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Ranara and her little daughter Azabel move to Urtho's Tower when the latter can say six words ("up", "mama", "milk", "no", "now", and "please") and hasn't started to walk yet. Ranara sets up to teach little children to read, ones who don't have evident Gifts yet - Ranara herself has Mindspeech, is all, with about a classroom's worth of range. Azabel sits in on classes, worn on her mother's back or later plopped in a corner with toys or, when she's only four, plopped in a corner with a book, younger than the other kids in the class. When Azabel has in fact sat through her mother's curriculum she is turned somewhat loose, to walk very carefully up and down and around the Tower, exploring.
smol bell in urtho's tower
He beams at them, bobbing his head. "You're very welcome! It means a lot, to see children being curious."
anticipating_night
"I'll let you know if we come up with more questions. Ma'ar, do you want to do the Gate home, I did the one here -"
small-and-alone
"Sure, I can do it." He smiles at the priest again, less nervously this time, and then steps outside and raises a Gate on the temple doorway.
small-and-alone
And then they're back at Urtho's Tower, and Ma'ar takes down his Gate and sags slightly in relief.
small-and-alone
"- Was it that obvious?" He scowls at nothing in particular. "I was trying not to show it."
anticipating_night
"It's more conspicuous by the absence, the priest probably didn't notice anything. Are you okay?"
small-and-alone
"I think I still have a good impression of the Eternal Flame's temple in particular."
anticipating_night
"They seem cool. I don't think it would especially benefit anything for either of us to start showing up to services but maybe they can start a Predain mission."
small-and-alone
It's weirdly hard to talk about, still, the concepts only half formed in his mind. Ma'ar frowns, kicks at a pebble.
"Hmm - in terms of concrete things, it seems like they do a lot of vocational training for convicted criminals, so they can have other ways to earn a living, and I think Predain could use that. And...I don't know, just, in general they seem to - have hope? That the world can be better if we work together to make it that way? And - I think Predain could use that sort of hope."
anticipating_night
"Sometime I want to go to -" - what to call it - "settled Predain, see for myself."
small-and-alone
"...Uh, I think I'm more worried that he would terrify a lot of people in the city, and it'd be harder to hide him. Also I don't know what he'd eat."
anticipating_night
"Yeah, if the weather's better he could maybe hunt more successfully outside city limits but maybe he'd just get a pig that belongs to someone." Sigh. "I guess we can defend ourselves but I'm not sure how to look it, which seems important."
small-and-alone
"Wear fancy mage-artifacts really conspicuously? ....I'm not sure if that would work, though, since people need to know what artifacts look like. We could just carry swords, maybe - I know how to fight with with one, and it doesn't actually matter if you don't, you've got Mindhealing set-commands and the point is just to look scary so you don't have to do anything..."
small-and-alone
"- Really?"
Ma'ar takes a half-step back. Looks thoughtfully at her.
"Can you imagine I've just threatened to - uh, read your mind - and tell me that you're about to set-command me to NOT DO ANYTHING unless I leave you alone."
anticipating_night
...sure, she can pretend he has done this. "Back off or you'll be frozen till sunset."
small-and-alone
Ma'ar holds perfectly still.
:- Want to see what you look like when you say that?: he says a moment later, in Mindspeech. :I can bounce it to you: