"Good morning! I think we might have it, today."

"Have...?"

"A workable plan. I talked to my ex-summoner contact, and they did have a way to let the daeva go where they want - it's restrictive in other ways, but having it available as a choice helps. I do understand that you can't do that yet, to offer them an option of which binding to take, but we can work on getting better communication between the worlds, and in the meantime restricting them to uninhabited places and a whitelist is good enough."

"In the meantime? My understanding has been that recapture is so dicey we have to get it right to begin with."

"I understand that," he nods. "I don't mean that these daeva will get the choice - I will want to try to get messages to them, but I don't expect it to work. But in the future, when there is communication between the realms, it'll matter."

"Can you elaborate on that?"

"I should probably start at the beginning, actually. The basic idea is that they get a choice of binding, with the one that came up yesterday as the default - the one where they're exiled from inhabited places except for ones that specifically choose to allow them. I do want the demons allowed to talk unless that turns out to be a problem, and I'd like to see the restriction in getting close to people eased, but that's relatively minor. They can also choose another binding from a list of acceptable ones, by writing to you about it - if they do, you don't have to destroy the circles you've already placed immediately, but you should start making the new ones with the binding they ask for, and destroy the original ones when you have enough of those. The other binding that I want them to be able to pick is one that doesn't limit them by place, but uses a very restrictive version of the speed and force limits that are used with fairies - that way they can go wherever they like, but they can't move faster than a slow walk, or lift anything heavy enough to be dangerous if they drop it - people can just walk away if they're bothering them, and it should be fairly obvious in most circumstances that something strange is going on, even if it's not clear what to someone who's never heard of them. Daeva who chose this option probably shouldn't be allowed to speak, and I'm sure there are other details to work out, but this one can be as restrictive as we like as long as they aren't restricted in where they can go - I'm assuming it will end up being much more restrictive than the other one, to the point where it would be cruel to do to someone who didn't chose it, but that's why it's not the default, it only happens if they do actively choose it. And then if you want to add further choices in the future, you can, but that's entirely up to you."

"Huh! I think that will work. I'm really surprised that the slow walk version is adequate - I was expecting you'd insist they be allowed to fly."

"I was imagining that the speed limitation would allow at least faeries to fly, though there should probably be an altitude limitation. But in general they're going to be in places built for non-fliers if they choose that binding, not being able to fly isn't a major limitation."

"When you say 'doesn't limit them by place' what do you mean, particularly with respect to exile?"

"Oh, that would still be enforceable, yes. I do hope the places exiling them consider the specific binding in use before they choose to, but that's not something we have a say in."

"When you say you hope it but don't have a say, does that mean that as far as Revelation governments are concerned they can ignore that and nothing worse than you being disappointed will happen, or do you mean something more complicated?"

"The former. There's plenty of precedent for that in Oerth; they might get clerics trying to talk them around - not even just Fharlanghn's - but the gods won't force them."

"All right. I think we've touched on this before but I think we should be very clear - now that it's known that summoners become daeva after death, and that even non-summoners go to Limbo, people are going to want to bind people who were dangerous in life, and will need some kind of solution for Limboites. Also, the affirmation of the right to suicide may weaken in light of this information. Would it be a good idea to get ahead of this now rather than risking another confrontation later?"

"It would be a good idea, but maybe with a different cleric."

"I was under the impression that would be almost prohibitively difficult."

"Zanel said he was looking for someone, and I can probably speed that up if I'm not needed here; I can probably have someone in a few weeks."

"All right. They'll only move quickly on daeva so the extant solution once nailed down in exact words should last until a new one can be consulted on Limbo."

"All right. I have a stop to make in Limbo before I go back to Oerth anyway, maybe I can find you a local expert while I'm there, too."

"I'll look forward to it. Ah, I checked my email on the way in to work and Tomás estimates he can rush a binding in six hours with his colleagues on the job too, and they're on Mars now since we've been working here for a bit; if it's two bindings that'll take him a couple days; probably you don't want to be here the entire time to suggest revisions as they go. With the understanding that the wording can get nastily interdependent and any last minute change will be costly, what's the best way to make sure the final product is one you're happy with?"

"Well, it depends on what you mean by 'best'. The fastest would be to explain what I want and get them to confirm under a truth spell that they'll include all the required parts and as much of the rest as they can by priority order, and then leave them to it."

"That does sound quick, but I worry about misunderstandings. No one knew until you specified that freedom of movement didn't have to let them fly and there could be a mistake in the other direction."

"There's always going to be some risk of that unless I'm designing them myself, which obviously doesn't work. And there's plenty of precedent for leaving people to implement a plan as best they can and coming back to revise it later, but I don't know of any situations where a mistake would be this permanent. I may need to ask Fharlanghn, if you want to be really sure."

"I wouldn't tell you not to. Uh, can he reply to you without appearing in person?"

"He can; I can't guarantee that he will. But the usual way to ask is to use a spell to get his attention, and that's usually done in private, since distractions can ruin it."