After Childhood's End

[yinyangwizard]

All childhoods must, at some point, come to an end. Magically induced ones end more abruptly than the regular kind.

Abe no Seimei wakes with a start. Not that he was sleeping until now. He was...what exactly was he doing before he found himself here? And where is here, anyway? Who is that person off to his left?

He leaps back from the stranger, leaves crunching under his feet, and gets a defensive spell into place - all before he quite realizes that he's done it, or that the stranger he's reacting to is just as startled as he is.

Comments

[margolotta]

The stranger is a lady of indeterminate age, with dark hair and a pink woolly cardigan.

"I say," she says. "Where were we?"

[yinyangwizard]

Seimei doesn't drop his defensive spell, but he softens his stance a bit. "I haven't the faintest idea, Madam," he says. "Nor do I know how we got here."

He could have said 'a forest' and that answer would technically be correct, but it would also be obvious and no more helpful than 'I don't know.'

[margolotta]

"That doesn't usually happen to me," she says. "I take it we are in Milliways, but I have no idea why we are out here, or in fact who you are. I am sorry."

[yinyangwizard]

Milliways? Seimei registers, for the first time, the smell of the surrounding forest and the abundant magical energies swirling through the air. He's a little embarrassed that it took so long for him to recognize such familiar surroundings.

"I believe you are correct, Madam," he says. After a moment's consideration he bows to her, polite but wary. "I am Abe no Seimei," he introduces himself.

[margolotta]

"I am Margolotta Amaya Katerina Assumpta Crassina von Überwald, but you can call me Lady Margolotta," she says.

[yinyangwizard]

Something about the name ignites a spark of memory. "Are you sure we haven't met before, Lady Margolotta?" Seimei asks.

Alas, the spark dies before it can catch on anything.

"Please excuse me, lady. I must still be muddled from...whatever happened." Pause. "How did you figure out that we're in Milliways?"

Once she suggested it the conclusion seemed obvious to him, but he doesn't know what prompted her to suggest it in the first place - and he's curious.

[margolotta]

"We are definitely not in Bonk," she says. "And I've seen this part of the forest before. Also, this kind of inexplicable phenomenon feels very much like Milliways. So, the Rule of Duck applies."

Pause.

"I do feel I have seen you before. The name Dôji comes to mind?"

[yinyangwizard]

Seimei blinks in surprise at the mention of his childhood name. This is getting very peculiar indeed.

"I used to be called Dōji, Lady Margolotta, but that was a very long time ago."

[margolotta]

"I don't know why I associate it with you, or the fish in the fireplace," she says. "I may have accidentally overheard something you said while watching them."

[yinyangwizard]

"I suppose it's possible," Seimei responds. "I wonder...if this is like some of the other strange occurrences we often see in Milliways, it's quite likely that we were not the only ones affected. Perhaps if we return to the bar proper, we can figure out what happened."

Maybe it was one of Bar's holiday celebrations, although if it was, Seimei has no idea which holiday was being celebrated.

[margolotta]

"We should," Margolotta says. "We don't know what we were doing out here anyway."

[yinyangwizard]

"We must first establish which direction is 'back to the bar.'" As opposed to 'deeper into the woods.'

Seimei's eyes - which can see very well in the dark, albeit in monochrome - fall on something off to Lady Margolotta's side. A depression in the leaves coating the forest floor, and in the middle of that depression, a twig snapped in half.

"I think I have just found the way we came in," Seimei says. "If you will permit me, Lady Margolotta, I will retrace our steps back to the bar."

If they're observant and a bit lucky, they may find some edifying clues along the way.

[margolotta]

"If we listen for the sound of waves, we will get back to the lake," Margolotta adds, "and from there, we should be able to see the bar."

[yinyangwizard]

Seimei nods in agreement. "A very sensible approach. We can follow the trail until we hear waves, and cut in that direction."

Giving the matter some more thought, he tilts his head to look up into the treetops. "Although if you prefer, Lady Margolotta, I can try to get the lay of the land first."

[margolotta]

"How would you do that?"

[yinyangwizard]

Seimei flashes a grin. "A little spell, Lady Margolotta. Nothing fancy."

He steps over to the nearest tree - a tall pine - and puts his hand on the trunk. He summons forth a small cluster of shikigami. They're invisible to the naked eye, but stir the twigs and needles of the pine tree as they swarm upwards.

When they band together at the top, Seimei is able to see the surrounding landscape from their perspective, as if he himself were perched on the tree. To his vision, everything appears in shades of silver, grey, and black - but it's quite clear.

Seimei calls most of the shikigami, save for one that he sends arcing out of the forest to the peaked roof of the air temple. It will serve as a beacon, so he can sense his way and won't get turned around. "It's about two kilometers to the edge of the forest." He points. "That way."

[margolotta]

She starts walking, very quietly. "I do wonder how we got in this far to begin with."

[yinyangwizard]

Margolotta is awfully light on her feet, Seimei notices. He wonders what sort of creature she is (she's not human - that much he can tell), but it seems rude to ask. Seimei, for his part, makes a deliberate effort not to be too quiet.

"Perhaps we were following something, or searching for something." Seimei rubs his chin thoughtfully. "I wonder if something mesmerized us. That would explain why we don't remember how we got here."

He hopes that's not the case, though.

[margolotta]

"That would be rather hard for them to do to me," Margolotta says. "But then, here in Milliways, there is always a bigger fish."

[yinyangwizard]

"Very true. In a similar vein, one is often reminded of just how little one actually knows about things." Seimei pushes a low-hanging branch out of the way and gestures for Lady Margolotta to go past him.

He also sends a scouting party of shikigami ahead of them - towards the one sitting on the air temple - to scout the ground ahead. There isn't exactly a clear path here, and neither he nor Lady Margolotta are appropriately dressed for contending with underbrush, mud puddles, etc.

[margolotta]

She quietly walks among the plants; her night sight is of course excellent, and there is hardly anything that she needs to worry about.

"Useful, to have that sort of spirits," she says.

[yinyangwizard]

"Oh, they are very useful indeed!" Seimei agrees. "People used to underestimate them because on their own, they tend to drift about mindlessly, and they're not very powerful. But they're a bit like ants, or bees. When they are organized and directed properly, they are capable of amazing things."

[margolotta]

"Oh yes, there is a famous witch in Lancre who can borrow bees," Margolotta answers. "Very useful."

[yinyangwizard]

"'Borrow' bees?" Seimei asks. He has only the vaguest idea of what the term means, and that idea is drawn solely from context. "Does she...take control of them? Extend her senses with them?"

[margolotta]

"Both," Margolotta says. "She sends her mind away with them, controlling them only very gently. She has a special sign she holds while she is borrowing, to indicate to people she is still alive."