Most critical is this: The Piscataway Native Americans were a big part of forming the current Magi, but I don't even have accurate translations. What I have are Potawatomi words from a dictionary of that language ( http://www.ku.edu/~kansite/pbp/books/dicto/d_frame.html ).

If anyone knows anything about the Maryland Piscataway please help me. I need something to show their influence in this civilization, aside from a few not-even-in-their-language words.

He heard a familiar high-pitched scream from his six-year old sister. “All right you oversized nerd, get your scrawny butt up!”

He felt a heavy weight slam into his back and start bouncing up and down. “It’s bright, it’s shining, the nerd boy’s snoring! He went to bed and read all night and didn’t-oof!”. The weight sang in time with its bounces, knocking the air out of him with each, but then Jessup reached up behind him and grabbed it, rolling over as he did. He then stood up and tossed it up to the bunk above his, where a loud grunt signified that the weight hit his sister. He lay back down in his bed and pulled his covers back over his head, ignoring the screams and smacks coming from above his head.

He felt something else crawling along his bed down to his head, this weight much lighter. When it started tugging at the covers over his head, he held them down tight and it started laughing. “Jess get up!” it said. Jessup stubbornly continued trying to sleep, but then as the weight gave a sharp pull he sat up abruptly and threw the covers around his three-year old brother, making him shriek with laughter.

He ducked out of the way as a similar bundle dropped down next to him and continued screaming. His sister jumped to the floor next to him, her feet landing carefully in two conveniently bare spaces.

They each grabbed one of the bundles, one laughing and one screaming, and carried them out of their room, around the atrium then into the quadruplets’ rooms. Jessup tossed the Calvin-bundle up onto the top bunk where he commenced to inflict himself upon whichever male twin was, at that moment, sleeping there. From the screams next door, Catherine was doing the same to the girls.

Jessup grabbed the twin in the bottom bunk and yanked him out. When the twin tried to kick him in the crotch and jump back into bed he ripped the sheets from the bed, grabbed the twin from the top, and stuck them both on the sheet. Then Calvin jumped on top of the twins and Jessup pulled them out of the room and around to the bathroom (during which they met Jamie, Catherine and the girl twins). They pulled the twins in, then picked them up one by one and threw them into the tub, which was currently at a temperature of ‘freezing cold’. As they screamed curses, Jamie and Jessup, much to Calvin’s delight, tossed Catherine into the water in hopes of shutting her up. It didn’t work, but it was fun.

Then Jessup went over and hit a button on the wall that started heating the water, and a few minutes later jumped into the water, which was heated by extremely powerful pump/heaters. They bathed and swam and played for a while, then got out, brushed their teeth, and all the rest, and finally trooped downstairs to eat breakfast. When they glanced into their parent’s room they saw that, as usual, their dad had slept through them and their mom had already left for work.

They went down the spiral stair closest to the kitchen and quickly began making breakfast. Since today was the guys’ turn to clean the table and get everything out and make drinks while it was the girls’ to make the food, Jessup went to the kitchen table and began clearing away the papers scattered over it. He ignored the many that shouted yet more news of his dad’s business’s near-bankruptcy only a little less than those that demonstrated his mom’s students’ inept mathematical skills.

In about thirty minutes they sat down to a pile of pancakes, a heap of bacon, eight cups of chocolate milk, and two pots of coffee. When they where about halfway through their meal they heard their dad’s heavy footsteps on the stairs.

“Hey dad, long time no see,” called one of the boy twins—Alan, Jessup thought.

“Yeah, gray guy, where’ve you been?” asked the other, who then must have been Alex.

Their dad glared at them. “What have I said about negativity and sarcasm? You—“

Jessup tuned him out as he walked over to the table and began lecturing them as he ate, and, by their expressions, so did all his siblings. At some point they dimly realized that he had stopped and returned to themselves.

The first thing Jessup noticed was he dad standing up and walking away. “Where’re you going?” he asked.

His dad gave him an odd look. “I just said I as going to do some vending.”

Jessup nodded, a little uncomfortably. “Ah.”. His dad was trying to rebuild his company from his original starting point: just him stocking soda machines for other companies, since all he really had left was their house and his office within it, plus their vehicles.

He rode along it musing, as he always did, about what the hell the path was. Since it was as wide as a road and still so clear he guessed that it was manmade, but he had no idea how old. After a bit the road ran along a deep ravine to the left, which Jessup and his siblings had explored in great detail. Eventually the path got narrower and narrower and finally became impassable. At this point Jessup turned and rolled his bike off the path and down into the ravine and up the other side, edging a little farther forward as he did.

When he finally reached the top of the hill, his shoes just a bit wet and dirty from the stream at the bottom he rested for a moment, then walked over to a massive weeping willow, very out of place because weeping willows did not grow naturally in Prince Georges, either that or were just uncommon (Jessup didn’t know which). He forced his way through the tree’s branches and in the open space underneath it, saw the trunks of what were actually two trees and the crumbling arch between them. He yanked his bike through after him, went through the arch, then pulled his bike through the other side of leaves.

On the other side he mounted his bike again and rode along something even older and creepier than the road: an ancient stone path through an ancient, mostly collapsed walled garden. He rode back through it towards the burnt timbers of the house to which the garden must have belonged, then past it and onto the well-worn and maintained (mostly) dirt path he and his siblings had worn behind it. Oddly enough, it was on the same ravine, though it was to the right of the path where it had been on the left of the road. As near as they could tell, the place had been built in the curve of the ravine with a bridge from the main road on the other side to the place. They had found shards of stone in the ravine beneath the gate, and that’s what they thought they were.

He rode along quietly for a while, just thinking, but then was startled back to himself by a bird-of-prey’s loud cry. He jumped and almost fell off his bike as a falcon swooped from behind him and grabbed a rabbit from the side of the path, then swooped off into the woods. He breathed hard for a few moments, startled and stopped, but then started moving again. A little farther on there was a tiny break in the trees, though it looked thorny and overgrown. He pushed his bike into this open space and followed the path of least resistance, which steadily got clearer and clearer. Soon, it went from rather overgrown dirt path, to crumbling, long stone steps he climbed them, pushing his bike until he reached the top.

Once there in the small area all stone and blue tiles, he sat and thought, looking alternately at the beautiful view and the intricate patterns and basins and statues all over it. As he always did, he wondered what the purpose of these was and, as usual, decided that they must be fountains and pools.

After he sat there for what seemed like a very short time he heard something go by on the path below. He ran over to the side of the little patio that looked over the other side of the curve in the path and saw Jamie disappearing down it. He ran to his bike and hopped on it… and fell over flat on his back.

An enormous black and gray-blue hawk sat on the handlebars. “Hey!” he yelled. “Get off!” The bird cocked its head at him and gave him an inquisitive glance. He stood back up and cautiously moved back to his bike, mounting it. He rode off down the stairs and onto the path, then rode slowly down the path to the end, watching the hawk uneasily the whole time. “You should not be acting like this,” he said.

When she got there, Alan was sitting in the atrium reading. “Who just went outside?”

Alan sat almost immobile and utterly quiet except for his right hand tapping on the armrest of his chair.

“Alex!!!!!”

Alan remained still, silent, and immobile. “Alan!!!!!!”

He jerked and his head snapped up. “Huh?”

“Don’t expect me to believe that. I know you aren’t that oblivious. Who just went outside?”

“Uh… Outside?”

“You’re such a helpful little child,” she said sarcastically as she turned and walked to the door. As she pulled it shut behind her, she heard Aaron yell.

“Oh, yeah! Jessup!”

Jamie rolled her eyes. “Stupid midget.” She muttered, turning to go down the hall. When she got to the bike garage she hopped on her gold-and-black bike and pulled on her helmet (which Jessup foolishly neglected to do). She rode out the door and down the tunnel, but before she got far realized how unlikely it was that Jessup would have ridden there instead of on their secret path. She turned around and rode back to the ramp, into the yard, down the paths, and onto the woods.

She turned into the ravine much earlier than Jessup had, and she actually rode down into it. She rode down diagonally and when she reached the bottom rode up the course of the tiny stream. After a few moments an embankment developed on the side of the road, and she pedaled her bike under it. Back underneath it she came to a small, sunlit stone passageway that curved down under the ravine, then up to a small patio-like thing along their path. She entered it through the collapsed wall and rode across and onto their path.

Here, knowing that Jessup would just be moseying along, she sped up until she was going pretty quickly, but, when she reached the point where their path petered out into thick woods once again, she still hadn’t seen Jessup. Worried, she pedaled back along the path more slowly, thinking that perhaps he had gotten off it to use the bathroom or to rest, or explore, or any of hundreds of things.

She pedaled slowly back, looking closely at the sides of the path in case Jessup was off it and she hadn’t noticed, and just before she came around the first curve she saw an odd sight: first a large, gold and orange bird-of-prey off over the ravine let out a cry, then another raptor, this one gray and black, swooped across to it from the path side. She watched as the dark bird settled by the light, but just then came around the bend and nearly ran into Jessup.

She slammed on her brakes at the last moment and their front wheels bumped together. Oddly, Jessup had already stopped. “Where were you? How’d I miss you?” she asked, surprised.

“Call of nature,” he said. His head turned back out over the ravine and her head followed his. They both gave tiny exclamations of surprise and they each gave the other an odd look and asked “What?” then both said “Nothing,” in precise unison.

Their faces took on odd expressions at the sheer absurdity of that and they laughed. “What’d you follow me for?” asked Jessup.

“I got bored and Alan said you had gone on a bike ride, so I decided to follow.”

Jessup looked surprised. “Alan? I thought I told Alex. Of course I also thought he didn’t hear, but that’s beside the point. What do you want to do?”

“Want to work on getting farther?”

Jessup shrugged. “Sure, why the hell not?”

Jamie turned her bike around and they rode back down to the end of the path, where they leaned them against convenient trees. Jessup got their first and stepped off into the trees, where he picked up a large sealed metal box and set it down in the path. He entered a code in the combination dial lock on the side and it popped open, revealing eight light, compact shovels; two axes; a pair of limb clippers; a wood saw; and several machete-like knives.

Jessup grabbed one of the machetes and got to work, losing himself in his thoughts as he steadily cleared vines, limbs, small trees, and leaves to reveal clear dirt or, in some cases, fragments of stone path. After about an hour and a half they heard a beeping from their bikes and the case, and they went back to them.

The small radios mounted on their handlebars and the larger one in the box (which could also be used to listen to music) were blinking with the word ‘Kitchen’. Jessup punched the ‘Speak’ button on the big one. “Yeah?” he asked.

“You scum!” said Alex (or Alan). “You aren’t supposed to be working on that without us!”

Jessup rolled his eyes. “Oh, yes we’re so sorry we didn’t wait for you to do this grueling work with us. Come on, we wouldn’t want to work without you.”

“Calm down, dimwit,” said Alicia or Alexandra. “Jessup, Jamie, we you need to get back. We’re going to everyone’s favorite cheap pizza place.”

“Jerry’s?” asked Jamie.

“Where else? It’s Monday and it costs four ninety-nine for a large.”

“We’ll be right there,” said Jessup. “I know I’m starving.”

In about twenty minutes they pulled into the parking lot of a shopping center called Mitchellville Plaza and parked in front of their favorite Monday-night pizza place: Jerry’s Subs and Pizza. They unloaded from the van and went inside, held their usual fifteen-minute conversation with the manager (a long-time friend and they still didn’t know his name) as they ordered. Or, more accurately, as the manager punched their usual order of three large pizzas, four large fries, and ten regular drinks. Then they got their drinks, straws, ketchup, pickles, and napkins (or, that is to say, the kids did.). Then they sat down at their usual two tables at the front of the restaurant by the windows drinking and, in the case of their dad, Jamie, Alan, and Alexandra, devouring the sour pickle slices from the topping bar. As they did this, they talked about random subjects: their parent’s work, their sports, their friends, basically anything that came to mind.

When they finished their nice, leisurely dinner they cleaned up, boxed their leftovers, and drove across the street to Food Lion to pick up some groceries. They got home around six o’clock and went inside. Jamie grabbed the mail from the box in the atrium, where it was sent from their mailboxes on their driveway and at the house/garage exit. Jamie quickly sorted it, not really seeing what it was, then gave their parents their mail and stopped in surprise.

She and Jessup had both received two large envelopes of stiff, sturdy paper marked with large gold seals. They each had one whose seal had an eagle perched on a large ‘M’, and the words ‘Department of Natural and Human Magia’ over the top, plus the words: “Unity-Jaye'k, Peace-E'tokmite'k, Brothers-Nekane'” around the bottom. The other seal, was a tree growing by a pool, with one man sitting and reading a book, and another standing by a fire hammering at something on an anvil. In one corner there was also a bird flying down as if to land on the tree.

“Jessup?” she called. “Come here, will you? There’s something odd here.”

Jessup’s voice came floating to her from somewhere upstairs, sounding a bit annoyed. “What is it?”

Jamie rolled her eyes and ran up the stairs to her and Jessup’s room. “Forget it,” she called as she did. “I’ll be right there.” She ran into their room and threw the two envelopes at Jessup as if they were frisbees. One hit his chest, and the corner of one hit right above his eye. He cursed and almost started to yell, but Jamie headed him off before he did. “Look at those. Trust me, they’re weird.”

Jessup didn’t really want to listen to her, but he caught a glimpse of the ‘Natural and Human Magia’ seal. “What the hell?” he asked, anger completely forgotten.

“Exactly what I thought,” said Jamie. “Of course, since I don’t know I’d say the best route would be to open them.”

“No, really?” asked Jessup sarcastically. “I thought we should go ask the Oracle at Delphi.” Jamie rolled her eyes, ignoring him and opened the envelope, then unfolded the paper inside. There was that ‘Magia’ seal again, then a typed letter below it.

Jamie Williams, Magi Recruit:

You have been chosen for citizenship in the civilization of the magi. You were chosen because of your latent maejic talents and because of your other natural predispositions to mayjic civilization and those of your family. Because of the radical differences between the mayjic and non-mayjic (namayj) civilizations, we will provide a few simple definitions and explanations, then let you slowly accustom yourself to the realities of mayjic life.

Magi: The magi are a civilization formed of the mages, magery-wielding people; neyjes, men without magery; and the many Kindreds of humanity, whom you will discover when you encounter more magi. They were founded by early European colonists and the Piscataway people living in what would later become known as Maryland. They both possessed the power known today as magery.

Maejic: The term maejic is an adjective and an adverb that means ‘with magery’, or ‘of a mage’.

Mayjic: An adjective that means ‘of the magi’.

Mages: Those who wield or possess magery; or those who are maejic.

Neyjes: Those without magery or with negligible amounts.

Neyjic: ‘Of the neyjes.’.

Namaygin: Non-Magin.

Kindred(s)/ Penoje'k: The subspecies of humanity. Sometimes called other races by those ignorant of their true origin, though the Kindreds often look wildly different they are, genetically, virtually identical to other humans. (Of these words, only penoje'k and kindred come from known languages, though mage and magi are both words in American English. Penoje'k is Piscataway for ‘children’.

Aez: Mages and neyjes, excluding the Kindred.

This is the best information we can simply give you, except for one more thing: if you go to Schoolhouse Pond on Governor Oden Bowie Drive in Upper Marlboro, then walk around it on the boardwalk you will eventually reach a place that you will recognize. Wait there a moment, then enter Magin Marlborough. Magin Marlborough is the nearest magin settlement, and Schoolhouse Pond the nearest Sea-Gate.

Your parents will be contacted, and we look forward to your membership in our great civilization.

-Upper Marlboro Recruitment District Assistant Director Rudyard K. Johnson

Jamie looked up from the paper at Jessup, who looked up at the same time to meet her eyes. “This has to be some… club or… something. This can’t be what it sounds like. It’s impossible!” she said, the slightest hysterical tinge creeping into her voice at the last word.

“Calm down, my over-reactive little sister, and read the next one.”

At the ‘little sister’ comment Jamie felt her usual annoyance. After all, Jessup had been born (literally) less than a minute before her. As she started to… comment on this, she realized what Jessup had done. “You sneaky little turd,” she said as she flipped him off. “Okay, I get it. No hysteria.” She opened the second envelope and pulled out the paper inside.

Jamie Williams:

You have been accepted into the Marlborough School of Natural and Human Magia on the basis of your work in previous grades, your scores on maejic scans, and you and your family’s recruitment as magi.

Your first day of school is on Monday the 1st of Nyaw. In the Gregorian Calendar your first day of school is August 7th. You will be picked up on the first day at the Schoolhouse Pond Sea-Gate, though on later days you will be assigned a personal pickup point. You need bring nothing with you on your first day, though you may want to bring a notebook and writing implement. Food will be provided, since you will be picked up at seven a.m. namaygin time and dropped off at the same point at six p.m. namaygin. If you wish you should bring money to purchase your school supplies, though you do not need these till your third day of school.

We would like to mention that the Marlborough School is attended by magi from all over the world. Because of this and the Sea-lag inherent in Sea-travel, cottages/dormitories/rooms/places-to-sleep/live are provided. Preference in choice will be given to those who have the most need: those who live farther away or who have need of certain amenities due to their Kindred. If you wish to make use of this, then you should also bring your clothes, toiletries, et cetera on the first day.

If you wish to play any sport, or game, or club, or anything else, bring whatever you will need. You are allowed to form any clubs, teams, et cetera you wish so long as you can gather enough players. This includes everything from board games to videogames to sports to art forms to anything.

We look forward to your enrollment at our school. Sincerely,
Emily Ngotazhnik, Head Freshman Natowa

Jamie looked up. “Jessup? This is a really detailed hoax.”

Jessup ignored her, his eyes still on the paper, then a moment later he looked up. “Huh? A hoax? Maybe. Why, though? And why sa—” The doorbell rang cutting him off.

“What the—?” said Jamie, the bell startling speech from her. “That’s the front door, no one ever uses that!”

“Mr. Williams, may we adjourn to the family room?” asked the strange-looking man. “You may also wish to call your wife.”

Their father, looking uneasy, led them into the atrium and over to the green-tiled ‘family room’. Their mother, sitting at the kitchen table, saw them and came over.

Without asking, the man sat down and gave them a small smile and a medium-sized fright: his canine teeth were abnormally large, giving him a slightly frightening appearance. “I.” he said in a cold, dry voice. “Am Gerald Sweeney.”

The contrast of the man’s disturbing appearance and his slightly geeky, odd name almost made Jessup laugh at this point, but he managed to smother it. Somehow, Sweeney’s bloodless appearance did not lend itself to laughter. “As I told you before, Mr. Williams, I am from the government, though I am not really from the State Department, and I am here about your children, Jamie and Jessup. I am a Recruiter for the Upper Marlboro Recruitment District, and I work for the Department of Natural and Human Magia. I believe these two have received letters from us?”

Jamie nodded and handed their dad her letters, while Jessup, even more disturbed than she was, gave his to their mother, Sweeney remained silent as their parents read the paper, and was just as expressionless when their parents looked up incredulously.

“This sounds like you believe in magic, or something!” said their mother.

“Not magic,” said Sweeney. “Magery. And I would advise you against confusing the two: they are very different. However, it is not a matter of belief. I am maejic. Look at my eyes,”

Jessup looked at his eyes, which were coal, pitch black, As he watched the irises dilated like someone’s pupils would, until his entire eye was black. Next to him, Jamie gave a gasp. A gold dot appeared in the center of Sweeney’s eye and grew, a horizontal diamond-shape. As it got larger Jessup saw a black vertical pupil in the middle. They all stared silently, shocked, as his eyes grew larger and diamond-shaped, and his suit took on the appearance of scales and began to merge with his body.

Abruptly, he stopped changing and began to speak, revealing even-larger canines, almost fangs. “Do I need to continue?” he asked. “Or do you get the idea?”

“You can stop…” said Mrs. Williams weakly.

Sweeney smiled as the changes started to reverse. “Good.”

As Sweeney returned to normal Mr. Williams found his voice. “What are you, a vampire?”

“I, Mr. Williams, am of the subspecies homo sapiens draconis. I am a dragon.”

“A dragon?” asked Jessup. “But—”

“No, real dragons are shapeshifters. We have both human and draconic forms. I’m primusdraconis. My primary body is my dragon body, which is why I look so… odd as a human. And I can wear such uncomfortable-looking clothes in this weather because we dragons are cold-blooded even as humans. However, to business: I assume you are convinced that we are being truthful?”

They all nodded, still too shocked for unnecessary speech.

“Excellent. Now, a few things. First, you are all officially magi. Your children, Mr. and Mrs. Williams, have enough maejic talent that you were assured of eventual citizenship the moment the first was born. We do not know why your family is so gifted in magery, but it is.”

“I would like to give you a quick explanation of magin government in America. We American Magi are governed as part of the rest of the country, but all magi together are counted as a state. We are represented by the Master Magi, Master Mage, and Master Neyje, also known as the Secretary of Natural and Human Magia and the Vice-Secretaries of the same Department. The Master Magi is elected by all Magi, while the Master Mage is elected by all the Mages and the Kindred, while the Master Neyje is elected by all the Neyjes. The President also has a say in the election, in that he may nominate a Master Magi candidate and veto others; while the Master mage and Neyje and veto his vetoes, as can the Magin Congress or a vote of all the magi.”

“Legislatively we are represented by the Council of Masteries, the Council of Lesser Masteries, and the Magin Congress. Everyone votes for Magin Congressmen by Recruitment Districts, otherwise known as Independent Allied MAgin CIty-States. You live in the IAMACI of Magin Marlborough, which is a Borough of the Union of Master Neyje Washington’s City-Area IAMACI.”

Seeing their even-more puzzled looks at this last sentence, he smiled and began to explain. “Magin Marlborough is the mayjic counterpart to Upper Marlboro, and an Iamaci. However, it belongs to a larger group, called a Union, which is analogous to a state. Master Neyje Washington’s City is the counterpart to Washington, DC, but is not the mayjic capital. It is merely another Iamaci, but the largest of your Union and the one that instigated its formation. It is where George Washington lived after his recruitment to the Magi, and was later renamed after him. We usually call that Washington and the capital DC.”

Still looking shellshocked, Jessup nevertheless managed to form a coherent thought, “Do all cities have magin versions?” he asked.

“Not all, no,” said Sweeney. “First because there are many fewer magi than there are other residents of the Americas, second because we are spread all over the two continents, and third because not all namayj cities are situated in places convenient to the realities of mayjic life. On a related note, the iamaci are ruled by an elected Mayjic Mayor and the Mayjic Council, while the Unions are governed by the Mayoral Council, headed by the Master Mayor; and the Master Mayjic Council. Either that or something very similar but with a different name, I should say.”

“Is that explanation of our government sufficient?”

Still in shock from the flood of world-changing information, the Williams merely nodded. “Now, what else?” said Sweeney to himself, as if trying to remember. “Oh, yes. Now, technically the magi are utterly secret and revealing us is punishable by death. This, however, is an old and archaic law, though technically still in force. These days we take a slightly more enlightened stance, because you may tell a namayj of us, but if you do and they turn out to be untrustworthy or something, then you and whoever you told will have their memories wiped, with corresponding collateral losses in overall intelligence and knowledge. Often your family will have their minds wiped along with yours, though sometimes this is forgone for various reasons.”

“There is, of course, one last thing: Magin Marlborough. If you wish you may go there, but I would suggest waiting and becoming acclimated to the magi in the closed environment of Marlborough School, at least for your older children. The others will either have to wait or do it the hard way, as will both of you,” He nodded to Mr. and Mrs. Williams on the last sentence.

“And, finally, all that is left to be explained are our calendar, clock, and coinage. Our calendar is a creation of the earliest magi in America and is formed for mathematic convenience instead of for anything in the natural world. It is comprised of five months, each with seventy-three days. They are further subdivided into two cycles of thirty-six days each plus one Day of Rest at the end of the month. Our weeks are dependent on the date, with Monday 1 being the first day of each cycle, and Saturday 6 the last. The days can also be numbered from months, with Saturday 12 the last day of the month. Since each month is seventy-three days long, the last day is Sunday, a day of rest. The days of the week are the English ones, while the cycles are Kises and Tpukises, or Sun and Moon in Piscataway, while the months are the Piscataway words one through five: Ngot, Nish, Nswe’, Nyaw, and NyanIn.”

“There is another calendar based on the seasons, but it is not official use, so you’ll have to look it up on your own.

“We use a semi-metric sort of clock; with 86,400 seconds a day; 8,640 dekas; 864 sentas; 216 quadroes; 36 sextos; and six sextaon,” he handed them each a sheet of paper. “These are conversion charts, but they also repeat what I just said. And, while I’m at it, there are ten seconds per deka; ten dekas per senta; four sentas per quadro; six quadros per sexto; and six sextos per sextaon.”

“Um… Does everyone use these?” asked Jamie. “They’re utterly incomprehensible.”

Sweeney laughed. “Don’t worry, it’s only complex to convert them. It’s easier when you don’t have to and just use one. Oh, and I can’t forget the actual times. Our clock follows the same pattern as the namayj, with midnight as 01:00:00:00:00:00 it ends at 06:05:05:04:09:09. Many clocks only use sextos, quadros, and sentas to simplify things. On these clocks the day begins at midnight at 00:00:00 and ends at 36:06:03.”

“Our system of coinage is much simpler, with ten prima per deka; a hundred deka per cent; and a thousand cents per milla. Our coins are the copper-steel prima; copper-steel penta; silver-steel deka; silver-steel quarcent; silver-steel bicent; gold-steel cent; gold-steel quarmilli; gold-steel bimilli; gold-steel trimilli; and gold-silver-steel milla. We have paper money for everything larger than a bicent too.”

“Wait a second: silver-steel? Silver-gold? Since when can you make alloys of them?” asked Jessup.

Sweeney shrugged as he handed them each another sheet of paper. “I don’t know. We dragons do stereotypically like wealth, but there are few draconic metallurgists. Oh, and these are on our money and time. Any other questions?”

Their mother looked up from the paper, an expression of consternation on her face. You call this simple?” she asked.

Sweeney gave a nod. “Of course I call it simple. You only think it’s complex because it is different.”

Their dad asked his question next. “Where could we get calendars, clocks for these and where could we exchange our money?”

“You can either go to Magin Marlborough or you, that is your children, can do so at Marlborough School. They are going, I presume?”

“Going where?” asked their father.

“To the Marlborough School of Natural and Human Magia. The limited information is on that second letter they gave you.”

While their parents quickly read through the second letters Jamie and Jessup just sat there and stared at Sweeney, still in shock.

“Sea-lag?” asked their mother. “What’s that?”

“That refers to our method of transportation, which you will not understand until you experience it. All I will tell you is that you can travel instantly between one point and another, but it feels to you and affects your body as if it had taken time. You live in such a place that it would take you three days of Sea-time to get to the Marlborough School, but from Schoolhouse Pond it will take just forty-five minutes. No one is sure if that is because of the Sea-Gate or if it is because of an unknown Sea-World.”

“Um… SeaWorld?” asked Jessup. “You do know that that’s an amusement park in Florida, don’t you?”