In a minute two figures walk into the clearing a short distance away from them - the young nervous woman May saw at the summoning ritual, now in casual clothes instead of a robe, along with a shimmering figure covered from head to toe in multiple layers of translucent scales oddly reminiscent of bubble wrap.

"Oh hi sorry I don't know what I'm doing and I figured I'd go to the park and hide while everyone killed each other and my champion told me someone else was nearby and I figured probably you had the same idea and anyone who didn't want to fight was someone I could team up with to stay safe around. I'm Analise," says the young woman rapidly.

[I'm backlashing more than I'd usually expect from just this, I think they must have an unusual sensory loadout like echolocation or something.] Are they trying to address Lianelle, or the tent, or what?

Lianelle. 

"You're not interested in fighting?"

[I'm not really sure what to do here?]

"No not at all I was just the only mage in my family who had enough power for the ritual and they insisted really really hard."

[Hypothetically, what would happen if the last two candidates just declined to kill each other indefinitely?]

[I think it would attract monsters until someone died? I'm not sure. More often someone will promise to resurrect someone else once they get the spring.]

[What a fucking waste. Don't look right at me, they can see that even though they can't see me.] She lopes over to Lianelle to touch her hand and cut down on the cost of being comprehensively invisible. [I'm not sure what to say to her. She's quite plausibly full of shit but maybe not.]

[I really don't like the idea of turning down a maybe genuine request for help.]

[If we can't do better than promising to resurrect her anyway, I'm not sure what else it makes sense to do here.]

[You could offer to use a portion of the magic if she helps you win?]

[On what, though, she's clearly prone to being strongarmed by her family in the version of the story where she's not personally awful.]

[Maybe she can be persuaded to accept something reasonable?]

[Go ahead and ask, I guess, but don't commit without my okay please.]

"What would you want out of an alliance?"

"I'm okay with being resurrected afterward and I'd like my family to stop being mages except for me," replies Analise, who has been patiently waiting for Lianelle to work out details with her summoner.

"How many people are there in your family?"

"Six mages besides me - my parents and brother and I have two aunts and a grandpa who are mages too - there's also a cousin and a baby but neither of them are mages. I guess the baby might be but I'm not worried about him."

[My guess is that it wouldn't take all that much of the Spring to do what she's asking?]

[Consistent with her story, too. Does that put them on the far side of the Veil though?]

[Yeah.]

[Noooot really comfortable with that, they sound like real pieces of work but they'd be unable to contextualize a big chunk of their lives.]

[I can ask if leaving them on the magic side of the veil is okay? I bet you can do that.]

[Yeah.]

"Would it be okay if they got left on the magic side of the veil?"

"I'm worried about them figuring out a way to find other mages to help them or something - could you make them forget about me and take away their magic but leave them with their other memories?"