"Yeah but I don't know in which the coven would be, they don't leave all their capitals staffed all the time and since we unpaused time by other means than the Milliways door time might've passed."

"Even if they don't keep staffed they certainly monitor the place, right? At least you can get their attention."

"Yeah. I'm probably not going to try while I'm all naked, though, even if I'm invisible."

"A terrible loss to the world, but worth it for the sake of getting imperial help."

"Hmm, I bet I could figure out where they are without having to actually interact with anyone." He looks down. "And I think I wanna try to use these wings, now."

"How?" He lets go of Sadde.

And he tries flapping his wings and completely fails, dropping like a stone.

Kaede, who was watching, cracks up.

"I would offer tips, but my flight is wingless."

"I'll figure it out," he says, standing up and dusting himself. "Both how to fly and how to find out which capital they're using without interacting with anyone."

He jumps, very high, and tries flapping, and falls again.

"Can you make yourself lighter? Oh, wait, ask Bar if there is a book on flying for shapeshifters?"

"There's no need, the problem here isn't my weight, I have magically strong muscles, the problem is learning how to flap correctly." He tries doing it from a running start—and given his speed, that is quite a start—and manages to glide a bit before crashing.

"The theoretical book would also contain lessons on how to flap correctly."

"I almost did it, I'm getting the hang of it—" He runs and jumps and manages to flap some and get some altitude before crashing again.

"Let him," she advises. "It's a matter of pride now."

Fernando floats down, closer to Kaede so they can watch Sadde's progress.

"Who are we going to contact in your world?"

"I'm not at all sure. A part of me wants to talk to my father out of spite, but overall I think it's better if no one knows I'm involved. I changed my face—I'll pretend to be some elementalist who found this portal or something, and send this up the Explorers' Guild chain of command."

"Good. How long until they offer a reply? Do you need someone to go along with you?"

"Not long, for this, I expect, although we might want some way to control access to the portal—it would be just like Bezanab to send an army through once they heard about it. And, well, I wouldn't exactly complain about having one—or all—of you with me, but it's not necessary if you have things to do."

"Milliways will keep us busy for a while... Maybe you should take Felix, even if he is too much of a pacifist he can take you out of there and his superspeed cheats at ritual casting."

"Well, you can stay busy in Milliways for a long time given that time will be stopped here while you're there."

"It's so bizarrely convenient."

"Very much so, yes."

And Sadde finally manages to stay aloft! He whoops triumphantly.

"I've got to say, Sadde flying naked with angel wings is one of the best sights I've seen."