I'm in a world full of wizards. But lately, some have gone silent. They still have their powers, but muteness limits the social uses of their power surprisingly; a tool or weapon isn't worth much if you won't negotiate or even say what you want. The mutes amuse themselves, and save lives in emergencies, but not much more. I hadn't realized how much of magic's use, in this world where it's mainstream and industrial-scale, is essentially political--requiring negotiation.

And no, the mute magicians don't try work-arounds like writing notes--they just stop communicating, even with each other. As if they didn't forget speech so much as that communication is possible. Not desirable; my research clearly shows it's no cult of elective mutism. Nor is it any recognizable disease. My best guess is, it's a spell, one that's mildly communicable--especially to those already devaluing communication.

Who did it and why? So far, no obvious answer.

Strange. The spread of the curse is slow and steady. And it shouldn't be! These are wizards; curious tinkerers, even those that retreat into isolation. Someone should suspect what I do, discover what I did, and fight the spell. Or at least warn of it before going fully under!

No. Universal indifference. This spell casts more than a shadow of mutism, an umbra--there's a penumbra round it. Even in those not muted, it dulls curiosity! People just accept mutism as a given--a fact of modern life.

But it's not. It's a spell. And spreading. But warnings can spread too--and I warn you.

NOTES IN THE MORNING

• Magical world, take things for granted: In Ken Akamatsu's Negima, students get stranded in the Magical World. After months, timid Natsumi asks "Is this Mars after terraforming?" They all saw the map, but the others didn't see. I wonder--did Akamatsu expect readers to see it earlier or not? I did soon as a map showed up, but I'm an Aspie, patterns leap out; a lot of fiction is, for me, a guessing game: "How did the author hope to affect a neurotypical reader?" Because I know I'm not seeing what THEY do--and, importantly, vice versa.
• The plague: I've been researching chronic Lyme and its common coinfections, in light of my sisters' and my Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a mutation compromising our immune systems and causing head & joint aches.
• The penumbra:
  1. The medical mocking of chronic Lyme patients, most loudly from the chairman of the CDC's Lyme group, whose pet theory is that Lyme symptoms are an autoimmune disorder without infection--a silly claim, as antibiotics help such cases--including me! But then he's not just a crank; his CDC webpage tells insurers to use the obsolete, inaccurate ELISA test he patented, not newer better Lyme tests! A direct conflict of interest. So the dream's picture of denial as essentially being a second plague around the first is, if anything, milder than the truth: corruption.
  2. The subtler bias of health organizations like Kaiser toward an insurance model--treat only common ailments since that's where the big health gains are. Very cost-efficient, but if you have something rare like Ehlers-Danlos, you get misdiagnosed or disbelieved year after year. Time from my first symptoms to EDS diagnosis? About 60 years.
• ACTION: Trust your doctor--the way you trust salesmen. For decades doctors & insurers rejected both the idea of chronic Lyme and that the CDC could be compromised. Sure, profit distorts other fields, but not health! But for three years now, the average American lifespan has shortened, due mostly not to lack of health care but to fatal healthcare--meds that turn out to be deadly addictive. Most doctors aren't corrupt, but they're too busy to question what they're told, and that can be corrupt. Under the penumbra!
• ACTION: Trust politicians--the way you trust salesmen. Check facts relentlessly. Politicians needn't be corrupt--just trust corrupt sources of "facts". Under the penumbra!

A YEAR LATER

Now, in fall 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, this nightmare about a plague downplayed or just ignored, especially by politicians, looks unpleasantly predictive.

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