thaumobabble | cotton candy

In some ways, Bella does a lot, very quickly; and in other ways she does almost nothing at all.

She does not have to be secretive - she has no enemies, her world is accustomed to the introduction of strange wonders and will not fall apart with any revelation. She revives a large number of dead people - although none of Marianne's direct ancestors - and sends them home to surprised but happy families. She renders a larger number of people torchable. She sends letters to the monarchs of neighboring realms indicating that she is available to help with any unusual difficulties in which they may find themselves, and that she would appreciate introductions to their farther-flung neighbors. That is the "a lot".

But her world is made of cotton candy, and she has no intention of dumping a bucket of water on it in the hopes of rinsing off small amounts of dust. She is not usurping her mother-in-law, she is not conquering miscellaneous other kingdoms, she is not ridding the world of all its annoying but ultimately not mean pitfalls and hazards. (She does make it a condition of rendering dragons torchable that they must not eat anyone except trespassing Orthodox wizards.) She is mostly staying at home with her wives and her daughters, reading Rose's books, chattering endlessly with Kanim about all the exciting experiments they'll conduct with the new forms of magic available.

When Jane goes down, Bella has to make sheepish announcements that her resurrection powers turned out to be impermanent; she hopes they will return but can offer no timetable.

Meanwhile, news of one specific resurrection (Howard's) has spread far and wide.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

thaumobabble

"That's fair. Will you want me to visit the Duchess and cover her as well?"

From:

longdistancebells

"That would be very nice of you!"

From:

thaumobabble

"Okay then." She peers at Valeria and Icarin. "D'you two want to live forever?"

From:

pythbox

"Yes please!" says Icarin.

"Sure!" says Valeria.

From:

thaumobabble

Bella makes three illustrative gestures. "Done, done, and done. Will Duchess Kiria be alarmed if I just teleport directly to her?"

From:

longdistancebells

"You know, I'm really not sure," says Ian. "You could bring me along, I'm sure she'd find that much less alarming."

From:

thaumobabble

"Okay then."

Pop!

From:

longdistancebells

The duchess is a woman of about her husband's height, with long curly red hair where his is short and straight. She is currently sitting behind a large oak desk in a comfortable little office, reading reports.

"Surprise, darling!" says Ian.

"Ian!" beams Kiria. "And who's this?"

From:

thaumobabble

"Princess Bella, of the Enchanted Forest," Bella says. "Pleased to meet you, Duchess Kiria."

From:

longdistancebells

Duchess Kiria gets out from behind her desk, kisses her husband, and turns warmly to Bella.

"Delighted," she says. "What's the occasion? The kids are fine, aren't they?"

From:

thaumobabble

"Of course. I've just made them and your husband immortal and dropped by to ask if you'd like me to cover you as well."

From:

longdistancebells

"Goodness," blinks Kiria. "I don't see why not, I suppose."

From:

thaumobabble

Bella explains how torching works, and awaits confirmation.

From:

longdistancebells

"Well, all right, then!" says Kiria.

From:

thaumobabble

Bella gestures at her. "There you are."

From:

longdistancebells

"Thank you!" says Kiria. "Do you want a cup of tea or anything before you go?"

From:

thaumobabble

"I'm fine, thank you. Ian, would you rather come back to the Enchanted Forest, or should I just fetch your little ones home when they get bored?"

From:

longdistancebells

"Well, if you don't mind, then I don't mind either," shrugs Ian.

From:

thaumobabble

"It's no trouble," Bella assures him.

From:

longdistancebells

"Oh good."

From:

thaumobabble

"I'll see you then. And here -" She adds them both to the brainphone network. [If you want them home before that or want to check in, you can do this.]