It's not as unpleasant as the worst of yesterday, Leareth thinks, but he's not especially enjoying this. 

Nayoki occasionally pats his shoulder and says something reassuring. 

"And we're done," Melody says finally, releasing her Gift. "Leareth, how is that? You ought to feel mostly back to normal, though I expect you're going to be very fatigued the rest of today. Having Abadar get into a tug-of-war with the Star-Eyed in your brain used up a lot of kinds of resources, not just your magical reserves." 

Leareth has never felt so relieved by the walls being square. "I feel fine, I think?" He is very tired, in a bone-deep way. 

"All right, when he's ready you can dispel Delay Pain." 

So he gives Leareth a hug and then does that.

"Hngg." Leareth wants to be horizontal and in the dark and have no one make any sound at all. 

Melody tugs Nayoki along with her and very quietly leaves. 

He will do the same, though he'll leave someone sitting in there silently who can tell him if Leareth needs anything.

As long as he lies still with his eyes closed and doesn't think too hard, it's sort of tolerable. Every so often he manages to mumble that he's thirsty. He doesn't ask for food, eating sounds terrible right now. 

The headache lasts longer than a standard talking-to-Abadar headache. Midway through the afternoon finds him crying just from sheer frustration of not being able to sleep, he's so goddamned tired. 

They're still in the capital of the country her Uncle Van saved, they're not allowed to go home yet because it isn't safe. 

Jisa escapes her governess by making up a story about there being a mess in the privy, and then darts off and extends her new Thoughtsensing to its full range, searching for the laundry wizard lady. 

The laundry wizard lady in fact has a spellbook with only the one cantrip in it, plus another that if pressed she'll claim she never really mastered. She is at home, with her cactus, contemplating escape plans if she gets into trouble. 

Oh no she really hopes the nice wizard lady isn't scared that Jisa will tell her parents about the sex and the King will get mad. She doesn't think Papa even would get mad about that, he would think it was funny. Mama would get mad, but it doesn't matter because Jisa isn't going to tell them. 

She walks through the streets like she's definitely supposed to be there, and knocks on the wizard lady's door. 

She gets the door. Jumps a little. 

Hi, she thinks at the mindreading kid.

:Hi! Is today your day off? I still want to learn the laundry spell: 

:Yes it is. I guess we can try, but you mustn't be upset if you can't get it, all right? It took me years of school.:

:I won't be. I'll be very patient: Jisa promises. :Can I come in and see your house?: 

:Sure.:

It's a small cheap apartment with a bed and a hastily-cleared table. Under the table there's a filing cabinet that is magically locked. There's a bookshelf with four cheap historical romances and the two major Arodenite holy texts, which were being distributed for free at the temple of Iomedae one day she went looking for people with visions like hers.

She pulls out her laundry-wizard spellbook and tries to explain how to prepare a cantrip.

Jisa pays such close attention. Maybe the closest attention she's ever paid to anything. She also reads the wizard lady's thoughts about the explanation because maybe she'll get more magic in her brain that way. 

The wizard lady is thinking about how this would be easier to explain with reference to some other spells, but she can't, because SEX, and sometimes thinking more useful things like exactly what the magic is doing and what it feels like in her mind when she prepares it.

Jisa is so confused about the connection between other spells and SEX! Maybe the laundry wizard lady knows some sex spells that she doesn't think Jisa is old enough to know? Jisa doesn't ask her about it because grownups are weird about sex. 

She focuses really had on what the lady thinks it feels like, and then tries to make it feel the same way in her own head. Her new senses, the one Melody says was Mindhealing after she used it on Mama by accident when they were having an argument, are really useful for it; she can see the garden that's the lady's mind, and she can try to make the garden in her own head do the same things. 

Then she can in fact learn how to cast Prestidigitation! 

That is SO COOL!!!! Jisa is delighted and hugs the laundry wizard around the middle - while very very carefully not letting go of her MAGIC - and then she tries to do things with it.

...she has to try to call the energy back to her, see, once she's used the spell, or she won't be able to do it more than a couple of times. You do that like this. (It shouldn't be possible for Carissa to use cantrips if she's letting Jisa use her spellbook but Jisa doesn't know that and it's in fact impressive that the kid picked it up that fast and maybe she can learn some things from Jisa about Velgarth while she's here.)

Jisa also picks up how to call the energy back to her on the second go, which she can tell is impressive. She knows it's because she's very very clever, and beams about it. 

Jisa plays with her new cantrip and is bouncing up and down with joy, and will eagerly tell the lady things about Velgarth. Whether or not she wants to hear them, actually, Jisa is bad at not talking. 

Carissa will learn that Jisa is seven, and her mother is a Healer and very busy and important, so she has a governess called Beri who is sometimes mean, and she'll learn a lot of random servant gossip and where all the best places in the Palace are to play hide-and-seek (if one is the size of a seven-year-old). Jisa's uncle, who isn't her real uncle, is Herald-Mage Vanyel and he's very famous and has songs about him, Jisa can sing some of them (badly).

Also her papa is the King so he's very busy too. Except Jisa is a bastard because her papa had to marry the Queen of Karse so the war would go away, and Mama was sad about it.