"Oh. Well, it is. Because of elf magic."

"That does make sense."

"I think elf magic probably is why we know more about sapients' genes than anything else's."

"That... does make a lot of sense."

"Species-specific magic is pretty great, it's a shame you don't have any."

"I'm pretty okay with what I've got."

"Immortality and conjuring useful things are also pretty great."

"And anybody can learn to conjure the useful things! Although not as safely as I can!"

"So when you say messing up makes you explode is it that the result of messing up is literally 'detonate caster' or is it that it causes an explosion instead of a conjuration and you get caught in it?"

"Second thing. And not even instead of a conjuration, really. Like, I scribble a bunch of fire ink and it makes a bunch of fire, or I do a diagram wrong and it tries to put too much stuff in too little space and boom."

"Aha. Well, that sounds patchable with sufficient safety equipment."

"Not necessarily. Like, there's no reason in principle why a diagram couldn't end up trying to make stuff inside your body if you messed it up the wrong way."

"...I thought they just made stuff where the diagram was..."

"Not precisely where the diagram is, though. You saw - I sit there with my diagram plate and draw, and the stuff appears in front of me, in front of the plate."

"Okay. Yikes."

"Still might be a good idea to start the halflings on it."

"If they want, yeah."

"I don't imagine it's any of their hearts' desires but I do think they'll be glad to have something constructive to do."

"Aren't we all. Well, I'll teach anybody who asks, as long as they know what they're getting into."

"Maybe come up with a safety lecture or something?"

"Yeah. I think I got most of the safety stuff covered when I was teaching Amalta but I wasn't as organized about it as I'd like."

"And Amalta's more...something...than the halflings."

"More what?"

"She has more...initiative to learn things? Than they do?"

"Yeah, I think I see what you mean."

"It's not quite the same thing as smarts--I mean, I also think Amalta's smarter than them, but that's separate."