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The Liandrils build up their mana enough to return home. They do so; the hotel charges Isabella a steep fee for the room service and the stay itself but not enough to break the bank and not enough to represent damage to the premises or anything.
They teleport away from their daemons, experience a moment of barely-there discomfort apiece, and keep them in a well-warded closet together where they will not be readily discovered or vulnerable.
The Liandrils report on the situation to some other mages.
Some other mages are... even more concerned than they are.
This Isabella character has clearly got to go, or at least be brought under some reasonable semblance of control.
What is the obvious way to do this?
Well, to these mages, the obvious way is:
They scry on her owl. He is having a rest in this tree, correspondence about obscure magic attached to his leg; he's not near her, but as they understand it, that doesn't mean there's no connection to exploit.
They come in a group so they don't need to linger longer than is necessary to seize the bird in three pairs of coordinated hands and then disappear again.
Miles away, in her kitchen, with a vial of safflower oil in one hand and a spellbook in the other, Isabella collapses breathlessly to the floor and convulses.
dark_light
dark_light
"I know, but - lots of things aren't okay, and we have each other and we'll fix them together."
prodigal_miser
Cuddle, cuddle.
"How are you doing, dear?" he asks, after a while. "I - don't know if there's any way I can help with after effects of what they did, but if there's anything I can do..."
"How are you doing, dear?" he asks, after a while. "I - don't know if there's any way I can help with after effects of what they did, but if there's anything I can do..."
dark_light
"I have it under control. Being around you helps - but not literally all the time, I still need some privacy to talk to my Path alone sometimes - getting things accomplished helps, time helps."
prodigal_miser
Adarin nods. "Okay. I believe you. I should - probably get started on projects again, I think that would help me, certainly. I'll start with the armor one."
For obvious reasons. (He loves her, so.)
For obvious reasons. (He loves her, so.)
dark_light
"And when you have the mana and time, my procurer - heh, I have 'a procurer', it sounds so weird - got me a place to put a portal in Columbus, so we can open that up whenever it's doable."
dark_light
"Yes. We're coming up on 'offensively rich' within a year or two. I'll pay off the loan, then it's a continued period of reinvestment in the infrastructure, maybe one big push with the capital to get international stuff handled - and then we can mostly sit back and funnel money in worthy directions."
prodigal_miser
"I'm looking forward to that 'funnel money in worthy directions' stage. I like fixing things, if you haven't noticed by now."
prodigal_miser
"Oh, good. Because it was rather obvious and if you didn't like it we would be in trouble since it's a major personality trait."
dark_light
"Yeah, I don't think anything good could come of asking you to choose between me and the fixing of things."
dark_light
"Also this would have to be an extremely different bizarro-me who did not approve of fixing things."
prodigal_miser
"That too. And if I met this strange bizarro-you instead of you I might not even fall in love with her, because she didn't approve of fixing things and didn't win me over instantly with, 'Let's make everyone immortal.'"