the end of vigil

[inherpiety]

Keziah continues to routinely invite Junia to sing with her.

Today they are practicing the Third Angelic Rite.

And then - how rude! - the door to the music room opens.

But not to the hallway - and not to any visible hand - and there is a strong press of magical presence emanating from it, and a faint sheen of rainbow water droplets hanging in the air.

Comments

[jovahs_heiress]

[Oh! Hello, everyone! What's going on?]

[cross_and_bow]

[We're collecting all of us - except Sarion who desperately needs the alone time what with Aianon and Ansharil having got stranded - to go see what went wrong with the welcoming committee. And time-sync the worlds, which is now done for here.]

[self_composed]

[Keziah's friend Junia is an alt of my college roommate Janine,] Stella adds.

[jovahs_heiress]

[I'll be along in just a second. Am I the last you're picking up?]

[incanted]

[Yep. Oh, and new Bell here is Tab.]

[giftedandtalented]

[Nice to meet you.]

[jovahs_heiress]

Angela appears.

[yovahs_kisses]

Micaiah appears too, and hugs his angel, because when would he ever not do that?

[pythbox]

"There are a lot of people in this room," observes Junia, from a small corner of it.

[she_sells_seashells]

"We'll be on our way soon. Micaiah, you coming along or staying behind?" asks Shell Bell, reaching for the door again and flaring her aura.

[yovahs_kisses]

"Good question," he says. "I think I'll stay."

He gives his angel a kiss.

[jovahs_heiress]

Kiss!

Angela also kisses Keziah's hair, and she follows her alts out of the world.

[inherpiety]

"So, um, those are my mom's alts," says Keziah. "I have one too! At least one. Some of them could have had two children since the last time we saw them and then I would have more."

[pythbox]

"I do not think I can concentrate on the Third Angelic Rite any longer," Junia says consideringly.

[inherpiety]

"That's okay," says Keziah, laughing softly.

[pythbox]

Junia smiles tentatively back.

[yovahs_kisses]

Micaiah grins.

[inherpiety]

"Um, I can answer questions," Keziah adds, "Mom and Dad have been telling me about all those people half my life. Dad and Dars might remember them better than me though since she was older when we saw them last."

[pythbox]

Junia glances at Micaiah.

[yovahs_kisses]

"See you guys later," he says cheerfully, and off he trots.

[inherpiety]

Keziah's wings flutter a little.

[pythbox]

"...I do not especially know where to start," says Junia, glancing sidelong at Keziah.

[inherpiety]

"...Once upon a time there was a mysterious door," says Keziah, turning pink as she recites a bedtime story she heard before she knew it was true. "It was supposed to lead to a hallway, but it did not. Instead, it led to a place in the center of everything, everywhere, that could touch doors so far away that no one from nearby knew they existed."

[pythbox]

...Junia grins at her.

"That is cute. That is very very cute. You are cute," she says. "Go on."

[inherpiety]

"It's just how my mom used to tell the story before she told me it was true," squirms Keziah, blushing fiercely. "Um, and then the protagonists of the story who later turned out to be Mom and Dad went through the door, and they met - Amariah first, she wasn't in the group you saw. And Amariah keeps her soul in a talking owl and she has a flying tree branch instead of wings and she can do magic - not the kind we have, a kind she gets for being a witch which is a thing in her world."