"Maybe you're cursed?" the girl says, hesitantly. "If there was a strange old man involved, and you can't get rid of it at all..."

"That seems unfortunately likely."

"Aw, that sucks."

"Yes."

Kicking her legs. "Do you wanna learn Heartful magic then?"

"Yes. Can you teach it?"

"I think so! I'm good at doing it at least!"

"Will you teach me, then?"

"Sure thing!"

"Good. How do we start?"

She jumps down.

"It's about wanting stuff, specifically enough and in the right way that it happens! Some stuff, like lighting a fire, is really simple and easy to do, while some stuff's harder. I started with meditating on wanting my fire lit - it was cold and I wouldn't get a fire otherwise."

"So simpler, concrete things are easier."

"Yeah. Though so are things you want a lot, and things you can clearly visualize."

"And how- broad is the category of what's possible?"

"I dunno! I can make people immortal, if I care about them. Not myself, but that's 'cause I'm Harrowed. I can light fires and make things and heal people, and I've heard stories of devoted lovers bringing back the dead..."

"Based on desire. I see."

"Yeah. I think there's an effective cap, just on how much people can care..."

Nod. "How does wanting things in the right way work?"

"Hmmm." She kicks her legs. "I think it's a little different for everyone. You gotta be focusing on just that to get it started? Gotta want just that thing at the moment."

"So it's focused desire."

"Kind of, yeah."

"I will need to practice..."

"What's something you tend to want? That's small? We can start with that."

"...A hardboiled egg."

"Alright! Random bird eggs okay, or like chicken eggs?"