Milliways Again

[her_imperial_radiance]

It lurks. Oh how it lurks.

Comments

[prima_sequentem]

"I've met a few people who can," says Libby. "Or at least, they said so and I had no reason to disbelieve them. Nobody we know, though."

[self_composed]

"I don't suppose any of these people described developing this ability?"

[her_imperial_radiance]

"The Addy I met said she spent a while pleading first, but she did this the first time she ever found the bar, so she doesn't know if that had anything to do with it," Elspeth said.

[prima_sequentem]

"One of mine claimed it all started when she stole a salt shaker," Libby recalls. "And that she carries said shaker around as a good luck charm. The other two were less inclined to theorize."

[self_composed]

"How much would the bar be likely to mind if I stole a saltshaker?" Bella asks thoughtfully.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"I wouldn't do it," Elspeth says. "But that's less about me having expectations that she'd mind and more about stealing not being nice and the bar being nice."

[prima_sequentem]

"I've never tried. The petty thief in question didn't mention anything either way. At a guess, though, I'd say she wouldn't care much."

[self_composed]

"You are very well brought-up," Bella tells Elspeth, sounding self-congratulatory.

[her_imperial_radiance]

Her counterpart snorts. Elspeth smiles.

[prima_sequentem]

Libby giggles.

[her_imperial_radiance]

Edward looks so uncomfortable.

Golden Bella pats his hand and says, "Since no one present can summon Milliways, I suppose we'll accommodate you here as long as it takes for someone to find it. Do... ingots? No, only Bella is an ingot. What is it that you both are? Do you require any particular amenities that ordinary humans don't?"

[self_composed]

"Mints. We're mints. I don't require all the amenities that ordinary humans do - for instance, it is not necessary that I sleep - but basically if you handle us like humans you won't be far wrong," Bella shrugs.

[prima_sequentem]

"Even more so in my case," says Libby, "because I still have mortal requirements like food and sleep."

[self_composed]

"Oh, I still need to eat, I haven't gotten around that one yet," Bella says. "I like food and it's easy enough to conjure even if I'm without for some reason."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Well," Golden Bella says. "We generally put medium-term human guests in empty rooms in the wolf village, since wolves are in most relevant ways humanlike. Elspeth can show you there."

"You should be aware," Elspeth says, "that since you're girls, unless you're sterile, there is some - not a huge - chance that a wolf will imprint on one of you. Some people wouldn't welcome that."

[self_composed]

"I am sterile, albeit reversibly," Bella says. "It seemed like the sort of thing it would be wise to take care of in advance. Libby? Wolf village or ask 'em to get us a hotel room?"

[prima_sequentem]

"Wolf village," she says, shrugging.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"This way," says Elspeth, and she and Jake show them through some more halls, down some stairs, and through a tunnel, then up a spiral ramp to a pleasant little cluster of houses and small nonhouse buildings, with well-cleared paths between them through the snow.

"If the cold bothers you, don't worry - the houses we use for humans have heating," Elspeth assures them. "And there are coats and changes of clothes in a few sizes you can use if you like."

[prima_sequentem]

"Comfy," says Libby.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"We've had a while to think of stuff," Elspeth says. "Jake, you wanna tell everyone?"

Jake wades into some snow and hangs a right, presumably for modesty purposes; presently he is replaced with a big, brown-furred wolf, who does apparently nothing before changing back, getting dressed, and walking back onto the path again. "The welcoming committee is Elena today, she's on her way," he says.

[prima_sequentem]

"There's a welcoming committee?"

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Well, no. Just Elena," says Jake.

Elspeth says, "There's usually someone around in wolf form waiting for telepathic notices from whoever, and when something little like this comes up, that wolf tags the next in line to take over and comes and handles it. We know our way around here, but we don't live here - in some capitals we stay in the wolf village but Lisel isn't one of them. So Elena is going to show you around and get you settled in and explain you to everyone."

[prima_sequentem]

"You know, I really appreciate how organized this empire is," says Libby.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Thanks!" says Elspeth.

A lady who looks twenty-five (which just means: activated wolf) and also looks vaguely-not-quite-white in some unspecified way trots up to them, barefoot and wearing just one of those magnetic wraparound uniform things. "Hallo, Jake, Princess, Libby, Alternate Universe Bella," she says smartly, saluting.

[self_composed]

"You have to have dealt with name collisions before," says Bella, amused. "You can just call me Bella. I bet everyone will know who you're talking to from context."