"And to clarify, that is due to recent experiments conducted in this realm?"

The couple nods. "We even have met mages that are stronger and more versatile than us, but they are shift-dancers and thus a special case."

"How do shift-dancers differ?"

"They just break the rules of regular shifters. Most of the time, this is just a minor benefit, sometimes you get people that always get powers on the level of flinging mountains around."

"Interesting. What level are your own shift-dancers at? What would you characterize the 'rules' that they're breaking as?"

"There isn't a formal classification, but my own shift-dance is mid-level to weak. And most of my own children are in a similar level. My son Tempus can copy powers with his shift-dancer and I would put him higher..." he shrugs.

"And the rules that shift-dancers break is... hard to explain besides the fact that they don't always work under the same limitations of a non-dancer. Such as, a shifter loses forever a form that's dead or sacrificed, but some dancers can reverse that. It is only one bonus per shifter-dancer, though."

"And shift-dancing is one of the powers you've been trying to replicate? Have you tested whether it, for instance, allows access to locked or limited magics, such as bloodline- or origin-locked ones?"

"We actually have not explored that at all. We've been focusing on ways to move between worlds since our end goal is actually getting back."

"Currently all known, documented, or suspected interdimensional transit methods are blood or origin-locked."

"That's another avenue of research then. I think Cohuat's magic is strictly better at anything I've seen that deals in that area, but worth researching anyway."

"It sounds likely that magic won't or can't edit itself as much as we need to give people shapes or transfer blood-locked abilities."

"Direct meta-magics exist, but yours sounds like it has a more biological basis than usual." 

"Likely, it was surprising to find out about the underlining principles."

She nods. "Do you know what mechanisms powers like your invisibility operate through? Does it work directly on light, or on the minds of observers, or something else?"

"Light. It is very... thorough at making me transparent to it, but it is just light manipulation."

"Do you know if it works on species that can see outside of your own visual range? Such as those who can see heat, or ultraviolet."

"It should, it works by making me match my surroundings. I am effectively as transparent as air when surrounded by air."

"I can arrange tests for that, at least."

Sofia slowly nods. "What sort of tests?"

"We'd start with species who can see with a different range, then other senses that are analogous to sight - like if a Detect Life spell picks up on you. Just attempting to see you while you're invisible."

Sofia nods. "I would expect that any spell that does not rely on light would work normally. But you're free to test it."

"It's best to be as thorough as possible, in this sort of thing."

"Are we suppose to do this testing every time we change powers?"

"If you're intending to use them in service of the nation, we'd prefer that. There's a lot of odd power interactions out there, and we don't want to risk people to them."