the golden age

[deepest_magic]

When the party has died down, Isabella, for one, is well and truly exhausted. She explores the palace until she finds a room with a bed in it, and into this bed she flops, still in her clothes and holding her staff and carrying the cordial in her pocket. She sleeps late, because the party kept her up so late and she hadn't really slept the night before; but around noon, she stirs, and gets up, and goes looking for James and wherever her backpack may have got to. The backpack she finds in the great hall where the principal mass of the party was; some enterprising creature took both bags from the battlefield at Beruna up to the castle for them, and she only wishes she knew who it was. She takes her bag to her room and carries James's with her and continues looking for her friend.

Comments

[deepest_magic]

"Yeah. Anyway, I like it here more than Earth. We're doing important things."

[neverbeatme]

"And we have more leverage to do important things than we would at home."

[deepest_magic]

"Exactly. Because the people here listen to us and at home that would be this entire other step to getting anything done."

[neverbeatme]

"And I think maybe they need us more."

[deepest_magic]

"Yeah. Anyway, we left notes. Do you suppose Father Christmas comes at midnight under ordinary circumstances or at other times of day?"

[neverbeatme]

"I guess we'll find out. Want to stay up just in case? Or we could ask somebody. But after a hundred years they might not be sure."

[deepest_magic]

"I think I do want to stay up, just in case. Someone who was stone for most of those hundred years might remember but I don't think anyone we have around the castle right now was a statue for that long."

[neverbeatme]

"Okay. Staying up sounds fun, anyway."

[deepest_magic]

"Mm-hm!"

And so midnight finds them perched on their thrones with tea and a plate of cookies for Father Christmas if he should happen to want them.

[pythbox]

Father Christmas lets himself in through the little door on one side of the dais where the four thrones sit. He is carrying some things, one of which appears to be a book.

"Merry Christmas," he says, nodding to both of them.

[neverbeatme]

"Merry Christmas. Want some cookies?"

[pythbox]

He smiles. "Business first." And, turning to the queen: "Isabella, Eve's Daughter. Here is a book that never runs out of pages, and a pen that never runs out of ink. I think you will find them loyal companions." He hands her the notebook and pen.

[deepest_magic]

"Ooooh. Thank you!"

[pythbox]

"And James, Eve's Son. The wells damaged in the long winter have been repaired, and here is a little something to keep your mind occupied." He hands her the last object he was carrying - it's some kind of decorative puzzle, currently in the form of a tetrahedron with each face made of four adjacent triangular panels. The panels are made of various metals - gold, silver, copper, bronze, brass - and engraved with intricate geometric patterns.

[neverbeatme]

"Thanks!" says James, resisting with considerable effort the urge to start playing with it immediately.

[deepest_magic]

"Do you always come at midnight?" Isabella asks. "And how do I go about finding particular pages in my infinity notebook?"

[pythbox]

"I come when I come, but those who are awake at midnight are likeliest to see me then." He takes a cookie. "The book will always show you what you're looking for."

And he's off, nibbling his cookie on the way.

[deepest_magic]

"Thank you!" Isabella calls again, beaming and hugging her notebook.

[neverbeatme]

"I wonder what he meant by 'loyal companion'," muses James. "I got the sense it meant a thing. Maybe it follows you around, or can only be read with your permission, or something."

[deepest_magic]

"Maybe. See if you can open it?" Isabella suggests.

[neverbeatme]

"Okay."

James takes the book and tries it. It opens just fine. She passes it back.

[deepest_magic]

"Huh. I should've asked. Maybe it just means it's durable and I'll still have it in years and years."

[neverbeatme]

"Yeah. I don't recommend you try losing it to see if it comes back."

[deepest_magic]

"I don't think I will do that, no," agrees Bella. "What the heck is your thing, besides pretty?"

[neverbeatme]

"I'm not sure yet. It looks like a puzzle." She fiddles with it. It turns out to be possible to turn the various sections relative to one another, like a Rubik's Cube, although doing so quickly causes the tetrahedron to lose its original shape.

"Okay, that's cool," says James. "And I'd say it was way too simple, but there are more colours than sides, so I'm not even sure what would count as a solution. I'll play with it, I guess."