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[sythyry]

Originally published at Sythyry. Please leave any comments there.

In Which Vae is a Monster [24 Lage 2461]

This time there were only about twenty imposing people at
the Halflight Gate, including Seeks-Balance and Rhedwy and
Paarhan but not Kaim-Su. I gather the situation is
considered to be safer. Dunno why they think that.

Like last time, Vae wasn’t waiting, but her spell was, and
she showed up in a burst of hideous ostentation. In Orren
form. Wearing a shifting whorl of largely-opaque,
largely-opalescent radience which would have looked very
attractive on anyOrren I didn’t know was a monster.

Me:Something that I very much hope was cheerful.

Vae:“Hiio, Sythyry! How are you doing
today?”

Me:“Oh, not so terribly as all that. And
yourself?” I might be in a state of mind where
explaining my perversions and moping to leadsmiths somehow
seems appropriate. I am not so far gone that explaining them
to monsters is. Especially not a monster responsible
for a good share of the moping.

Vae:“There’s a gladness on me for seeing you,
that’s one thing of it! Little enough company do I get of
an ordinary day.”

Me:“That sounds a bit lonely, to be
sure.”

Vae:“That it is, truly. It’s Umtangeia or
Mretheia I’ll pop off to, as often as anything, just so
there’s someone to talk with.” I knew nothing of these
places.

Me:“I know nothing of those places!”

Never, ever say that to a nendrai. Really. Never.

She stretched her tail and touched the space near us, and a
terrible blossom of straight claws and curved claws closed
around us and opened with us in mid-air. In a big huge
hurry I spread my wings to catch myself in my fall, but I
need not have done: the world-branch below us could not have
been closer than some hundreds of miles. And there were
three fans of world-branches above us. Vae, herself, wasn’t
bothering with aeronautics.

Vae:“They’re quite nice places! We’ll be there
in two more hops.”

The clawed and clawed blossom of her teleport grabbed us
again, and tossed us some ridiculous distance further down.