i might as well be the man on the moon

[truthwright]

Their Isabella having just gone to welcome a new Bell into the peal, Kas and Petaal snuggle up together and take a nap. They'll want to be well rested for the party.

When they wake up, she still isn't back.

[Jane?]

No response.

Kas teleports down to the Janepoint, Petaal wrapped snake-shaped around his shoulders.

The display reads: error 7788: lycanthropy

"...So that's new," he says.

"No shit," says Petaal. "Now what?"

He shrugs. She coils tighter.

"Hang around and wait, I guess."

Comments

[truthwright]

A little before then - it's been about eleven and a half years - he writes her a letter.

Sweetie,

I can't handle this. I really can't. I miss you too much. I don't know what to do. If you were here I could see you, and if I knew when you were coming back I could wait, and if you were gone forever I could be wrecked about it and then move on. But I know you're coming back, I just don't know when, and it's killing me. I keep wondering what happened, where you are, how you're doing, if you're okay. And I have no idea and no way to find out.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you're not coming back.

I love you.

He signs it with tearstains and sets it on fire.

There are fewer notes after that. Writting the letter helped a little. Less crying, less I miss you. But still plenty of both.

When he finds out about the cult, he considers telling these people that he fucked their messiah, but it would be mostly pointless and only a little bit funny, so he leaves them alone.

[alicornucopia]

Isabella passes into the generic public consciousness along with all the other cultural touchstones. Some people name their children after her; some people start using her name as a component of irreverent oaths. More religions incorporate her; the original cult shoots up in membership, schisms twice, settles down into relative obscurity again.

Isabella doesn't come home.

[truthwright]

More years go by.

The frequency of postcards to nowhere waxes and wanes unpredictably. He stops really counting the years. Twenty, thirty. How old is he? He forgets, he doesn't care; he's as ageless as a witch.

He's friendly and chatty but he doesn't make friends. He drops in on Augustine once in a while, but not very often. When she dies, she invites him to visit and it's the first he hears of it. She tells him that she doesn't think she'll come back anytime soon. He hugs her. Her fur is thick and warm.

They don't talk again after that.

[alicornucopia]

Ranata Ekamma witches around as much as ever. She pops up in random places.

Once it's a random place where Kas is.

She doesn't recognize him, but -

She looks a lot like her daughter.

[truthwright]

Except for the broad-tailed hummingbird, yes she does.

Kas recognizes her immediately.

Petaal climbs out of his sleeve as a shrew and then flits over as a sparrow to say hi to Castarilan.

[alicornucopia]

"Hi!" Castarilan says.

He doesn't recognize Petaal, either.

[truthwright]

"Guess who, guess who," Petaal says merrily. She changes into a blue jay in midair.

[alicornucopia]

Castarilan is surprised! He backs up in his eternal hovering a bit, then flies forward again. "Petaal! Hi! We haven't seen you in ages!"

[truthwright]

Petaal giggles, flutters back to Kas, and drapes herself across his shoulders as a linsang.

"Sure haven't," Kas agrees, petting her head. "How've you been?"

[alicornucopia]

Ranata joins the conversation directly. "I've been all right," she says. "Traveling, avoiding the media, sidestepping politics - Charlie died a little while ago but he came right back, looks thirty again, it's really something - how about you, how've you been, dear?"

[truthwright]

"I've been... getting by," he says. "I miss everybody's favourite legend a lot."

[alicornucopia]

"It's been such a long time... She must've done a fantastic spell on you before she left - or did you die and come back too at some point?"

[truthwright]

"Nope, this is all her."

[alicornucopia]

"Well, you look fantastic," asserts Ranata.

[truthwright]

"You bet I do," he laughs. "How's Charlie, besides revenant?"

[alicornucopia]

"He's all right. Considering getting his job back again. He'd retired for the last few decades, he has to catch up on how things are nowadays, but he doesn't like puttering around the house now he's got the energy again."

[truthwright]

"Good luck to him, I guess. What are you in town for, anything in particular?"

[alicornucopia]

"Me and Lutammi are following Micaela and the Pages on tour," explains Ranata.

[truthwright]

"Cool. They any good?"

[alicornucopia]

"Of course, or we wouldn't be following them," laughs Ranata. "We traded for season passes, but if I remember right Petaal can turn witch and you can fly - tonight's show is outdoors, you can just hover over it, no one will give you trouble."

[truthwright]

"That sounds like fun," says Kas. "Count us in."

[alicornucopia]

"Excellent, have you got a pen...?" Ranata writes down the showtime and location for him when a pen is provided.

[truthwright]

"Thanks!" he says, tucking the paper away somewhere. "We'll be there for sure."

[alicornucopia]

Ranata smiles. "Now, I'm supposed to meet someone for lunch while I'm in the area, got to fly - see you at the concert!" And she and her hummingbird are up in the air a moment later.

[truthwright]

He buys the first postcard he sees and writes, Talked to your mom today. She's still adorable. I miss you so much.

He and Petaal show up at the concert, Petaal witch-shaped and wrapped in appropriate silks, both of them riding a cloudpine branch.