"Well, they're welcome if they do."

"When?"

"I think there's one this weekend."

"Sure."

This weekend Afen's children and significant others and so on gather at his house.

Maurabel comes. No elementals accompany her.

He has one! He made friends with a Lightning and bought the adjoining lot to convert it into things more of interest to Lightnings and has learned So Many Languages. "Hi Maurabel!"

"Hi there! Hi Lightning."

"We should have invited you a long time ago! How's the magic school -"

"It's all right, mostly."

"I watched a couple of the videos, it's an interesting skill - a bit hard to categorize -"

"I have been asked what caste magic is and nobody seems satisfied with 'it isn't'."

"Not any more than, like, writing is."

"I thought writing was green. Or do you mean literally -"

"Yeah. Fiction writing is green, research writing is green, but every school will teach the skill because it's just fundamental that way, looks like magic will be the same."

"Mm-hm."

"Course, we don't stop the reds from writing. Hey Aitim, there's an idea. Can't complain about their treatment if you execute them for literacy!"

"The guests can't tell if you're serious, Telkam."

"Is that so. Who built a country so fucked up that could be ambiguous, because it wasn't me."

"You caught me, I singlehandedly designed the planet. Before I was born."

"I'm told it has very swimmable oceans, congratulations."

"There's been lots of social justice progress. Just - unevenly."

"...from what?"

"Abolishing slavery, enacting population controls everywhere, wars are way down, universal access to birth control and abortion, universal vaccination. Or do you mean on reds in particular. We got rid of the social workers and got 'em cameras to stop police brutality and arrest people who take advantage of them. They have internet access and can lead the same online lives as anyone."

"I did mean the reds." Sigh.