Isabella Mariel Swan ∀ &quot;Glass&quot;

Hugs! Bella likes hugging Tony. This is a positive development.

"All right, time to curse myself with unpleasant surprises and lead you out of this place, I guess," says Kanim, "I really wish you didn't have a healing trigger spell, that makes me much more likely to get seriously injured, it's the Cave of Unpleasant Surprises, not the Cave of Likely Fatal Surprises, but it can sorta tell that sort of thing."

"...Oops," says Bella.

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"That is interesting to know," says Sherlock.

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"Oh, I'm sure it's usually much to everyone's advantage to have a healing trigger, this just happens to be a really perverse cave," says Kanim. "Well, this spell isn't hard, just make sure you stick close to me as best you can on the way out." He stares into space, and makes broad, slow gestures, then makes a face. "That's baiting the cave taken care of, here goes nothing."

They proceed out, managing to stay in a single group. Kanim is assailed by a swarm of inexplicable bees, acquires a tail to match his ears, and is the one to discover another patch of noxious moss, which is apparently new to him even though Sherlock saw it before. Bella heals him as necessary and finally they are no longer in the cave.

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Sherlock finds the carpet.

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"This cave has now twice attempted to turn me into a donkey. I wonder if it's trying to tell me something," says Kanim.

"If it's trying to tell you something, it's presumably trying to tell you something unpleasantly surprising, but not necessarily something true," says Bella. "Am I correct in thinking that you're okay with coming home with us instead of getting dropped at Sathem-by-the-Mountains?"

"Oh, sure," says Kanim, "I was being itinerant, don't have anyplace in particular to get back to, I would love to visit the Enchanted Forest and fiddle with technical problems such as getting my ears back to normal. I am considering keeping the tail. I think it's fetching."

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"The tail is cute," says Tony. "Actually, the ears aren't bad either."

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"The ears itch," explains Kanim, scratching one. "I haven't had a chance to examine their aesthetic properties."

"I've never seen you without them so I can't judge," Bella says, taking her seat on the flying carpet. Kanim sits behind her.

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Sherlock and Tony also climb on.

"If they itch, then by all means get rid of them," says Sherlock. "Does the tail not itch also?"

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"Not so far!" says Kanim. "It twitches by itself, a bit, which was, shall we say, unpleasantly surprising, but it doesn't itch. I'll work on the ears first and then see how I feel about the tail."

Bella commands up the carpet and turns back the way she and Sherlock came.

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"This seems like a reasonable plan," says Sherlock.

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"I'm good at those except when I wind up planning things like 'approach the Cave of Unpleasant Surprises right when six wizards are arguing about who has to be bait'," says Kanim.

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Tony snorts.

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"So, we were looking for Tony - you were just looking for the cave?" Bella asks Kanim.

"Of course. I'm fascinated by cave magic in general. Locational effect-magic in general, really. My interest in this particular cave has been quite cured, though."

"I'm surprised you don't live in the Enchanted Forest if you like locational magic. Actually, I don't really understand why there are any magicians who don't live in the Enchanted Forest."

"Perhaps I will like it very much and choose to stay. I went looking for Unpleasant Surprises after a lengthy camp-out in and subsequent dissertation on the Caves of Irregular Dimensions that ate two years of my life. You can read the dissertation if you like. It's very long and dry and I ultimately come to no worthwhile conclusions whatsoever. Damn uncooperative Caves."

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"Perhaps Tony will show you the Skyvault," says Sherlock.

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"The Skyvault isn't exactly locational in that way," says Bella. "More my area than Kanim's. Kanim will be poking at the forest magic itself, figuring out the moss and interrogating squirrels and following trees around while they try to escape."

"Of course I'd like to see the Skyvault for more standard tourist reasons, though," says Kanim earnestly.

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"It's not like the Skyvault and the forest magic are that separate," says Tony. "I mean, in one sense it's just a big magical windmill making everything else go round, but it does other stuff too."

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"Yes, but it's not a natural component of the forest magic, is it? I'll pay attention to how they interact, but it's not the part that I'm likely to write a thesis on."

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"Neither are the squirrels," Tony points out.

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"The squirrels are experts to be consulted," Bella explains, "not themselves the objects of study."

"I do not know nearly enough about the Enchanted Forest to comment on the squirrels," says Kanim.

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"I think you could say the Skyvault is kind of an expert too," says Tony.

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"Is it? Does it talk?" asks Kanim.

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"No, it just - is," says Tony. "I dunno, maybe you have to be me to get anything useful out of it."

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