With time, the gifts multiplied and spread, becoming the new conquerors. They could never kill off our children, but they could avoid them. They made houses of wood and stone and spread throughout the land. They had conquered us.

-Chapter 26, The Unwritten History of Neah-Reath

Teah stared at the remains of the rock with a stunned expression on her face. Noticing a similar expression on Cornelius’ face, she asked “what was that?”

“That, my dear child,” he began slowly, “is an impossibility.”

“Huh?”

“What we are doing now is resonance magic. It is considerably more difficult to do than other magic, but it has the strong advantage of not needing to use much power, which is a limitation I find myself having. What was supposed to happen, if you have not deduced it, is that the rock was supposed to move in the direction of your home. Depending on the resonance you have with your home, the rock may have moved in the direction, or it could have move right to its location on the map. Either one would have been acceptable.”

“But it didn’t do either. It blew up. What does that mean?”

“Well, one possibility is that the Resonance was too strong, and the part of the stone that had the mixture on it tried to move so quickly that the rest of the rock didn’t have time to react. That would have led to this result.”

Teah frowned as she tried to understand what that would mean.

“So, would a strong Resonance be a good thing or a bad thing?”

“It would be an impossible thing. The Resonance does not work like that. While there are some parts of the world that are higher in Natural Magic and some that are lower, and this is how the Resonance works, the Resonance itself does not use the magic in that way. This has been studied and confirmed many times, that while the Resonance between two items may seem stronger or weaker, this is just how we are observing it. The actual energy associated with each particular item itself never varies, at least not enough to have any meaningful significance. The fact that you had this result is disturbing, because it throws millennia of magical research into doubt.”

“You said that that was one possibility. If its impossible, then what is the other possibility?”

Cornelius waved his hand as though the topic was unimportant.

“That is even more impossible. The only other explanation I can think of is that your home was not only not on the map, but so far away from here that the stone literally tried to fly there.”

“Well why is that impossible?” Teah interrupted. “You said yourself that I must be from somewhere far from here.”

“Because, child, that map contains literally the entire known land. You would have to have come from somewhere that no one in this land has ever had any contact with.”

“Well that must be it then! You said that I didn’t know the things that I should know, so that explains it!” Teah shouted excitedly.

“No, child,” Cornelius continued wearily, “that is clearly impossible. If you doubt me, then just think how we could possibly be talking if you were from a land so far away. The dwarves, who live the furthest away from here, have their own language. Even the elves, who are more spread out, have a different language to us.”

Teah considered this answer for a moment.

“So, I must be from here, but I can’t be from here.”

“Indeed.”

“So, we’re right back where we started!” she wailed.

“Peace, child. As I said, that explanation simply isn’t possible. No, as much as it makes no sense, you must have an extremely strong Resonance. After all, “the simplest solution is most likely the correct solution.”

“Ahh, I know that! That’s Occam’s Razor!” Teah exclaimed.

Cornelius looked at her with a confused expression.

“No, that is just common sense. It’s a saying, not a razor.”

He shook his head and carried on “Ignoring that, this is certainly puzzling. Now child, I know that I said that I would help you get home, but I believe that we need to study this power that you seem to have first. We shall have to delay your return home.”

“What? Why?”

“For starters, all of the ways I have of divining your homeland are based on the Resonance. Until we can account for it, the spells are effectively useless. Even if we got an answer, I have no way to determine its accuracy.”

“Uh,” Teah started, but Cornelius carried speaking over her.

“More importantly, if you do have this power, it is critical for you and everyone around you, that you learn to control it.”

Teah paused as this sunk in.

“You think I could be dangerous to be around?”

“Right now, child, I think nothing. We have literally no points of comparison, so I have no idea how this would affect you or the world around you. However, this unfortunate discovery may answer one of your questions.”

“What do you mean?” Teah asked, perplexed.

“This may be the reason that you are here. I can imagine two possible sequence of events that led to you being here. One, is that someone tried to use a spell on you. With this impossibly high Resonance you have, it’s entirely possible that the spell went awry and the result was you appearing in the forest with no memory. It certainly would fit. Most people who develop the ability to use magic typically do so at around your age, so it’s possible that the Resonance works in the same way.”

Teah perked up at this. “So, I’m immune to magic then? Awesome!”

“No, child,” he said sternly. “If that is the case, then this was at best a random effect. There is no way to know if this would happen every time or only in response to a certain spell, or even if all possible results would be good for you. It could in fact mean you are MORE vulnerable to magic.”

“Ohh.”

“But as I said, that was one possible cause. A much more likely one is that you were sent here because of your strong Resonance. Presumably someone else learnt about it and decided to remove you as a result. Wiping your memories, teleporting you here, a humane way to get rid of you, as opposed to killing you outright.”

Teah considered this, then gave up.

“Ugh, this is making my head hurt! What does it all mean?”

“What it means, child, is that I am going to teach you magic. After all, if you have this power, then it is imperative that you learn how to control it.”