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]

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."

[witchwatcher]

"It's fine. Private, at least. I may wish for coffee, or at least tea, after I have cleaned my machine and disarmed my weapons... As I said earlier, I was expecting to be teleported into battle, not into a dragonbond. I hope nobody will be alarmed that I have weapons."

[speak_softly]

"I will see about finding you some tea," says Rosheverel.

"You have a dragon. No one will be alarmed about your weapons," says Saravasse.

[witchwatcher]

"Is it usual to... It would be, ah, useful context to know the expectations people here have for those in a dragonbond. I know I can trust you both, that's undeniable, but I'm finding this whole situation deeply strange. And thanks, Rosheverel."

[speak_softly]

"Whatever other weapons they might have, it's expected that a Dragonbond Mage of whatever variety could cause a great deal of destruction if they chose," says Saravasse. "One trusts that they will choose not to. And that co-Bonded will quietly keep an eye on each other to make sure no one is going to the Dark. If you carry your weapons openly and aggressively, then people might start to be alarmed, but just having them isn't all that surprising, and will be even less so once you explain about the Neuroi."

"While I am getting tea, I will explain the unusual circumstances surrounding my new co-Bonded to Ithoriosa," says Rosheverel.

"Who will go on to explain it to everyone else, yes, good thinking," says Saravasse.

Rosheverel smiles. "Then if there is nothing else for now, I will go do those things."

[witchwatcher]

"I suppose I could cause a lot of destruction now. I won't do that without excellent cause, of course. Thanks again, Rosheverel."

And she starts breaking down her gear, unplugging fuses, oiling the internal mechanisms of the Steelwing.

[speak_softly]

Off goes Rosheverel. Saravasse curls up near the back of her cave. No one comes up to bother her or her new Bondmate.

Rosheverel comes back maybe a quarter of an hour later, with a basket containing assorted teas and tea-related items.

"Ithoriosa has been informed. Soon I expect we will be hearing about which dragons would like to meet potential Witch Bondmates. In the meantime, here is your tea."

[witchwatcher]

"I admit I'm not sure who would make a good potential Bondmate. Those with useful skills and abilities and those with with personalities not liable to do things like going to the Dark are not always the same people."

[speak_softly]

"I recommend that you favour the latter," says Rosheverel. Saravasse snorts.

[witchwatcher]

"I've never been a very social person, so I don't think my judgment should be the only way to decide who to introduce to some dragons... I'm heavily invested in defeating the Neuroi, of course, but it seems like there's probably problems in this world that could benefit from a new sort of magic as well."

"...I'm better at talking like this than I thought I would be. The elven language supports elven manners."

[speak_softly]

"There is a sort of screening process for determining which potential Bondmates may be introduced to dragons, but as you've seen, the process is still subject to accidents," says Rosheverel. "If the Witches present us with candidates, we will do our best to sort through them. Among the mages of this world there are no translation spells effective or reliable enough to be used for such a purpose, but perhaps the Witches can provide something, or perhaps some people from both worlds can begin learning each other's languages and free you from the burden of acting as sole translator."

[witchwatcher]

"I don't actually recall if any Witches have speaking in tongues as a special, but it wouldn't surprise me. The UDF will have lists in any case."

[speak_softly]

"I expect that defeating the Neuroi will be an agreed-upon priority once all the dragons have heard about the situation," says Rosheverel.

"Yes, I imagine so," says Saravasse. "But there will be some people on the lookout for other problems to apply Witches to, particularly if anyone else gets a Bondmate with an interesting specialty."

[witchwatcher]

"I guess we'll see. I know a fair amount of magic simple enough to copy permanently." She lists them, "But they're mostly applicable in combat. I would be surprised if this world's teas are the same as those found in mine."

[speak_softly]

"This one is very efficient at promoting wakefulness," says Rosheverel, indicating one of the canisters. "This one is a sweet fruit tea. This one is adequate at promoting wakefulness and has a much subtler flavour than the first."

[witchwatcher]

"I think I would like the first. I'm not partial to sweet tea, in general. Thank you... Um, given the size of dragons, I am surprised at how small this place seemed to be from the air."

[speak_softly]

"There are not very many dragons," says Rosheverel.

"Seventeen, I think," says Saravasse. "Most of us were wiped out in an early war against the Dark, ten thousand years or so before my time. Ancaladar survived, and he found Cortiana and Mebadaene, and between the three of them they made the rest of us. Mebadaene's dead now, so it's down to Ancaladar and Cortiana. I wonder if there are any Witch specials that could do something about that."

[witchwatcher]

"The only useful thing that comes to mind is that there have been Witches who can transform people into other things. There may be a Witch somewhere who can help with, ah, producing children in some magical way, but if there is I don't know about it. I have doubts that trying to turn someone into a dragon would work, though. Dragons are extremely magical, and I've heard that transformer-type Witches cannot transform their targets into more Witches. There are a few Witches who can see the future, though always in a vague and potentially misinterpreted way."

[pythbox]

"There have been ways to see the future in this world, now and then," says Saravasse. "On the whole they solved more trouble than they caused, mostly."

[witchwatcher]

"Caution, understanding, and clear thought are a must when dealing with cosmic power. Which is why I don't want to return home until I'm calmed and rested. It's a new chapter in my life. The last time I've had such a sharp change was at the age of twelve. I made a few hasty decisions back then, and though things turned out well enough they could easily not have. I'm unsure if humans grow and develop the same way as dragons and elves - most likely not."

[speak_softly]

"Elven childhoods and human childhoods are very similar in this world," says Rosheverel. "A twelve-year-old human and a twelve-year-old elf, or a seventeen-year-old human and a seventeen-year-old elf, would be at more or less the same place in their lives, except that the human goes on to live for a hundred years or less all told, and the elf for a thousand or more."

[witchwatcher]

"A thousand-" She swears for a while in her native language, Ostkav. "I should hope that being an elf doesn't come with a commensurate drawback. And perhaps I should learn as much as I can about this world - we focused only on words while the bond was fresh, I'm missing context in every third sentence."

[speak_softly]

"Reasonable," says Rosheverel. "And... it does or does not, depending how you look at it. It's said that long ago, all elves were Elven Mages, but that we gave that up to extend our lives, and now can only reawaken our power through a Dragonbond. I have no way to know if that is true."

"Dragons live for as long as we can avoid being killed," says Saravasse. "Which is much easier now that we can have multiple Bondmates at a time. If I died, so would the both of you, and if the both of you died, so would I, but as long as I always have at least one living Bondmate, I can keep going no matter how many I lose. Oh, and only Bonded dragons can have children. It was a strange bargain my ancestors struck, and not one entirely to my liking, but I can't fault them too badly since it did give them the strength to fight off the Dark that time around."