Witch in which place?

[witchwatcher]

Grendyne groans and starts pulling on her boots when the alarm goes off. Again. She quick-marches to the broom hangar, sits on her machine and is handed a plethora of loaded weapons by attentive corporals.

"Two flyers in one day? They're getting way too common."

"It's worse," the commander informs them, "South Karlsland got hit with three at once. We're taking Lytee's express and sleeping there. You can sit out if you absolutely need to, but Freya's still recovering so we could use you as a comms relay."

"No, I'll come. I just reserve the right to complain about it."

The 42nd United Forces Witch Wing takes off, bracing to fight yet another city-destroying monster, and assembles into a perfect synchronized formation as Lytee charges her teleport power.



...This is not South Karlsland wilderness.

Near the Golden Coven capital, in Aurum

Near Savarasse, in Thilanushinyel

Near Whately Academy

With Unbitwise

Comments

[pythbox]

It is definitely not South Karlsland wilderness. It is a long, flat stretch of richly forested coast, with enormous trees growing right up to the edge of the water in places, while other parts have scoops of sandy beach.

On one of those curving expanses of golden sand, a large red dragon is sprawled out comfortably with her wings spread to catch the sun. Her scales gleam in the warm afternoon light.

[witchwatcher]

A dragon? A dragon? Dragons are not a thing. Except apparently, they are. She extends her senses out, scanning the horizon and listening for the tone of life. The forest is rather aggressively alive, but there's no hint of the distinctive metallic dissonance that Neuroi give off.

That dragon is pretty magnificent, isn't it? She's staying up here for now, though. Who knows how fast and hostile it is.

[pythbox]

It's debatable whether the dragon is even awake. But magnificent, yes, it is definitely that. And also... magical? Not in any remotely familiar way, but there's something there.

[witchwatcher]

It would be a bit surprising if something so big could be alive without being magical. What's interesting is how weird its magic is.

Glancing between the shiny, shiny dragon and the world surrounding it, she starts making slow, lazy circles around the area, not high enough to look like a weirdly shaped bird.

[speak_softly]

A humanlike figure emerges from the woods, wearing a complex multilayered robe in shades of blue and black with a practical, non-movement-hindering cut. She has a longbow and quiver on her back, and in one hand she carries a pair of rabbits.

When she reaches the dragon, she greets it with friendly headscritches, reaching up to get at the soft spots on its face. The dragon opens one eye (the near one), smiles a dragony smile, and yawns; the humanoid person waits out the yawn and then tosses the rabbits into the dragon's mouth. Nom.

The humanoid is magical, too. Her magic is different from the dragon's, but also closely connected.

[witchwatcher]

Well, they're obviously not Witches but they seem friendly enough. She descends some more and shouts "Hello!" In English, then in half a dozen other languages if they don't understand.

[speak_softly]

The humanoid looks up in mild startlement, beholds Gren, waits for her to finish with her hellos, and then calls something back in a language that is not any of those and doesn't sound at all familiar. (The magnificent dragon watches this exchange with amusement.)

[witchwatcher]

She lands, a fair distance away.

The dragon is even more magnificent up close, somehow. Those eyes...



Something is happening to her magic. Her expression turns frightened, and she tries to clamber back onto her flying thing.

[speak_softly]

The dragon says something in the same unfamiliar language and a concerned tone of voice. (Her voice is also magnificent.)

The humanoid - up close, her ears are noticeably long and pointed, not a traditional characteristic of humans - watches Gren with a faint expression of similar concern.

[witchwatcher]

She doesn't take off. She does force herself to look at their magic instead of their bodies. Mana-lights draw in the air, a crude humanoid figure with pointy ears, a dragon, her on her flying thing. Lines between the dragon and the two others, surrounded by question marks.

[speak_softly]

The pointy-eared humanoid studies these pictures for a few seconds, and then makes a graceful gesture at a stretch of sand between her and Gren. Pictures form there, drawn in clear simple lines as though by an invisible stick dragged through the sand:

A pointy-eared humanoid, alone, tending a small bush by hand; a dragon, a connecting line, a pointy-eared humanoid holding out a hand toward a similar bush which seems much more robust and sprouts fanciful flowers.

A round-eared human, alone, tending a campfire by hand; a dragon, a connecting line, a human holding out a hand toward a campfire which seems to be caught in the very moment of bursting into flame.

A round-eared human, alone, reading a book; a dragon, a connecting line, a human carrying a small stack of books in an open satchel (the one visible cover bears a simple sunburst symbol) and holding out a hand toward a raincloud overhead.

[witchwatcher]

Kinds of magic, boosted...

She draws the things witches can do. Flying is obvious. A figure holding up a large rock. Strength. A circle appearing before a figure with arm outstretched, arrows and fire bouncing off of it. The same outstretched arm with a burst of energy striking at a stylized wolf-figure, which is now dead. No easy way to depict specials, so she ignores those.

And she walks up to the dragon. Such beautiful scales...

[speak_softly]

The dragon looks down at her with beautiful golden eyes. It almost seems that there are entire worlds hidden in those eyes.

And then...

Dragonbond. That is what this is. And her Bondmate's name is Saravasse, and her elven co-Bonded's name is Rosheverel, and they're going to have to figure out a way around the language barrier because Saravasse is only somewhat more than a thousand years old and her mental connections to her Bondmates don't maintain this depth and clarity for long.

[witchwatcher]

Strangely enough, she's done telepathy before, and she can do it again. Her kind of magic user, known as Witches, all get a special power - and Grendyne's is copying other magic. And holy hell, she can't feel her mana level going down. It's one thing to think it and another thing entirely to feel it. She almost wants to laugh, she won't be dwindled to uselessness in ten years! She did not know dragonbonds were a thing. This is deeply strange, but it's better than what she expected to be doing right now, which was fighting a Neuroi (mental summary: Bigger than dragons, regenerating, can't communicate with them, very deadly).

For now Gren can try to absorb as much vocabulary from Saravasse as possible before this fades. It'll be a start, and they can discuss... All this... When there's not a time limit on their ability to communicate effectively.

[speak_softly]

Saravasse and Rosheverel both do their best to pass language through the bond.

It comes with assorted other facts: for example, Rosheverel is a princess, the daughter of Andoreniel Elvenking. She is not looking forward to rulership, but would never abandon her duty. In the meantime she learns statecraft and does the work of an Elven Mage, one of three known types of magic user in the world; the other two kinds are High Mages and Wildmages, both human. Witches are entirely unknown here. (Saravasse is quietly amused to have been the dragon to discover them.)

[witchwatcher]

Facts about Gren's world filter back through as well. Everything's been shaken up in the last three decades, when the world was invaded by the Neuroi, who seem to want to destroy everyone and everything. The only known intelligent species is humans, the only known magic Witches. Technology boomed as everyone scrambles for better ways to hold back the Neuroi. Witches are the only things strong enough to fight them effectively.

Gren has a vague suspicion of nobility. But even thinking something negative about royalty dredges up - thoughts about her (dead) brother, and a vague guilt, and a desire to apologize. There's a story there that she's consciously trying to not think about.

Meanwhile: Vocabulary.

[speak_softly]

The Neuroi sound a lot like the Dark - not like the same thing exactly, but like something out of the same category. Except the Dark is not so relentless: it has been beaten back to mere remnants multiple times, once very long ago, then twice more in the past few thousand years.

Saravasse and Rosheverel are in firm agreement that the Neuroi should be dealt with. It distracts them briefly from language lessons, but they soon resume.

[witchwatcher]

Gren agrees wholeheartedly that the Neuroi ought to be Dealt With. They're not trivial to fight, however, and she has three years' experience of doing just that. Some sense-memories come through the link with this thought. With the resources and strange magic of this world it, perhaps it will be easier. It's commonly theorized that something in the gigantic hurricane constantly hovering over what used to be Ostmark is making them.

The incredible sharpness of the bond helps Gren absorb this new language. She speaks aloud, rambling. It feels strange on her tongue, and redundant with the bond in such sharp clarity, but it makes good practice.

[speak_softly]

The language practice is a good idea. (Vocabulary, more vocabulary...)

If one Witch can Bond then more Witches can Bond, according to everything anyone knows about dragons. That will surely help. (But you have to be careful about who you put in contact with dragons, Saravasse knows from firsthand experience. It's better now that one dragon can have multiple Bonded; if one goes to the Dark, another can stop the first. Saravasse's first Bondmate had no such obstacles. It was not a good time in her life.)

[witchwatcher]

Gren wouldn't know the Dark when she saw it, but she has helped hunt down Witch criminals once in a while. Something about having power makes people want to use it to lord over others, it seems. (There's that thought about royalty again, and the emotional reaction)

Gren doesn't have much of a philosophical viewpoint besides 'do as much good as you can'. And is it just her, or is the bond starting to fade into the background already?

[speak_softly]

Rosheverel isn't directly trying to get this across, but her opinions on power are strong enough that they come through very clearly anyway: to have power is to have an irrevocable responsibility to do good with that power, or at bare minimum to avoid harm. And she is very serious about her responsibilities.

The bond is beginning to fade out a little. While they still have this clarity, Saravasse explains that they will always be able to understand each other unusually well, and the co-Bonded always able to intuitively cooperate in using their magic, and they may sometimes transfer a stray thought or two this way or that, but clear direct telepathic conversations will stop working as the bond fades out of newness into normal levels.

[witchwatcher]

Gren believes Rosheverel, but that doesn't necessarily take away the emotional reaction. The evacuation of Greece was not a very pleasant time. The King of Greece ensured that his family and wealth got to safety first. She tries not to think about it.

It's convenient that the bond will fade, actually. She would not have liked to be directly mind-linked forever. Do dragonbonds select for personality? Because she's finding both of her co-bonded surprisingly pleasant company for two random strangers.

She wonders whether she can teleport home and bring passengers, with an effectively unlimited supply of mana. The primary reason she couldn't take passengers before is that the strain would have killed her.

[speak_softly]

Neither of them is sure what would happen if she left the world without bringing her Bondmate and co-Bonded, so it would be best to find out whether she can safely bring them.

Yes, Dragonbonds do tend to happen to people who turn out to like each other. Getting along with one's co-Bonded is less universal but still very prevalent.

[witchwatcher]

The only way to find out is to try it. The first test for that is to see if other things she can do can get bigger.

She deploys a shield, shimmering blue with faint patterns in it. She forces it bigger. Bigger. She lets it go when the thing is 200 feet wide, intersecting with part of the ocean. That would have knocked her out cold even if she had enough mana stored for it, before. So yes, she can do Big Magic.

Would either of them mind if she attempts to teleport all three to the far side of this beach?

[speak_softly]

They would not mind, unless failure is likely to be hazardous or something.