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.

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[witchwatcher]

Copycat declines to lead Luck towards Promise. She flies in a random direction for a while, reapplies the notice-me-not, and circuitously wends back to where Promise probably is.

[imeanforever]

Promise is where she was left, studying a bullet.

[witchwatcher]

"How's things?"

[imeanforever]

"Things are okay." Promise hands her three golden bullets.

[witchwatcher]

"Ooh, shiny. Many thanks. How long do you think it'll be before it's safe to go to your tree?"

[imeanforever]

"A few weeks, probably. We could risk it now if you're not going to be coming back and forth that long."

[witchwatcher]

"I can come back again in a few weeks. Risk is to be avoided if at all possible."

[imeanforever]

"It'll never be completely risk-free."

[witchwatcher]

"Does it have to be you who gets the cutting?"

[imeanforever]

"No. But you and Scatter could come find me here if he caught you."

[witchwatcher]

"What if I get Sparky and Highlander and Dragon to do it?"

[imeanforever]

"Thorn is smart enough to use darts instead of trying to actually feed people. And he collects sorcerers."

[witchwatcher]

"Full-body armor for the darts. Going in invisibly with Scatter ready to take everyone away at a moment's notice for the sorcerers?"

[imeanforever]

"Invisible and inaudible, I can do that too. But I have to cast in Fairyland and I don't know these other people yet and if you bring them here for me to cast on them..."

[witchwatcher]

"Point."

Scatter appears nearby with a muffled FOOM sound. "Jeez, that guy really wouldn't take 'no I don't want your berries' for an answer. Had to 'port away."

[imeanforever]

"You shouldn't try to talk to other fairies," Promise says. "Some of them might be smart or have powers you can't counter easily. If somebody bright gets you they get Copycat's name, I'm gonna guess, and she comes with me."

[witchwatcher]

"Fine, fine."

"So. Honestly staying in Fairyland seems like a worse idea by the minute. I'm thinking we come back in a week or two when your old master probably isn't watching your tree anymore? Promise, Scatter, thoughts?"

Scatter shrugs.

[imeanforever]

"Sounds good."

[witchwatcher]

"I'll get the rest of the gold then. Bye, Promise. Scatter, take us home."

"Three two one." Poof.

[imeanforever]

Promise plants food near her cave. She cries sometimes. She doesn't track down anything she can make paper out of, so she writes to herself in fairylights. She sleeps. She flies around, but invisibly; she doesn't want to talk to the neighbors.

[witchwatcher]

Scatter can already teleport contiguous objects. She practices teleporting liquids.



Four days into their 'a couple of weeks' timeline, she teleports to Fairyland a couple hundred feet above Luck.

[alicornucopia]

Luck is at home. Which turns out to mean in a largish court of fairies of various sorts.

[witchwatcher]

She teleports away from the court as soon as she recovers, hopefully none of them noticed her... It's probably a better idea to try and find a lone fairy. Promise would be a good candidate, if not for how Gren would likely find out and be extremely upset and maybe try to kill her.

Are any of the other fairies she met/saw while exploring likely to live alone?

[alicornucopia]

Well, that depends on what signs she knows to look for, but if she checks them all systematically she will find a cascade who lives by himself, upstream from Promise's cave by a section of rapids.

[witchwatcher]

The next time that cascade takes a drink of something that's not water, he'll find an extra eighth-ounce of apple juice in his mouth from no apparent source.