"This time we'll make sure we have everything we need before we go and I'll aim for someplace warmer," The Leewit told Harry, passing him a plate to dry.
"It was fun exploring Canada," Harry told her quickly, "even if it was buried under snow."
"And it'll be even more fun someplace that isn't a glacier," she replied as they finished with the dishes and she waved a hand, causing all the dishes to put themselves away.
"I've got to learn how to do that," Harry said, still amazed at her casual use of telekinesis which caused the young witch to smile.
"It's a lot of fun learning, though a bit destructive," she told him.
"How is it destructive?" he asked curiously.
"It's much easier to fling things about than to move them where you want them to go," she explained. "So, the first thing I'll teach you is to throw rocks at a target."
"So, what do we do now?" Harry asked.
"I can show you around," The Leewit said. "We'll need a good night's sleep to shake off traveling the Egger route, which is usually a lot worse than it has been these last two trips, but still numbs my skills a bit, so we have some time."
"That sounds like fun," Harry said a little nervously as he remembered how attending school went and Dudley's campaign to keep him from making friends, before remembering that everyone here was like him or Leewit and any friends of Leewit were bound to be good people.
The Leewit smiled even as a corner of her mind noted that Dudley was just like his parents, so she'd probably have to make the fire a bit bigger to fit him in.
Harry barely paid attention to that thought as he looked forward to meeting Leewit's friends.
"Come on," The Leewit said, leading him out the door.
Harry eagerly followed out into the warm summer day but froze solid in shock as he spotted the Earth hanging in the sky overhead.
"What?" The Leewit asked, checking to make sure he was okay before following his gaze to the sky. "We moved Karres to Earth's solar system. I told you I chose the Earth to explore because it was a short trip."
"Moved the planet?" Harry asked in awe as he watched Luna slowly peak out behind the Earth.
"Takes a conclave of thousands to do it," she told him, "but it's dead handy for when the empire gets a bit tetchy."
"That's… I was going to say amazing, but its way beyond that," Harry said, watching the Earth slowly turn in wonder.
"It is," The Leewit smugly agreed. "Being a witch is great as you'll learn."
"Yeah," Harry agreed with a bright smile. "Reckon if we got a telescope we could get a good look at the cities on Earth?"
"Talla has one," the Leewit said thoughtfully. "I can throw a line to her and see if she minds us taking a look through it."
"That'd be great," Harry said, feeling Leewit spin Klatha threads that she cast out in all directions before one of them latched onto something and the others quickly wove themselves into it, causing it to thicken into a line.
"I relled that," Harry said, pleased he was getting better at sensing things with magic.
"Looks like she's home," The Leewit said, "and is doing exactly what you were thinking about doing."
Harry could feel Leewit send a question down the line and receive an answer that felt… bubbly for some reason.
"She'd be glad to have us over," The Leewit told him as she closed the kitchen door behind herself, a touch of nervousness in her thoughts, much to Harry's surprise.
"But?" he asked as he followed her, looking around at the brightly colored houses all set far apart at the base of enormous trees and the elephant sized black cattle that grazed in the fields.
"She's… a hugger," The Leewit told him somberly.
Harry had no reply to that, his only experience with hugging being Leewit, and he quite liked those.
Sensing his confusion, The Leewit decided to explain. "Hugging isn't a bad thing, but it should be done once in a while and preferably in private, not every three seconds," the blonde witch said firmly.
Harry considered that idea. He liked Leewit's hugs, they felt great, but he supposed if she leapt out of nowhere to hug him every three seconds he might feel different… after a day or so… maybe.
The Leewit blushed and looked away. "I suppose I'm exaggerating a little bit," she admitted, "but it always feels like every three seconds to me."
"Even if it was every three seconds there are two of us so one could hug her back for a while while the other caught their breath," Harry offered.
The Leewit giggled at the thought of gathering a group of people together so you'd only get hugged every half an hour or so.
A group of children, dressed in brown and green hunting outfits, burst out of the brush and crossed the trail in front of them, whooping and hollering only to vanish into the tall grass of the field next to them.
Harry turned to look at Leewit in confusion.
"They're using klatha to enhance their muscles," she explained, "it's a lot of fun, but can really take it out of you."
A younger boy with dark hair, looking to be around eight years old stumbled out of the brush and laid down on the trail. He gave them a wave and just closed his eyes, apparently deciding to take a nap.
"Theon isn't all that great at it yet," The Leewit said as she stepped over him and continued walking.
"Is it okay just to leave him there?" Harry asked.
"As soon as they reach the stream they'll head back and pick him up," she said unconcerned. "Nothing in this valley will harm him," she assured Harry.
"Oh," Harry said, thinking it sounded a lot more fun than Harry Hunting and wondering if she'd teach him.
"Of course I'll teach you," she replied to his unasked thought. "Adults rarely use it, but it's a good way to train up how to use klatha while your pulse is pounding and you don't have a lot of time to think."
"How strong does it make you?" Harry asked curiously, picturing Superman picking up a car.
"I'm not sure," The Leewit replied before chewing on her lip for a moment. "I'm strong enough to almost beat my dad in arm wrestling with it, but no one really works on it much once they get a good hold on telekinesis."
"You can lift more using telekinesis?" he asked as they passed an elephant sized cattle with its hairless black hide as it grazed on the tall grass with thick rubbery lips.
"Most times telekinesis is just easier to use," The Leewit said thoughtfully. "I mean, you don't have to be close enough to touch anything and you can move stuff around a lot easier than using your hands, plus there are patterns to make things weigh less if you need them."
Harry nodded, seeing the sense in it.
"And we're here," The Leewit said as they turned down a side path revealing a large green house resting underneath a massive blue-black tree.
"Up here!" a young girl's voice called out from the roof as she leaned over the edge and waved.
"That's Talla," The Leewit told him as she led him into the house and up the stairs.
Harry dutifully followed as they climbed two flights and exited onto a rooftop garden where a young red haired girl in a green sun dress stood next to a telescope holding a tablet.
On seeing the two, Talla ran over and swept The Leewit up in a hug which The Leewit stiffly returned even though Harry could feel that she appreciated it more than she was admitting to. "It's good to see you!" she enthused. "And this is Harry? Mom mentioned him, plus I'd think I was relling a vatch if she hadn't warned me."
"Harry's got some kind of complicated klatha construct in his chest that speeds up his healing," The Leewit said as Talla released her.
"It's nice to meet you," Harry began only to be interrupted by a hug from the young witch.
The Leewit pursed her lips for a moment, but then had to push down a grin as all she felt from Harry was a bit of confusion and him wondering how Talla got anything done if she was jumping from hug to hug without waiting the required three seconds.
Talla released Harry realizing she'd made him a bit uncomfortable and made a mental note to get him used to hugs as it was important to his emotional development, something she was already doing with The Leewit. "Telescope's right here," she said brightly, "I've been picking out landmarks, or at least what I think are landmarks, that have stood the test of time."
Harry watched as Leewit leaned over the telescope, a black tube on a tripod about the size of a bazooka, and placed her eye in the eyepiece that stuck out the side, looking towards the ground.
"I've got… clouds, lots of clouds," The Leewit said with a frown.
"Yeah, I've got much better luck using satellites," Talla said as she tapped away on her tablet.
Harry felt fond irritation from his friend as she sighed and turned to look at Talla who was engrossed in her tablet.
"So why did you offer the use of your telescope if the satellites were better?" The Leewit asked.
"I thought you might want to see the weather patterns," Talla replied cheerfully, "there's a storm over the largest mountain that is a beauty!" She gestured with one of her hands and the telescope shifted focus.
The Leewit looked through the eyepiece. "Whoa!" She lifted her hand and waved harry over. "You've gotta see this!"
Harry quickly stepped over to look through the eyepiece.
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"How was your day?" Toll asked as Harry and her daughter returned home, just as the sun dropped below the mountains.
"Pretty good," The Leewit said with a smile. "Talla let us borrow her telescope and then shared the vids she'd made of various areas on Earth. Do you know why all the Earthlings died out? Harry pointed out they could have made more people so they should have still been hanging around if not in the same numbers."
"No one's really looked into the matter, but the best guess was that they became too dependent on technology and something broke down that they no longer knew how to fix," Toll replied.
"Like an animal going extinct because one of its main prey animals died out?" the young blonde asked.
"Exactly," Toll agreed. "Technology is useful, that's why we use it, but we try not to rely on anything we can't understand and fix ourselves for that very reason."
"We'll keep an eye out, maybe we'll discover what did them all in while we're down there," The Leewit said.
"And how was your day?" Toll asked Harry, The Leewit providing the translation.
"Five minutes thirteen seconds," Harry replied with a grin, making Leewit groan.
Toll raised an eyebrow.
The Leewit sighed. "I told Harry that Talla hugs every three seconds, and he thought I was being literal. Turns out she hugs…"
"Every five minutes and thirteen seconds," Toll said with a laugh.
"Still feels like every three seconds," The Leewit argued as Harry grinned.
"I've got everything packed for the two of you to go someplace warmer, I caught a glimpse just as I'd finished packing for more snow," Toll told her daughter.
"I did tell you I was aiming for someplace warmer," The Leewit pointed out.
"Yes, but with how much you dislike the Egger Route you've never really trained in its use the way others have so your aim is atrocious," Toll said bluntly.
"And it's easier to take clothes off than put them on, especially when you don't have them," The Leewit agreed, seeing the logic in her mother's actions.
"I've also packed you a large dinner to go with everything else," Toll added.
"We were planning to stay till morning," The Leewit said. "You glimpse something?"
"Just the calendar," Toll replied.
The Leewit tilted her head suspiciously, sensing far too much amusement in her mother's tone, as she tried to think of why this date was so important. Her eyes widened as she realized what it was. "Happy anniversary, Mom. See you in… six years," she decided, grabbing Harry's hand and dragging him down the hall.
Toll chuckled. "And here I thought Goth was going to be the dramatic one."
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"Why are we rushing?" Harry asked calmly, knowing that the panic from Leewit was probably just something embarrassing rather than dangerous.
"It's my parent's wedding anniversary," The Leewit replied, "and I don't want to be around while they celebrate."
"Okay," Harry said slowly while Leewit pulled him into their room and checked their packs to make sure they had everything.
"I know, you don't see the problem," The Leewit replied, "but there are downsides to living where everyone can read minds and sense emotions. It's why we have so much room between houses."
Harry accepted his pack and put it on while trying to figure out what she wasn't saying, trying to compare it to his experience with the Dursleys and coming up blank… until he remembered their tenth anniversary and what he'd heard from his cupboard.
The Leewit turned to tell Harry what to do and found him already prepared, lying on the bed with his arms outstretched to hold her. She quickly laid down next to him and held him tightly as the blankets wrapped around them in a cocoon.
As Leewit tried to calm herself and focus on opening the way, Harry decided to help, calling on his memories of the first time he swam the Route and in an instant they were gone.
The Leewit was unsure whether it was traveling with Harry or her slowly growing skill at using the Egger Route, but this trip had felt different, rather than the usual cacophony of sensations that made it hard to think, it had been a bit muffled by a grey fog that seemed filled with vatch that she could barely rell.
The two lay quietly in their cocoon of blankets for a minute, wanting to see if they'd go into convulsions, but once they were sure that wasn't going to occur they relaxed and The Leewit telekinetically unwrapped the blankets from around them.
Harry slowly released her and sat up, looking around at a ruined gas station that would have been decades out of date even in his time. "Is this where you were aiming?"
"I wasn't aiming exactly," The Leewit replied with a shrug as she looked around curiously, "Just a general area and safe and warm of course."
"A lot warmer than the last place," Harry said, examining the room they were in, as they'd appeared in front of the counter and from what he could see outside whatever city they were in had been abandoned long before they'd built and abandoned the city in Canada they'd visited. The air smelled musty and a bit acrid.
"Brick buildings," The Leewit noted, looking at a half-demolished apartment building across from them, "not something I expected to see in such good condition."
Harry looked at the collapsed tenement and then back at Leewit in confusion.
"Yeah it's a mess," she agreed, "but those bricks don't look to have gone through centuries of wear and tear… I'm guessing a couple of decades at most, which is strange cause Earth has been deserted for centuries."
"Oh," Harry said, taking a closer look at his surroundings and seeing a calendar on the wall, faded with age, but with the still legible date of October 2077 which was at odds with the style of the place which looked to be sometime in the 1950's.
A clicking sound echoed loudly from the street outside and the two froze as a scorpion the size of a large dog passed by less than twenty feet away.
"Is that what happened to the last humans on Earth?" Harry whispered in Leewit's ear, trying to stay as quiet as possible.
"I really need to work on my aim," The Leewit muttered softly.
Typing By: Abyssal Angel