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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.
nonbird
"I can fix quite a lot of things," says Lazarus. "I can see magic and have access to a nearly unlimited supply of nearly arbitrary miracles. The only thing is that it's not immediately apparent why old age kills you. There is a difference in - in precariousness, between younger dragons and older ones, but I'm not sure where it's coming from. And it looks like if I fixed it too naively you would all just continue growing a foot a decade forever, which has got to get unmanageable at some point..."
nonbird
"I suppose I could just make all adult dragons variable length - pick any size between twenty feet and your personal maximum via normal growth rate, anytime you like," he muses. "And probably institute some sort of reasonable maximum so that a few million years from now some dragon or other does not decide to swallow this planet just to be obnoxious... I'm just throwing ideas around here, but I don't see any reason why that wouldn't work."
"Can we get back to you on that?" inquires the white opal. "In the meanwhile I have a list here of shrens who haven't been cured yet, unless you've been to see them without updating us."
"I have not! I would like that list! Um - but is there any warning before old dragons spontaneously die," he says. "Enough time to fetch me so I can do magic to them, preferably. Because if there isn't I might rather focus on that until it's solved."
"Er, well, no," says the gold, "but perhaps we could figure out exactly how long we're going to be separately."
nonbird
"Ye-es... it's just," he says plaintively, "your species' magic has been so obnoxiously arranged in the time I have known it, I really want to apply the most elegant and precise solutions I possibly can in case there is yet another terrible thing no one has told me about lurking around the corner and it matters how well I design my miraculous interventions."
The white opal hands over the list.
"What is it that you need to do your designing?" inquires the ruby.
"What is it that you need to do your designing?" inquires the ruby.
nonbird
"Some time spent looking at precariously old dragons and muttering to myself," he says. "Less time if I have someone to talk to who is moderately well versed in the theory of why dragons die of old age the way they do. If you have a theory of that."
nonbird
"I have a suspicion that all of your magic just up and drains away for no reason and that is why you die," he says. "As to why that happens, and why to dragons over a certain age..."
He trails off.
"Oh. Hmm. Oh. That's - hmm. I think I know how part of it works. All of you who are currently dragon-shaped, your magic is sort of - bumping together and swapping little bits. And your precariousness decreases a tiny bit whenever that happens. That isn't the thing I was wondering about at all, but it's very interesting to know."
He trails off.
"Oh. Hmm. Oh. That's - hmm. I think I know how part of it works. All of you who are currently dragon-shaped, your magic is sort of - bumping together and swapping little bits. And your precariousness decreases a tiny bit whenever that happens. That isn't the thing I was wondering about at all, but it's very interesting to know."
nonbird
"I'm pretty sure that's also how shren contagion worked, when it did," he adds. "But now it doesn't anymore. I wonder if it will be as easy to fix this as it was to fix that... I wonder..."
"In the meantime, what do we do with this miracle here?" inquires the jet representative. "Did the genealoger find who her parents were?"
"I have a guess," says the genealoger, an amethyst who clambers into the chamber. "But they never reported in about having a shren egg or about a missing child."
"I have a guess," says the genealoger, an amethyst who clambers into the chamber. "But they never reported in about having a shren egg or about a missing child."
nonbird
"...I have my elegant solution," Lazarus announces, "but I don't have enough miracle magic to apply it. That can probably be fixed, though. In the meantime, I expanded the range of swapping-little-bits-of-magic for a while, so everyone's precariousness will be minimized while I seek out bigger miracles. If you don't have anywhere else to put the nameless miracle girl, I'm sure Libby would be happy to talk to her and look after her for a bit. Libby is the coordinator of the miracle expedition."
"How can we get ahold of Libby? Or, for that matter, you?" inquires the turquoise. "Keo isn't a formal council employee and if we can just get communication crystals we won't have to use her as a relay."
nonbird
"Communication crystals," sighs Lazarus. He shakes his head, but produces a pair of crystals, one of which he hands to Piro (who is closest). "When I am finally finished solving enormous magical crises I am going to have to have a talk with someone about networked communication... anyway. There, you have a crystal, and I will give Libby the other end of it, and if you want to talk to me you can ask her to produce me and she will. Bye now."
Off he goes.
Off he goes.
After a few ticks have elapsed, the platinum representative says to Piro, "Well, call her."
"Can we go?" Narax inquires of the jade rep.
"Yes, off you go," she agrees. Narax and Keo teleport away.
"Can we go?" Narax inquires of the jade rep.
"Yes, off you go," she agrees. Narax and Keo teleport away.
prima-sequentem
Piro calls Libby.
"Hello," she says. "Just a moment while Lazarus finishes explaining."
"Hello," she says. "Just a moment while Lazarus finishes explaining."
Dragons wait.
"If she could take the miracle somewhere other than here, then we wouldn't have to have another non-dragon who isn't even a thudia on the island in the same day," murmurs the spelter representative.
"If she could take the miracle somewhere other than here, then we wouldn't have to have another non-dragon who isn't even a thudia on the island in the same day," murmurs the spelter representative.
prima-sequentem
"There, I'm all caught up," she says. "Did you want something in particular?"
"Can you take the nameless miracle without coming here to fetch her?" inquires Piro.
"That shouldn't be much trouble," says Libby. "What does the nameless miracle think of it?"
Piro eyes the nameless miracle. "Hey, miracle girl. Want to go meet another person?"
"Yes!" says the nameless miracle happily.
"She's enthusiastic," Piro reports dryly.
"Good to hear," says Libby.
The nameless miracle vanishes from the council chamber.
nonbird
And now that Lazarus has left the problem of procuring even bigger coins with Libby where it belongs, he can go round to all the addresses on this list and proclaim that he is a miracle distributor from another world here to distribute miracles.
At this one address, a girl with red hair answers the door.
"Hello?" she says, sounding like she's trying not to be prematurely excited.
"Hello?" she says, sounding like she's trying not to be prematurely excited.
nonbird
"Hello I am a miracle distributor from another world!" says Lazarus. "Would you like a miracle?"