"Could you not make it—feel like something, so we'd know when it was lifted ourselves?"

"Yes. Though I could also put it on like that and then change it so the feeling but not the curse went away," he points out. "I won't, but some spirits would."

"And there's no way to make it so that the only way for the feeling to go away is for the curse to go away also?"

"...Theoretically, but unless you're a sensor yourself and familiar with spirit-magic, you likely wouldn't be able to verify which I'd done."

"Fair enough. ...it would be nice if we could just straightforwardly trust each other."

"Yes, that would be convenient."

"Well, regardless of trust—can you tell us the whole story, now? Start to finish, how your mother came to be here and meet Lingormr and what you know about where he's from and what he wants..."

"My mother was a first generation - well, immigrant's the best word - from another realm. She arrived on this island, and established her home here, though she traveled fairly widely. She met Lingormr while at the university in Elgadzhi; they were both researching magical theory. They worked together for a while. Eventually they parted ways. Lingormr was a first-gen like my mother, and I believe his main motivation is returning home. Or perhaps the untold riches he'll get if he's the first to crack travel between worlds. I don't know which world he's from, only that he's not human. Most here would probably consider him a spirit, but that's a rather uselessly broad category."

"How'd they meet again?—and for that matter how'd your mother produce you, presumably there aren't many other fox spirits around..."

"I believe they kept some contact through letters, and the occasional visit when their schedules coincided. And that question is personal."

"Okay. Sorry. But if it was just some contact and the occasional visit how come there's this dispute about the jewel?"

"He's greedy, and a thief."

Why can't he rely on body language ugh.

"That doesn't help me have a good enough model of the situation."

"He probably thinks he helped her figure out how to make it. He didn't."

"Make it?"

"Yes. She formed it."

"Why does he think he helped?"

"I don't know. Probably because he helped her with magical theory at one point."

"He seems to think he lawfully inherited it, and that you have no right to the jewel."

"My mother didn't leave a will," he points out. "I'm her son. Her possessions go to me."

"...useful. So why can't you—I don't know, move a motion against him or something? Why'd you even have to stay in this island?"

"He trapped me here. With magic. I can't leave, because my life-force is tied here now, though I'd be able to use the jewel to break that. Here isn't in anyone's jurisdiction except maybe mine, and his lands are in his jurisdiction, so obviously he'd win any motion there."

"And how'd he get his hands on the jewel in the first place?"

"He stole it."

"From you, or your mother?"