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Alys is not on the council, but she is her line representative as of fifty years ago. She hears about the news.
She wonders whether Piro is likely to have contacted his son, even about this.
She decides that it is worth checking, and calls her brother-in-law.
The next day, during a late-morning meeting of the dragon council, a jet-black ferret appears in midair in the council chamber, and hangs there for a bare instant before transforming into sixteen feet of...
...well, hopefully dragon. Probably dragon. Everyone's wings still work. That suggests dragon.
On the other hand, she makes absolutely no effort to catch herself as she drops to the floor. Her eyes are open and she is breathing and that is about it.
There is a flurry of confused panic. She did not teleport there, not in ferret form with ferret hands. She must have been pushed. Why did that work? Someone check the wards. Someone call our wizards. Someone get ahold of Keo, add the malachite and copper representatives simultaneously, something's wrong with her. Does she look familiar to anybody? She looks sort of like a minor crystal line; have any crystal women been having kids with jets at around the right time? Someone call the genealogists.
The silver representative is as alarmed as the rest of them.
And he has particular reason for a particular suspicion to start eating at him...
"Who has a line to a shren house? I want the miracle workers," he growls.
And he has particular reason for a particular suspicion to start eating at him...
"Who has a line to a shren house? I want the miracle workers," he growls.
"I've got the crystal for the Paraasilan house," says the white rep. Shift. "Oh, no, it's in my other form -" Shift. Here it is.
"Hello?" says Jensal.
Meanwhile, Keo is successfully summoned. She - in human form, still, from teleporting - approaches the jet. Her emotional state is very, very wrecked. What else is in there?
Meanwhile, Keo is successfully summoned. She - in human form, still, from teleporting - approaches the jet. Her emotional state is very, very wrecked. What else is in there?
What else is in there: A hundred and sixty-one years of unbroken esu. And that is it, unless Keo digs past the conscious mind and into memories. She's barely even experiencing any part of her sensory universe that isn't pain.
"I want to talk to the offworld miracle workers," says Piro. "The one who can see magic, in particular."
"I want to talk to the offworld miracle workers," says Piro. "The one who can see magic, in particular."
"Shren," diagnoses Keo, shivering just a little. "I - don't think she's ever flown."
"Don't you bolt on us now, Keo," chides the copper. "Can you turn it off, see if she'll talk? We have to know how she got here."
"I -" Keo gulps. And shuts her eyes. "I don't think she's in a position to say much of anything."
"Do it anyway, Keo, now."
Keo looks away. And turns off the esu.
"I'm sure you do," says Jensal. "I'll tell them so. You want miracle workers on the island or do you want to meet them somewhere else?"
"Don't you bolt on us now, Keo," chides the copper. "Can you turn it off, see if she'll talk? We have to know how she got here."
"I -" Keo gulps. And shuts her eyes. "I don't think she's in a position to say much of anything."
"Do it anyway, Keo, now."
Keo looks away. And turns off the esu.
"I'm sure you do," says Jensal. "I'll tell them so. You want miracle workers on the island or do you want to meet them somewhere else?"
The shren continues to be utterly immobile. Her mental state shifts, though, from a stunted and vestigial loneliness to a kind of inverse agony - in the absence of pain, she can feel other sensations, but there's not enough of them and trying to process the faint impressions of ordinary sight and sound and touch is like trying to breathe vacuum.
"At the moment," Piro says evenly, "I don't especially care. Someone dropped a shren in natural form into the middle of a council meeting and, by some miracle, no one is infected. Get me that miracle worker."
"At the moment," Piro says evenly, "I don't especially care. Someone dropped a shren in natural form into the middle of a council meeting and, by some miracle, no one is infected. Get me that miracle worker."
"She's really not in a position to talk," says Keo. "I'm not even sure turning it off did her any good."
"Why can't she move?" asks someone. "Did anybody call the wizards?"
"I can get you Narax," suggests Keo.
Agreement is swift. Narax appears and starts casting analyses.
Jensal hangs up on Piro and calls Lazarus.
"Why can't she move?" asks someone. "Did anybody call the wizards?"
"I can get you Narax," suggests Keo.
Agreement is swift. Narax appears and starts casting analyses.
Jensal hangs up on Piro and calls Lazarus.
There are a number of spells on the shren. One to keep her fed without her being able to make voluntary movements; one to stop her from making voluntary movements, although the esu was accomplishing that pretty well all by itself. Various kinds of wards, including several very aggressive ones against scrying.
"The dragon council wants you. Someone dropped a shren on their meeting. You get to be the second non-dragon non-thudia on the island, aren't you honored?" says Jensal.
Narax reports his findings. The council is puzzled and concerned. He starts trying to break the spells, although this is a laborious process of trial and error which doesn't do anything right away.
Narax reports his findings. The council is puzzled and concerned. He starts trying to break the spells, although this is a laborious process of trial and error which doesn't do anything right away.
nonbird
"Eep!" says Lazarus.
Now he is in the council chamber.
"...eep," says Lazarus.
"I'm going to assume you're the miracle worker who can see magic," says Piro.
"Eep? I mean yes! Yes I am."
Lazarus blinks at the shren, momentarily at a loss for words.
He has plenty of spare eights - there, she's not a shren anymore, that's one problem solved - oh yes - "I made shrenhood stop being contagious the day I arrived, but then I got caught up in saving the magic-deficient babies and forgot to tell anyone," he says for the benefit of any curious dragons who might be listening.
Piro snorts.
Now he is in the council chamber.
"...eep," says Lazarus.
"I'm going to assume you're the miracle worker who can see magic," says Piro.
"Eep? I mean yes! Yes I am."
Lazarus blinks at the shren, momentarily at a loss for words.
He has plenty of spare eights - there, she's not a shren anymore, that's one problem solved - oh yes - "I made shrenhood stop being contagious the day I arrived, but then I got caught up in saving the magic-deficient babies and forgot to tell anyone," he says for the benefit of any curious dragons who might be listening.
Piro snorts.
"Thank you," mutters Keo.
"Can you by any chance miracle your way through all these spells on her?" Narax asks. "They're not expertly constructed, but there's enough of them that even if I work on it all week I might not be able to get through each one."
"Can you by any chance miracle your way through all these spells on her?" Narax asks. "They're not expertly constructed, but there's enough of them that even if I work on it all week I might not be able to get through each one."
nonbird
"Yes," he says. "I'm just - slightly stunned by the amount of the thing that happens when you don't fly that she has. Oh, but Keo is here with her mildly alarming mind magic, hello Keo, thank you for whatever you did about that. She's not a shren anymore, in case I am the only person here who can tell by looking. Um. Let me just think about the best way to miracle through all those spells, goodness whoever came up with all this is a nasty customer... someone should probably inform Libby, this is the sort of development Libby would like to be informed of, I will do it when I leave if no one else has by then. Oh goodness."
"The esu is still technically there," Keo says. "Just not experienced. It doesn't seem to have helped very much."
nonbird
"Yes. I observe that it is there. She - perhaps you can tell with your mildly alarming amount of mind magic, but she doesn't seem to be using her language ability for anything," he says. "It's just sitting there. It works, but it's not in use the way all of yours are whenever you speak or hear words. I am a magic-seeing person, not a brains-seeing person, so I have no particular insight into why that is."
A six suffices to undo the various spells.
"There, now she isn't paralyzed or insistently spy-shielded or all the rest. Of course, she isn't fed, either, so someone is going to have to put that one back or teach her how to eat soonish. How to fly, too, for that matter. I am very uncomfortable about the fact that someone did all this to a person."
A six suffices to undo the various spells.
"There, now she isn't paralyzed or insistently spy-shielded or all the rest. Of course, she isn't fed, either, so someone is going to have to put that one back or teach her how to eat soonish. How to fly, too, for that matter. I am very uncomfortable about the fact that someone did all this to a person."
nonbird
She gets back a rich and multilayered confusion, lit with some close cousin of hope. The shren is sort of vague on the concept of people, but on a very basic level she is highly enthusiastic about even the faint wisp of a notion that another person might exist and want to interact with her in a non-agonizing way.
Lazarus is still peering worriedly at her.
Lazarus is still peering worriedly at her.
There were some spells on you keeping you from moving, but you should be able to open your mouth and speak, now.
The former shren... makes some sounds. They are not especially wordlike. After a few attempts she progresses to recognizable phonemes arranged in no sensible order, and then after some mumbling along those lines she utters her first words:
"Why doesn't it hurt?"
"Why doesn't it hurt?"
"I've blocked it off temporarily with magic," Keo says, "but to make it go away permanently you need to fly. You should be able to do that now."