They appear in midair, visible out of a few thirtieth-floor apartments.
One starts to fall. The other catches her by the arm, flings out - wing-shapes of light - and slows her, spiraling down until they're at street level.
They appear in midair, visible out of a few thirtieth-floor apartments.
One starts to fall. The other catches her by the arm, flings out - wing-shapes of light - and slows her, spiraling down until they're at street level.
"The length of a year is based on the seasons? The days get longer and shorter gradually, there's accompanying rain or cold?"
"I think formally it's to do with the stars and when things grow, it doesn't get very rainy or cold where I live."
He does something to his pocket everything and now there is a globe floating on the screen. "You may know this already - planets are round, they circle their suns?"
Nod. "Planets are tilted like so? And the tilt creates seasons - you could have been not-tilted and have none of them -"
"And the year is how long it takes to circle, so if your star were weaker and you were closer to it, you would have a shorter year."
"Sort of - that's not what I meant -"
Maurabel says, "We know that the world is round because elementals can travel a lot better than humans can and we recently started talking to them more."
He nods. "I think some people guessed early from shadows but it wasn't common knowledge until we'd travelled a lot more. Do you have boats that can sail your whole world -"
"I will add that to the list! With birth control and vaccines - vaccines give you a dead version of a disease and then you don't get sick, magic can maybe do that anyway -"
"Magic doesn't make it so you don't get sick, but it can make you better. I asked Vashal if you were sick, he accidentally said yes, I said I might be able to fix it."
"I was not sick I was -" Sigh. "Making a point. Did not mean to leave you without good translation."
Smile. "Aitim said it wasn't just having good translation you might also worried. It was a good point so I came back."
"I would like to learn more Anitami! Penumbra's been watching the television a lot but mostly things we don't have to understand the language to enjoy. I'm going to be a lot slower than you, of course. Though I have memorized the alphabet and can mostly spell things if they are said slowly."
"Good for you! I can teach words and also translate some television if you want to watch things where it helps to understand the language."
"Penumbra was trying to figure out the structure of the - we think it's a contest, the dancing contest. Because whatever it is booted her favorite. But we're not even sure if they explain that or if they just expect you to know when you watch it."
Penumbra giggles and looks away.
"They explain it, but probably in the first episode, by mid-season they probably don't keep explaining - I don't watch that one but I can look it up." He does. "- oh, the viewers vote! If you get a pocket everything," he says to Penumbra, "then install that show's app, then you can say who you want to keep, and they count everyone up and whoever gets the most wins. That's how we do government, too."