"… Does it act differently if you try to do Wind-the-concept and wind-the-effect? Both with the word 'wind'."

Both seem to work.

(Incidentally they now have accumulated quite the pile of magical paper.)

"Well, at least we have lots of things to test with the spells. See if each word has any effect on the strength of the spell or how long it lasts, that kind of thing. And maybe at some point we can see if we can increase how long it lasts without affecting the strength or vice versa."

"Could try a piece of paper with, like, 'time' or 'longevity' on it."

Juniper tries—

—and her piece of paper catches fire. Like, actual fire, not the invisi-flame of a consumed paper. She eeps and throws it on the floor and steps on it to put it out.

"… Was that time or was that longevity?"

"Time." She frowns at the paper and tries longevity. Doesn't go. Time again.

...doesn't go.

… And if Tyler tries longevity?

Yep, works.

"Where's a good place for a piece of paper to catch fire?"

"This room's as good as any, if you do it over there where the floor's concrete."

He goes over to the concrete floor, sets the paper down on it, makes sure he's in a position to get out of the way, and writes 'time', intending to refer to the concept with which one may fuck with– lots and lots of things.

The slightly scary one that results in contradictions. That one.

It works! There's no fire!

He grabs another few pieces of paper and this time tries time in terms of making a spell last longer.

It fails to work, but in the normal, silent way, no fire involved.

And longevity in the same sense?

Same deal, no fire, just fails to work.

"Okay, so what were you trying when it caught fire?"

"When I tried 'time' it was just the, er, concept thing?"

"… We might be thinking of different concepts of time here, then, because I tried a concept of time – you know, the one where if you mess with it you're going to get fucked – and it worked."

She tries that. Nope.

...she tries 'wind' again. Still nada. "I think my magic's broken."

"Could be a mana thing," suggests Maya.

"Why'd I run out before everyone else, then?"

"'Cause you kept writing all the pieces of paper? When I was suggesting the bunch of them."

"You did do quite a few," says Theo. "Not sure how it relates to casting spells or what, but it seems pretty possible that it's a mana thing."