[That would be nice of you.]

Hex. [There you go.]

[Pleasure doing business with you.]

Bella snorts. [I can be freer with this kind of magic than most of my alts for reasons I'd rather not get into at this point in our relationship, but you will eventually run out of freebies like that except for the part where as far as I know you live on Earth and I'm on an Earth-improving spree.]

[And the magic in question is not easily mass-produced...?]

[Depends on what you mean by "mass" and "easily".]

[I mean, it wouldn't be feasible for you to produce enough of whatever magic wand you just waved at me to do the same thing to the entire population of Earth. For example.]

[I don't have seven billion of the thing I just did. I could do the entire population of Earth by using a bigger magic wand which can do more at once, but it would be kind of hard to get everyone's permission to magically mess with them in that way.]

[I would like to know more about these magic wands.]

[I'm sure you would. They're not wand-shaped.]

[Go on.]

Bella laughs. [They're wishes,] she says, [how's that?]

[I'm sensing a hint of evasiveness.]

[Yeah, I mentioned I haven't actually gotten to personally know the other four Libbies? I know you can probably be on board with my projects, but since I don't have a Libby Who Is Someone's Personnel Officer available to send to your house with a gift basket and literature on how awesome Bells are, and since I know sometimes Libbies have done slightly sketchy things before being in the employ of miscellaneous Bells, there is some evasiveness. Not a lot, I'll tell you most stuff, but I will not be telling you about what happens in place of a mommy wish and a daddy wish loving each other very much this very minute.]

[I see. So you're afraid that I will get some of this magic power and then use it to oppose you. That suggests to me that either you don't know me very well, or I should be opposing you already.]

[I honestly can't think how you'd get ahold of a copy without coming into contact with more of me and therefore more of you. But I have just explained that I don't know you very well. I don't know the template except by hearsay and snatches of party chatter, and I know nothing about how on- or off-model you may individually be because you have chosen not to tell me and I have chosen not to violate your privacy. Bells vary a lot. Libbies vary too. One of them married a template who has more than once been found necessary to kill. One of them had some seriously unsavory spying behavior. As far as I know the other two have been unobjectionable, but one of them died during the Spanish Flu and the other one was like sixteen when located by her corresponding Bell for template-unrelated reasons.]

[And you'll notice that I am not currently opposing you.]

[Yes, I appreciate that.]

[Good.]

[Do you want to tell me anything about yourself or are you enjoying this thing where I muddle along based on having passing knowledge of several of your alts?]

[If you have anything more than passing knowledge, I'm sure you can guess why I might be reluctant to start divulging any kind of personal information to somebody I only met ten minutes ago.]

[You're supposed to be spectacular judges of character. I guess I wouldn't necessarily have heard about it if it only works in person or something.]

[I am a spectacular judge of character, but I'm not a magical one. I need something to go on. And yes, talking to somebody in person helps.]

[Well, perhaps we will have a less cagey conversation tomorrow when you are not busy, then. In the meantime you are free to ask me things that aren't the one or two things I am slightly wary of telling an unfamiliar Libby.]

[Tell me more about your plans for world conquest, then. That's always fun.]