I am more complaint-inclined than most. They made us a paradise and they did a good job and everyone really is genuinely happy here, I would know. Their communication skills are wanting and they require a lot of management but it's not as if I've figured out how to give people post-scarcity paradises.

Sure, but once you have the ability to manufacture post-scarcity paradises in the first place it sounds like all their actual policy implementations are kind of no-brainers or could-do-betters. "Should there be a post-scarcity paradise" being a no-brainer.

Yep, true.

I've tended to figure I'd find some like-minded mage and we would jointly collect all the skills necessary to do all the cool things and then do them but it's slow going.

Finding the like-minded mage or getting up to the necessary power level?

Both. I met a bunch of mages in school but eclipsing isn't correlated with anything and being willing to go through control training barely is so they're a very mundane assortment of personalities, still haven't run into anybody who'd want to build post-scarcity paradises together. And picking up magic skills takes years - one develops them by thinking about them, which is less boring than it sounds but still very time-consuming.

What would you need the mage for?

Anything with physical effects. So, like, actually implementing as opposed to just designing and administering the paradise.

Might be able to talk a Maia on board - they're probably strictly worse than a powerful mage but they can raise cities and do healing and so on.

That might work! Are they less frustrating than Valar?

They are the same median frustratingness but there are thousands and variance.

Then maybe there is a nonfrustrating one I can poach.

I would be delighted to point you at unfrustrating Maiar.

Thanks!

And they reach her parents' house!

Hi Maitimë's parents' house. Do I need an etiquette lesson or anything?

My mother needs an etiquette lesson but no one's ever had the nerve to give her one. You'll be fine.

Okay.

The house is mostly stone, and very spacious; there's stunningly pretty music drifting from one of the windows, and a couple young children snuggled under a tree sleeping.

Aww, Isabella says when she notices the kids.

That's me and Laurië, when I was twelve and she was two.

...they're sculptures?

Yeah. My father's astonishingly talented. 

Wow.

She knocks.