(retroactive)

[her_imperial_radiance]

It is after the very first Bellparty.

"Dad never comes to these," Elspeth tells her grandma. "Too many strange Bells. If there were strange Edwards, Mama might have trouble with them too, but there aren't so far. But I can reintroduce you now, if you'd like."

Comments

[alicornucopia]

"He'd recently met Esme. And managed to leave her where she was. He was intensely lonely," says Edward softly.

[prima_sequentem]

"Lucky for him he managed to scoop her up again later."

[alicornucopia]

"Very. Occasionally I wonder if he would have eventually broken and gone looking and I'm not sure. I tried to go away from Bella, once, when I was afraid I'd snap and drink her blood; I lasted less than a week. Carlisle didn't have that concern to hold him back and he managed, for years, until a sheer coincidence put her in his path."

[prima_sequentem]

"I say again: if you poked him with a sharp object..."

[alicornucopia]

"I'm not going to disagree with you," laughs Edward. "I admire him intensely."

[prima_sequentem]

"I can tell."

[alicornucopia]

There's a silence.

"I think I will ask Bella for that wish," he says. "I don't believe I'll get everything all at once the way she did, though. A little slower."

[prima_sequentem]

"Okay."

Lizzie is pleased.

[alicornucopia]

Edward smiles.

"Carlisle's just left off work for the day. Now would be a fine time to catch him if you'd like to speak to him sooner rather than later."

[prima_sequentem]

"I think that's a great idea."

[alicornucopia]

Edward nods, and tilts his head by way of signaling that he's "on the phone".

Presently there is a polite knock at the door.

[prima_sequentem]

Lizzie answers it.

[alicornucopia]

There stands Carlisle, smiling kindly. "It's good to see you again," he says.

[prima_sequentem]

"Likewise. C'mon in."

[alicornucopia]

In he comes. "What have you been talking about?"

"You, among other things," says Edward. "You are not obliged to relinquish parental claim on me."

[prima_sequentem]

She doesn't have quite a good enough read on Carlisle to decide whether or not he would be amused by all the commentary about sharp objects, so she doesn't volunteer it.

[alicornucopia]

"She's also as impressed with your character as everyone else is," says Edward.

"That's very kind of you," Carlisle tells her modestly.

[prima_sequentem]

She grins.

"I notice that sort of thing."

(And is now amusing herself imagining Carlisle with a cute little halo.)

[alicornucopia]

"Which reminds me," says Carlisle, "Addy has been asking permission to check to see if your particular brand of insight is magical or potentially so. I believe she's hoping to get a better reception by going through others rather than inquiring herself."

[prima_sequentem]

"I would be happy to check if I'm magically insightful, but I don't see a need to involve Addy in the process."

And she bets she's not.

[alicornucopia]

"Eleazar is the other option. He isn't as convenient, but he might be more pleasant," says Edward. "Perhaps the next time we're relatively near to Alaska."

[prima_sequentem]

She wonders idly if coins couldn't manage it somehow, but - well, no hurry.

"Although I suppose I'm going to meet both of them anyway, in the course of meeting pretty much everybody."

[alicornucopia]

"I could imagine using coins to determine if you have witchcraft at all, but I'm not sure how to design a wish to also provide the sort of detail Addy or Eleazar could," says Edward.

[prima_sequentem]

"Starting from the premise that I probably don't have witchcraft, the wish might be more efficient, depending on size. Except that since I am going to meet both of our resident magic-sniffers, there isn't much point to wishing about it first."

[alicornucopia]

"I don't think Eleazar would describe himself as a magic-sniffer," says Carlisle. He omits Addy from this remark.