witches treasure children

[dark_light]

Here is Milliways. It's Milliways with an empty Belltower, but it's still a neat place to hang out between making bits of incremental progress in motion spells and coaxing advice out of the alethiometer and wedging herself into clan politics.

Comments

[pythbox]

Sue shrugs, leaning into Kas's arms.

[truthwright]

"You can hug back if you want," he murmurs.

[pythbox]

Slowly, hesitantly, he does.

[truthwright]

Kas hugs him closer.

[pythbox]

He closes his eyes and presses his face against Kas's shoulder.





"I wanna go to your world," he declares, after they have spent a few minutes like this.

[dark_light]

"Okay," says Amariah. "If you're sure."

"What're you going to call her?" Path asks.

[pythbox]

"Ivy," he says whimsically.

[dark_light]

"Why Ivy?" Amariah asks, getting up and heading for the door.

[pythbox]

"Something Aegis said once," he says, detaching from Kas and trailing after her. "I forget."

[dark_light]

Amariah holds the door for him.

[pythbox]

Sue steps through.

Nothing happens at first.

But there's a glimmer, then a sparkle, then a cascade of golden light in the air next to him, and it coaelsces into a girl, exactly his age and exactly his height but with different body proportions and fewer clothes.

He hugs her immediately.

She turns into a viscacha and cuddles into his arms.

[dark_light]

"Aww," sighs Amariah.

"Hi, Ivy," says Path.

[pythbox]

"Hi!" she says, turning into a snake and coiling around Sue's shoulders like Petaal around Kas's. "I exist!"

She sounds very happy about that.

[dark_light]

"Welcome to existing," laughs Amariah. "...Is my 'curled up asleep somewhere' description accurate? It was mostly guessing, but now I can just ask."

[pythbox]

"Don't know," she says. "I don't remember being separate from him until I was, but I don't remember not being separate from him. I remember his whole life but not exactly like it was mine."

[dark_light]

"Huh. I'll call that 'close enough not to make up a new description'," Amariah says. "Well. This is my house." She gestures. It's pretty minimally decorated, and the view out the windows is of trackless forest. "Welcome! And the world's called Alethia."

[pythbox]

Sue and Ivy go immediately to a window and staaaaaaaaaaaare out of it.

[dark_light]

"...You like the woods?" Amariah asks.

[pythbox]

"I've been in space since I was like five," says Sue. "I barely remember what woods are."

[dark_light]

"Well, if you'd like, you can go out in them, it's only autumn and you probably won't freeze, especially if Ivy turns into a witch. If you want, me or Petaal can take you flying. You probably don't have time for Ivy to learn how before you wake up."

[pythbox]

"Take us flying, take us flying!" they chorus.

[dark_light]

Amariah laughs, opens the front door, sets her cloudpine to hovering, and reminds them, "You'll want to make sure Ivy doesn't touch me," as she beckons for them to sit on it behind her.

[pythbox]

Sue perches on the cloudpine; Ivy turns into a mouse and hides in the collar of his IF uniform.

[dark_light]

Flight!

"If you want me to do anything fancy, let me know and I'll put a protective spell on you so you won't be too beat up if you fall. I can patch anything short of a broken neck," Amariah says. "With my native magic or with Stella's."

[pythbox]

"Ooh, do fancy things," Sue says brightly.