"It's kind of subtle, but yeah, it works. You can often guess who's going to be prime from it, Kiri was obvious, she has two sweela blessings and 'power'. Patience had power too, power is a big clue if you're related to a prime and then you turn out with the right disposition. Patience is the torz prime," he explains.

"Huh. Personality quiz magic. Something new every day, I guess. Bar, is there some kind of chart I could get of these?"

Bar presents him with a chart listing the blessings with their symbols.

"Interesting. I'd assign myself some, but it seems self-indulgent."

"I mean, it works with paper if you want to do it with paper but you have to draw them randomly and there are supposed to be at least three sets."

Bar produces a bowl of three sets of blessing coins! Isn't she helpful.

"I do not think we are the same person! Did you do that on purpose?"

"...This doesn't involve murder, right? Just floating pencils?"

"Not for the little stuff, anyway. Murder comes in when you want to do the cool shit. Bar, copy of Sulliman's Introductory Majyyk, please?" (His credit card is beside him on the counter so he doesn't have to take it out every time he wants to appearify something.)

"Weather manipulation, calling spirits from the vasty deep, apocalypse rituals, et cetera and so on. Don't worry, you can do cool shit without, I'm just being facetious. You can learn to call flame, challenge your sister's iron grip on the primacy. And there's tons of other stuff too." Leo flips through the book til he comes to an appropriate page. "...Dammit, I forgot, pencil-floating is like third year stuff, you need a developed conduit. Recommends starting with glamers. Got any zits you'd like invisibled?"

"I don't want to challenge my sister's iron grip on the primacy," says Aleko. "I've actually been pretty lucky with zits but my teeth are kind of unfortunate?"

"What's a dentist?" asks Aleko, peering at the chant.

"They do bizarre things to your mouth to make your teeth all straight and shiny." Leo smiles wide, revealing pearly and slightly pointed teeth. "Very convenient, at least once they've stopped doing bizarre things to your mouth. I actually didn't get a dentist, Mom just magicked my teeth straight using the aforementioned bunny-slaying ritual. But Zanna had braces for years- that's where they put this awful metal nightmare device in your mouth to drag your teeth into place over time."

"Eugh. Your world is horrible," says Aleko. "And reciting this and drawing the little symbol will not kill me or turn me into a murder thing or make me allergic to fruit or dissolve my teeth if I mess up or any other horrible anything?"

"Nothing in this book's big enough to do anything more than give you a nosebleed, and that's if you fuck up astonishingly badly. No guarantees about bigger stuff, but if you stick to what's in books and you're really careful about how it says to do it, you're not going to get any major side effects unless you use more power than you have. And the spell's not actually doing anything to your teeth, just sort of putting a mask over them. If someone were to kiss you, they'd feel the same way. Speaking of which, would you like to make out a bit after this for narcissistic reasons?"

Aleko considers this, but then shakes his head. "My sister's gonna read my mind about the whole thing later, it'd be a little too weird and narcissism isn't motivating enough. Okay, I'll try the spell. Can I keep this book?"

"Oh, yeah, Zanna and I plundered Milliways long since. This one's a freebie, but you being ruling nobility and all I imagine you can buy the rest on your own if witchcraft works for you. I'll give you a reading list. One without any human sacrifice, even."

"I didn't bring any money with me into the backyard chapel. And I'm not nobility in my own right, I'm not even sweela."