witchcraft and sorcery

[witchwatcher]

For a brief moment, in a certain part of fairyland there is a tear that leads to the cold sky above a snow-covered hilly forest somewhere in the mortal world.

Comments

[imeanforever]

"I'm a sorcerer. Anyone can learn it but it only works in Fairyland."

[witchwatcher]

"Huh. I wonder if I could copy it? Every Witch gets a special ability - mine is imperfectly copying other Witches' specials. But I'm not feeling any magic off you besides something that I think is being a fairy. And I can't copy that."

[imeanforever]

"I'm not sure what you'd copy. Anyone can learn it but you have to learn it." She double-checks. "And sorcery doesn't work here."

[witchwatcher]

She shrugs. "I guess not then. You can call me Copycat, by the way. That's my nickname."

[imeanforever]

"Okay. I'm Promise."

[witchwatcher]

"I'm going to consistently have lots of things to do - I'm a military courier, occasionally I get a rotation of combat duty, so you following me is not a long term solution. I'm kinda wondering what you want. How to set you up somewhere. Putting you back in Fairyland could be an option."

[imeanforever]

"...It's more long-term tenable for me to live in Fairyland. I can probably get somewhere my old master won't find me. How would you put me back exactly?"

[witchwatcher]

"One of my friends, uh, call her Scatter. She can teleport to places, and she can bring people and things with her. It might work if she tries to teleport into fairyland. She can check whether it'd work without actually teleporting, too, but one of us will have to pay her somehow."

[imeanforever]

"What will she want?"

[witchwatcher]

"Money, ration cards, favors to call in later. Maybe one of my silver bracelets. I'm not sure."

[imeanforever]

"I don't have anything. I can do magic in Fairyland, but that's all."

[witchwatcher]

"Well, what kind of magic can you do?"

[imeanforever]

"I can - lots of things. I know how to transmute things, and heal, and - I know how to make gates. I know how to grow plants. I can do heat and cold."

[witchwatcher]

"Healing would be pretty good. Her sister... Was badly injured when the Neuroi invaded Karlsland. Humans don't heal cleanly after bad injuries, so now her legs are connected all wrong. Transmutation would be good too. Gold and gemstones like diamonds are incredibly valuable here - Witches can store power in them to use later. I'd pay her to put you home if you agreed to transmute me a batch of gold."

[imeanforever]

"I'll need some other metal to work from. Or at least rock, but that would take longer. And it helps if it's in a simple shape."

[witchwatcher]

"Would a big steel beam from a foundry do?"

[imeanforever]

"If it's big it'll take me longer to transmute the whole thing. Ideal would be a lot of little pieces all the same shape and size - spheres or cubes maybe."

[witchwatcher]

"A bunch of spheres of iron the size of your fingernail? I can raid the ammunition stores."

[imeanforever]

"Sure."

[witchwatcher]

"God, this is messed up. Inviolable orders, cruel masters, gates to fairyland. It's the kind of thing you hear about in old stories. And I just thought of a loophole in your orders prohibition. When a mortal asks to be given orders in addition to the previous conditions only give them an order with the exact wording they requested."

[imeanforever]

[witchwatcher]

"This... Ugh." Silent flying for a while, then.



Hilly forest eventually turns to forest with a lot of lakes and rivers here and there. There is a town in the distance, and a big stone castle just beyond that. "We're almost there. Do you want to wait outside the town somewhere and I'll come find you in a few hours, or come with?"

[imeanforever]

"I can just wait. It'd probably be hard to keep me away from all the names."

[witchwatcher]

"It's not as important as before, but yeah. How's that pile of rocks look? It's an easy landmark from the air, but unlikely anyone will find you. You want some more food and water before I go? I'm not sure how much army rations count as mine and not somebody else's..."

[imeanforever]

"I'd rather not risk it unless it's coming straight out of your hand. The rocks look fine."