"Oh yeah. Whoops."

"Of course, translation becomes an issue if we intend to take any of this home with us. Unless, I suppose, I read all of it while I'm here and transcribe it in English to a computer...or just enough to form a working Rosetta Stone...I suppose that much at least is doable."

"I could probably do magic transcription? I haven't tried it but it doesn't seem out of the question and we could check on the first page."

"Wouldn't that still require reading it, to take advantage of the Milliways translation effect?"

"Yes, but not laboriously typing it up? Maybe it's not a huge timesaver."

"Oh, right. I have an artifact--not on me, but not hard to retrieve. With it, I'm a technopath. No typing necessary."

"Oh. Your way's probably better then."

"...Mom, can I tell her the other thing, if it goes badly she doesn't even live in our universe."

"...If you think she needs to know."

"Cerebro--Mom's artifact--doesn't just work on computers and other tech. Technically, it works on any sufficiently complex information system. Which includes brains. She's never read anyone's mind without their knowledge and consent, though, and we keep it secret because there are a lot of people who wouldn't believe she doesn't read everyone's mind who crosses her path. But it seems like the kind of thing where you'd rather be told than find out that I had been keeping it a secret from you later on."

"Oh. Yyyyeah. Thanks for the heads up."

Erik comes back in, holding a black binder.

"The bar can sell us the Lost Knowledge of the Ancients in exchange for Bella's infinite counterfeit money. Bella also wants to be a sorcerer, and the Lost Knowledge of the Ancients has something to make that not hurt. I'm going to fetch Cerebro so I can transcribe the stuff so it makes any sense at all once we leave," Charlotte explains, brushing past him.

"...The bar can what."

"Nothing's out of print for Bar."

"Well. Is it true that the other two branches of magic were the result of extremely advanced sorcery?"

My perspective is somewhat limited but that does seem to be the case.

"Oh, excellent. Well," he says, glancing at the girls. "At least one person here wants to become a sorcerer. What is there to make that not hurt horrifically unpleasant?"

A spell, says the bar, producing a copy.

"Beautiful," he breathes, looking it over. "No wonder no one has been able to figure this out--these concepts--" he shakes his head. "Amazing."

Bella peers at it.

It's--jargon. And a lot of diagrams that make no sense whatsoever.

"How long until this makes sense?"

"Well, the jargon needs to be taught, but the diagrams will make sense as soon as you're a sorcerer."