"Yes, let's start with that. I also want to test melting the slopes -" naively? what's the word for 'without specific consideration'? - "to see how they refreeze but we can chart a flat pat through here and should probably do so."

"'Naively'," she supplies, and then the ice in the path chosen melts.

"Does it cost you any energy to make everyone you can see warm while you do it?"

"Attention yes, energy no. Is the temperature I have going for Aleko fine for you too?"

"Yes."

Temperature for everyone within range of her heat sense, then.

And the path ahead starts melting its way clear. 

It's attention-consuming but not especially interesting. Oh well.

"I wonder if magic songs could make it go faster or be more entertaining," he says.

"I'm not sure how they'd do either, not being familiar with magic songs."

"I wouldn't expect it to help unless your magic demands some mental resource on your part."

"Just attention."

"There are songs that heighten perception, make you think faster relative to the world?"

"...That's very interesting. You're sure they're safe? I have less passive mental powers but I'm extremely paranoid about using them..."

"They've been used for Years without incident but on Quendi, not humans."

"I didn't detect any obvious structural difference except in sensory acuity when Tyelcormo was in range, but I'm not sure I'm prepared to trust that without knowing how the songs actually work."

"Our magic creates -" localized? " effects that usually involve calling information forth from the song of creation, in one form or another. Our definition of information is very broad. Music magic is usually developed by experimentation. There are principles but they're complicated enough you can't predict effects well without testing them."

"Localized," she supplies. "I'm not sure telling me it's the 'song of creation' adds useful information because I don't know what you're talking about there - how do you tell when a song is safe enough to test, when it's mind-affecting?"

"Music magic can't do lasting effects. Whatever it is will stop when you stop singing. So it's safe enough to test no matter what you're doing."

"Huh. I might want to try the songs you mentioned if that's a guaranteed general principle regardless of subject species."

He glances at one of the other people in the vicinity. 

Not a guaranteed general principle, he says, but a guaranteed my-songs principle, species shouldn't have anything to do with it.

Songs you sing or songs you compose?

Compose. I like my head, and I have to play them thousands of times to get them sorted.

Well, I think I'm sufficiently reassured, then.

And he starts singing.