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.
Anyway she'd appreciate if they'd let some other little mages come play with their daughter and her elemental friends.
She finds a few dozen elementals and they help her find more and eventually all the kids have at least one.
Statisticians think maybe it is something in freshwater clams. The population of the southern hemisphere, where spring is approaching, promptly starts eating tons of freshwater clams. Several governments pass laws that only pregnant people can buy freshwater clams. Charities spring up to help pregnant poor people afford freshwater clams. Everyone everywhere prohibits reds from possessing, ordering or eating any freshwater clams.
If the reds in her rainforest want them Maurabel is not going to ask them not to ask Waters to bring them some.
Well, does the international community want the only trained mage on the planet to be working on a school, or do they want her trying to defend her rainforest?
Mages. Cannot. Teleport. Only elementals can do that and they can take non-mage passengers too if they want.
She works on a curriculum. Gets reports from the little mages' elemental friends.
The little mages are all loved very much (except for this one, whose mother is an alcoholic and whose father is depressed; neither of them play with him and there's only sometimes food. Grandma's pursuing a custody case.) They are being taught Anitami as best their caretakers can manage it, which in some case is regular tutors and in some cases watching Anitami children's television shows. In some countries they are protected national assets with security teams assigned; some countries are ignoring them.
In Calado someone's private security shows up to take a purple mage baby away for a better upbringing. Then more security shows up to argue with the original security, and the baby's mother flees with the baby in the ensuing chaos. She is arrested for disobeying security directives and sterilized on arrest because the private prison in that district has a contract with a hospital that does sterilizations. She is released without charges but billed for the arrest and the sterilization; she can't afford it and is arrested again for unpaid fines.
The first little mage's Fire friend, with some Maurabel coaching, sells youth boosts and buys the little mage food and brings him to playgrounds and talks to him in Anitami.
The second little mage's Lightning friend can't figure out how to get a valid Calador work permit, can Maurabel just pay her fines off miscellaneous bribe money she has sloshing around and import the family to Anitam by any chance?
"Yes, it certainly seems that Calado, can I get an exception - I won't need it when there's mages everywhere because everyone's eating clams and nobody will be taking such an exceptional interest in them but this is one of a hundred and sixteen."
"Some people might be bribeable to swap? Purples don't emigrate much at all but probably for enough money. There just isn't any such thing as non-swap immigration, the strings to pull aren't there at all."
"Yeah, study-abroad there are applicable strings for. They won't be Anitami citizens, they're just studying here."