"I mean, I have no idea, that's why I'm asking."

"It is one of the mysteries. Why most people can make the same sounds as humans and mer, for the most part."

"So it's magically produced? You're not actually making those sounds mechanistically with your vocal apparatus?"

"The sounds are real. What makes them is a mystery."

"Coooool!" she giggles. "And the barrier thing is regular non-fair-folk magic?"

"Indeed. I have learned much and received assistance from those more learned still."

She nods. "Back to the applying force thing, my kind is very physically strong. Would you be okay with trying to measure yours against mine?"

"Such a contest seems likely to destroy the object at dispute."

"Oh, no, I mean, you apply a force against, say, my hand, and I try to push back against it, and we see who wins and by how much."

He tilts his head. "If you are sure you will not be injured... Sabella, please witness her agreement to the risk."

Echoey voice-from-nowhere, "I am listening, Karil."

"I might be injured but I have personal magic that both allows me to turn off pain and restore any lost or destroyed limbs. And I am pretty sturdy so it's not a given. I agree to the risk."

"Then hold out your hand and begin pushing forward."

She meets resistance almost immediately.

Eeee this is fun. She pushes, like she never pushed, going at it with all her strength.

The force gets stronger and stronger. Karil turns around and stares at her in focus after two escalations, leveling those massive antlers toward her.

He's stronger than one unboosted vampire, apparently. Though straining a bit.

Eeeeeeeeee! "You're stronger, I think," she says. She is straining, of course, but that does not mean she shows it or anything. "The same magic I use to turn off pain and regenerate could be used to make myself stronger, but by default I think you'd win against most vankires." And she starts boosting herself.

"I hope you are not offended... That I think it is good... I have sufficient magic to best your kind physically..." He's still holding.

"Not at all!" she says, grinning. Boost boost boost she's never tried making herself this strong, she wonders whether she even has a limit. She adds enough blood to her system that she's at newborn levels of strength.

Somewhere near the high end of 'newborn vankire' she starts winning. Not completely overpowering him, but enough to make progress.

"Now I'm at the high end of what the strongest of my kind can do, right after turning. I think you should probably be fine when it comes to physical strength alone."

The resistance stops. "...That was very tiring, I must admit. I do not get the impression it was for you."

"No, my kind doesn't really get tired." She returns her strength to regular-her levels.

The telekinetic deer-knight very strategically does not muse aloud on the tactics for dealing with her if it becomes necessary unfolding in his mind.

"You could also probably lift us off the ground? We wouldn't have much to do against that—wings are also a personal magic thing that my kind in general doesn't have."

"Yes, that was my first thought as well. But enough of this talk. You have already met Sabella, she is many of the trees around us."

A humanoid figure emerges from one of the trees rather as stealthily as it's possible for such a thing to happen.

Which is surprising, given vampire senses.

"It's a pleasure to meet you."