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]

"It's okay," he says.

[alicornucopia]

The remaining non-Kalavar witchbaby daemon turns into a cygnet, and then a lizard, and then a barn owlet.

[truthwright]

Kalavar turns into a series of different brightly coloured dragons.

Kas giggles at her.



A week later, the visit draws to a close; Kas collects his daughter and wanders away. He's back in two months, at Ranata's prompting. He decides that the month Helen spends with the witches every year should be August, since so many witchy things seem to depend on birthdays.

He gets back in the habit of burning postcards. Most of them are about Helen, one way or another.

[alicornucopia]

When Helen turns five, she is supposed to start dagger lessons. Work with a blade doesn't start right away; first she has to learn footwork and drawing and some basic moves with a wooden practice dagger. Shura starts at about the same time; she is younger than Helen, but she's been getting early coaching from her mother.

[carillons]

Helen is very excited about her wooden practice dagger!

[alicornucopia]

Shura wants a real dagger. She wants to learn to make arrows, and stab dummies, and cut her cloud-pine.

But she knows the fastest way to get her real dagger is to be good with the wood one, so here she is, lunging and slashing it through the air, insulting imaginary enemies. Since she is not even five yet, this mostly consists of calling them: "Frostbitten - um - spinach heads!"

[carillons]

This makes Helen giggle uncontrollably, which in turn makes it difficult for her to properly attend to her lessons.

[alicornucopia]

"Wha-a-at?" giggles Shura.

[carillons]

"Spinach heads," says Helen, still giggling. "Spinach heads! Spinach heads!"

[alicornucopia]

"Spinach heaaaaads!" hollers Shura gleefully, stabbing invisible spinach heads.

[carillons]

Helen giggles helplessly and fails to stab any things. She cannot see the invisible spinach heads when she is laughing so hard!

[alicornucopia]

"Girls," says the dagger teacher. "If you want to fight spinach heads or anything else you will need to work on your footwork."

[carillons]

Helen attempts to stop giggling.

[alicornucopia]

"Up you get, come on," says the teacher, and Shura stops stabbing invisible spinach heads and listens while the teacher describes how to correctly place your feet for optimal mobility.

[carillons]

Helen listens too! She wants to learn these things.

(She keeps grinning, though. Spinach heads!)

[alicornucopia]

The teacher keeps them pivoting and lunging around the practice area until they're both tuckered out. She quite ignores the supervising Kas until the lesson is over.

Shura's mother is apparently a little late to fetch her.

[carillons]

Helen prances up to Kas and says gleefully, "Spinach heads!"

[truthwright]

"So I've heard," he says, ruffling her hair.

[alicornucopia]

"Are you a spinach head?" Shura asks Kas. Her Nicoa is clinging to her hair as some kind of lizard.

[truthwright]

"I don't know," he says innocently.

And for just a moment, his head looks extremely leafy and green.

[alicornucopia]

Shura shrieks with half-laughter and half-alarm. She flings her wooden dagger at his head.

[truthwright]

The hilt of the dagger bonks off his forehead. He catches it on the way down and laughs.

"Ouch! What was that for?" he says, handing it back to her.

[carillons]

"It was 'cause you're a spinach head!" says Helen.

[alicornucopia]

"Yeah! Spinach heaaaaad!" giggles Shura.

"Shura!" says the dagger teacher. "If you attack innocent people with wood, we will not give you steel!"

"Sorry!" says Shura contritely.

[carillons]

Helen giggles and hugs Kas.

"It's okay," she says, "I love you even when your head is made of spinach."