Pash was sipping at a cup of tea when I stepped into the little office.

“Good evening, Ms. Koryn,” he said. “I hope you rested well.”

“I did, thank you,” I said. “What is it you wished to discuss with me?”

“During our dinner last week, I noticed you seemed rather interested in Professor Einstein,” he said. “It had occurred to me that I can pull some strings and arrange for you to meet, if it is of interest.”

“Einstein?” I asked. “Why would he want to meet me? I mean, if my power is secret.”

“That is a concern,” Pash said. “Between my connections and your influence, I believe I will be able to gain the authorization to discuss your abilities, which he would find interesting.”

“Gain the authorization?” I asked. “Secret though it may be, it is my secret, not the military’s.”

“Your power is now a matter of national security,” Pash said. “Revealing either yourself or the fact of German spellcasting could have global repercussions. It is imperative that you avoid taking any risks of that sort.”

I frowned.

“I dislike chains,” I said.

“Naturally,” Pash said. “But I will be happy to lend you assistance in whatever ways I can. You are wise enough not to disregard such an obvious measure of caution, but I can ensure that this caution does not stop you from meeting the good professor.”

“Why are you helping me?” I asked abruptly.

“Why do you ask, when you will not trust any answer that I give?” he asked, and his eyes sparkled with amusement.

I scowled at him.

He chuckled in his rumbling way and I sighed.

“Could you give me an answer anyway?” I said. “A truthful one, ideally?”

“I do not see why it is even a question,” Pash said. “The truth is, Ms. Koryn, there are endless reasons to gain your favor, and none to gain your ill will.”

“I am aware,” I said. “But what is your reason?”

“Numerous,” he said. “Not the least of which is my job.”

“But your job doesn’t make you set up a meeting between me and an illustrious professor,” I said, crossing my arms and giving him a look.

“That, no, is not my job,” he said, still looking amused. “I am aware that friendship is likely to never form between us, between our professional relationship and prior suspicions. Nonetheless, I would prefer for you to regard our relationship positively.”

“You have simply repeated what we both know - that you are currying favor with me,” I said. “I’m trying to know your personal reason.”

“Considering the suspicion and negativity in which our professional relationship began, it will take work to even bring us to a neutral front,” he said. “I am not one to make enemies, Ms. Koryn, least of all with someone of the power and influence that you have and are continuing to build.”

I frowned. Not wanting powerful people as an enemy was valid. But… was there more?

I rubbed at my face and sighed. Even if there was, I probably wasn’t going to find out about it yet. Best to play along for now, it seemed.

“Fine,” I said. “So, Einstein. What’s your plan?”

“I have already confirmed that he is willing to work on a secret government project, and, accordingly, to be sworn to secrecy,” he said. “I wasn’t able to tell him much, of course, but he is intrigued at the possibility of an entirely new avenue of physics research.”

I couldn’t help but smile at that. It seemed like… like cheating, somehow.

“If you are interested in meeting the professor, I will speak to General Richardson about granting the authorization for this meeting,” he said.

“Let me guess,” I said. “You have considered the general’s interests, and know just how to present it, in order to get him to agree.”

“I fear I am getting a bit predictable,” Pash said, his eyes glinting again.

I felt the impulse to stick my tongue out at him, but I refrained.

“As long as you don’t think it’ll cause any trouble… I must admit, I would love to meet him,” I said.

Pash’s smile broadened to the point where it almost looked like a normal smile.

“I am glad to be of service to you, Ms. Koryn,” he said.

I sighed and walked out the door without another word. This thing with Pash felt tangled. His help was nice, his support was appreciated, but I knew I couldn’t trust him.

Probably.

It was never this complicated in my parents’ lessons.

But then, I did leave when I was seventeen. Who knows if they’d have covered this sort of intricacy, eventually?

Probably.

“Ugh,” I grumbled to myself as I stalked back to my room, shadowed by my guard.

The following days were nearly as exhausting as that day had been. General Richardson had me go over the nature of magical exhaustion, the types of fatigue, and the details on the recovery process. He was particularly intrigued by “burning out,” due to how debilitating it was.

He also had me going over the means by which spellcasters were defeated. I told him, the best route was to take them by surprise. If surprise fails, to try to magically overwhelm them - resulting in either crushing them outright, or inspiring magical burnout. If overwhelming offense fails, then to try to draw them into overexerting themselves into exhaustion, ideally with trickery and misdirection, so you aren’t also exhausted.

And, of course, if that fails, then revisit the “surprise” approach.

It felt like an interrogation - days of answering questions and making demonstrations. When my performance started flagging, I had to confess about the significance of emotional state on magic. I was trying just as hard, in my mind, but if my heart wasn’t in it, then my magic wasn’t either. For small effects, this didn’t matter, but in pushing my limits, it was excruciatingly obvious.

The general was delighted to discover that demoralizing a spellcaster had an immediate, dramatic impact on their capabilities. I did note that this was not true for enchantments, for what it was worth.

As expected, the general wanted to test the differences. Fortunately for me, he wasn’t inclined to actually make me hateful or angry. He simply wanted to know what emotions matched up with what skills, and conversely, what emotions hindered what skills.

It wasn’t really that simple, since emotions could be twisted to different purposes, but I was able to give him a brief overview. Afterwards, he simply wanted a report on my emotional state prior to each demonstration, rather than trying to directly influence my emotions.

Keeping my magesense open was a different sort of challenge. I kept finding myself distracted by things, like a squirrel who was caught by a hawk. The surge of fear and pain was enough to disrupt the magic I was maintaining, resulting in a tiny, miniscule explosion that only took me a few minutes to clean up.

I also kept slipping up, and getting tidbits of information about the others that I didn’t feel that I had the right to know. The general, for instance, regarded me as extremely dangerous, with such a thick intention of nearly hostile caution that I’d have actually needed to put in some effort to push through to see his fundamental nature.

Pash had a remarkably rigid, calm exterior. I couldn’t tell if it was thorough enough to qualify as a rudimentary barrier without trying to poke at it, but it certainly had the potential. Virtually nothing slipped through, except for occasional bits of annoyance or amusement.

Nicholas was sweet. Not the finest man in the world, but he had a good heart and was loyal. I apologized to him when I accidentally got a glimpse of his soul, and instead of being annoyed, he was intrigued. He felt guilty about his curiosity, and I guessed that the general wanted to know everything he found out. To that, he actually blushed with embarrassment, but I didn’t mind. I understood the nature of his job and where his loyalties lay - there was no reason to hide it.

I even got him to admit that the general wanted him to befriend me, and I couldn’t help but laugh. He was so relieved that it didn’t bother me. If anything, I felt a little embarrassed at not thinking of that in the first place. As overwhelmingly cautious as the general felt towards me, it made sense for him to try to take every conceivable angle to make me safer for him. Having me care about someone that he could rely on was a sensible approach.

The first day of this work, Pash was gone, and then that afternoon, he let me know that he’d arranged the meeting between myself and Einstein for Saturday.

By Saturday, I was starting to feel a deep fatigue that I’d not experienced in years. Pushing my magic so hard, every day, was wearing me out. I couldn’t honestly complain, though, since that was one of the best ways to get stronger.

The best way was emotional trauma mixed with intense resolution and drive. Unlike my parents, I had no intention of putting myself through that. So, really, this was fine.

Pash and I left first thing in the morning, since Princeton, where Professor Einstein worked, was about a four hour drive away. I tried to talk with Pash, but I wasn’t quite up to it, and ended up falling asleep just minutes into the drive.

The smell of coffee pulled me from a dream of going sailing with my family, whose faces I could never quite make out. I startled awake and blinked at Pash, who was holding a cup and standing beside my open door.

“We’re here?” I asked stupidly, rubbing at my eyes.

“We are,” he said. “Did you rest well?”

“Yes, sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to leave you without company.”

“It is quite alright. Though I confess, it’s been some time since I listened to a woman’s snoring,” he said.

“I do not snore!” I protested, my cheeks flushing.

“True,” he said, his eyes glinting with mirth. “Though I was correct that the accusation would get your skin to have some color in it.”

“You… you’re teasing me!” I said, gaping at him.

His smile looked warm.

“Does it bother you, Ms. Koryn?” he asked.

“Well… no,” I said, scrunching my nose at him.

“I thought not,” he said with a chuckle. “Shall we head in?”

I continued to gape at him for another few seconds before I managed to close my mouth, shake my head at him, and quietly followed after him.

He was treating me like a friend and I just had no idea how to handle that.

I also didn’t know how to handle the fact that he’d accurately predicted I wouldn’t be offended by it. I almost wanted to try to make myself feel offended just to spite him, but I… well, I just couldn’t do that. It seemed wrong to punish him for an accurate appraisal of my feelings.

I didn’t have time to think about it, either.

The Institute for Advanced Study was beautiful. The buildings were reasonably new, maybe ten years old, and were surrounded by well maintained greenery. Pash led me along a path between some bushes to the main building.

Inside, a number of men moved around. Now sensitive to the issue, I couldn’t help but notice how few women there were. At least there were a few.

“Is this a university?” I asked Pash as we walked.

“Not precisely,” he said. “It is a highly unusual place of study. It was designed for people to come and study or research whatever they wish, within the institute’s areas of focus, without formal, rigid structures or curriculums, as universities usually have. It has lured some of the greatest minds in the world since its founding.”

“Ah,” I said. “It is the place where scholars go to research, when they have completed training, then.”

Pash smirked.

“Research is usually more rigidly constrained,” he said.

I raised an eyebrow.

“But you can’t tell someone what to research,” I said. “I mean, not for development of new knowledge, anyway.”

He chuckled at that.

“That is precisely how research is usually done,” he said. “This place is one of few exceptions.”

“Strange,” I said.

“Perhaps,” he said. “In any case, Ms. Koryn, we have arrived.”

We stood in front of an office door, nearly identical to dozens of others. He knocked at the door, and a beat later, a voice said, “Come in.”

The door opened and inside was an image that surprised me.

I had expected to see someone like Rhine - dignified, polished appearance, immaculately groomed. Einstein was the opposite. His white hair was uncombed, his clothing was clean but wrinkled, much like his skin, and inexplicably, he wasn’t wearing socks.

His eyes were intensely sharp as they met my gaze, and I almost staggered from my magesense. His curiosity about me was almost tangible, and despite its intensity, was nonetheless relaxed, as though he wasn’t really expecting much.

If this was what an idle curiosity felt like, I half wondered if he could bludgeon someone to death with a focused version.

“Hello again, Mr. Pash, and Ms. Koryn, it is good to meet you,” he said, with a german accent that didn’t detract from his smile in the least, despite the harshness of the sounds.

“And you,” I said, as he invited us in.

“I was told you would be interesting,” he said, as I took a seat on a comfortable chair, “but I had not imagined you - or anyone - to be quite so beautiful.”

“It is simply a consequence of my skills,” I said, smiling at the compliment. “Has Pash told you about me? I forgot to ask.”

Pash said, “I thought it would be best to discuss the nature of the matter carefully, with all parties present.”

“Yes, apparently it is extremely confidential,” Einstein said, with a vaguely displeased look at Pash, like he objected to Pash’s very existence. “We are now all here. So, do tell me what this is all about.”

“Not yet,” Pash said. “We need to establish the terms of this arrangement.”

“Arrangement?” I asked. “You gained authorization to reveal my secret, and now I’ve met him. What is there beyond that?”

Einstein listened with interest.

“Due to the gravity of the matter, the military insists on having all discussions between you to be observed,” Pash said. “For simplicity, I will fulfill that role.”

“And you mention that now?” I asked, scowling at him.

“For the sake of haste, I thought it best to discuss the matter with both of you,” Pash said.

“I don’t even need to agree to that,” I said. “I could send you away, and neither you, nor the military, could do anything about that.”

“True,” Pash said, to which Einstein looked even more fascinated, “but do recall, Ms. Koryn, there is a need for you to demonstrate your willingness to cooperate, if you do not want to be hated and feared more than you already are.”

That stung.

“Mr. Pash, that is despicable,” Einstein said, his eyes heating. “Coercing someone into cooperation in such a way?”

“It is not coercion, Professor, but merely a reminder,” Pash said, entirely unaffected by Einstein’s ire. “Feel free to ask her if she feels my assessment is incorrect.”

“Life has many truths which pull one in different directions,” Einstein said. “Whether or not it is true does not change that it is brazen manipulation.”

“Perhaps,” Pash said. “Nonetheless, her priorities are her own, and not yours, Professor. At present, she is best advised towards caution, no matter your views.”

“If I may,” I said, and both of them looked at me. “Professor Einstein, I have no intention of letting myself become the pet of any military. At present, though, Lieutenant Pash does have a point - I should be cautious. If temporarily letting the military listen in on my conversations will help the poor things sleep at night, I see no harm in it.”

“Ha!” Einstein said, with a disarmingly wide grin. “I cannot disparage a kind gesture, though it does make me even more curious what this secret could possibly be.”

“We are nearly at that point,” Pash said. “I have attained Professor Einstein’s agreement of silence -”

“Only because my lack of knowledge would likewise result in my silence,” Einstein said, with a miffed expression.

I covered a smile.

“And with Ms. Koryn’s agreement to permit these conversations to be supervised, that leaves only one matter left to be addressed,” Pash said. “I simply would have us all, in this shared company, agree to more than simple silence. I would have all parties agree to show caution and care, in every possible respect, to keep this matter as safe as possible.”

“I am not good at that,” I said. “But I’ll try.”

“If by safety, you mean the safety of my fellow man, then I will agree,” Einstein said. “But knowledge is a thing meant to be shared, not hoarded.”

“That is sufficient,” Pash said. “I merely wish to maintain an understanding of caution. Ms. Koryn, feel free to reveal yourself.”

Einstein turned his curious gaze on me, as I scowled at Pash’s wording. I sighed and turned my attention back to the professor.

“I have the impression that you know enough to know that this is not a joke, or something to be readily dismissed,” I said.

Einstein’s head tilted slightly.

“That would be correct,” he said.

“Then I may as well get straight to the point,” I said. “I am from another world, and I have a skill which I have chosen to translate as ‘magic.’”

With that, I lifted my hand, and made a spot above it glow a brilliant, pure white.

“Another world?” Einstein said, as he leaned closer to look at the light.

“It is called Camelot,” I said, as I hovered it over towards him.

Both men seemed to react in surprise at the name, as though it meant something to them. Einstein’s attention was immediately drawn back to the light hovering in front of his face. He reached his hand over the focal point, and his eyes lit up like a child’s with inexpressible glee as the light emerged from within his flesh.

“I have so many questions,” Einstein said, with a strange hint of pain in his voice. “Which to ask first? Ahh…”

He hesitated, and my smile broadened. His unrestrained enthusiasm was honestly adorable.

“Where does the energy come from?” he asked.

“Somehow, I suspect the standard answer of ‘drawing it forth from my soul’ is not what you’re looking for,” I said wryly.

“No,” he said. “What is the true source?”

“The process is simple enough to use, but complex to describe - especially in this language. Even if your language had words enough for the task, I fear I’ve not learned them,” I said. “Answering this question in the way you desire would be a daunting and likely very lengthy task.”

“I might have language enough for the task,” Einstein said. “I can try to help you find the words. Perhaps a brief overview for now, if possible?”

I pursed my lips.

“May I simply acquire your language?” I asked. “In my home, it’s considered acceptable to borrow language from anyone without asking, but here, it seems better to ask.”

“Borrow my language?” he said. “What does that entail?”

“Simply going into your mind and making a copy of your knowledge of language,” I said. “It has absolutely no effect on you, and is quick.”

“Very well,” he said, eyes alight with curiosity.

It’d been some time since I’d actually used that spell, but it still only took about ten seconds or so.

“O-oh!” I said, shocked, immediately after.

“Did something go wrong?” Pash asked, just as Einstein said, “What happened?”

“No, it worked perfectly,” I said, still feeling stunned. “I just… there’s meanings here I didn’t expect. Different languages and… wow. Um, you have a very different conception of science than I do.”

“How do you mean?” Einstein asked.

“Er… like mathematics,” I said. “I know some mathematics, too. I learned addition and subtraction, and since coming here, I learned a bit about multiplication and division from a friend who was going through school. But… I don’t understand, you have such an intense attachment of power to the word mathematics.”

“You mean to say that you know no more of mathematics than multiplication and division?” Einstein said, looking as shocked as I felt. “Not even algebra?”

“I sort of know the meaning of algebra,” I said. “But again, the meaning in your mind is so much more than the meaning of the word I’d previously acquired. Why? Why do these mathematics words feel so powerful to you?”

“Mathematics is the language of reality itself,” he said. “It is the clearest means with which to describe the universe.”

“Mathematics… to describe things?” I said, giving him a blank look. “How… how does one describe something with numbers?”

I was sure he meant more than something like dress sizes or the year of a car’s production.

“I fear that would be a rather lengthy answer,” Einstein said, looking a bit sad. Then he turned an inquisitive and accusing look at Pash. “Also, I feel it worth noting that I was advised that you had scholarly leanings.”

“I do!” I said. “My parents are two of the finest researchers in what you’d call ‘physics’ in all the world!”

“And yet they didn’t express to you an understanding of mathematics?” Einstein said skeptically.

“Why would they?” I demanded. “Since when is math used in physics research?”

“I confess that I do not immediately see how physics research can be done without it,” he said.

“And I do not see what use math would have in such research,” I said. “What numbers would even be involved?”

“Measurements, primarily,” Einstein said.

“Measurements?” I asked, confused. “What kind of measurements?”

“Such as the amount of energy involved in something,” he said. “For instance, how much energy is required to lift precisely one kilogram of weight.”

“That seems so… so exacting,” I said. “Why on Earth would someone want to know that?”

He sighed.

“So that, for instance, one could know precisely how much energy is required to lift a few thousand kilograms of matter, using gasoline-powered hydraulic machinery,” he said, looking disappointed.

I blinked again. And again.

“Wait a second,” I said, my eyes going wide. “I think… I think I understand!”

I grinned at them both, while they both gave me vaguely disappointed looks.

“I’m not talking about that exact conversion, because I don’t understand that, but I also don’t care,” I said. “I meant your society - I think I understand how all this technology happens. You get precise measurements for things, figure out how they relate to each other, and then use that… somehow… to mass produce things. That’s how people are able to build things they don’t personally understand. Am I correct?”

Both men looked intrigued by this.

“Your people never had an industrial revolution?” Einstein asked.

“I don’t know what that is,” I said. “But if you mean technology things, that’s correct. We have no cars, no trains, no metallurgy, no engineering, no factories, no aeroplanes, no radios, no televisions. To the measure of your people, we have nothing more advanced than carpentry and very simple metal working. Individuals wielding magic mark the entirety of value in my world.”

Einstein nodded, looking speculative.

“Without much collaboration… I suppose a common system of measurements wasn’t deemed important,” he mused.

“Correct,” I said. “Such as the amount of energy to do whatever task. If I were to create an enchantment designed to stop bullets, I would experiment with a prototype until I felt it was optimal. I would then make a ‘template’ enchantment, so that I simply had to mimic the feel of the energy within it to make new ones. That template would be my new yardstick, as it were.”

“Interesting,” Einstein said. “And do your people have any ability to measure this energy directly?”

“No,” I said. “I do recall hearing about some researchers in the city of Metronome… er, the largest city in the world, who were trying to find a way to measure the energy of magic. It was just another in a long list of random researchers trying to take a different approach to understanding magic. That wasn’t the approach my family favored.”

“What was your family’s favored approach?” Einstein asked.

As I thought about how to answer, words popped into my mind and I got excited.

“Oooh!” I said, grinning. “You have words for this! That’s fantastic! Sorry, um, their favored approach was to selectively rend spacetime and attempt to stabilize the resulting distortions, in order to figure out how to master the creation and use of interdimensional rifts.”

Pash leaned forward with such naked interest that I had to have a doubletake, to make sure I wasn’t seeing things. Einstein, on the other hand, actually looked like he had a hard time remaining seated.

“Is that how you came here?” Einstein asked.

“Yes,” I said. “My parents - well, my father specifically - figured out that if spacetime were sufficiently and correctly torn apart, that there was something on the other side. Attempts to create a passageway to a stable place on the other side resulted in the accident that sent me here. They were also able to confirm that the source of magic is… I don’t know how to describe it… kind of the raw material from which the threads that form the fabric of spacetime is woven.”

“The fundamental material of the universe?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said. “I think, anyway. It wasn’t really their area of focus - it was more of an incidental discovery that they left for others to sort through the ramifications of.”

“Quite a discovery,” Einstein said, looking envious.

“Very much so,” I said. “But not an easy one to investigate. My parents had extraordinarily well designed protective measures against accidental destruction. Even then… it didn’t go well. They had to rebuild absolutely everything, and it took some time to repair the damage to the surrounding area. They never tried again to access that part of reality. Besides, they had their own question to answer.”

Einstein nodded.

“I must confess, I do understand what it’s like to be driven by one particular question,” he said with another smile.

“Which reminds me,” I said. “Pash tells me that you’re working on creating a ‘unified field theory.’ I feel, with your knowledge of language, I’ll better understand what that means. Is it related to mathematics, too?”

He laughed wholeheartedly.

“Indeed it is,” he said, after a moment. “I am attempting to find a single equation that describes all of the forces of the universe as directly related to each other. Connecting electromagnetism to gravity is being a bit sticky.”

I nodded.

“I can only imagine,” I said. “Just one combination at a time?”

“I have already connected the ideas of movement, space, time, light, and gravity,” he said.

“Oh,” I said. “But isn’t light electromagnetism?”

He laughed.

“I more mean in regards to its speed,” he said. “But you are correct, and that is part of why I am certain that such a connection must exist.”

“Light has speed?” I asked, surprised.

“Nearly three hundred million meters per second,” he answered. “Two hundred ninety nine million, seven hundred ninety two thousand, four hundred and fifty eight meters per second, to be precise.”

“That is incredible…” I said, gaping at him. “But… well, what I meant was, light doesn’t travel.”

“You believe it instantaneously appears at its destination?” he asked.

“Sort of,” I said. “I vaguely remember this part of my parents lessons on what you’d call physics, but I was told that space and time are the two types of change that naturally exist in the universe, and the universe can only be changed at a certain… um, rate, sort of. Whatever ‘leftover’ room for change from space is experienced as time. Light, and all raw or direct forms of energy, only experience the change of space, not time. So what you measured wasn’t the ‘speed of light,’ because that isn’t a thing. You measured the ‘rate,’ for lack of the better word, at which the universe is capable of change. And that is incredible.”

“I did not personally measure the speed of light,” he said, a gleam in his eye. “It was a process of increasing refinement, started by Olaus Roemer, hundreds of years ago. But that aside, what you’ve said - what you are describing is relativity. Your people have discovered those principles?”

“That word is absolutely laden with meaning,” I said. “Forgive me for not parsing it quickly enough - perhaps you could rephrase?”

“Relativity…” he looked contemplative. “From what you’ve said, I suspect you might understand when I say that I am the one who proposed that spacetime was flexible.”

I blinked at him.

“How on Earth did you figure that out without being able to bend it yourself?” I asked.

“Simply by thinking about the matter sufficiently,” he said, his eyes dancing with amusement. “That, and a good amount of mathematics.”

“You are truly as brilliant as they claim,” I said.

“Not at all,” he said. “I am simply passionately curious.”

I raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“Curiosity drives many to their graves, and many others to pursuits that end in failure,” I said. “It is hardly sufficient.”

“I have also been fortunate in some ways,” he said. “I cannot deny, for example, my fortune in having brilliant minds in humanity’s history, with vast amounts of knowledge for me to draw on.”

I nodded.

“Like the speed of light,” I said.

“As one of many examples,” he said. “And, I must ask, did you say that you can personally bend spacetime?”

“That’s… sort of all magic is,” I said. “It’s… um… in application, it’s more involved than that. But essentially, it’s the distortion of spacetime, according to… uh…”

Words were failing me miserably.

“We have words for these things,” I muttered, and Einstein laughed.

“You can bend light, then?” he asked eagerly.

“S-sort of?” I asked. “It feels like the wrong question. I can bend the path, so that what light will think is ‘straight’ looks curved to us. I’m certainly not fast enough to try to intercept it as it’s moving.”

“Excellent, excellent,” Einstein said, and then looked at Pash. “You were correct, sir, in thinking that I would find this matter interesting.”

Pash nodded with a faintly pleased expression, as Einstein turned his attention back to me.

“Now, my dear, I want to make no offense with this statement,” he said, piquing my interest. “The simple truth is, from what you have said, your people lack any sense of precision with their studies.”

“That is fair,” I said, curious why that would be offensive.

“As a result, their conclusions about what you call magic may be incorrect in any of a number of ways,” he said. “Regardless of the underlying mechanisms, you clearly have a truly unique ability, that has resulted in finding some truths about the universe that our people find more challenging to discover. Combining our methods may have truly extraordinary results.”

“I don’t find that offensive in the least, sir,” I said.

“No, no, please, my dear, call me Albert,” he said, waving his hand as though brushing away an unpleasantry.

I laughed, pleased at this detail.

“And feel free to call me Aera,” I said. “I think that I may have been just as amazed at what your people have achieved, as your people would be at my world’s abilities. Cooperation seems only natural to achieve greatness.”

“Aera,” he said, eyes lighting up again. “What an excellent name, for someone who will be ushering in a new era for mankind.”

I flushed a little, but scarcely had a moment to smile before his curiosity pushed at me again. I almost felt bad for Pash, as he struggled to keep up with the conversation.

Albert’s curiosity proved insatiable, and I found it irresistible. He wanted to know everything that I was capable of. We found ourselves having a delightfully intense conversation on the philosophy of magic. We discussed the elements that I’d taught Liam about, and tried to sort through what was magic’s true nature.

He was quite convinced that the elements were fundamentally incorrect, and most likely just a psychological means by which to help control magic. He was trying to understand what magic was, without the human mind involved. Since all magic that I knew of had either been shaped by humans, or shaped by creatures that humans had created, I hadn’t the foggiest how to begin approaching the topic.

He wasn’t even faintly perturbed by the lack. If anything, he seemed all the more energetic for the mystery.

We chatted away, at a bewildering rate, for hours. Finally, it was time to go. Albert looked so disappointed, that I impulsively decided to make him an enchantment before leaving. It was a simple circle of stone, pulled from the earth, that made light glow in the center when held. It was nothing but a magical toy, really, but Albert was delighted nonetheless.

We agreed on a future time to meet, and said our farewells. I was still fatigued from my work on the base, so between that and the high intensity of our conversation, I ended up falling asleep again not long into the drive.