"I think Jie would have liked you." 

HUG. 

"We'll get her back. --Assuming she's dead--you witched in 1937, how long were you a magical girl, is there a chance she's still alive and just really, really old--"

"Jie died before I witched. Not of old age." 

"Okay, I have just barely the social grace to shut up now." 

"I would be kind of surprised if a single wish could often make multiple people immortal."

"It wouldn't necessarily have to be often, depending on if we could identify the ones who could and how many they could fit...if every woman on earth became a magical girl, we'd still need enough wishes to get all the boys...this might be a hard problem. Oh! Are there any healing magical girls who can de-age people? Even if it was expensive, if the witches-eat-dinge thing scales that wouldn't necessarily be prohibitive!"

"Some people can do that, yes."

"Okay, so we don't need everyone immortal, as long as we make sure the de-aging healers keep pace with the mortal population."

"If the magical girl population increases, more witches than currently exist will eventually be needed." 

"Excellent point! I bet we could get volunteer witches from the transhumanist crowd, as long as we were able to reliably wake 'em right after." 

Hua Cheng does not seem terribly attentive to this conversation. She pulls a whittling project from under her throne.

"--I'm probably getting ahead of myself, though. Hua Cheng, is there anything else you wanted to talk to Wen Ning about before we're off to see the Wizard?"

"It may be useful if I could see her brighten someone's gem."

Thumbs up. "Just a sec." 

She disappears, and reappears less than a minute later with her gem visibly dinged. Not dramatically, but enough to suggest she spent the time she was gone rapidly teleporting between places. She holds her gem out to Wen Ning. 

Wen Ning reaches out and touches it very carefully, and draws the dinge into herself. 

"Hm."

"Hm?"

"I think it is likely she is stable."

"Oh. I'm really glad." 

"What makes you think that? --If that doesn't manage to be a personal question in some way."

"It does."

"Should I bring the next one by so you can see if the stability is a general thing or just a her thing?"

"That seems best."

"Cool, will do!"

"While the rest of us are gone, should I leave Wen Ning here or drop her off--I guess it doesn't need to be on an uninhabited island if she's stable."