One of the things taieli can do is start with something that does one thing and change it into something that does a slightly different thing. So, for example, I began with a boat and ended with a flying teleporting boat that can move between worlds. If I wanted something for spying, I could start with, for example, a lens, and end with a telescope that will look anywhere I choose regardless of direction or distance. But it takes a lot of time. I'm not sure exactly how much; I haven't been counting.

Are you actually sure that your father is even an ongoing problem if it's been long enough to lose track?

It is possible, but not likely, that something may have been done about him. But if that's so, then instead of going home to my father, I go home to a civil war or the aftermath of one, very possibly with Nirue on the throne. Hardly an improvement, and almost equally a situation that demands careful, well-informed handling.

What're you going to do with the place if you manage to take the throne?

Unfortunately I don't have my notes with me, but I have been studying the laws and customs of the empire since I was about eight, with an eye to disentangling all the stupid things my father has done to the tax code and reversing all the changes he made to keep a steady supply of disposable prisoners flowing into his dungeons and so forth. And I need to figure out something to do about the outlying territories he reconquered, because they've been taken and let go and taken and let go enough times that I'm not sure letting them go again is actually the right solution anymore.

Cam hands him his notes.

...he raises his eyebrows at the unfamiliar object, but takes it.

...does this form of telepathy have affordances for just sort of shoving how-to-computer at him.

It does!

...thank you, he says, and starts navigating the notes and adding them to his mental files. You're welcome to read them yourself if you're able to conveniently translate them out of my private shorthand.

I could try to crack it but I'm not a cryptanalyst. And I don't have the language either.

I could give you the language; it's possible to transfer those fairly easily using this form of communication. And I can summarize the notes for you; how much detail do you prefer?

...an overview but one that takes my level of context into account?

Then I'll start with the history, I think...

History of Eianvar in brief: There used to be two continents, north and south. The southern continent was destroyed sixteen hundred years ago in a war between gods, and to this day the southern coast of the northern continent is an uninhabitable wasteland full of terrifying sea monsters. The empire of Eianvar came through the destruction pretty well because it mostly spanned the northwest corner of the northern continent at the time, but there was still significant political instability and it ended up fracturing into multiple warring pieces which fought each other and conquered everyone else and then fought each other some more.

Then a century or so ago, Fareine Dekaral, heir to what everyone mostly agreed was the original throne of the empire, decided this nonsense needed to end. He reconquered the empire's scattered pieces, turned loose their most recent territory acquisitions with such reparations as he could spare, and set about restoring order as best he could. His best effort was pretty impressive. Then, after he died peacefully of old age, his son Orin succeeded him, and turned out to be a raging paranoid who systematically murdered all of his relatives until a distant cousin, Fareine Torvari, managed to kill him and take the throne.

Torvari decided that being emperor of all or most of the world was clearly a flawed strategy. He spent most of his reign carefully considering how best to limit the emperor's power so that future Orins would not get so far in the effort to have all their rivals assassinated. Disliking where this was going, and no doubt revelling in the irony, his son Siurek had him assassinated before he could start implementing this plan. There was a nasty civil war between supporters of Siurek and supporters of his dead father, at the end of which all of Torvari's supporters were also dead, and Siurek reconquered the outlying territories and retired to his palace to live in luxury, neglect the management of his empire, and entertain himself with the torture of political prisoners.

Into this mess comes Siurek's son, Fareine Korovai.

I was six when he had Grandfather killed, and eight when I decided it was my job to do something about it.

He's picked over the surviving remnants of his grandfather's plan for a transition to a more republican form of government, and that's his eventual goal for after he has everything else worked out to his satisfaction, but before he goes giving away power he had better make really sure it's not going to end in yet another civil war, and also fix these several hundred things that are wrong with the laws of the empire either as a historical legacy or because Fareine Siurek is incompetent. And given that he is now very thoroughly immortal, he genuinely doesn't know if giving away power is going to be the right solution anymore - it would be, without question, if Korovai might eventually die and leave the empire to another Fareine, there is ample evidence that the Fareine line produces wildly inconsistent results, but as it is, he needs to find out whether the empire is better off in his hands or under some other arrangement.

That's very responsible of you.

I don't tend to think of it that way, but thank you.

You're welcome.

You can try copying my thing assuming this won't affect my instance, I do need it.

I will not do anything that risks affecting your instance.

He holds out his hand, to establish contact for the touch-range sensory power.

Handclasp.

He inspects Cam's magical properties in as much detail as he can manage, which is quite a bit. How separable is the creation power from the rest? How feasibly could he give himself an exact copy of the creation power in all its particulars, and how much else would he have to bring along in order to be absolutely sure he got all relevant properties of the creation power part?

It comes apart pretty neatly, actually. It's very categorical, within its scope; the scope does not include magic objects or minds or antimatter or vacuum; it's got a long range for where things go and a longer range for where information can be copied from.

How remarkably convenient.

I can copy it easily without affecting you, he says. I don't know how long it will take exactly, but more than a few minutes, and it's delicate work; should we go somewhere more definitely deserted? Space perhaps?

Sure. Canoe or spaceship?

Canoe seems less likely to attract attention.

So Cam produces a computer that is fancier than Korovai's and figures out where to expect various space objects to be.

And now Cam and Korovai are in space.

...I just realized I forgot to ask your name. I apologize; I'm not used to talking to people.