Stunned pause.

"Of course, please lead the way and please don't explain any further."

So she does.

They are led. This involves going back through the window, but they soon are greeted by Katur who invites them in.

"Okay, what the hell?" Fernando says at the supernovas.

"I don't think we caught your name?" Felix asks Kaede.

"Kaede.—I'm not sure I ever even introduced to him, either."

"You did. I don't think I said my full name. Katur Namazzo. These are the Vaesteri, Fernando, Felix and Thomas," he says poiting at the relevant siblings. "Kaede has interesting metamagic and we were talking about interesting interactions between the two systems. How did she find you so fast?"

"We were bringing you lunch," Felix explains raising the basket. Katur hugs him. Fernando is reading the napkins.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," she says, metaphorically squinting at them.

"She is taking a look at your magic," Katur explains before updating the triplets.

Felix reads the pile of napkins in an instant and quizzes Bar about things (by writing using superspeed) while drinking something from a crazy straw.

"You three have the same infectious thing he does and I got, probably the sorcery thing, except it's—deeper, somehow? Like his augmentation, and there's something extra there, too. And you have two other different things each, and I can't tell what they do at a glance but they're all distinct."

"That must be the extra lifeforce we have?" Fernando says on the first thing. "And we have two sorcerer gifts each. One for breath and one for stamina. Are you capable of more detail if you stare for longer?"

"If you tell me all you know I might be able to start getting some more useful stuff after a few hours."

"It might be worth staying here for a few hours. We have three wards each, one mental, one anti-magic - those Katur also has - and one anti-injury ward that isn't worth casting on other people. My sorcery gifts are flight powered by stamina and a heat-absorbing touch powered by breath. Felix's gifts are superspeed powered by stamina and a small fire powered by breath. Thomas' are-"

"Weird super-strength and the ability to sense density. And Felix's anti-injury ward is modified so his shoes don't burn up from going too fast."

"How do sorcery gifts work, exactly? Why do you have extra lifeforce? What exactly is lifeforce? I'd need to know everything about your magic—and is that a good idea at the time, anyway?"

"When you use one it spends the relevant lifeforce atribute. When a universe gets closer to Elsewhere, people in it spontaneously develop extra lifeforce which is then passed on to their descendants. Lifeforce is an energy that all living things have. And what would be a good idea at the time?"

"I'm not sure, Katur and I were telling each other about magic and if I stare at you guys to figure more details of your magic out I'm gonna spend several hours doing just that so if there's anything else we should do—or talk about—we should do it before."

"Will you lose all your progress? It might be wise to take a break and discuss more about our magics and how our worlds might benefit from each other in general before doing anything for that long," Fernando suggests.

"Do you know if you can copy Milliways' door or sorcery rituals without the lifeforce expenditure? Or the holy grail of sorcery: regenerate youth?"

"Can't copy the door, but I won't lose any progress, figuring out magic is a purely cognitive process, it's learning. Once I learn I at most get rusty. And I dunno if I can regenerate youth, but if it's magic fuel my guess would be 'yes.'"

"Well, it is magic fuel, but maybe you could only do... magic-fuel-youth, not keeps-one-young-youth? We could test that with another lifeforce aspect, youth is still distinct but if you can't restore someone's actual stamina or wakefulness that is a strong indicator that you can't do the same for youth."

"I can't see any of those yet, so I don't know whether I can restore them."

"Right. And we need to teach you more about our magic. Would learning how to get sorcery gifts help or should we focus on the why? If llearning is a cognitive process then you should try copying my superspeed, it does mental speed as well."

"What do you mean by 'why'? And how fast does this superspeed go?"

"The mechanisms of how sorcery gifts manifest... Less how to get the power and more understanding why the power happens? And I haven't run into a speed limit besides the fact that I don't have infinite stamina, should hit a thousand times faster at least."

"Okay this superspeed thing is way good if I can actually convert different sorcery things, how does stamina convert to it?"