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Aurin holds his mother's hand as she leads him from the street to his aunt and uncle's house. He's been here only a couple of times, and can't remember most of them distinctly; they're sort of awkwardly related, his dead father's half-brother and the wife thereof. But now they have a baby parunia, and that means there is a dragon related to Aurin who is not too far from his age, only thirty-one years younger. This is apparently the sort of relation that it will be particularly enriching for Aurin to meet. They can do this now instead of waiting a month, because parunias don't die when they're babies; this one is safe, unlike the miscellaneous cousins on his mother's side he's never met because they are all in too much danger to get attached to (and have all succumbed to that danger). So here they are. Even though it was a very long flight and he couldn't ride his mother for takeoff and landing when she had to be a heron, only for the middle part.
Alys knocks on the door.
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Finnah's not all that big either.
The park is pretty great! There are waterspout slides and fountains to run through and pools to swim in and a river that may be traversed in flotation devices and a lake with a variety of borrowable boats. Aurin likes the fountains best and Finnah prefers the slides.
The park is pretty great! There are waterspout slides and fountains to run through and pools to swim in and a river that may be traversed in flotation devices and a lake with a variety of borrowable boats. Aurin likes the fountains best and Finnah prefers the slides.
Mial likes all the things. Although he is bored by the borrowable boats after one go. Both the fountains and the slides provide him with endless delight, however.
And all three kids can turn into birds and thus avoid having to climb the stairs to get back in line.
on-my-word
Avar keeps them all in sight, but wisely conserves energy by not going up and down every single line with them. Mial is still a tiny whirlwind even without his potion.
Aurin and Finnah don't interact very much; he seems scared of her but doesn't pick a fight, and she determines that he isn't interesting.
Mial bounces merrily between them. He is having too much fun at the water park to try to get them to interact, which is probably best for everyone.
And eventually the park closes for the night, after a show put on by a staff water mage.
And Avar teleports everyone back to his house and then delivers Finnah and Aurin each to their respective mothers.
Who are pleased to have them back again.
Ehail gets back to Koridaar several weeks later with a list, in Leraal, several pages long, much of it very silly with apologetic marginalia for how very silly it is.
Ehail gets back to Koridaar several weeks later with a list, in Leraal, several pages long, much of it very silly with apologetic marginalia for how very silly it is.
greatcomposure
Koridaar carefully reads through the list. She thinks over the problem.
She invents a few spells. First some unexciting variations on cutting or reducing an object's connection to down magic - out of the bowl of oranges she uses as test subjects, she ends up with several that can be kept in the air with the occasional light tap, two that can be sent whizzing across the room with a similar amount of force, and one that bounces crazily from floor to ceiling to counter to wall to wall to floor again until Koridaar cancels the effect and intercepts its last dive with a plate. Splat.
Mial gets to play with the surviving airborne oranges while Koridaar pursues more esoteric possibilities. Interfering with the connection at the source - light objects are less affected by down magic because they are light, so how does one go about making something actually lighter?
None of this batch of oranges survive their contributions to wizarding research. Making objects actually lighter, as opposed to just masking their weight on various levels, seems to be very bad for the objects.
To be thorough, she tests all the orange-safe ones on lizards she finds outside before writing Ehail back. This results in some very confused but otherwise unharmed lizards. She writes out all the spells verified in this way, adding that she doesn't hold out much hope but it seems worthwhile to test them just in case, then gives a briefer list of the various ideas that didn't make it through fruit-based testing. It is her emphatic recommendation that anyone who wants to pursue the make-it-actually-lighter idea should wait until they find a version that doesn't violently destroy a gently handled orange before proceeding to testing on anything with a brain.
She invents a few spells. First some unexciting variations on cutting or reducing an object's connection to down magic - out of the bowl of oranges she uses as test subjects, she ends up with several that can be kept in the air with the occasional light tap, two that can be sent whizzing across the room with a similar amount of force, and one that bounces crazily from floor to ceiling to counter to wall to wall to floor again until Koridaar cancels the effect and intercepts its last dive with a plate. Splat.
Mial gets to play with the surviving airborne oranges while Koridaar pursues more esoteric possibilities. Interfering with the connection at the source - light objects are less affected by down magic because they are light, so how does one go about making something actually lighter?
None of this batch of oranges survive their contributions to wizarding research. Making objects actually lighter, as opposed to just masking their weight on various levels, seems to be very bad for the objects.
To be thorough, she tests all the orange-safe ones on lizards she finds outside before writing Ehail back. This results in some very confused but otherwise unharmed lizards. She writes out all the spells verified in this way, adding that she doesn't hold out much hope but it seems worthwhile to test them just in case, then gives a briefer list of the various ideas that didn't make it through fruit-based testing. It is her emphatic recommendation that anyone who wants to pursue the make-it-actually-lighter idea should wait until they find a version that doesn't violently destroy a gently handled orange before proceeding to testing on anything with a brain.
Ehail writes back in two days. The lightened baby she tested the lizard-safe spells on was not able to fly, not quite.
greatcomposure
She didn't expect much, but it's still a bit of a disappointment. Oh, well.
She reminds Ehail that she and her family are available whenever Ehail comes up with an analysis she wants to try.
She reminds Ehail that she and her family are available whenever Ehail comes up with an analysis she wants to try.
Ehail's next letter says she's working on an analysis.
And that attaching extensions to the baby's wings while he was lightened also did not work.
And that attaching extensions to the baby's wings while he was lightened also did not work.
greatcomposure
Mial happens to see this letter, and comes up with a multitude of designs for possible wing extensions. Koridaar takes him to the bottom of the world and lets him try them out, in combination with the various safe lightening spells. He has lots of fun, but of course can do nothing to verify whether any of this would affect esu; he hardly goes two waking angles without birding around. Koridaar nevertheless records both Mial's observations and her own on the effectiveness of these various contraptions at augmenting a shren's natural wings, and sends notes and contraptions all to Ehail.
Three weeks later Ehail sends her a copy of all the experimental notes. No success.
greatcomposure
She didn't expect any. (Mial nevertheless feels that he has Contributed to Research, and is very proud.)
And that's all from Ehail for a while.
greatcomposure
Life goes on. Mial slows down on his world tour. His last visit is to the Taavlas Isles, even though nobody lives there; they are named on an atlas and therefore they count.
He writes down a list of all the places he isn't allowed to go, just so he can scowl at it. His mother observes that Dragon Island isn't on the list. Mial emphatically declares that he wouldn't go there even if he could, because that's where Grandfather lives. Grandfather, as far as Mial is concerned, can keep his dumb island.
Koridaar gives him a hug.
He writes down a list of all the places he isn't allowed to go, just so he can scowl at it. His mother observes that Dragon Island isn't on the list. Mial emphatically declares that he wouldn't go there even if he could, because that's where Grandfather lives. Grandfather, as far as Mial is concerned, can keep his dumb island.
Koridaar gives him a hug.
Time passes.
It takes Ehail two and a half years to invent her analysis. She writes to Koridaar about it. She includes the instructions for the spell, in case Koridaar's husband would prefer to be analyzed by his wife than by a shren, and in case it's more convenient not to bring Mial over.
It takes Ehail two and a half years to invent her analysis. She writes to Koridaar about it. She includes the instructions for the spell, in case Koridaar's husband would prefer to be analyzed by his wife than by a shren, and in case it's more convenient not to bring Mial over.
greatcomposure
It is more convenient to cast it on both of them herself. She does that, records the results meticulously, and sends them back.
Ehail reciprocates with results from examined shrens.
There is no difference between Mial and them.
There is no difference between Mial and them.
greatcomposure
But now that there's an analysis available, it's easier for Koridaar to think about the field of dragonish analysis. She invents variations. When she has one she likes, that actually seems to provide clearer results and not just slightly prettier ones, she sends it back to Ehail along with the information from Avar and Mial.
Ehail sends back what she comes up with.
It yields, ultimately, nothing of use.
It yields, ultimately, nothing of use.
greatcomposure
They could keep going back and forth like this for decades, and in fact Koridaar suspects they probably will, but there just aren't that many directions from which to come at the problem and they have now explored all the ones they can easily find.
It's too delicate a system for Koridaar to feel comfortable messing with; they've gotten far enough to know that the actual state of shrenhood, the reason their wings are too weak to be of any use, is some kind of delicate magical adaptation to patch a condition that would otherwise just kill them. Without a much better understanding of how it actually works, she's reluctant to spend much time coming up with possible interventions which she has no safe way to test. There's no equivalent of oranges and lizards to be had here; it's live subjects or nothing.
It's too delicate a system for Koridaar to feel comfortable messing with; they've gotten far enough to know that the actual state of shrenhood, the reason their wings are too weak to be of any use, is some kind of delicate magical adaptation to patch a condition that would otherwise just kill them. Without a much better understanding of how it actually works, she's reluctant to spend much time coming up with possible interventions which she has no safe way to test. There's no equivalent of oranges and lizards to be had here; it's live subjects or nothing.
Colla begins to prevail upon Koridaar and Avar more often for babysitting.
She has met a charming dragon and wants alone time with him.