"'pparently most of the countries around here closed their borders with Galt a long time ago. Not very surprising, it's been having revolutions nonstop for decades now. 

Osirion'd take them. But they don't speak the language and it wouldn't be - easy -" He shakes water out of his hair. "Maybe they could go to Osirion and then to Andoran from Osirion? Thirty-six hours of travel if we don't stop, we could fit seven at a time with one person piloting. Maybe twice that if we take some chances with the bag of holding. There's a couple hundred people here. - where's Hagan?"

         "Took the carpet and left after you did," said Mahdi.

" - ugh. I'm out of spells. Would you go and find him -"

          "Then you would be here alone," says Mahdi. 

"Is the being alone thing really really important?"

"You would be entitled to consider it so," says Fazil.

"I don't think we do?"

He glances at Korva.

"I think someone should go find Hagan."

Mahdi goes off down the rope.

"What do you think he's doing?"

"I think he's going to try to airlift everyone into Andoran," says Fazil. "I thought that right away and I didn't pick a fight with him because we have more important priorities right now but - I don't think it'll help very much - and we could use the carpet to get them somewhere that will take them -"

"Won't Andoran just find them out and turn them back again?"

"This is why I want to do something else instead."

Nod.

Mahdi and Hagan return not all that much later.

"You can't leave them here."

        "Yes," Fazil says. "I noticed. You can't move them over, the border's not magic, Andoran will still notice and kick them out."

"I was trying to find people who already have family in Andoran. We can drop them off with the family, harder to notice, more time to figure out - papers or whatever -"

       "We could take them home -"

"Penniless, don't speak the language, visibly foreigners -"

       " - and put them on a ship going to Andoran from Osirion. Andoran takes refugees from us, right?"

"- yeah. We don't have time. My way is a two-hour carpet trip each, yours is a full two days."

       "A bit less. Could put them on a ship in Absalom, maybe, that shaves off another six hours."

"My way they're not worse off if Andoran does find them, they just get sent back here. Your way, they're stranded with no way back to Galt either."

       Fazil sighs.

She absentmindedly cleans them of mud.

"You said earlier your lead in Galt might not last."

"Yeah," says Fazil with a sigh. "Might already be dead, what with the latest revolution."

Nod.

"Could go talk to the Andorans. Be like, hey, innocent freedom loving people, many of them adorable small children, about to be murdered at your door! We could do pamphlets, don't they love pamphlets?" 

        "Now who's proposing things that take time?" Fazil snaps at him.

                  "We could go talk to the provincial governor in Taldor," says Mahdi. "They'll want some ridiculous nonsense because that's how Taldor always operates but they'd have the authority to decide tonight."

"Okay," says Hagan. "We can try that first. If - if everyone's in favor, I mean."

"Sounds okay."

"Not my carpet."

"Fine. - it might make more sense for just the three of us to go, showing up in Taldor with Chelaxians won't simplify anything -"

       "If we're leaving we can let some of the kids sleep in here," Fazil says.

"Sure."

Most of the kids cannot actually make the climb. Mahdi Flys them. They therefore arrive soaked but surprisingly cheerful. 

" - see you guys in a bit," Fazil says to Zara and Korva. "Don't leave the Rope Trick, you can't be scried on here."

Nodnod. She makes some theatrical motions and now the kids are free of mud.

"Tell us a story?" she asks, when the others are gone, and it's just her and Korva and the kids.

"Sure. If you guys are okay with that?"

These kids think they are Very Impressive Wizards and would totally like a story.