"Yep. But it turns out you can buy the ingredients in Wales as well and some people choose to do this. I'm a vegetarian when I'm at home, which you'd think would help, but I didn't know what it was."

"Compared to the ambient risk of death here I suppose that doesn't really rate, but ugh." 

"Well, I didn't care for it much so I didn't finish it. Ah, luxury, throwing away food that won't literally poison you." Beans om nom.

"I suppose. I've always been such an omnivore, it never really came up." 

"If you're about to tell us that you have tried eating poached maleficaria in a balsamic reduction please save it till we've all had a moment to digest."

Snort. "No, before I was old enough to grasp that physically ingesting mals was a bad idea Mom was very on the ball in terms of prying things out of my hands before I could put them in my mouth." 

"Oh thank goodness."

When they have brunched they can return to their enriching phys ed.

Lucia keeps a sharp eye out for any kind of, uh, anything, while they are physing their ed. 

Nothing happens. 

Over the next several days, the number of alerts from the power-sharers drop off precipitously; the only alert that comes up (responded to by actual Bangkok kids before El can get there) was a sophomore accidentally getting between a senior and their neglected homework. 

"Did we kill a substantial fraction of the mals in the entire residential chunk of the school? I confess I didn't count them."

"May...be? I mean, that'd definitely be a good thing, but--man, if that was whoever's plan, and they could make it work, why drop it on field day with no warning, why not talk to us about it."

"Yeah, we could've replaced a killbox with whatever the fuck that was no problem. Whatever the fuck it was."

"For an afternoon at least, yeah. It's not like people don't, like, know, we're still doing the killbox, we've got the whole section of corridor shut off and stuff. --Sometimes knowing stuff is more unpleasant than not knowing stuff but knowing that you don't know stuff just seems like the worst combination." 

"Yeah, seems like a way to die while going 'oh so that's what that was about'. Don't fancy it. Maybe we should ask Aadhya to dig up a diviner."

"I feel like it can't be that easy but I also feel like not doing that would be unforgiveable negligence." 

When asked, Aadhya says, "I don't know about the Sinos but there's nobody on the Anglo side at the moment who can do like you have in mind. Magic mirror turn up squat?"

"Well, I don't know how much to trust it." She uncovers the magic mirror. "Mirror mirror which I hate, please explain our Field Day fate."

It is quiet for a moment, and then in a soft voice: 

"To offer sanctuary and protection to all the wise-gifted children of the world." 

"What in the bloody fuck could it be on about protecting us with that torrent."

...Lucia chews on her lip. "Not us." 

"I believe I am a wise-gifted child of the world, but, sure, most everyone else came out of it all right."

Snort. "We had a rather nasty shock, but we're both alive." 

"Yes. So the mirror blames the school, and the school did it because......"

"Because mal attacks have been way down since." 

"But why Field Day? Why not - assign us a class together and target that?"

"Prrrrobably we would have both transferred out of any really small class it set up for the purpose?"