Mall of Mâvarin, Part Twenty-Four

The easiest way to catch up on past installments of this serial is here on Messages from Mâvarin. Synopses to Parts One through Six can be found at the top of Part Seven. Synopses to Parts Eight through Thirteen can be found at the top of Part Fourteen. Synopses to Parts Fourteen through Eighteen are at the top of Part Nineteen. The installments themselves can be read in order using the sidebar.

Part Nineteen: Li Ramet, Lee Ramirez and Joshua Wander go off to try to reverse the effects of Li's modified portal spell, which, along with the appearance of Josh's magic castle, apparently caused all the trouble. Meanwhile, Rani and Randy announce they have successfully returned their own minds and spirits to the right bodies. Rani sets out to try to help Carl and Carli do the same. Despite being only a bookish high school student in a strange and magical land, Randy Foster thinks he has acquired sufficient magic and knowledge to sort out Cathma and Cathy as well. They sit down together to let him try.

Part Twenty: In mindtouch with Randy, the girl who thinks of herself as Cathma is told that she is really Cathy after all. According to Randy, Li's spell is more an accidental "mindpush" (magical brainwashing) than an actual transfer mind and spirit. Randy takes Cathy on a whirlwind tour through the memories of her own life, until she feels like herself again rather than the Queen of Mâvarin. At the same time, Randy helps the real Queen Cathma to reclaim her own identity. The process leaves Randy exhausted—and there are still dozens of people from Dewitt and Mâvarin who need similar help.

Part Twenty-One: Since Rani and Randy are too tired to do mind magic with anyone else for the moment, Cathy suggests going back to "Plan A"--seeing that Li, Lee and Josh successfully reverse Li's spell, getting everyone home both mentally and physically. Although leaving the castle once again floods Cathy's mind with Cathma's memories, this time it does not overwhelm her sense of who she is. Shoppingtown Mall now looks intact again, albeit in Mâvarin instead of Dewitt. Li and Lee are proud of this accomplisment, Josh less so. Cathy points out that the point is to get the mall and the people back where they belong, not to reassemble the building in the wrong world.

Part Twenty-Two: Li and Lee propose to leave Shoppingtown in Mâvarin, at least temporarily, until the people are restored. When Cathy and Cathma press them on how that part of the problem is coming along, they say that the people who actually traveled with the mall (as opposed to safely in the castle) are "feeling much better now." They have mindpushed these people from a state of emotional shock to one of relative normalcy. The mall employees have even started selling their goods and services to customers--including curious Mâvarinû, who have started coming in from outside.

Part Twenty-Three: Li and his counterpart have convinced the mall personnel to accept Mâvarin coins, on the theory that they will be valuable in the other world for their gold and silver content and as collectible rarities. They've even worked outan exchange rate with the J.C. Penney manager: Ruthie Foster, Randy's mom. Randy rushes off to see her. Joshua Wander and Fayubi (who still doesn't know he's really Fabian Stockwell) both express an interest in going shopping at the mall, on the theory that they may never have another opportunity to buy 21st century goods from a high-tech society. Before they go off to do that, however, Rani announces that all these stranded people, aside from the two sets or twins, aren't who they think they are.

Part Twenty-Four: We Are Who You Say We Are

The others just looked at him.

“But we’ve been through all this,” the man who thought he was Fabian said eventually. “We’re all in each other’s bodies, and even have a bit of each others’ memories because of that. But we do know who we are.”

Rani shook his head. “No. You don’t. Randy and I figured it out during our mindtouch earlier, and proved it to our own satisfaction. There is no body swap, no significant transfer of spirit. You are Fayubi the Seer, not Fabian Stockwell. Everyone is in his or her own body.”

Lee Ramirez shook his head. “No, that can’t be right. I’m definitely Li Ramet, not Lee Ramirez. I’ve been doing magic all day, as if I’ve been doing it for months instead of hours.”

“Lee Ramirez has magic here, but that doesn’t make him Li Ramet,” Rani said. “This weird spell has accidentally mindpushed you into thinking you’re Li, and given you some memories to make it plausible. But it’s not true.”

“But look, Randy Foster galloped in here on four legs a little while ago,” Jamie Barrett protested. “How could he do that, if there’s no body swap? Randy doesn’t have tengrem blood.”

Rani grimaced. “Randy didn’t do that. I did. I only thought I was Randy.”

Jamie turned to Cathma. “Do you agree with this, Your Majesty? Have you really been in Mâvarin all along, in your own body? Have I really never been to Mâvarin before today?”

Cathma nodded. “I know it doesn’t sound possible, but Rani’s right,” she said. “I’m completely myself again. I remember my own life in detail, including everything that happened to me today. Randy couldn’t accomplish all that in a few minutes of mindtouch, if I wasn’t really Cathma all along.”

“And the same with me,” Carli said. “Even Rani couldn’t give me a lifetime of memories in five minutes, if they weren’t already there.”

“That’s right,” said Carl.

“It was kind of cool, thinking for a while that I was Queen of Mâvarin,” Cathy said. “But I’m really not.”

“Are you sorry to find out you’re wrong?” Fayubi asked.

Cathy shook her head. “Not really. Being Cathy Salazar has its advantages.”

“So what are we going to do about all this?” Li asked. “It’s one thing to tell me I’m Li Ramet, quite another to make me feel like myself again.”

“That’s true,” Rani said. “That’s why you’re going to return to the origin point of your modified portal spell, and find a way to fix your spell definitions. If you wait for Randy and me to help everyone here individually, it could take a week. And other people could be affected in the meantime.”

“Then at least come and help us figure it out,” Lee said.

“That won’t help,” Rani said. “I don’t know the portal magic part at all, and I don’t really understand how Li worked this mindpush into it. The best I can do is help the two of you to be yourselves again. You’re on your own after that.”

Li tugged at Lee’s sleeve. “He’s right. We can do this.” He looked at Rani. “If you turn Lee back into Lee, will he still be able to do portal magic?”

“If you show him how, yes. He’ll remember a little of it, and he’ll still have talent while he’s here.”

“But I barely remember how to do it myself,” Li said.

“The memories are still there,” Rani told him. “I just have to release them.”

“Then let’s get on with it,” Lee said.

Rani nodded. “Fine. Let’s use those chairs over by the escalator.”

“What will the rest of us do in the meantime?” Fabian asked.

Rani shrugged. “Go shopping, I guess. Just remember that you’re shopping for your other selves.”

Fabian turned to Fayubi. “What do you think? Do you think that together we can pick out a new outfit for Fayubi the Seer?”

Fayubi nodded. “I think so. How do you feel about Tommy Hilfiger?”

Welcome to Mâvarin

Use sidebar to get to the individual installments of this and other serials.

Mall of Mâvarin, Part Twenty-Three

Sara (qelenhn) has set up a page of links to make it easy to read her Ruby Horse serial in order. This is a fun and funny thing, and you should be reading it, if you aren't already. What's more, you should be voting, because she has it set up along the lines of a Choose Your Own Adventure. LiveJournal users will find it easy to vote, but I'm pretty sure you can also vote without an LJ account.

As for my two current serials, Joshua Wander: My Favorite Ghost (which is by email only) and Mall of Mâvarin (which can most easily be read on this blog), neither one is doing very well right now. I've been so darn busy with cleaning up the house, blogging, the trip to IKEA and now unpaid overtime that I've let myself get behind on one, and nearly stalled out on the other. I've handwritten at least one JW installment that I haven't typed yet, and I apparently haven't actually mailed an installment since the end of July. I've done better with Mall of, posting every Saturday night no matter how uninspired I was. But the results have been, well, uninspired.

I worked about three hours today at Unnamed Largish Company, and will probably work double that tomorrow. But things should ease off after Monday. Maybe then I'll be able to get things back on track.

The easiest way to catch up on past installments of this serial is on Messages from Mâvarin at http://mavarin.blogspot.com. Synopses to Parts One through Six can be found at the top of Part Seven. Synopses to Parts Eight through Thirteen can be found at the top of Part Fourteen. Synopses to Parts Fourteen through Eighteen are at the top of Part Nineteen. The installments themselves can be read in order on Blogspot using the sidebar.

Part Nineteen: Li Ramet, Lee Ramirez and Joshua Wander go off to try to reverse the effects of Li's modified portal spell, which, along with the appearance of Josh's magic castle, apparently caused all the trouble. Meanwhile, Rani and Randy announce they have successfully returned their own minds and spirits to the right bodies. Rani sets out to try to help Carl and Carli do the same. Despite being only a bookish high school student in a strange and magical land, Randy Foster thinks he has acquired sufficient magic and knowledge to sort out Cathma and Cathy as well. They sit down together to let him try.

Part Twenty: In mindtouch with Randy, the girl who thinks of herself as Cathma is told that she is really Cathy after all. According to Randy, Li's spell is more an accidental "mindpush" (magical brainwashing) than an actual transfer mind and spirit. Randy takes Cathy on a whirlwind tour through the memories of her own life, until she feels like herself again rather than the Queen of Mâvarin. At the same time, Randy helps the real Queen Cathma to reclaim her own identity. The process leaves Randy exhausted—and there are still dozens of people from Dewitt and Mâvarin who need similar help.

Part Twenty-One: Since Rani and Randy are too tired to do mind magic with anyone else for the moment, Cathy suggests going back to "Plan A"--seeing that Li, Lee and Josh successfully reverse Li's spell, getting everyone home both mentally and physically. Although leaving the castle once again floods Cathy's mind with Cathma's memories, this time it does not overwhelm her sense of who she is. Shoppingtown Mall now looks intact again, albeit in Mâvarin instead of Dewitt. Li and Lee are proud of this accomplisment, Josh less so. Cathy points out that the point is to get the mall and the people back where they belong, not to reassemble the building in the wrong world.

Part Twenty-Two: Li and Lee propose to leave Shoppingtown in Mâvarin, at least temporarily, until the people are restored. When Cathy and Cathma press them on how that part of the problem is coming along, they say that the people who actually traveled with the mall (as opposed to safely in the castle) are "feeling much better now." They have mindpushed these people from a state of emotional shock to one of relative normalcy. The mall employees have even started selling their goods and services to customers--including curious Mâvarinû, who have started coming in from outside.

Part Twenty-Three: Media of Exchange

Fayubi and Fabian both looked intrigued. “People are coming in from the King’s Gate Inn?” Fabian (really Fayubi) asked.
“And from the city, and stopping on the way to the city,” Lee (really Li) said.

“What do they use as a medium of exchange?” Shela (really Sheila) asked. “The mall employees would naturally expect to be paid in dollars, but the Mâvarinû have only suns and crowns and coppers.”

“That’s all right,” Li (really Lee) said. “We told them it was all right to accept Mâvarin coins.”

“That doesn’t seem fair,” Cathy said. “What can they do with crowns and suns, if and when they get home? They can’t deposit that stuff in the bank. They can’t even ring it up properly.”

“Oh, they can always sell the coins on eBay, if they don’t decide to keep them as souvenirs,” Li (really Lee) said. “What’s the harm?”

“He’s not far wrong,” Fabian (really Fayubi) said. “The metal alone is probably worth quite a bit in a world where coins have not been pure silver in decades. And these things will probably be highly collectible, as evidence of what happened.”

“But how do the store people know how much to charge?” Carl asked.

“Oh, we worked out a reasonable exchange rate with the manager of the J.C. Penney,” Josh said. “The other stores agreed to it right away.”

“The manager of Penney’s?” Randy said. “You mean my mom?”

“Is your last name Foster?” Josh asked.

“Yes, it is. My mom is Ruthie Foster.”

“That’s her then,” Li said.

“Is she all right?”

“She’s fine,” Lee said.

“I’m going to go see her,” Randy said. He did not wait for a response, but sprinted toward Penney’s without a backward glance.

“Listen, I hate to say this, but I’d really like to take off for a bit myself,” Joshua Wander said. “It’s been decades since I’ve been able to shop at a mall. Do you suppose they have Beatles records here somewhere?”

“You mean CDs?” Carl asked.

“What’s a CD?”

Fabian (really Fayubi ) laughed. “You have been gone a long time, haven’t you? CDs replaced LPs nearly twenty years ago.”

“There aren’t any music stores at the mall, though,” Carl said. “Once all this is over, we’ll take you to Target or something.”

“Well, I’d still like to look around,” Josh said.

“I have to say I’m a bit curious myself,” said Fayubi (really Fabian). “Assuming we do get the mall back where it belongs eventually, this is the only chance for those of us who live in Mâvarin to buy electronics and odd fashions.” He looked down at his shapeless traveling robe. “I could use something different to wear.”

Fabian (really Fayubi) laughed again. “Very different. And I’m quite interested to see, as a psychology teacher, how the different groups here interact, and how the people who traveled with the mall are coping.”

“We told you. They’re fine,” Li said.

“So, are we all going shopping, or what?” Josh asked.

“It seems like an awfully low priority right now,” Jamie (really Jami) said.

“Well, Randy and I have to rest a little longer anyway, before we can do anything useful,” Rani said. “I expect Li and Lee are tired, too, from all the magic they did.”

“True,” Lee (really Li) said. “You people may as tell go shopping while you can. You’ll never get another chance like this one.”

“About that,” Rani said. “There’s something you should all know, before you make assumptions about what you will or won’t be doing after today.”

“What’s that?” Li (really Lee) asked.

“None of you, other than Cathma, Cathy, Carli and Carl, are who you think you are,” Rani said.

Welcome to Mâvarin

Use sidebar to get to the individual installments of this and other serials.

Mall of Mâvarin, Part Twenty-Two

(Revised 8/21 to include a first paragraph that was accidentally cut from the narrative somehow.)

Once again it's very late, and I have no clue what I'm about to write. Well, maybe a tiny clue.

The easiest way to catch up on past installments of this serial is on Messages from Mâvarin at http://mavarin.blogspot.com/. Synopses to Parts One through Six can be found at the top of Part Seven. Synopses to Parts Eight through Thirteen can be found at the top of Part Fourteen. Synopses to Parts Fourteen through Eighteen are at the top of Part Nineteen. The installments themselves can be read in order on Blogspot using the sidebar.

Part Nineteen: Li Ramet, Lee Ramirez and Joshua Wander go off to try to reverse the effects of Li's modified portal spell, which, along with the appearance of Josh's magic castle, apparently caused all the trouble. Meanwhile, Rani and Randy announce they have successfully returned their own minds and spirits to the right bodies. Rani sets out to try to help Carl and Carli do the same. Despite being only a bookish high school student in a strange and magical land, Randy Foster thinks he has acquired sufficient magic and knowledge to sort out Cathma and Cathy as well. They sit down together to let him try.

Part Twenty: In mindtouch with Randy, the girl who thinks of herself as Cathma is told that she is really Cathy after all. According to Randy, Li's spell is more an accidental "mindpush" (magical brainwashing) than an actual transfer mind and spirit. Randy takes Cathy on a whirlwind tour through the memories of her own life, until she feels like herself again rather than the Queen of Mâvarin. At the same time, Randy helps the real Queen Cathma to reclaim her own identity. The process leaves Randy exhausted—and there are still dozens of people from Dewitt and Mâvarin who need similar help.

Part Twenty-One: Since Rani and Randy are too tired to do mind magic with anyone else for the moment, Cathy suggests going back to "Plan A"--seeing that Li, Lee and Josh successfully reverse Li's spell, getting everyone home both mentally and physically. Although leaving the castle once again floods Cathy's mind with Cathma's memories, this time it does not overwhelm her sense of who she is. Shoppingtown Mall now looks intact again, albeit in Mâvarin instead of Dewitt. Li and Lee are proud of this accomplisment, Josh less so. Cathy points out that the point is to get the mall and the people back where they belong, not to reassemble the building in the wrong world.

Part Twenty-Two: The Reason It's Called Shoppingtown

Carl, Randy and others were coming out of the castle now, in response to Cathy's shout. Cathy barely noticed, however, because of the next words out of the real Li Ramet's mouth.

“Why can't we just leave Shoppingtown here?” he asked. The fact that he didn't know he was the real Li did nothing to make the question less extraordinary.

“Are you kidding?” Cathy asked. “You can’t just leave a big hole in Dewitt where the mall was. Dewitt would never recover.”

“I don’t mean forever,” Li said defensively. “Just until we get everything else under control.”

“And how are you coming with that?” Cathma asked. “Cathy’s right about the building being important, but right now I’m more worried about all these people. What are you doing to help them?”

“Which people do you mean?” asked the young man who thought he was Li Ramet and wasn’t. “The ones who have been hanging out in Joshua Wander’s castle, or the ones who have been sitting around in this mall?”

“Both,” Cathma said, “along with anybody else who has been affected by all this.”

“Well, the ones who were transported with the mall itself are feeling much better now,” Lee said.

“Oh, really? How did you manage that?” Carl asked.

Li shrugged. “Hey, sometimes a mindpush can be a good thing. We just made them feel better, is all.”

“Hmm. I doubt that,” Rani said.

“Come see for yourself,” said Lee. “They may not be in perfect shape mentally, but they’re not standing around looking glassy-eyed any more.”

“What are they doing?” Shela (really Sheila Crouse) asked.

“Well, selling things, mostly.”

“To whom?” Jamie asked.

“To each other, and to shoppers who traveled with the mall, and even to some Mâvarinû.”

“You mean, some of us?” Carli asked. “The people who got confused by memories from Dewitt?”

“He means that people have started walking in here from outside,” said Joshua Wander. “This mall is sitting right outside your capital city, next door to an inn. The locals have started checking it out.”

Welcome to Mâvarin

Use the sidebar to get to past installments of this serial.

Mall of Mâvarin, Part Twenty-One

Nobody reassured me last week when I expressed my worry that this serial was "getting awfully lame, and too dependent on stuff most of you have never read." I'll take that as agreement with this depressing assessment. I think you should know that hours after I prepared the header for this entry, I still had no clue what to write in the installment itself. But I eventually did what I always do, and started writing anyway. I hope it's okay!

The easiest way to catch up on past installments of this serial is from the Mall of Mâvarin section of the sidebar to the right of this posting. Synopses to Parts One through Six can be found at the top of Part Seven. Synopses to Parts Eight through Thirteen can be found at the top of Part Fourteen. Synopses to Parts Fourteen through Eighteen are at the top of Part Nineteen. The installments themselves can be read in order on Blogspot using the sidebar.

Part Nineteen: Li Ramet, Lee Ramirez and Joshua Wander go off to try to reverse the effects of Li's modified portal spell, which, along with the appearance of Josh's magic castle, apparently caused all the trouble. Meanwhile, Rani and Randy announce they have successfully returned their own minds and spirits to the right bodies. Rani sets out to try to help Carl and Carli do the same. Despite being only a bookish high school student in a strange and magical land, Randy Foster thinks he has acquired sufficient magic and knowledge to sort out Cathma and Cathy as well. They sit down together to let him try.

Part Twenty: In mindtouch with Randy, the girl who thinks of herself as Cathma is told that she is really Cathy after all. According to Randy, Li's spell is more an accidental "mindpush" (magical brainwashing) than an actual transfer mind and spirit. Randy takes Cathy on a whirlwind tour through the memories of her own life, until she feels like herself again rather than the Queen of Mâvarin. At the same time, Randy helps the real Queen Cathma to reclaim her own identity as well. The process leaves Randy exhausted—and there are still dozens of people from Dewitt and Mâvarin who need similar help.

Part Twenty-One: All Together Now

Cathy, Cathma and Randy returned to the others. “How did it go?” Rani asked. Cathy could tell he was speaking Mâvarinû, but she understood anyway. She had no idea whether the ability was coming from, or how long it would last, but for now it was useful. She decided not to worry about it.

“Even Rani Lunder could not have done better,” Cathma said. “We’re ourselves again. Right, Cathy?”

“Right, but now I’m worried about everyone else,” Cathy said. “How are you doing, Carl?”

“Oh, fine. Completely unscrambled, I’d say,” Carl said. “It was amazing.”

“Rani’s really tired now, though,” Carli said. “And we still have a room full of people who don’t know who they are.”

“We could just tell them,” Carl suggested.

“It will take more than that,” Cathma said. “A lot more.”

“Well, then, we’re back to Plan A, aren’t we?” Cathy said. “Let’s go see what Lee and Li are up to.”

“Wait a minute,” said Jamie (Jami, really, Cathy reminded herself). “You four only just got straightened out. Won’t going out there undo the benefit of what Rani and Randy just did for you?”

Cathy looked at Randy, who looked at Rani. Rani shook his head. “I think Carl and Carli are stable enough to do it. Cathy and Cathma probably are, too.”

“One way to find out,” Cathy said. “I’ll go first, since I’m more expendable than Cathma. I’ll report back whether anything bad happens.”

“Cathy, you’re…well, you’re not exactly expendable,” Randy said. “Not to Carl or your uncle, and not to me. Are you sure you want to do this?”

“As opposed to waiting in here for an unreliable magician and his college student lookalike to fix things, supervised only by some interdimensional vagabond we’ve hardly met? Yes, I’m sure. Don’t worry. I’ll be right back. And anyway, it’s not as if I’ll be in mortal danger or anything.”

Carl had a serious look on his face as he opened the door for her, but he didn’t say anything. He probably didn’t know what to say. She flashed him what she hoped was a reassuring smile before stepping outside.

The first thing she noticed was that the piece of Shoppingtown that now surrounded her did not look the same as before. For one thing, it was more familiar to her as Cathy than it ever could have been as Cathma. For another, the storefronts looked more intact now, less distorted, with more architectural details (such as walls and posts), more furnishings, and more store displays and racks of merchandise. There was even a ceiling now, and a working escalator. Cathy could no longer see the sky.

The second thing she noticed was a sudden influx of Cathma’s memories. Yes, she still remembered her counterpart’s life, or remembered it again. This time, though, it didn’t bother her. She knew she was Cathy Salazar. She remembered her own life, and it was no longer strange to her. That was enough.

“I think it’s safe to come out,” she called back into the blue castle. “I’m still Cathy, and you guys should really see this.”

At that moment, Lee and Li came around a corridor from the direction of the pet shop. Li (really Lee) looked pleased with himself. His counterpart looked more worried than triumphant. Right behind them, Joshua Wander also looked uneasy.

“See what I did?” the renegade magician said proudly. “I put the mall back together!”

“You had help,” Josh said pointedly.

“Yeah, but we did it! I didn’t know I could do anything like this.”

“But now Shoppingtown is in Mâvarin,” Cathy protested. “How are you going to get it back to Dewitt?”

Lee/Li’s smile faded. “Oh, that,” he said. “I’m not sure I can.”

Welcome to Mâvarin

Use the sidebar to get to past installments of this serial.

Mall of Mâvarin, Part Twenty

I'm starting to feel that this story is getting awfully lame, and too dependent on stuff most of you have never read. I'll try to do better.

The easiest way to catch up on past installments of this serial is from the Mall of Mâvarin section of the sidebar to the right of this posting. Synopses to Parts One through Six can be found at the top of Part Seven. Synopses to Parts Eight through Thirteen can be found at the top of Part Fourteen. Synopses to Parts Fourteen through Eighteen are at the top of Part Nineteen. The installments themselves can be read in order using the sidebar.

Part Nineteen: Li Ramet, Lee Ramirez and Joshua Wander go off to try to reverse the effects of Li's modified portal spell, which, along with the appearance of Josh's magic castle, apparently caused all the trouble. Meanwhile, Rani and Randy announce they have successfully returned their own minds and spirits to the right bodies. Rani sets out to try to help Carl and Carli do the same. Despite being only a bookish high school student in a strange and magical land, Randy Foster thinks he has acquired sufficient magic and knowledge to sort out Cathma and Cathy as well. They sit down together to let him try.

Part Twenty: Memories of Me

Cathma closed her eyes. After a moment she heard Randy’s voice in her mind. Cathma? Can you hear me?

“Yes,” she said.

Not that way. Just say the words in your head, as you do with Rani Lunder.

Cathma was a little surprised that Randy even knew about the other Rani. She was also a little embarrassed about having spoken aloud. Oh, right. I forgot, she said in her mind.

That’s because you’re not really Cathma. Are you ready to be yourself again?

Now, wait a minute, Cathma protested. Didn’t we all agree earlier that I’m mostly Cathma, and the person in my body is mostly Cathy? If this works, I’ll still be Cathma, but back in my own body.

That’s one way of looking at it. But Rani and I figured out that it’s not quite true.

What do you mean?

You’re really Cathy Salazar after all. Li’s spell just makes you feel and think otherwise, and feeds you just enough of Cathma’s memories to make it plausible. But it’s just a mindpush, a trick. Underneath the spell, you’re still the same person I had lunch with in school today.

But I barely remember that lunch. Are you sure?

I’m sure.

Does Li know that’s what he did?

Probably not, but it makes sense. Rani told me all about Li’s ability to make people believe stuff that isn’t true. This weird spell of his fooled everyone, including Li.

Well, I guess it doesn’t matter how it works, as long as you can fix it.

It matters, because he’ll need to get his counterspell right to put everything back where it belongs, and get people feeling like themselves again. Rani and I can’t fix the fifty or sixty people affected by this spell, at least not quickly.

But you can fix me and Cathy—I mean Cathma. Right?

Yes. Just relax now, and let me show you who you are.

She tried to do just that as images appeared in her mind, memories of high school, of evenings spent doing homework on the computer while IMing with friends, of buying clothes and eating pizza at the mall, of going to see Batman Begins with Carl and Randy. At first it all looked strange to her, part of someone else’s life in a place full of incomprehensible technology. But as Randy gently prodded, more memories came. They all fit together, becoming more and more familiar as she re-experienced a good chunk of Cathy’s life—her life—in the space of a few minutes. Here was the memory of that one date with Danny from F-M, and there was the memory of 9-11, when…. Don’t, she told Randy. I don’t want to see that again.

You remember?

I remember. I don’t need to see the wreckage of Flight 93 yet again to remember what happened to my parents.

So you know who you are now.

I think so, yes.

What do you remember of Cathma’s life?

Cathy probed for memories that had seemed so much her own just a short time before. I remember bits and pieces, she told Randy, but they don’t seem real to me any more.

They’re real for her, Randy replied. His mental voice sounded exhausted.

Are you going to help Cathma next?

Already done. Where do you think I got the memories to show you? I used you both to feed each other.

And you’re sure I’m really Cathy?

Absolutely positively.

In a way Cathy was almost sorry about this. Cathma had a father who was still alive, and a fairly exciting life as the ruler of an exotic country. But her own life had its advantages, she realized.

“That’s good enough for me,” she said aloud.

Welcome to Mâvarin

Use sidebar to get to past installments of this serial.

Mall of Mâvarin, Part Nineteen

Well, I'm getting down toward the end on this. I hope it's not too anticlimactic!

I've been thinking a lot about the real books lately, particularly Mages of Mâvarin. This serial is only a sideshow, probably apocryphal and way too padded. Still, I think it's been worth doing. For more about recent developments in the writing and editing of the novels, please see my LiveJournal, Mâvarin & Other Inspirations.

Synopses to Parts One through Six can be found at the top of Part Seven. Synopses to Parts Eight through Thirteen can be found at the top of Part Fourteen. The installments themselves can be read in order on using the sidebar.

Part Fourteen: Cathma and her friends meet Lee Ramirez, the American who inherited Li Ramet's magical talent for understanding and being understood in any language. With Lee's help, the Americans and Mâvarinû compare notes. It turns out that they all know their situation: their spirits and consciousness have now been transferred into each others' bodies. Lee confirms that his counterpart, Li Ramet, is involved, and should arrive soon with the remaining affected people.

Part Fifteen: Back in Josh Wander's castle, Fabian points out that Cathma is speaking English again, as is everyone else. She remembers more of her life as Cathy, but still feels more like Queen Cathma than Cathy Salazar. Fabian and Fayubi compare notes, and conclude that they both have Fayubi's talents. What is needed, though, is Rani's talent as a mind mage. Rani says that he needs Randy too, to have any hope of helping all the people affected by the transfer of minds and spirits. Fortunately, Randy is just arriving at the half-destroyed mall--in tengrem form.

Part Sixteen: Randy arrives, confused and half-feral. Rani calms him down, and gets him to come inside the castle. There he is able to understand and be understood in words. Although he admits to enjoying the tengrem condition while fully immersed it it, he doesn't want to take Rani's place forever, and experience the kinds of horrors Rani has lived through. After exhorting the others to find the source of the leak between worlds, Rani and Randy sit down together to try to exchange minds and spirits, thus putting themseves back in their original bodies.

Part Seventeen: While Rani and Randy commune in mindtouch, Lee Ramirez reveals that he knows where Li Ramet's portal is, and that it's the source of all the trouble. Before he gets far in his account, Li Ramet arrives with the last of the affected people, and suggests that they all "get started."

Part Eighteen: Li Ramet explains what he was trying to do with his portal, and what he thinks went wrong. Because of the arrival of Josh Wander's castle, the doorway became much larger and more powerful than it should have been, with strange effects. It encompasses the whole of Shoppingtown Mall, part of which is now in Mâvarin.

Part Nineteen: Just Do It

“So what’s the plan?” Carl asked. “How are you going to get Shoppingtown back where it belongs, and us back where we belong?”

“I think I can change the spell definitions enough to make our spirits flow the other way,” Li said. “But I’m not so sure I can get the actual stores back to Dewitt intact.”

“Let me work with you on that part of it,” said Joshua Wander. “I’m used to moving my castle around. Since my magic does work here, I should be able to help you move a shopping mall.”

“That’s good of you, since your castle probably caused the problem in the first place,” Li said grumpily.

“Well, that’s gracious,” Josh said. “I don’t know whether Toujours Chez Moi was part of the problem or not, but I’m willing to help. You can at least be courteous about it.”

“Sorry,” Li said. “Come with me, then, and I’ll show you what we’re working with.”

“Fine.”

“I thought the whole mall was your portal,” Carli said. “Isn’t that what you just told us?”

“Yes, but there’s a particular spot where the spell started, and the effect is strongest. That’s where we need to concentrate our efforts.”

“Then I’d better come with you,” said Lee Ramirez. “If it starts to work, you’ll need your own body there to keep things going.”

“Right. Come on, then.”

“Are we going to trust him to get this fixed properly?” Cathy asked the room at large. “Maybe we should go too, and keep an eye on things.”

Li looked at her. “What would that accomplish? There isn’t anything you normals can do to help or hurt. Just leave it to us.”

The remark was a bit insulting, but Li had a point, Cathma thought. Even as Queen of Mâvarin, there wasn’t much she could do about a problem like this. “Let him go,” she said. “He’s already gone to the trouble of bringing us all here. I think he’s sincerely trying to help, and he has a better chance of succeeding than the rest of us.”

“What about what Rani and Randy are doing?” Carli asked. “Is that going to work, in case Li and Lee and Josh fail?”

“It worked for us, anyway,” said Rani—or was it Randy? The two of them had finished their mindtouch and gotten up from their chairs in the back of the castle’s Great Hall. They came forward, smiling.

“I think we can both help everyone else with this,” said the one who was dressed as Randy Foster. “I may be only Randy now, but with a bit of instruction even a certain high school student from Dewitt can do mind magic here.” His smile faltered. “Too bad I don’t get to take that ability home with me. That would be cool.”

“We’ll take you in pairs,” Rani said. “I can do Carl and Carli, and Randy will work with Cathy and Cathma. Then we’ll need to rest, but we should get to everyone eventually.”

“And if Li and Lee succeed in what they’re doing?” Jami Baret asked. “What then?”

Rani smiled. “Then our contribution should speed the process, with less effort on our part. We can do this. I know we can. All you have to do is trust us, and cooperate in the mindtouch and transfer.”

“Well, you know I trust you,” Carli said. “I always have.”

“Come on, then,” said Rani.

“Come on, Cathma and Cathy,” Randy added.

The idea made Cathma a little nervous, but she knew it had to be done. She followed her counterpart and Randy to the back of the room, not far from Carli and Carl. Randy had two chairs pulled next to each other, with a third chair facing them. Cathy sat down in the left chair, and Cathma sat next to her. Randy sat across from them.

“It will help if we all hold hands,” Randy said. Cathy and Cathma exchanged glances. Then Cathma reached out with her left hand, and clasped Cathy’s right one. Randy took hold of Cathy’s left hand and Cathma’s right one.

“It’s like a séance, except that nobody’s dead,” Cathy remarked.

“Ready?” Randy said. “Here we go.”

Welcome to Mâvarin

Mall of Mâvarin, Part Eighteen

As predicted, I just finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince after nearly 24 hours of almost-continuous reading. As a consequence of this, I'm terribly short on sleep, and need to go to bed soon. I'm also rather annoyed at Rowling for killing off a favorite character of mine, although I suspected about halfway through the book that he would be the one to die.

Furthermore, her latest novel contains a spell that follows the same rules as one in my first Mâvarin novel, and a plot point about unspoken magic that mirrors a plot point in my second Mâvarin novel--darn it! I am not going to change what I wrote just to avoid her accidental echoes. If anything, the plot point in Mages, which is already more developed than Rowling's version, needs to be developed even further in mine for the sake of Darma's character arc. Still, it bugs me. People will think I ripped off Rowling, when it fact I first wrote about the darkness spell about thirty years ago, and the unspoken spell thing at least three or four years ago. The latter has a totally different emphasis in my iteration than in hers, and it's thematically important, so it stays.

On with the recap, and then maybe I'll manage to actually write a little piece of this darn serial before I go to bed!

Part Fourteen: Cathma and her friends meet Lee Ramirez, the American who inherited Li Ramet's magical talent for understanding and being understood in any language. With Lee's help, the Americans and Mâvarinû compare notes. It turns out that they all know their situation: their spirits and consciousness have now been transferred into each others' bodies. Lee confirms that his counterpart, Li Ramet, is involved, and should arrive soon with the remaining affected people.

Part Fifteen: Back in Josh Wander's castle, Fabian points out that Cathma is speaking English again, as is everyone else. She remembers more of her life as Cathy, but still feels more like Queen Cathma than Cathy Salazar. Fabian and Fayubi compare notes, and conclude that they both have Fayubi's talents. What is needed, though, is Rani's talent as a mind mage. Rani says that he needs Randy too, to have any hope of helping all the people affected by the transfer of minds and spirits. Fortunately, Randy is just arriving at the half-destroyed mall--in tengrem form.

Part Sixteen: Randy arrives, confused and half-feral. Rani calms him down, and gets him to come inside the castle. Once there, he is able to understand and be understood in words. Although he admits to enjoying the tengrem condition while he was fully immersed it it, he doesn't want to take Rani's place forever, and experience the kinds of horrors Rani has lived through. After exhorting the others to find the source of the leak between worlds, Rani and Randy sit down together to try to exchange minds and spirits, thus putting themseves back in their original bodies.

Part Seventeen: While Rani and Randy commune in mindtouch, Lee Ramirez reveals that he knows where Li Ramet's portal is, and that it's the source of all the trouble. Before he gets far in his account, Li Ramet arrives with the last of the affected people, and suggests that they all "get started."

Part Eighteen: The Connection

“Get started doing what, Li?” Cathma asked. “Do you know how to fix all this?”

“Not exactly,” Li said. “I have a fair idea what went wrong with my original spell, though, and there are a number of things I can try in order to reverse the process. I just needed to get all the affected people here first.”

“What exactly are you planning to try?” Carli asked. “Is it dangerous?”

“No more than what’s already happened, I think,” Li said.

“Why did you do it?” Cathy asked. “The other Lee started to tell us what happened. I want to know the rest of it. Did you even know our world existed?”

Li looked a little annoyed, and then amused. “Your world?”

“The other world, then. The world of the Americans.”

Li shook his head. “Not in any specific way,” he said. “I was trying for a world with no magic, on the theory that it was one less variable to worry about. Also, it might be handy to go able to go someplace where I couldn’t do magic, you know, in case I lost control again.”

“Would you really cut yourself off from magic forever, with no way back?” Jami asked. “That sounds pretty drastic.”

“Well, not at first, no. I needed to keep the portal open, so I could get back, and to let a little magic in after all. Then I got to wondering whether it’s the place or the person that has the magic, or both. If I lived in Dewitt, would I lose my magic? Would I become someone else, or would I just be Li Ramet without magic?”

“Interesting,” Fabian said. “What’s the answer?”

Li shrugged. “I still don’t know, but I got sidetracked thinking about the problem. I thought I could stabilize who somebody was by connecting him or her with the world of origin. But that meant forcing the portal to stay open even further. I was just starting to experiment with this when your friend there showed up with his castle. That forced my portal even wider, and the mind experiment I had started went completely out of control.”

Cathma remembered a similarly disastrous result to one of Rani’s magical experiments. “I’ll bet it did,” she said.

“Wait a minute,” said Cathy. “If this portal of yours is so big, how come we haven’t seen it yet? I assume you’re not talking about the one Lee Ramirez let us through a little while ago.”

“No, that’s a little thing compared to this.”

“Then why haven’t we found it?” Fabian asked.

“Found it? You’ve been in it for hours. Some version of you has, anyway.”

“You don’t mean…” Fayubi started to say.

Li nodded. “It’s this mall. My portal is Shoppingtown Mall.”

“What, all of it?” Jamie asked.

“All of it,” Li said.

Welcome to Mâvarin

Use sidebar to get to the individual installments)