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"How was school, honey?"
She tries to make the kids' favorite meals on their first day of school, but when she asked Iomedae's favorite meal the girl first stared at her blankly and then after some extended clarifications proposed that they could roast a pig, and she can't actually roast a pig, so dinner is pork chops, and potatoes, and salad from the farmer's market. Iomedae is not a picky eater.
(The girl is in fact clinically obese. The doctor suggested they talk with her about cutting back on junk food, but the social worker said that was a bad idea, with a kid new to care - don't restrict her food access at all, just get her more exercise. So Jenny signed her up for swim lessons at the YMCA and for track and field at school. Iomedae balked at the swimming lessons on the grounds that swimsuits were immodest, and they do actually make hijabi wetsuit things but apparently not in her size. Hopefully track and field she'll actually enjoy.)
It's a topic change, but Cináed has been mulling over this thought for long enough that he's willing to jump in and say it as soon as there's a lull in the conversation.
"As the, ah, resident expert in this experience - if she was raised by the fey or something then I do genuinely really think she needs to be introduced to the SCA as a mundane organization first before we tell her about magic. I don't think already knowing about magic changes that, I think it makes it even more necessary."
"Hmm. Can I ask what part of your own experience you're speaking to? Not to question you, but - is it the aspect of needing to be able to separate an Atlantian king from a fey king in your head? Maintaining modern values? Just because I'm not... sure if she has those, or if we can force her to get some."
Cináed pauses a long time, looking anxiously down at his hands but successfully managing not to fidget. He stares at the delicate silver ring on one finger. "Partly that, yes, remembering that the SCA crowns are only crowns for six months, and our barons have less real power than our seneschals, and you can't actually get executed in court, and all that other stuff that seems analogous at first glance but isn't. And partly the way people sometimes treat me like I was grandfathered in and didn't actually get read in because I was ready."
"That is - with respect - exactly what I don't like and what I don't want to put Iomedae through."
"I just - look, there's a lot of hypotheses but they all simplify down to two and I don't see a third option. Either she's a recruit, and we bring her in and tell her about magic, or she's not a recruit. If she's not a recruit, I really hope we can just tell her not to talk about magic, but... she seems pretty insistent on talking about the supernatural at every possible opportunity. I hate memory editing but people who know a lot and absolutely refuse to shut up about it are exactly the people we have memory editing for."
"And we're assuming she knows about magic because she just seems to really believe in faith healing? She hasn't done any faith healing. She's said nothing that indicates she knows the fundamental equation of magic equals morality over time."
"A bake sale with memory loss potion lemonade?"
Reynhard is inclined to let Raoulin cook (he's smart when he's not busy being humble) but he cannot help cracking stupid jokes.
"No, at - what's the event on the fifteenth, Fencers' Fete? There's gonna be merchants and I'm pretty sure there's gonna be some people just with tables of cheap secondhand stuff. I have tons of stuff I'm not using in the attic, we've got some stuff in Baronial storage we meant to sell - let's take up a load and sell a bunch of cheap stuff. Iomedae can volunteer."
Nicole catches his meaning immediately. "Helping with a charity bake sale is the sort of thing foster parents approve of."
Raoulin claps twice. "Yes! And we can sweeten the deal by saying she can have free stuff that doesn't get sold in exchange for volunteering. I very much doubt Robert can hover over the table for the entire day so we'll get some time to talk to her. Worst case scenario I get rid of a bunch of stuff I don't need."
"...look, I love you both but this is the second convoluted plan you two have wanted to do and we still have no idea what went wrong with the first one. For all we know she's doing faith healing in school every day and it's a matter of time until someone films it."
It has also occurred to Reynhard that he could ask Nicole to just break Iomedae's arm and see if she does any magic in response. He does not say this out loud because that would be morally wrong and he did swear an oath regarding that sort of thing.
"We could write to Lady Ester and ask if she can spare us a scrying?"
"She definitely can't. Sorry. I phoned and asked her for three when I was handling the whole Gorgon thing. Sometimes a mirror is not enough."
(Reynhard is trying to imagine how that phone call went. Like hello, sorry to interrupt dinner, I'm calling because I'm currently in a dungeon just round the corner from a loud hissing sound and I'm trying to not be turned to stone, any chance of texting me a nice sketch map of the cave? Great, thanks, have a nice dinner!)
Nicole sits back in her chair, her back perfectly straight, and gives the table an icy look. "She's the most honourable person I know, and you are all better people than to react like that."
Raoulin sighs softly. "She does give people the creeps, Nicky - it's not her fault at all, nobody's saying it's her fault, but..."