"Still probably a more logistically viable first stop than Wales...oh well, Wales can always be a not-first stop." 

"I meant if you need backup pronto."

"Backup for what?"

"If my dad turns out to be planning something to--not let me out of the enclave, or worst case scenario to force me to act as a weapon for New York against my will. Mind-affecting spells do exist, so...anyway, I was thinking about that, but my Plan A was to just hit the ground running, possibly with a timespear still up, and be out of the enclave before anyone could do anything about it. ...Assuming they didn't close all the exits pre-emptively."

"I'd been imagining our graduation plan would be more 'mass slaughter' than 'timespear', but I guess a timespear would give us more opportunity to massively slaughter."

"I was thinking if I held onto enough mana from the massive slaughter I could cast it right before going through the gates." 

"Oh, that'd work too... if it'll survive exduction..."

"Using it as a general strategy doesn't not have that problem. Man, does exduction eat all your mana like induction does? Somehow I do not know this." 

"I don't think it does or you'd hear more about new graduates being ambushed and eaten as soon as they pop out."

"That is such a good point. --I wonder if set-yourself-right would do for mind control. Or some types of mind control, anyway." 

"I don't think it's that heavy-duty, but I guess maybe if you overpowered it enough and it was pretty milquetoast mind control."

Snort. "If my dad does anything to me, it won't be milquetoast." 

"Could be if he's trying to be subtle to other people about it and doesn't expect you to be quite as hostile as you are."

"--He might go for something that optimizes for subtlety over power," she acknowledges. "But I don't want to bet on it. Frankly I wouldn't be surprised if he manages to round up a posse to greet me who think I deserve it for trying to quit."

"Guess that's a drawback of that tidbit having gotten out before you did."

"Yup. If I'd known--well. I dunno. My dad mind-controlling me is still only hypothetical, and pretending to be a good little New York girl after finding an alternative would be revolting. But it'd only have been for a few weeks, I suppose." Sigh. "And not having already cut ties with New York when Bangkok happened would have complicated things." 

El shivers. "We can't tell them, but -"

"Tell them what?"

"The timing matches my little incident in the library."

"Fuuuuuuuck."

"I don't think most people will figure out that there was a maw-mouth in the library that day--no, wait, Todd Quayle said he heard one, they might not figure out you killed it but the obvious conclusion to draw instead is that I killed it. And then kept my mouth shut about it. Which I might have done, even, it's not stupid--except if I had done that why didn't I figure shit out then--and everyone knows you're scary now--okay, yeah, people would probably put two and two together. Ugh." 

"So we don't tell them, what's the issue?"

"We're on their power sharer network! I'm running out of my Myrddin seminar or whatever on a routine basis saving Sudarat from things!"

"Probably they, personally, would not be better off if the maw-mouth hadn't died. It would've gone for the now-sophomores first, but I bet it wouldn't've stayed in their dorms forever." 

"It probably wouldn't have gotten everyone before it sat still to digest for a while."