"Zeviana Taviri Sorelas. Don't much like my middle name, though, if it's a better idea to just have two names."

"Well, maybe you'll need that baby name book after all. Or you could pick a goddess's name. Isabella's second name is from a goddess."

"Sure. I don't really like my last name, either, honestly. What goddesses are there to choose from?"

"Kas Petaal, Evisa Iannakara, Yambe Akka - she's not very popular for naming children after, though - Segaard Oskei, Farakhel Nimah, Amariah Lytess, and Memma Belir. Naming girls after them usually has nothing to do with their portfolios, unlike birth blessings, but I can tell you about their domains anyway."

"That would be great, what kinds of things do they do?"

"Yambe Akka isn't very popular because her strongest association is death, but she also does - mercy, winter, calm, starlight. Ice, circles. Kas Petaal has a male aspect and minds our beloved mortals - the verses usually say 'husbands and sons' but she can stretch to cover friends and the like. Sacrificial magic, autumn, violence, that sort of thing. Evisa Iannakara is Isabella's blessing goddess; Isabella's blessing is for the goddess's focus on the cerebral, it's a mental protection, though my mother was trying to get a blessed runecaster. She does art, time, water, curiosity... Segaard Oskei is spring, healing, the sun, motherhood, rain, herbs, music. Farakhel Nimah is summer and fire and animals and war - not violence, war, they're distinguished - curses. Amariah Lytess, whose name Isabella bears, covers verse magic and daemons and weather in general and protection spells... and Memma Belir does flight and sleep and friendship and wind. I'm forgetting some details, I'm not a theologian."

Zeviana makes a 'hmm' sound. "None of them are really jumping out at me as, 'That one, pick that one' but Zeviana Nimah rolls off the tongue reasonably well. Think it fits?"

"Zeviana Nimah. Sounds good to me."

"Cool. I think I'll just drop the names I don't like, I never used 'em anyway. Zeviana Nimah it is!"

"Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves, I think the queen will like you but you should probably be making a suggestion to her, not presenting her with your false identity and assuming she'll back it."

"Aww. Makes sense, though. Zeviana Nimah it will be sometime in the foreseeable future. Eventually."

Ranata nods. "I know there are more things to know about witches, but I'm drawing a blank - do you have any questions?" she asks.

"Hmmm. What's starlight like?"

"I've never heard a description that really did it justice. It's sort of... I'd say it's like being snowed on, but we'd experience snow differently, since you don't find cold irrelevant..."

"Aw. Oh well. I'm glad it's nice, though."

"It's lovely. Your world has beautiful stars, and moons."

"Yeah. Pity about the people, though," says Zeviana. "I kinda feel bad for that world, honestly. It didn't do anything wrong, and now suddenly it's just tainted by the assholes that decided to crash there."

"I don't think the planet itself is likely to mind, do you?"

"Eh, I dunno. Maybe. Pretty sure the last one's pissed with us."

"What's that mean?"

"'Cause we invited some magical guys over from another plane for tea and crumpets and they proceeded to wreck the place. We ditched rather than punching them out. I was against it, but Adarin was out of commission and I didn't want those bastards to get at him while he was out. So I went, too."

"I don't think I heard anything about this."

"Adarin kind of doesn't like to talk about it. I don't care, it was a thing that happened and another reason for me to hate them. I've got lots."

"Why were these people invited in the first place?"

"Because those people are stupid and greedy bastards. They wanted magic. Oh boy did they get it."

"Therein lies a tale, I suspect."

"Which part? Wanting magic's pretty obvious, but getting it - eh. Pretty straightforward. They were used to being the top dogs, with only other mages to deal with. Not so much, in this case, and they got conquered rather than doing the conquering."

"You realize I'm missing a lot of context here? I don't understand half what you're getting at."

"Oh, right, sorry. Uh, basically - mages are a bunch of conquerors, and have been like that for a while. I guess it didn't go that way with witches, but with us - like you hand them power and they're like, 'Let's go oppress some peasants, that sounds like a great idea!' So they did that, except our magic dwindles over generations. So they're constantly afraid of losing it. Thus - trying to find more options for it. Personally I don't give a damn about any of that crap, and neither does my brother, but they do."

"It didn't go that way with witches," confirms Ranata. "We don't have the - dwindling problem, and while there are places in our history where mortals have come off the worse for knowing us, this is mostly an individual matter, not larger populations."

"Ours did large populations. I dunno why. I mean there are specific individuals that suffered too because they caught someone's eye, but large-scale was a thing they did a lot."

"I wonder why."

"I mean my brother's got some theories but honestly I don't care as much. It's a thing they do, and they should stop."

"Well - I won't argue there."

Zevi smiles a little. "I like you. You're pretty cool. I might just blanket that towards all witches and maybe be like, 'I should have been this, I would be way happier' or something."

"Well, if you were, your brother wouldn't have any magic, which he seems pretty attached to, but perhaps you'll get the best of both worlds. So to speak."

"Yeah, him not having magic would suck. He likes it a lot. So I guess this works out alright, I'm glad he's happy. Best of both worlds would be great, though!"

"I recommend making a good impression on the queen."

"I'm not quite sure how to do that, but I guess I can try. How do I make a good impression? Adarin's not here to give me cheat sheets on people, so you get to stand in for him."

"Well - she's a queen. So, be respectful, and polite. She won't like it if there are secrets kept from her, either. And if her daemon is present at the time your Lecasryn should talk to him."

"Her daemon might be somewhere else. If you're going to pass for a witch and hold up to any scrutiny you'll need to separate."

"Adarin managed it, right? Then I'll probably be fine. It sounds bad, but I've been through bad things before. What does it involve?"

"Walking away. A few hundred yards tends to do it. There's a sort of wasteland, very far north, where daemons can't go, and that makes it easier, but it's not necessary."

"Eh, okay. I might poke my brother for tips first because he knows me and will know what would help me out."

"That makes sense."

"Yeah. He's pretty good at translating things for me. Like for half of our childhood he was slipping me magic notes because he could teach me better than the people who were trying to."

"Magic notes? Are these notes about magic, or notes that are themselves magic?"

"Notes about magic. Like rather than using big fancy words he'd switch to explaining concepts and it would all just make sense."

"Your kind of magic seems very different from witchcraft. I wonder if any of it even applies across systems or if it would be like trying to use - color theory to predict the weather."

"I dunno! I don't know about your magic and Adarin's the magic nerd anyway. I just kind of do stuff sometimes. I'm good with plants."

"I suspect the queen will want you to help with the herb gardens. Maybe the food plants too."

"Sure. What kinds of ways of helping? Just making them grow faster, or making them immune to pests and diseases and stuff, oooor...?"

"Those sound good. All the plots on the clan lands have climate control and watering handled; we have more trouble with weeds, and with getting yields up."

"Oh, that's easy. Weeds are pretty simple, I just make them not want to grow in certain areas. Then for yields, I just help out the ones that I want to grow."

"I think you and the queen will get along famously."

"Good! Because I still think I like you guys."

"Hopefully the opinion will persist when you've met more than two of us."

"Yeah. I mean, I dunno, other witches might be terrible and then I'd just leave. I'd have to see."

"Well, I don't think they're terrible, but I might be biased."

"Heh. That's okay, I'll see what they're like."

"Most of the clan isn't on clan lands at any given time. My husband lives within easy flying distance, so I split my time, but plenty of witches settle elsewhere and rarely visit. Others grow up on the territory, though."

"Oh? That sounds pretty nice. I'd be annoyed if I had to stick around one area all the time."

"Not at all. Isabella apprenticed for a while with an Olympic witch who lives on the other side of the country entirely, although she quit recently to do things I don't fully understand with Adarin and his magic. And now she has that house in Wyoming."

Zeviana snorts. "Magic nerds. I swear."

"I sometimes teach little witches introductory magic when there's a batch of them around, though I'm not as intense about the subject as Isabella."

"No wonder he's over the moon about her. Adarin's a huge, huge magic nerd. Just goes and talks magic theory to himself for a while and comes out with a thing that does stuff."

"I love his translation spell in particular!"

"Oh? What's it - oh. Oh fuck. I forgot to get him to cast it on me!"

"Oh dear. Do I need to turn around?"

"Eh, maybe, unless you have a way to contact him and be like, 'Hey, dork, you forgot your sister.'"

"Well, I could call her on the phone."

"Isabella? Huh. Yeah, sure, that would work, I guess."

Ranata stops the cloud-pine and lands so she won't have to replace the phone if it breaks, and dials, and hands the ringing phone to Zeviana. "Just talk into it when it stops ringing."

Ranata accepts the phone back. "I don't need to hear about it."

Zeviana snickers, some more. "Sorry, sorry, it's just hilarious."

"I really don't see why," says Ranata, lifting the cloud-pine up into the air again.

"Because it's my brother, pretty much. It's fun to give him grief."

"Perhaps I'd understand if I had grown up with a sibling."

"Yeah. It's like - the awkward's gone and you can just laugh at their reaction."

"At any rate, I don't have a sibling. I do have a daughter, and I don't need to hear it."

She giggles. "Sorry."

"No harm done."

"Mhm. So! He said he's not going to teleport to me, but I can either teleport to him or get instructions for the spell over the phone."

"If you're going to do the first thing, is there a point to you spending hours on this cloud-pine with me?"

"Eh, I kind of don't like doing teleportation spells, they take ages to set up and it's a pain. I'll probably just poke him to get instructions."

"Whatever suits."

"Also, flying's a blast!"

"I certainly like it! You might have trouble passing as a witch if you can't fake the cloud-pine, I'm not sure."

"I actually can kinda fly for a little while, but not over long distances like this. Teleportation's more economic."

"We can't do that, so if you do it, it won't help convince witnesses."

"Heh, fair enough."

"I wish I could, though. I love to travel, I'd do it more if it didn't take hours or days to get places."

"Oh? Hm. Want to go on adventures to places later, then? I've never had a travel buddy. Promise I won't make it weird 'cause your daughter's dating my brother."

"Sure, why not? Ooh, and you already know about my translation spell, that was going to be a problem if I went with any of my existing travel friends to non-English-speaking countries and slipped up."

"So once I get the spell, we can just go anywhere, no problem. I might need witching lessons, that would be a good time for them. Either way, should be fun."

"Sure! You know where I haven't been yet? I haven't been to Finland."

"I've never been anywhere here but what you've seen! So anything's fine. Finland's as good as any."

"Finland it is. Oh, but it's chilly there - what are you going to do about the cold?"

"... Hm. I dunno. Maybe bug my brother to make a spell for it or something, or give it a shot myself. Or just dress up in something warm and not be a witch for a little while."

"Well, a coat won't help your daemon unless she hides in it with you. My Castarilan can do that but yours is a little big to try it."

"Then maybe some place warmer would be better, I guess. Sorry."

"Well, let me know if you work out a spell and we can go to Finland. Till then, Costa Rica it is."

She snickers. "Sure! Adarin's better at fancy spells, though. Bet if I throw the idea at him he'll jump on it like a starving man when he sees food and obsess over it for a while."

"If either of you works out a spell, anyway. I could cast something that would warm it up temporarily, but I don't know how to make it last. Maybe Isabella could come up with something better, she's very good at pivoting from existing spells into related ones."

"Aha! So I could potentially be immune to cold sometime in the future. Sounds fun, I hate wearing warm clothes. Can't move in them properly."

"I don't know how mortals do it, honestly. I'd go without the silks too if it wouldn't get me asked to move along or potentially arrested in any public place."

She giggles. "I feel like a huge puffball in scarves and coats and fancy fluffy hats and all that. Just poke me, and I'll fall over in a poof of fluff. It's ridiculous. Normal clothes I don't mind. Just the fluffy ones."

"One thing I have not ever tried but probably should one of these days is wearing mortal clothes."

"Some of 'em are comfy! Least mine are. I mean they're not stifling like the warm clothing normally, but they can be. Depends on what you wear."

"We can go shopping in Costa Rica."

"Pffff - sure! Whose money? I don't have any, guess I can nick it from my brother, but he doesn't have any here either."

"Oh, I don't mean buying things, I just mean trying things on. If you have to have something you do a little spell for the shopkeeper."

"Oooo! The favors deal, right. That's seriously great, money's a pain."

"Mortals seem to like it, and Isabella's probably going to work with money a bit to handle that - portal thing, but it seems like a lot of math to be doing for everyday, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, it sucks. Plus there's the added fun of what happens if other people get it - it's not tied to you, it's just money. So they can just take it and then you don't have it anymore and you're out of luck."

"Yes, exactly, my husband is a police officer and while we don't live in a high-crime town much of what he deals with is theft. Some shoplifting, but the thing that most upsets people is when their money is stolen."

"Right! So I just kind of ignore it unless I need it for something. But if I don't need it and can just work through favors... Well, all the better, in my opinion."

"I think you will enjoy being a pretend witch."

"I think I will, too! It's nice and straight-forward."

"We'll see what advice the queen has about passing. For all I know there's a little-known birth defect you can claim to have as far as the cold is concerned."

"Ha! Alright, that could work. How far away are we from getting to the queen, anyway?"

"Hours. I'm actually not going in a straight line - Isabella pointed me at Salt Lake City, which is farther south than we want to be, because I've been there and know the way. We can stop there and look at the pretty temple if you like. And the clan belongs to some kind of membership program that gets us admission into various zoos and things, of which Salt Lake City's zoo is one."

"Oooo. And I'm waiting for a translation spell anyway, so that's no rush. Pretty temples and zoos, sounds like something to see!"

"Salt Lake is nice! It's full of Mormons, though. I like Mormons just fine but not everyone does."

"I have no idea what those are! What'd they do to earn ire?"

"Mormonism is a religion! They're terrifically friendly people, but kind of judgmental about a lot of things. Most of them won't push about it though."

"Eh. If they don't push me, I won't push them, but if they try to convert me to another religion I won't like 'em. So I guess it'll be by individuals."

"Then ignore the ones who are in pairs dressed in suspiciously clean-cut uniforms," says Ranata. "Those are the missionaries. Erm - some of them might consider Lecasryn being female a reason to suspect the sort of thing they're judgmental about."

"Uh huh. Well if they have a problem with it they can say it to my face. Then to my fist, right after."

"Please do not punch Mormons. We can just do a flyover of the city if you will have trouble restraining yourself."

"Well I wasn't going to just punch them for no reason. They'd have to get all preachy with me, first. Trust me, people have fucking tried to get me to 'see the light' and 'obey the laws of nature' and it hasn't worked out yet so I don't know why they keep trying."

"Please do not punch anyone who doesn't hit you first. The entire state that contains Salt Lake City is heavily Mormon-dominated and it's better we just don't stop there if you can't handle it. For that matter I think Costa Rica is heavily Catholic..."

Zeviana sighs. "Okay. Fine. No punching. Can I be scary at them? I don't think I can turn that one off."

"What does 'being scary' mean?"

"Eh, I dunno, that's what Adarin calls it. I apparently have a look and I growl things? It's vaguely threatening, daring them to say a damn thing about me because I just - let them know who would win if they tried it."

"You may look and growl at the Mormons. They are not going to physically assault you. The worst they will do is offer you literature and ask you if you have a few minutes to hear the word of Christ."

"Kay. That I can handle, I guess."

"This is a civilized country. I don't know what it's like where you're from, but it's fairly uncommon for sober adult civilians to get into physical confrontations at all."

"Yeaaah, we are not like that. I mean I guess they try to pretend to be civilized? It's fake, though. When I left some people flipped out and tried to kill me. It did not take, obviously."

"Well. Welcome to Earth."

"Thanks. I'll try to fit in. No guarantees."

"Here's hoping it works out for you."

"Thank you. I mean - here's already seeming better than where I was, so hopefully it works out. If not, I run off to the wilderness and make another maze."

"I didn't get a close look at your prior one. I'll be interested to have a look if you make one here."

"Sure! If I do make one it'll take a while, though. It was kind of a long-term hobby. I can make plants grow quickly, but if I take it slower they're a lot more sturdy."

"How long were you working on the one you left?"

"Hmmm... Three-ish years? Or so? If I'd have had longer I might have made it multi-storied."

"Was it made of live plants, really all the way through? That's amazing."

"Thanks! Yeah, it was live plants - I don't really work as well with dead things, so it just made sense to keep them alive. A few died in the first year 'cause I messed up with irrigation and I had to redo that spot completely. It was really, really annoying."

"Sounds it. I've never stuck with anything that long."

"Eh, it was fun. Soothing to do. I mean I didn't just do that all the time, I did other stuff too, but it was nice to come back and work on it every now and then."

"What other kinds of things do you like, then, besides plant mazes?"

"Some exploring, some talking to people - the people at the closest town over were pretty cool. Cute girls, polite people, so on. They knew they could poke me if the mages gave 'em trouble, which never really came up. I left them a note when I ditched, but they kind of already knew I wasn't likely to stick around forever."

"If I know my daughter, she won't be leaving your world to shrivel up all by itself, so maybe you'll see them again."

"Yeah, my brother's the same way. So I'm not too worried. If the dynamic duo take forever I might go grab them, but I'm not much of a 'planner' and Adarin pouts if I mess up his plans. Besides, I'm still checking to make sure this is a good place to crash."

"They do seem to suit each other, don't they."

"Pfff. I guess? It's sounding like they do and he's definitely got the whole shebang with hearts floating around his head and everything. But I haven't exactly sat down with your daughter and grilled her on her views of the world."

"Oh, she's always been kind of a crusading malcontent. She hasn't had a lot of application for it, so far, but she seems to be revving up like she was born for it now she has an idea."

"Ha! See, my brother was sort of passive about it for a while, till the invasion happened and he decided that he was going to fix things. He wasn't like - going to let people die horrifically before, and didn't like the place, but I don't think he was up for any kind of crusading then."

"Well, it seems they've met in the middle, then, haven't they."

"Yeah. They're cute together. Plus I like her, she's spunky."

"Ha! I've never heard quite that description of her, but it suits."

"I was afraid he'd end up with some annoying useless wallflower or something. This is a nice change."

"Did he tend to go for the useless wallflower type before?"

"I'm afraid I don't have much information about what the initial - courtship stage was like. Since Isabella has been very vocal in her opposition to claiming people at daggerpoint and I think she'd be more embarrassed about it if she'd done it anyway."

"Well, I wouldn't put it past her, at any rate."

More giggling. "So what's claiming at daggerpoint? Is it exactly what it sounds like? 'Cause I'm not sure if that's disturbing or hot."

"It's more or less what it sounds like, it's fallen rather out of favor now that witches can no longer expect to get away with murder if declined. I've never done it; my mother did, but not with my father, with her preceding husband. Opinions are divided on disturbing versus hot, but Isabella was firmly in the former camp and I have to say I largely agree with her."

"Huh, well. I'm glad it's not like - widely supported. But it does still sound kinda hot. Horrific, though. No means no, and all that jazz."

"The official story is 'witches just have such overhwelming emotions that we can't bear to live in the same world as someone who's spurned us, it is the only insult, any mortal should be glad to have a witch for a lover', blah blah - so much nonsense, I think. You won't run into this problem, at any rate. Witches who prefer women have their own traditions which mostly don't involve mortals and therefore mostly don't involve predicating their courtship on being able to stab the object of their affections."

"All right. It sounds like a bunch of fluff and garbage, but then again I'm not a witch. I dunno what your heads are like. Maybe some of you are wired like my mom and obsessive and crazy."

"Well, I was never tempted, so I'm not sure, but my experience with Charlie was less 'I took one look and had to have him because of his beautiful eyes' and more 'we enjoy talking to each other and get along so well'."

"Aha. Congrats to you! You sound cute together. I mean - I'm not saying violence for sexy-times is right or anything, just that insanity is a thing that happens to some magic-users for us. Could be the same for you. I'd have to poll all witches everywhere and that's really too much work."

"The fact that it's been so sharply on the decline as the odds of getting punished for it have increased suggests to me that it's nonsense." Pause. "Do you want to talk about your mother or would you sooner skip it?"

"That's not quite the witch habit... it's not uncommon for a witch to marry three or four or more mortals in her lifetime. And we don't tend to flatten cities."

"Huh. Interesting, alright. Good on you guys for not flattening cities, because that's bad. She only did it once, though. She was in the city at the time."

"I'm not even sure how a witch would flatten a city."

"That's fortunate for cities everywhere, I'm sure. Hear they don't like being flattened."

"And I doubt we'd get away with it, either."

"That, too. Though if you want to get technical and stuff - my mom didn't get away with it, either."

"Well, there's away and then there's away."

Zeviana giggles. "Well when you word it like that... It definitely made her go away."

"I take it this was a while ago?"

"Four-ish years ago! So, kinda. I mean, she was a sucky, sucky mom, I don't miss her."

"I'm not that close with mine myself."

"Yeah. Plus I'm kind of pissed with her still because she took out our practical father with her."

"Mmm?"

"He was in the city at the time. Step-father, though not like - officially or anything. Just unofficially, to us. Adarin hasn't mentioned him? I was sure he was still mourning."

"Not in enough detail that I'd committed it to memory."

"Ahh. Yeah, that makes sense. He gets vague when things bother him. But anyway - that's kind of why I hate my mom! That and terrible parenting."

"I'm sorry about that."

"Eh, it's fine. It's 'cause of her that I've got kick-ass magic powers, so it's not all bad."

"You seem to be handling the whole thing pretty well, yes."

"Thanks! I figure, there's no use moping about it. It was a thing that happened, it sucked, but it's over now. If I stay stuck in it, then how can I say I'm living?"

"I admire that attitude."

Zeviana grins brightly. "Thanks!"

Eventually, they reach Salt Lake City. Ranata shows Zeviana the pretty temple.

It is quite pretty! "Ooooo. Yeah, that's pretty, all right," she pronounces. "Also, really, really tall."

"It is! They build them big and pretty. We can fly over three more if I take the right route away from this city, they're all a bit different. Do you want to go to the zoo?"

"I'd love to! I bet it has animals I've never seen before. Should be pretty cool."

"I wonder how many of the same animals besides humans you have where you're from. I guess we'll see!"

"I'm hoping you have really cool things! We didn't have a lot of animals in New Kystle, but there were some."

These are birds she hasn't seen before! She snickers at the peacocks. "Those are the most flamboyant birds I have ever seen. In my entire life. But they're pretty!"

"Aren't they just? The parrots are colorful, too!"

"Heh, yeah. There are so many colorful birds here! Do people sell the fancy feathers, do you think I could get some? If not, I'll let them be or like - try to scrounge. Attacking them for pretty feathers seems mean."

"The gift shop probably has peacock feathers, but probably not parrot ones."

"I'll have to look. They're colorful and pretty and I think I like them," she declares.

"What are you going to do with a peacock feather?"

"I haven't the faintest idea. Maybe wear it, I dunno."

"Braid it into your hair."

"Ooo! Sure! That sound cool, I'll do that."

"Trunks," supplies Ranata in English. "Elephants are the only creatures that have anything quite like them!"

"Huh. Thanks! That's really weird and kind of cool! I suppose that's one method to deal with a really long nose. Just treat it like another limb and become an elephant."

"Elephants are very smart, too. Some of them have been taught to paint."

"Oh? What do they paint?"

"Mostly abstracts, I think. The ones here don't do it. The paintings are mostly popular because elephants make them, you see, they're not artistic triumphs."

"Oooh. Well, makes sense, I suppose. It might be cool to see, but I doubt I'd want one. Where would I even put an elephant's painting?"

Monkeys! Gorillas! Gila monsters!

Goodness! So many things here at this zoo. Monkeys and gorillas earn some curious questions, but not the fascinated awe that the elephants or big cats gained. Gila monsters she finds curious and strange, with some nice color combinations, but otherwise has no opinion on. She's having a lot of fun, though! There's lots of stuff here to see!

Ranata shows her tattoo to the store clerk and manages to get Zeviana two peacock feathers.

"No problem. We can head the rest of the way to clan lands now, but we might not get there before we're tired. This -" Ranata points at a knot of fabric tied to her cloud-pine, next to her bow and quiver - "unfolds into a hammock I can hang from my branch, but just the one; how do you feel about sleeping outdoors?"

"Totally fine with it. If we're near any bushes I can even make them bed-shaped, though I don't care if I can't do that. Done it before, and now normal beds feel too soft. Like I'm going to sink through them to the earth or something."

Whee! Adventure! She's excited. Witches are fun, or at least this one is!

That's fortunate, in two respects! Zeviana's a morning person, too. Now she doesn't have to wait around for a while for Ranata to get up out of politeness. Hurray, they can continue on their journey!

"Sure, that's fine. Think we should phone my brother and see if he's up to translation spells or something? Unless you'd like to translate everything?"

"I'll call Isabella again if you like, but I don't mind helping if that's a better idea for some reason." She dials her child and hands the phone over.

"Hello?"

"Hi! Is Adarin up or is he still dead to the world right now? I'm going to see if I can poke him for how to do his translation spell."

"He's maybe ten percent awake? Are you in a hurry? I can call back when he's had his tea."

"Eh, I can wait. Calling back seems best."

"Okay, talk to you later."

"Sure. Should we wait for Isabella's call first, though? Might be awkward to have in the air if it takes a while to explain how to do the spell."

"Ooh, yes, good point, this is a perfectly comfy spot to wait." Ranata turns on the radio and sets about doing the dishes, as long as they aren't leaving yet.

And eventually Isabella calls and hands the phone over to Adarin.

"You can stash them here if you like. I'm kind of curious."

"That went well," confirms Ranata once they're in the air.

"The mint and rosemary are over here. You can probably get extra credit if you do the watercress too, if you like."

"Sure. I'll see if I can do 'em all. I'll just get started right now, I'm all excited and happy. That helps when dealing with plants, though maybe I just work better when I've got energy to burn and I'm in a good mood."

Ranata laughs. "All right. Will you be okay if I go get us some lunch? Fifteen minutes, maybe twenty if I get distracted."

"That'll be fine. I need some time to look at 'em all, anyway. Get a feel of what I'm working with."

Castarilan flies around. Zoom, zoom, zoom. Hummingbirds always look like they're going wheeeee! when they fly, and while Cas isn't literally going wheeeeee!, his general demeanor suggests it.

Cas is maneuverable enough to be reasonably comfortable getting close to people besides Ranata. He goes where Lecasryn can follow and chases her around, giggling.

Lecasryn is amused by this! She does some lovely aerial maneuvers to entertain herself and Castarilan - not to mention, learning how to fly. All things considered, she's adjusting well. She will chase Castarilan right back, in a playful and friendly sort of way, if he seems to want to.

"This is a decent chunk of why we separate," he comments.

"Can't blame you. Now that I'm flying, being - chained like this is bothersome. I think we might have to fix it as soon as possible," she replies.

"We'd take you up to the wasteland, but it's cold there."

"Thanks. We'll ask Adarin for advice first, then we'll do it. Maybe the wasteland won't be necessary."

"Mortals who separate - because their daemon is a fish or the person is a spy or something - don't use it," agrees Castarilan.

"Ah. Is there any advice you'd think would help?"

"Don't watch. Ranata's grandmother took us and her daemon wrapped me up in his wings and I didn't look and I think it helped. Path watched, though, and they did it on the first try, so I guess it's different for different people."

"Huh. Okay. Thank you - I think if I think about how much I want to fly free, that'll help."

"It might. But usually the daemons are the ones who change their minds. That's why the wasteland helps, because it doesn't let you change your mind."

"Oh? Do you know what makes daemons change their minds?"

"It feels like - being abandoned. Like it'll be forever. And witches do it right after we settle, so for me it was like - I had only just lost a huge ability I had to navigate the world without needing Ranata for everything all the time, I couldn't be a monkey if I wanted hands or a crane if I wanted to be tall or a bat if I wanted to see in the dark without her holding a flashlight. So I kept thinking about how hard it would be if she left me forever and I was just a hummingbird."

"They always do eventually. Some daemons resent their witches for a while after, and avoid them, but they always go back too. It's just hard to remember when it's hurting."

Lecasryn nods. "I understand. Thank you for your help. I'll do my best when it comes to it."

Castarilan lands on the ground, bored of chasing for the time being. "You're welcome."

"All right." Ranata starts in on her half of the food.

"That's it, but Castarilan's not big enough to hold her for you if she needs it, so she'll have to stay put by herself..."

"A few hundred yards - it's not exact. If you want I can take you by cloudpine."

Ranata flies faster on the way back, and soon they are all together again.

"Aww," says Ranata. "That was one of the most amicable post-separation reunions I've ever heard of."

He is with his witch, adjacent but not on her person; they have relocated from the place where Ranata found them, but not far.

Lecasryn lands neatly nearby, and inclines her head towards the pair. She'll wait until the little bird daemon addresses her to say anything - perhaps nothing needs to be said at all, in fact.

"No," she replies. "We decided to, then we did. Ranata Ekamma helped."

"Castarilan can't possibly have held you. What did you do?"

"I stayed put."

"You didn't have nearly enough time to fly to the wasteland. Did your person teleport you there...?"

"No. We just did it here. I didn't change my mind - Ranata Ekamma flew Zeviana, and I stayed with Castarilan. It hurt, it was agony, but it would have been worse if I didn't."

"We did not mean to imply there was quite this much hurry about the matter."

"I know. Thank you. It was for us, though. So we just got it over with."

He looks her up and down again. "Mmm. Well, thank you for telling me."