"That's why he sent me home? He probably wants to handle the other clan himself, so I'm not there to talk sense into him. It usually ends faster that way."

"They were threatening us over the bow-"

"They were angling for a better deal, they would never have escalated. Kit's good at that."

"I'll talk to him when he gets home. We've always had a bond."

He sighs.

"Sorry, Sadde. I assumed it would be better to have this out in front of you, since you're so new to our world. Keeping secrets always complicates any mess."

"Um," she says eloquently. "What exactly is, uh, 'this'?"

"A minor conflict with another clan over the price they wanted for their artifacts, and whether we should be required to give up the bow to someone who could wield it better. I think it's less minor now, if I'm right about where my brother is." 

"Oh. Um. Can I ask...?"

"I suspect they'll find some of their property gone by the morning. He sent me away exactly because of this, Victoria, you could have called me instead...he told me that Alistair had blown our secret. True, in a way, but hardly the crisis I was expecting."

"In any case, what's done is done. I'll find a way to apologize to them, mitigate the damage. You could have mentioned that he would do something like this."

"You two have a special bond. I figured you knew him better than that."

He glances at the cookies.

"Sadde, why don't you take those upstairs? Just be careful not to make a mess."

"Okay yeah, I'll do that. And, um, sorry."

"Don't worry, dear, you're hardly intruding. Kit will be there shortly, I'm sure."

And they busy themselves with cleaning the kitchen.

There are plenty of rooms upstairs, but only one has an open door.

So she makes her way there.

"I come bearing gifts!"

He's sitting on the bed with a laptop and a textbook, but he closes the lid when he sees her.

"Thanks. So did my mom drive you hard down there, or was it more a collaboration?" 

"It was pretty collaborative. Also your father showed up because your uncle is apparently dealing with some other clan in, uh, somewhat unsavory ways."

"Kit can be a little intense sometimes. I'll talk to him. It looks like he'll be a while, though. We should just start." 

"Yeah, sounds good to me."

"The most primitive kind of magic is wishing. You imagine what you want to happen, and you want it as hard as you can." 

"Oh, that's how I do the thing, normally."

"It's usually not very powerful, but it's cheap. If it's your specialty, that can only help wth both. Other kinds of magic rely on spells or focii or artifacts." 

"Is that in ascending order of power?"

"Decreasing in drain and increasing in power. Each one requires less lifeforce when you do the magic. Wishes are special; they're cheap but ineffective. Artifacts are cheap after they've been made, and make magic much more effective. Focii are the same. If I make a focus now, then a later spell can use that focus and drain less of my lifeforce."

"Is the total cost in lifeforce the same, when using a focus?"