(Untitled)

[lyra_silver]

A first-year student at St Sophia's College, Oxford (studying Rhetoric, with a special in Alethiometry), can get away from the dons and the Scholars and the other undergraduates whenever she wants, especially if she knows every corner and alley in Oxford. If she also knows of the existence of a certain door suspended on the fence of the Botanical

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[firewitandhate]

A falcon drops down from the rafters, and perches on the opposite edge of the table from them. It looks at the both of them, curiously.

[lyra_silver]

Falcons are predators.

Pantalaimon scampers towards Lyra. Lyra takes him in her arms and frowns at the falcon. "You needn't frighten him," she says.

[firewitandhate]

"Sorry," the Falcon says. "I was curious."

[lyra_silver]

"That's all right," Lyra says, still cradling Pan. "I'm Lyra, and this is Pantalaimon."

[firewitandhate]

"I am called Skywalker." He looks at the two of them. "Are all your people like that?"

[lyra_silver]

"With daemons, you mean? Yes," says Lyra. "All the humans in my world have daemons."

Lyra thinks for a bit. "If you could tell that we're a pair, but you weren't sure whether other people were the same, then you're not a witch's daemon from my world like I would've guessed. What are you?"

[firewitandhate]

"What do you want me to be?"

[lyra_silver]

"I want you to tell me the truth. Or at any rate, not to lie or make things up."

It's rather a rich thing for Lyra, who was once the champion liar of the Oxford children, to say.

[firewitandhate]

"I'm a god. I can more or less take any form I want, but this one is easier for me, and good for long-distance travel." He flaps his wings a few times. "And it's fun."

[lyra_silver]

Lyra's stern face eases. "Before Pan's form was set, he loved to fly." But her eyes narrow again almost at once. "What does it mean, to be a god?"

[firewitandhate]

The falcon shrugs. It's actually fairly eloquent-looking. "Depends on who you ask. In my case, it means I'm already doomed, already know how, and am likely going to bring it about in trying to stop it."

[lyra_silver]

Lyra and Pan look at each other. They're remembering Lord Asriel, dead, his rebellion fallen with him.

Lord Asriel was never a pleasant person or a good father.

Lyra says, politely but coolly, "I'm sorry to hear that."

[firewitandhate]

The falcon shrugs again. "I'm fine with it. It's the others who don't realize how bad it is, especially the one who doomed us all."

[lyra_silver]

"You don't mind being doomed, then?"

[firewitandhate]

"Of course I mind, but I'm more aware of what Grimnir's done than they are! I probably would've ended up in a bad spot anyways, that's how my kind of god seems to go. But I didn't trap myself, and others, out of fear."