(You never know; Promise used to say the most amazingly cheeky things when made to describe her thoughts.)

"Stand up. In general, if you form any intention to do anything that seems like it might in my opinion constitute a loophole, an exploitation, or a violation of my desires, bite off your tongue and calculate the cube roots of the numbers between one trillion and ten trillion by brute force until further notice from me. Follow me."

Thorn leads him out of the library.

They are joined by a short red and yellow fairy. "Master," this fairy says to Thorn.

"Yes, Twirl?"

"Rainfall says she wasn't taken."

Thorn looks over his shoulder at Alendi. "Did you get your captive's nickname wrong, Alendi?"