"Wouldn't necessarily have helped whoever I attacked, in this hypothetical."

"You could probably have injured someone enough to confine them to bed for a few weeks of winter, but it's supposed to be impossible to kill people you're indebted to and my experience matches that."

"I suppose it was a well-thought-out netting, then."

"Were you worried I'd done something stupid or just worried that I was willing to open with something so hostile?"

"I'd say more I was curious about in what way it was not stupid. You do not seem stupid in general."

"Thank you. I try."

Giggle.

"If I'd known more things about you I would not have gone with a net."

"No? What would you have done?"

"Walked over myself and said hello."

"Would probably have worked out fine."

"I think so, now that I know you, yes. There are people it wouldn't have worked out with, though."

"Probably, yeah."

"I'm glad that, instead of them, it was you."

"I am glad to be myself too."

She goes back to her room and checks her gates. Another one has settled; she closes it. When she checks the others the next time she wakes up, they've all settled too, and she shuts them.

She thinks, she draws, she goes looking for his father's son.

In his office.

"Hi."

"Hi!"

"The magic experiment I was performing secretly has resolved itself and is now sufficiently under control I could tell you about it without it being too huge a deal probably."

"That sounds interesting!"

"It's gates back to my world."

"Oooh. Same principle as the lights - as many as you want, quickly?"

"I can start them that fast, but they don't usually work right away, which is why it took this long. They take time - it seems to be real time, not subjective time - to settle."

"Can you pick the location?"

"Yes. I have to, actually."