"Yeah, some. I think it's enough to live on? It's plenty for the effort they put in but not nearly enough for the effect they're having, which is how the system remains stable. -- That last part is quoted from a book, I don't really like economics enough to figure out the Active station system for myself."

"You're dusted? Is it dangerous, hard to figure out?"

"No, just a Chance, I'm not spending all that much time on trying new things for the activation. One of my co-prentices is. ...It is somewhat dangerous if you try to do stuff on your own, but you're pretty much guaranteed to get something you can handle if you go to a station. The conditions are pretty hard to find, yeah, but you don't really... figure them out. Just try lots of different stuff. Get a sense for which kinds of things get results, try some of those. Oh, and what I meant by 'for myself' is... I tend to try and figure things out, to know for sure that the opinion I have is mine and as correct as I can make it."

"I'll take a good crystal ball and dusting as accidental-kidnap-repayment then. And then have lots of fun doing weird things to try and get something."

"Cool. I should also probably tell you about elixirs and artifacts... But food first."

The omelette is done. She splits it in half, puts the halves on plates, and starts eating her half. She doesn't seem inclined to talk while eating.

Walta still feels chatty though. "You know, eggs are rare on the 'mon world. It would be really weird to try and eat a 'mon egg. Like eating dog. I grew up on chicken eggs though."

Flora nods and makes a little acknowledgement/interest noise.

Walta rambles throughout the meal, not bothered by the merely nonverbal response.

Flora is okay with that.

"Right. Moondust!" She heads back to the room where Walta appeared to get Walta's compensation. "Sprinkling it on a person makes them a Chance. Sprinkling it on an Active's pet makes the pet a Chance with passive powers for them and their owner. Sprinkling it on an inanimate object that is not a plant or water gives you a potential artifact. That part works just like any other thing with moondust -- it's activated by random conditions. An active artifact bestows one active power on anyone who's touching it, and everyone can use it regardless of whether they're Dusted or not. Those are usually public property, because most of the ones that activated are old enough to be in museums, but also in great condition. So we have a mini-museum of artifacts here, because of the high concentration of magic users who want some close-by."

She takes a small bag from the shelf and opens it to reveal softly glowing silvery powder. "Alright, are you ready? It can be a bit startling if you're not warned."

"Ready and waiting."

Flora sprinkles.

It is the most amazing feeling -- it's like she's just been hugged by the whole entire universe, she's accepted and loved and she's skydiving, hang-gliding, riding Feume at top speed and she's wrapped in a soft blanket, holding a mug of hot chocolate, dozing off to sleep and she's giggling helplessly and she's solved a difficult problem, an impossible problem, after hours of thinking it clicks and she understands, she applies all her skills and knowledge to something and gets amazing results, she not only fixes a walker she builds one herself and she can do anything, she can be anything -- all at the same time, in the same split second. It feels like it's both an eternity and much too short at the same time.

"Fun?" asks Flora.

"Oh, geez, I didn't think it was supposed to feel like anything special! I just thought surprising was - being covered in dust suddenly! Woooah."

"Ah. I should have said. Forgot for a second. Anyway. What did it feel like, to you? Do you remember any of it? Everyone perceives it slightly differently."

"Flying and a cozy nap and making something brilliant and more all at once..."

"Cool. I wonder what causes these, we haven't been able to replicate them with elixirs at all. Anyway. Here's your compensatory bag of moondust, I've told you about artifacts, sprinkling it onto elixir ingredients -- plants, liquids, biological materials in general -- also a bad -- but usually not very dangerous -- idea. If you don't know what you're doing, that is. Oh, um, sprinkling is actually a special mental action, people who've grown up here know how to do it -- and how to not do it, when they're just trying to touch or move their moondust from place to place. I'm not sure how to teach that, but it's definitely possible. I'll go ask my mentor about that and the possibility of letting you crash here, if you don't need anything else for now."

"I think I'm going to go find that park you talked about. Feume's probably hungry."

"Alright." She gives directions and walks off.

And she goes to the park, kind of marveling at how nobody's using 'mon. Surprising how fast she got used to that.

There are lots of strange people doing strange things, such as decorating trees with paper clip chains and crawling around in turtle suits. It's nice and sunny.

She can't think of anything creatively crazy to try off the top of her head.

So she dances, kinda badly, the rest of the way to the park. Not particularly creative, but fun.

That does not produce any result.

Someone is trying to balance balls made of different materials -- wood, metal, knitting wool, some kind of purple gemstone, some kind of fluffy thing -- in a pyramid on top of their head. A woman in a beautiful dress is half-covered in horizontal, spaced-out stripes of tape, even her face and legs. A little boy is knitting octopus pants with both his fingers and his very nimble toes. A guy has a wig with needles instead of hair, and is taking a selfie with a phone that looks for all the world like a large potato with a screen.

Here's the park.

She's kind of inspired by some of these things! She tries juggling her tools after letting Feume out.

That still doesn't work, but it is more on the right track. Not that the universe or the writer have any way of conveying this.

Ranting about electricity at nobody. Wearing cogs and gears in her hair. Walking in patterns. And so on, taking breaks to actually care for Feume.

None of those things! But very on the right track.

Some guy tries to interview Feume. It's pretty clear that this is not an actual reporter.