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

[carillons]

"I got kidnapped by some scary witches from another clan and they froze Kas into ice and Ranata had to stab him to make him better!"

[alicornucopia]

"How does stabbing make somebody better?" asks Shura, peering at Kas, who doesn't look very stabbed.

[carillons]

"I dunno," says Helen, "but she did it and it worked." She hugs Kas tightly.

[truthwright]

Kas pets Helen's hair.

"It's 'cause I'm so peculiar," he says to Shura. "If somebody tries to kill me, I get better from things instead."

[alicornucopia]

"Wow," says Shura, "I bet that comes in useful. And now you are all okay?"

[truthwright]

"Yeah," says Kas.

[carillons]

"I'm still scared, though," sniffles Helen.

[alicornucopia]

"The clan lands are blessed a lot. Nobody can curse us here," says Shura.

[carillons]

"That's good," says Helen.

Kalavar turns into a kitten and bounds up to Nicoa.

[alicornucopia]

Nicoa has been being a turtle, but now he turns into another kitten.

[carillons]

Kalavar snuggles up to him.

Helen sighs and hugs Kas.

"I'm still scared," she murmurs. "Even though we're safe now, I'm scared."

[alicornucopia]

"Can we help?" Nicoa asks.

[carillons]

"You're helping now," says Kalavar, nuzzling him.

"And you reminded us the clan lands are blessed," says Helen, "that helped."

[alicornucopia]

"Any witch who's any good at magic does a blessing of the lands when she gets to be about fifty or sixty," says Ranata. "They add up. I did one myself."

[carillons]

Helen nods slowly.

[alicornucopia]

Nicoa snuggles Kalavar and purrs soothingly.

[carillons]

Kalavar is soothed. So is Helen.

[alicornucopia]

That is good. That is the idea.

"The queen will find who did it," Ranata sighs.

[carillons]

"I hope so," says Helen. "She should find them and make them stop."

[alicornucopia]

"She will."

[carillons]

Helen nods.

[alicornucopia]

The queen does in fact do this.

The Ontario queen is not interested in defending her subjects; they are flown onto Olympic ground, trussed up and gagged, their daemons tangled up in nets with them. (While not as traditional as bows and daggers, nets are sometimes used for things like this.)

"Are these those who harmed you?" the queen inquires of Helen and Kas.

[carillons]

Helen inspects them.

"Yeah," she says.

[truthwright]

"Yeah," Petaal confirms, wearing her witch shape.

[alicornucopia]

The accused are not given an opportunity to speak in their defense; there is always the risk of verse. The queen reads off the charges - kidnapping of an Olympic, interference-spell on an Olympic, attempted murder of a relative of an Olympic. She then sentences them to death. This is open to supervision.