"Well, the first problem is getting you back to the right universe.  The second problem is actually figuring out how to make your native magic aid and abet a shenanigan against the laws of physics that I can't say I even fully understand.  The third problem is that the extent of my knowledge is knowing that people have done math about this and not knowing what math they did."

"The fourth problem is that for all I know the math might not accurately reflect your reality to begin with.  It's...

"Well, it's all highly theoretical.

"...

"...bloody hell, I hadn't been thinking about local time travel.

"I don't...

"But space is the same...

"...But it's atop an explicitly atemporal mess...

"...Well, damn, I guess we can.  Shit.  That's more than I wanted to deal with.  And I may or may not be eaten by a grue if I start trying to mess with time.  ...I wouldn't bet on time travel here corresponding to time travel in your universe, regardless.  Just to be clear.  Different reference frames."

Aeslin looks confused for a minute when Alicia's talking about math, but then she guesses where that might come in.  Magic doesn't usually use math, but if you're making a reservoir of magical power or an artifact that discharges over time, that can involve math.  Maybe time travel is like that?

"... oh," she says aloud at the end.  "So time travel here doesn't mean anything about my universe... and you think it'd work there, but that's based on your theories of how my universe might work?  Which, you obviously know something about some other universe, but I'm just thinking of them as theories because it seems to me my universe might not work the same as either of the ones you know.

"Or it might.  We don't know enough about it that I can say one way or the other."

"It's definitely possible that your universe simply says No to something like negative energy.  If it's even running the right sort of physics for the math to be viable.

"Wouldn't want to bet either way, though."

"...Actually, I bet we could isolate your unique universe with Light/Void...  Where's Great-Aunt Ophelia when you need her, anyway...  ...That's a joke, by the way," she says to seemingly empty space, "you're busy doing important things, I'm sure, even if there's science to be done.

"...Oh, I should not recursively distract myself.  And portals are well-developed  anyways...

"...Should definitely dig up the reference texts for those.  We'll need them.  ...Probably.  I mean, 'infinitely long rotating cylinder' is not a portal, for example, but wormholes already kind of break time..."

Ciara seems quite amused by Alicia's propitiation of the assumed-omniscient Duchess of Thorn, though she doesn't let on that she's in on the joke.

"...Anyway.

"I don't...want to suddenly encounter dragons.  There's a very peculiar dread looming that suggests that trying that sort of thing will end in tears for all involved.  So I'm not going to poke time here.

"But, I'll see if can get you something for when you're home."

"... that's another thing magic can't do at home, actual infinities.  And I don't know what 'negative energy' is, unless you mean a sort of projective antimagic?"

Aeslin has weird associations with dragons.  Svarendar was her first close friend (except her sister), as well as teacher and role model.  If she suddenly encountered a dragon - well, right now, she's imagining she'd cry with relief at the sense of home in this new world.

Even though she intellectually knows a lot of dragons weren't like him.

"... was that just a figure of speech?" she says aloud.  "About dragons?  If there're real dragons here, I might like to talk with one.  Non-suddenly.  If it's safe."

"But yes, if you're worried about time travel, then let's drop the issue and talk about..."

"... looking at my soul."

"Well of course you can't have an actual infinity unless you're doing something impossible, the universe is finite.

"The dragons are very probably metaphorical and-or irreal.  We don't actually have any."  Despite dragons being cool.  She didn't want to retraumatize Lila.  "Not really going to stop the time police from biting my face off though.  So let's, yeah, back to the whole soul thing."

(Elsewhere, a collection of semi-omnipotent beings exhale.  They weren't supposed to have to deal with time travel in this one!  Sure, they had some things in mind, and the preliminary notes had adjacencies - but it wasn't fleshed out, and they'd just be embarrassed to have to patch this in in production.  Even if the problem is that something broke into their universe somehow and sent things off in unanticipated directions, and that wasn't their department.)