Tom and Door move past the main heart of the marketplace, exploring more than shopping at this point. The walls are brick here, which is different from the main architecture of the city.
"Lemon Alley?" Tom says, as they walk towards a sign in English manuscript. "That seems rather out of place here."
He feels a strangely familiar prickling of energy all about him. It's almost as if- as if he's near a wizarding quarter, but that cannot be.
He nods. That puts it into a perspective he can grasp. Door makes things better. She always does.
"It's just..." He grins and shrugs. It's not very often Tom's speechless. But if they have ancestors in this here and now- well. He helped save them all nearly three years ago, didn't he? Speech is overrated.
He faces Bird once more, this time much less visibly shaken.
"How did you know we are who we are? We don't stand out as, er, visitors that much, I hope?"
He slips the book back into his pocket. "Well, it's just been in the family a long time. We've been waiting. Sort of an appointment with history, if that isn't too insulting." He begins to lead in the direction of the way they came, which is... no longer the way they came.
It's been in the family, what, 500 years? That's- amazing.
"I hope I haven't given too many hints about the future in there," he says. "I came here once before, a few years ago, you see."
Surely not. He wouldn't be that unwise.
"Is this your home, then? Is there an Underside? There doesn't seem to be one, but Door might be more sensitive than I. There's something of it here, though. It's like the magic is different, a blend of what I know."
"Ah--that," Bird frowns, "is a complex story. And a bit of a sad one, really. When Earth-that-was was abandoned, the jump to the stars was beyond most of the Underside. A great deal of history--not just Wizard but human history--was lost forever."
"The worlds out here are young, and the lost and forsaken tend to drift Rimwards. Still, the line of Openers remains intact, and as long as it does, the Underside lives on, too. It's growing year by year, 'though I'm not sure it's something you'd recognize--I hardly understand it myself, exactly."
"There are magical theorists--my sister Asdudi is one of them--who say that the old Underside might still exist. Just with no way in or out. She thinks that might have always been true--something about exports from Pompeii in the nineteenth century."
"But then, a lot of my cousins think she's crazy. And she does tend to wear cauldrons on her head to protect from meteorites..." He shrugs. "Not my field."
"There was only the one meteorite," he says, shrugging with his hands tucked into his pockets. It makes him look a lot less foreboding. "But she won't stop gloating. Bloody tiresome."
Just here, there's a sign, half in Chinese and half in English, announcing that they've reached the intersection of Lemon Alley and Market (literally, Buy-Sell, or Mai) Way. The intersection itself is mostly deserted; all the good stuff is going on further up the road.
(Further down the road are the beaches--the piping sound of a calliope is audible, and if you look closely you'll see the ferris wheel isn't anchored to anything.)
Market Way is big, and it is broad, and it runs the length of Santo Xia, crammed with wizards and wizard-related goings on; mostly buying and selling
( ... )
Tom remembers the first time he stepped through the back wall of the Three Broomsticks and into Diagon Alley. He'd been on his own, of course, so he could allow himself the first moment of wonder and true joy he'd ever known without anyone noticing or remarking.
Now he can just enjoy it, and not care who knows it.
"This is- this is brilliant. Diagon Alley is our main marketplace. In England, that is. And Knockturn Alley, of course, though I don't frequent that street nearly as much as I did in my youth."
He can't help looking about for signs of the darker side of magic in this exotic Wizarding place.
"Lemon Alley?" Tom says, as they walk towards a sign in English manuscript. "That seems rather out of place here."
He feels a strangely familiar prickling of energy all about him. It's almost as if- as if he's near a wizarding quarter, but that cannot be.
Can it?
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"It's just..." He grins and shrugs. It's not very often Tom's speechless. But if they have ancestors in this here and now- well. He helped save them all nearly three years ago, didn't he? Speech is overrated.
He faces Bird once more, this time much less visibly shaken.
"How did you know we are who we are? We don't stand out as, er, visitors that much, I hope?"
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"Bloody hell. I did it, didn't I? I've been thinking about it, something for the future, if it was needed, but that's mine- isn't it?"
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"I hope I haven't given too many hints about the future in there," he says. "I came here once before, a few years ago, you see."
Surely not. He wouldn't be that unwise.
"Is this your home, then? Is there an Underside? There doesn't seem to be one, but Door might be more sensitive than I. There's something of it here, though. It's like the magic is different, a blend of what I know."
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(The comment has been removed)
"The worlds out here are young, and the lost and forsaken tend to drift Rimwards. Still, the line of Openers remains intact, and as long as it does, the Underside lives on, too. It's growing year by year, 'though I'm not sure it's something you'd recognize--I hardly understand it myself, exactly."
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But that is some time in the future, and, obviously, things turned out well for their family. It's a great comfort, that, even if much else was lost.
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"But then, a lot of my cousins think she's crazy. And she does tend to wear cauldrons on her head to protect from meteorites..." He shrugs. "Not my field."
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(The comment has been removed)
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Just here, there's a sign, half in Chinese and half in English, announcing that they've reached the intersection of Lemon Alley and Market (literally, Buy-Sell, or Mai) Way. The intersection itself is mostly deserted; all the good stuff is going on further up the road.
(Further down the road are the beaches--the piping sound of a calliope is audible, and if you look closely you'll see the ferris wheel isn't anchored to anything.)
Market Way is big, and it is broad, and it runs the length of Santo Xia, crammed with wizards and wizard-related goings on; mostly buying and selling ( ... )
Reply
Now he can just enjoy it, and not care who knows it.
"This is- this is brilliant. Diagon Alley is our main marketplace. In England, that is. And Knockturn Alley, of course, though I don't frequent that street nearly as much as I did in my youth."
He can't help looking about for signs of the darker side of magic in this exotic Wizarding place.
Reply
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