The Budding Metalinguist

XXXVII

Lillian inhaled sharply. "What happened?"

"Nothing," Dakota responded dismissively. "She's fine." He was leaning down, his thumb pressed against Amandi's wrist. "She has a steady pulse. She's still unconscious, but we can fix that."

Lillian dropped down alongside him, her knee pressing into the gridiron vent in a manner she knew would leave a pattern when she next stood up. "What should we do?"

Dakota smirked. He hoisted Amandi over his shoulder. Then his image flickered, and resolved into a tall man carrying a thick bag slung over one shoulder. He beckoned to Lillian. "Come on. Fix your face."

Lillian disliked the expression at first, but then realized there was probably no better application for it. She put up a metalinguistic illusion- more complicated than simply darkening her hair this time- and followed Dakota out of the dorm. When they left the building, they made sure to stay at a distance. A repairman wasn't suspicious, and neither was a young student, but together they made an odd pair.

Lillian panted, trying to keep up with Dakota's surprisingly long stride, as he hurried across campus and into the thaumaturgy building. Once there, he took the levitator and she the stairs, so as to avoid further suspicion.

After a few tense minutes, they arrived back at Dakota's office. Amandi lay on the couch, limp and unconscious.

Dakota frowned. "It's not going to look good if we wake her up in here in front of us. But we do need to do something first."

Lillian cocked her head in question.

"It's not a great idea to let her remember everything that happened. She could expose you, she could expose me, and she could be severely damaged by the experience. We need to erase her memories, starting with when all of this started."

"She saw me coming out of the levitator," Lillian explained. "We should start there."

"You can't use the Idea of Healing for this," Dakota explained. "This needs a different Idea. It's actually part of the same one I was using to communicate with you in the Void."

Lillian nodded, waiting for Dakota to explain further.

"I want you to try it," he explained. "You should be able to reach into her mind and identify her recent memories. Once you can do that, removing them is trivial."

Lillian flinched at his casual tone. She concentrated hard, then dove into Amandi's mind.

❦

Dakota watched as Lillian edited Amandi's memories.

Like all of metalanguage, she seemed to have taken to it right away. With skill, she removed all the relevant memories while leaving the others intact. Dakota simultaneously monitored Amandi's mind to make sure Lillian didn't make a mistake. But frankly, after watching her perform the task for several minutes, he wondered at the idea that she ever would have.

Lillian was just simply good at metalanguage.

Within minutes, she had finished removing Amandi's memories. Dakota lifted her off the couch and motioned for Lillian to open the door. As soon as he had a clear path, he laid Amandi on the floor outside the office block and backed into his office.

"Try using the Idea of Healing to wake her up now," Dakota suggested, closing the door. He and Lillian pressed their eyes to the cracks of the door to watch and make sure Amandi was all right. Lillian summoned up the Idea of Healing to oblige.

Amandi's eyes cracked open, and she pushed herself to a seat. She looked wildly disoriented, but otherwise unharmed. In confusion, she stood and hurried out of the office block, presumably heading for the fourth floor lobby, where she'd been before seeing Lillian.

"Thanks, Dakota," Lillian murmured nervously, before slipping out of the office and down the back stairs, using her original illusion. Dakota smiled after her and eased his office door closed.

He felt a feeling of warmth blooming inside him. Yes, that had been a close shave. Yes, it would probably have been better if that hadn't happened at all.

But he knew now, beyond a doubt, that Lillian trusted him.