"...yeah. I think even if I'm the only one who starts with magic. Unless I handle everything with too much paranoia for it to even be useful."

...Hmmmmm so maybe HE needs to be the one who can go between planets. So he can get away if he has to.

"It could turn out totally fine. I just wouldn't be able to make sure of it. I'm not important on my planet at all. No number of powers can make me immune to everything that would go wrong for me if I got into a power struggle with the governments of the major countries on Amenta."

"There's always someone in charge telling everyone what to do and it's always terrible for whoever's not in charge," he sulks.

"That's a little more cynical than I tend but I can see how you'd have wound up with that attitude."

"I've used up about half of my translating for today. By the way."

"Is it per time or per - sentence - I should maybe get a similar power anyway, nobody else on the planet'll speak Anitami..."

"It seems to be mostly per meaningful information? If I learn part of a language it starts getting cheaper."

"...huh.

"On the assumption that we're going to travel to California, what do we need - was the guy really traveling without any food or water by the time you got stuck here? Is there a place he planned to resupply? - I don't know if I can eat food from this planet, I should maybe leave room to get a power for that if I have to..."

"There's food in this box. Water's too heavy to haul across the desert, he said. He could pull water outta the air, like rain. Even desert air there's not much but some."

"How many people have magic, about?"

"Not too many. Maybe... One twentieth? And most of those have one gem's worth. They're just a little strong or tough, or can start fires, or kinda smarter than before. They got lucky and found one, or bought it off someone who needed money more than magic. They're worth a lot of money. More than a house. Maybe not more than a really BIG house. Who wouldn't want magic?"

"Right, I just didn't know how rare the gems were. There are sure a lot of them in once place here."

"Yeah... I'm really surprised Jervis had so many. He got them from a cave in the grand canyon. They were already in the box. He did say he wandered a lot, and in places other people don't usually go. I'm... I'm really mad at him actually! For being so STUPID! He had so much magic! He should have beat the mountain lion!"

"Did it - sneak up on you guys, or -"

"He went off alone somewhere and told me to stay here. He did that sometimes. And then I heard a scream a while later and I looked and I saw him running and fighting the thing, it turned visible when it bit, and then, and then I hid."

"Maybe he got all these gems by swiping them from animal dens, if some animals collect them and don't necessarily use them on turning invisible."

"Maybe." Sniff. "Ummmm. I forgot what we were talking about."

"What we need to get to California. He was relying on magic for water? How many days' worth of food do we have assuming I can eat it?"

Thinking face.......

"I think twenty four days. And yeah, he used magic for water."

"Do you know if he was planning to stop anywhere?"

Headshake.

"Dunno. ...There might be a few people near Lake Mead? And I heard they're building railroad tracks to California, but I'm not sure where..."

Actually, if he digs around a bit... Yep, here's a paper map.

"We're here, near the Grand Canyon..."

"And... how long is a mile."

"...It takes about twenty minutes to walk?"

"I'm probably going to need a gem to be able to... walk. I'm not very good at it."