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

[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.

[witchwatcher]

Well, every time this kind of teleportation has failed so far has either: Done nothing, about 100 times. Or sent her here, one time.

[speak_softly]

Well... an acceptable risk, they think, in the service of finding out if she can safely take them home with her.

[witchwatcher]

She focuses, hard, on a particular pattern in her memory. A small rock moves a few inches. The basic pattern confirmed, she expands it, specifies herself and Saravasse and Rosheverel, builds up power until she judges it sufficient and yanks on the fabric of the world.

And the three of them are on the opposite side of the beach. "That worked. I was using the same pattern to jump to 'a place I know', so I think that I can return home, even between worlds." It's relieving to know that she has a way home, even if she wants to spend a lot more time here, first.

[speak_softly]

"Elven Mages have our own ways of travelling quickly between distant places, but we have never had the means to discover if the Gates work between worlds," says Rosheverel, with an underlying explanation through the Bond - Gates are the spell that feels like (this), and they create portals between one place and another, most easily if the mage is familiar with whichever end they're not standing at when they cast it. They have been refined over the years so that it is possible to make them permanent, with some difficulty. Rosheverel would not like to try casting a Gate to a strange world without ever having been there; Gates are a big enough spell that failing at them can kill the caster.

[witchwatcher]

"I want to go home and report in some time tomorrow. I'd like to rest before trying to return home, though. It's been a long day." And she took a bit of a beating in this morning's fight, which takes a toll on the body even if Angel's special healed it right back up. "We could see if the Gates work between worlds tomorrow. Where can I bunk down for tonight?"

[speak_softly]

"We're near enough to fly to Karahelanderialigor, where the dragons live, and there is room enough there for all the dragons and their Bonded," says Rosheverel. "But the dragons live very close to an elven city, so you might benefit from learning some simple points of elven etiquette before travelling there."

[witchwatcher]

"I only mind learning etiquette a little bit, and I suppose it's necessary. It makes sense that yours would be different than mine."

[speak_softly]

"First, among adult elves it is considered rude to ask direct questions. I've been among humans often enough that I am not troubled to think of you all as constantly speaking under War Manners, but most elves outside of immediate, acknowledged emergencies will be uncomfortable about it, and some still are even then. If you don't wish to work at learning how to make indirect requests according to established custom, you can phrase things as 'it would be good to know' whatever information you desire, and be thought acceptably courteous for a human."

[witchwatcher]

"That seems very strange to me. Wouldn't... I think I would find it difficult to teach and learn, or to talk of anything of import, under this rule. But I'll try."

[speak_softly]

She smiles slightly and nods.

"Second, elves consider it rude to directly address or acknowledge someone who has not indicated that they wish to interact. An elf meeting a stranger will say, 'I See you', and wait for the stranger to say it back, and if they do not, then the elf who spoke first will politely act as though the stranger is not present."

[witchwatcher]

She just nods, not wanting to find a polite way to 'ask' if there's anything else.

[speak_softly]

"That is as much as I think you will need to know in order to interact comfortably with any elves you may see at Karahelanderialigor, but if you are interested in learning more I wouldn't mind discussing the subject further."

[witchwatcher]

"Nah, I'm good. We, uh, I am ready to fly to Karahel-place whenever you are. It's still relatively early, though, so maybe not yet."

[speak_softly]

"I see no strong reason to wait," says Rosheverel.

[witchwatcher]

"Then we may as well go now. I'll want to clean my Steelwing when we arrive, preferably with tools designed to work metal."

She climbs aboard her flying thing. "I can fly fairly quickly with this, though perhaps not as quickly as a dragon."

[speak_softly]

"We'll see," says Saravasse. Rosheverel produces a sort of leather harness which she attaches to her dragon, and then she climbs on Saravasse's back and attaches herself to the harness and Saravasse takes off.

Dragons prove to be respectably fast.

[witchwatcher]

They're faster than Gren can comfortably keep up with, at least. She relaxes visibly and into the dragonbond as soon as they're in the air.

[speak_softly]

When the Steelwing's pace is established, Saravasse slows to match it.

They fly over variously forested land for a while. It's very pretty. There are some truly impressive trees around.

Then they approach a rockier area, including a steep hillside or gentle cliff (depending how you look at it) with a multitude of large caves. There are some other dragons there already. No visible cities nearby, but maybe elves build very unobtrusively.

Saravasse lands on the hill. Rosheverel dismounts and detaches the flying harness.

[witchwatcher]

She was nervous about having enough room to land, but thankfully anywhere big enough for a dragon to land is enough for her as well. She carries her heavy-looking metal contraption easily, following her two bondmates.

[speak_softly]

It turns out that Saravasse has a comfortably dragon-sized cave of her very own, with two smaller rooms adjoining it. Both are cozily furnished and fitted with doors.

"This is where I stay when I stay with the dragons," says Rosheverel, indicating one of the rooms. "That is where my last co-Bonded stayed," indicating the other. "I hope it is to your liking."