"Well, if we're going to try to go it alone just the three of us, we should find a good spot to do it in. Somewhere near a river, ideally with plants already growing so we know the soil is good, maybe near a forest for wood . . . can you think of anything else it should have? I can scout from the air."

"Those are all the things I'd think to check for."

"Then I think I'll go scout. I'll see you in a few hours, probably."

She switches back to wings mode, adds eagle eyes for good measure since she still doesn't have horns, and takes off, starting a search spiraling out from their current position. She keeps alert for danger, other people, and good places to set up a base.

There are other people, though not many. Most are dangerous. Nobody has a farm or a garden. The surface area of the round is about that of a major metropolitan area. There are a few little creeks, though no full sized rivers.

She examines the soil near the handful of creeks, and picks the one where it's the least sandy and rocky. Then flies back to where she left Sovi and Daz, keeping track of how far they're going to have to walk to get there.

It's several miles, longer if they detour around local cannibals.

Between her various precog powers, her wings, and her ability to unexpectedly sprout six-inch razor-sharp claws, Margaret can probably defend herself pretty well, but she'd much rather take the detour and suspects Daz and Sovi will agree. "Sovi, would Daz like some kind of sunshade or something while we travel, so he doesn't get any more sunburned?" She's given up on either of them acquiring a nudity taboo any time soon.

Daz wakes up and says something. Sovi translates. She gets a reply and says, "Yes."

Wings back off (argh argh argh it gets easier every time but it still feels weird), what's the biggest leaf she can make?

She can make a real big leaf! If she thickens up its ribs she can get it umbrella sized without it collapsing.

Nice! She picks it and hands it to Daz while putting her arm back to her definition of normal, and then unless she's mistaken they can set out.

Daz uses the leaf as a parasol. They hike.

Margaret puts her wings, horns, and horn-jewelry back on to get as much range out of her danger sense as possible, and guides them around the last known location of the cannibals.

"Why are you doing that?" asks Sovi.

"I saw some dangerous people over there when I was scouting," she says as she turns one way and points the other. "My magic can tell if someone is likely to try to hurt me."

"...I mean growing horns, I can't tell when you're doing the other thing."

"Oh, that! My magic is stronger when I look prettier; the prettiest I know how to look involves having these horns with this jewelry on them. I took them off earlier so I could make plants, but now I want them back to get more range out of the danger sense."

"You look like a monster," says Sovi.

This is true. She also looks awesome. Sovi can have her opinion and Margaret can have hers. "Magical girls can't look human," is what she says. "The magic judges what counts as pretty, and it likes this, and I like this, so it's what I do."

"Why do you like that?"

"I like having scales because they're easy to clean and never get itchy and make a nice clicking noise when I tap them." (She demonstrates this.) "I like having wings because I can fly and I like being covered in gemstones because they're sparkly and I like having horns because I can hang more jewelry off them. Also I'm used to looking like this; taking pieces off makes me feel unbalanced and wrong."

Sovi makes a face. "Uh-huh."

"It's not for everybody; some people back home get the opportunity and don't take it."

Sovi walks on. "Do you eat this all the time at home?" she asks, holding up a peanut.

"No way. At home there's plenty of food, because there are farmers who know a lot about growing it, so I can get as much food as I want in exchange for doing the things I'm good at. Including kinds I can't make myself."