"Do you have estimates on when it might? Our reading suggests that the typical - life cycle - is a hundred, two hundred years, but this is not a typical case."

"We know it'll be a few decades down the line, less than a hundred years, but our precogs are too vague for anything better."

"I have every expectation we'll get found before then, even if there are forces interfering with straightforwardly finding us."

She nods. "And you also expect your peal will be able to deal with this threat with minimal trouble."

"I expect they're already finding all the planets undergoing this - atrocious process - so they can go round them up as quickly as possible once they find their way here."

She nods again. "From what we understand, this will be acceptable even by the entities themselves. They do not seem to care about anything other than existing and this whole process seems to be about trying to figure out a way to prevent the heat death of the universe and continue existing forever."

"Real shame they didn't land somewhere near demons. It sounds like there are parahumans who alone present a significant threat to the stability of their communities if not the world. Is it possible one as powerful as Eidolon could trigger?"

"Probably not. The reason he—and other Cauldron capes—are as powerful as they are is that we're getting Eden's Shards at the source, and they do not have the basic safeguards against being powerful enough to take on the entities themselves as the natural triggers do."

"Will there be more distribution of Eden's Shards?"

"I can make them."

"For the eventuality that your peal does not arrive in time, I think we should keep working as we have been, adjusting for the new resources you provide us."

Nodnod.

"I assume that involves precautions against results like Behemoth."

"Do you have ideas for that? We were completely blind to all of them and, until Epic read Scion's mind, unaware of their origin. They also seem like a rather... idiosyncratic effect."

"How did Scion know, do we have any idea?"

"He can perceive all Shards and what they do and what they're connected to. It was as obvious to him as it's obvious to you that my toe belongs to me."

"But that's not itself something we can replicate with any power? Or with any conjuration? Epic, are persons associated with a shard something you can conjure for -"

"Doubt it."

Doesn't go.

"Can't, sorry."

"Reading Scion periodically might be a good idea, anyway."

"Unless he eventually notices that."

"If your thing's magical he's unlikely to, unless he reads your mind but that'd be expensive for him to do. It may however be too high a risk, you're right."

"What things are expensive for him, how do we know that?"

"The information we have of him comes from trigger events and people who get powers using our formulas," Doctor Mother explains. "We get a glimpse of a moment in the entities' life when that happens, and Cauldron is in a position to collect many of these stories. The entities are very aware of the energy cost of everything they do, and measure it in how much time less they'll have to live. The rarer the power, the more it seems to cost them—precogs are extremely uncommon, whereas fliers crop up everywhere. And we have no record of anything close to mindreading ever happening."