and maps the bluestream of the tree (it's good for light and not much else). She's still there when Promise comes back.

"How are you doing?" Promise asks, putting her bag of books on her table and going to the kitchen to get some nuts and eat them.

"Well enough. I've got all my muscles back. Getting a bit hungry, but I'm saving my food. If there's at least a few hours of sunshine left today, I can go build the pattern I need to take in sunlight. Was your library visit productive?"

"...hours of...? It's usually afternoon here, we don't have a regular day cycle. And yes, I have all the books I should need."

"No day/night cycle? That makes no sense. Does the planet just stop most of the time?"

"The what?"

"The planet. The giant ball of rock that orbits the sun, the place where everything important is. D'you guys have telescopes?"

"No. But I don't think this is a planet."

"With no regular day cycle, I don't see how it could be. Horray for weird physics."

Promise shrugs.

Steel stands up. "Is it time to try sorcering in the middle of some fog?"