you can throw me if you want

[truthwright]

It turns out that there was really not much point to making a schedule. Kas and Helen visit the witch clan whenever Helen feels like it, and stay as long as she wants, and go when she wants to be somewhere else, and it all adds up to plenty more time spent with the clan than away.

After the aquarium jaunt with Ranata, it's a little more than a month before they visit the clan again.

Comments

[alicornucopia]

It takes a long time to set up the spell. The osprey - Loviisa's - keeps murmuring to Kana's bluejay softly, not near where Helen can hear. Kana summons an animal to sacrifice; the pigeon takes a while to arrive and doesn't look happy about it when it shows up. Loviisa scatters a great many different herbs around the diagram.

And then she recites a verse in Svaaric.

[carillons]

Helen listens, but there aren't any numbers, or any words she vaguely sort of recognizes. Or any goddesses.

She waits to see if they have found him or not.

[alicornucopia]

"Now we wait," Kana tells Helen. "Would you like a snack?"

[carillons]

"Okay!" says Helen.

[alicornucopia]

Kana makes her a little plate of fruit with frosting to dip it in.

[carillons]

Om nom nom.

[alicornucopia]

And then there is tea, and Kana has more books.

[carillons]

Tea! Books!

Helen settles into a comfortable chair near an open window, and she waits.

[truthwright]

She hardly has time to get comfy; only about five minutes after the spell was cast, a raven flies in the window and turns smoothly into a naked witch.

[carillons]

Helen jumps up and claps her hands. "Petaal!" she exclaims. "You got unlost!"

Kalavar launches herself from the back of Helen's chair into Petaal's arms.

[alicornucopia]

The witches peer at this scene.

They are very confused.

[carillons]

"Where's my spinach?" says Helen. "I wanna hug him! Was he worried?"

[truthwright]

"He's back at the hotel, button," says Petaal, cuddling the now chincilla-shaped Kalavar. "I'll fly you back, c'mon."

[alicornucopia]

The witches start whispering to each other.

[truthwright]

Petaal leads Helen out of the cottage.

[carillons]

"Thank you for finding my daddy!" says Helen, waving to the two witches. "Bye now!"

[alicornucopia]

The witches decide not to follow them.

[carillons]

It's a much shorter flight back, for some reason. Maybe Petaal's cloudpine is faster. Anyway, after only a few minutes Helen can see the city in the distance.

[alicornucopia]

Back in the cottage, another small animal dies.

[carillons]

The first Helen knows of this, the branch on which she sits starts to fall out of the sky. She twists around and sees a blur of flame where Petaal should be.

[truthwright]

The flame unblurs - she's a peregrine falcon, diving to catch the falling branch - she's a witch again, clinging to the back of the cloudpine while Helen clings to the front, and their flight levels out.

"You okay, button?" she says shakily.

[carillons]

"What happened?"

[truthwright]

Petaal angles the branch up to regain lost altitude.

"Somebody's trying to kill me," she says. "But I'm very immortal."

[carillons]

...Helen can only think of one obvious suspect.

"Oh no," she says, dismayed.

[alicornucopia]

The witches are in flight, now, but they won't catch up if Petaal continues to make forward progress.