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Mallyn's first concern is whether he and Rithka have been permanently lost. Rithka, on the other hand, knows exactly what's going on - "this just happens sometimes! It's okay, we can go home whenever!" - and eventually has him reassured enough that he sits down at the bar and stutters his way through asking her for potato soup. Rithka gets a walnut to nibble on companionably from her squirrely perch around his neck, but doesn't feel like shifting to eat anything substantial. She was in the snack cabinet earlier spoiling her dinner.
"Yeah, there's a bunch. There's Elcenian kyma now too since Aunt Rhysel worked out how to do that. Mom is a wizard. There's sorcerers and mages and lights, and there are magic things that only some species can do."
inhispockets
"Nope. Unless everybody who has it is hiding for some reason. There's not magic that everybody knows about that does things like make houses out of magic rock."
"Well, that sounds boring and terrible," asserts Rithka.
Mallyn shivers. "I like there being magic better."
Mallyn shivers. "I like there being magic better."
inhispockets
Felicity shrugs. "I'm used to it. What's better about magic? Besides this place, this place is a kind of magic I can get behind."
As though summoned by his approval, another cupcake appears. This one is frosted in red, dotted with dark chocolate chips. Felicity grins.
As though summoned by his approval, another cupcake appears. This one is frosted in red, dotted with dark chocolate chips. Felicity grins.
"Without magic you couldn't get from Barashi to Elcenia or the other way around," Rithka points out. "Well, not whenever you wanted, anyway, I guess you might be able to go from here somehow. But it doesn't eat doors on anybody's say-so. And lights are good - and wizards and kyma can do all kinds of stuff."
"I want to be a wizard," volunteers Mallyn.
"I want to be a wizard," volunteers Mallyn.
"Uuuum, Mom can teleport, and fix things, and do translation spells -"
"She can summon my other sister and my brother from where they live in Barashi," murmurs Mallyn. "So they can visit sometimes."
"She can summon my other sister and my brother from where they live in Barashi," murmurs Mallyn. "So they can visit sometimes."
"Yeah, kinda," says Rithka. "Dad has a whole bunch of brothers and sisters and some of them have kids. Uncle Batai and Aunt Karyn were the ones who adopted Mallyn's other sister and brother. And Aunt Ryll and Uncle Lerrel have two adopted ones like me and our little sister, on top of five regular kids."
inhispockets
"I have a mom," he says. "I guess I must've had a dad at some point but I never met him and I don't know anything about him except that he's not around. And Mom has a husband, and he's why I'm not going back."
"I've got absolutely no idea where my egg parents are," says Rithka with a sort of cheerful defiance. "Same with our cousin Taala. Cenem's visit sometimes though. Our cousin Apran turned out to actually be a prince with a really obnoxious sister but he didn't go be a prince with them. Mallyn's birth parents got personality-revisioned when they got caught being evil, and they're..." She waves a hand vaguely. "Somewhere in Aristan."
Mallyn wraps his arms around his sister and hugs her close.
Mallyn wraps his arms around his sister and hugs her close.
"Kamai thing," says Mallyn. "In Barashi if you get caught doing something really bad, they make it so you can't, anymore."
"In Esmaar there's just prisons," says Rithka. "But, there wasn't kamai ever. I dunno if they'll change it."
"In Esmaar there's just prisons," says Rithka. "But, there wasn't kamai ever. I dunno if they'll change it."
inhispockets
"Family-wise? Yeah. You heard the list. I don't have any siblings or cousins or anything."
Mallyn nods again.
"There were stupid politics so Lyrrae and Renn had to be adopted by different people from Mallyn," says Rithka. "It was in newspapers and stuff."
"There were stupid politics so Lyrrae and Renn had to be adopted by different people from Mallyn," says Rithka. "It was in newspapers and stuff."
"Esmaar and Aristan had this deal that if anybody Esmaar thought was being abused got to Esmaar, Esmaar could keep them safe there," says Rithka. "Esmaar is so much stricter. Mallyn's birth parents were being illegal in Aristan too but not by as much. And Aristan was like 'well, okay, we don't think any of our kids are going to run away to Esmaar' but then Mallyn did. He couldn't take Lyrrae and Renn because he had to go a really long way and they're littler," says Rithka. "And then Esmaar was like 'okay so Mallyn stays here' and Aristan was like 'this is really embarrassing, we will look after Lyrrae and Renn all by ourselves'. But Aunt Ryll is an Aristanian senator so she got Uncle Batai and Aunt Karyn to take them so they're still related."