"It is. Subject to terms and conditions, void where prohibited by calendar, but strong.

I wouldn't recommend plotting anything. Conspiracy. But I bet if we calculate what date we'd have the best options open we'd get the same answer. That'd be interesting. And then never tell each other what it is or suggest which year."

"Of course. There'd be no reason to tell each other, really. After all, how important can it be?"

"Very, if we were going to do anything with it. So let me know if you have another Hyena fight coming up and schedulable, I guess."

He nods. "...I should probably take a shower and not move much for a while, though."

She can let him do that, and starts definitely-not-plotting.

They can probably actually-definitely-not-plot together after his shower (as long as they're careful of his face), that's a good way to end a tiring and stressful day.

This is a good plan. (She might be overly careful of his face, except forget entirely every so often and then overreact more than he does.)

She's adorable.

A few days later Sadde judges herself clear enough of demonic influence to go talk to Isadora.

Isadora is in her human guise, in an office with her name on it. She does not instantly give any sign of smelling demon.

"Hello, Sam. What can I do for you?"

"Hello. I was curious about some of the history of the place."

"Ask away. Though I may need to evict you if some of my students arrive. They do have the stronger claim."

"What I'm most curious about is actually how the Astrologer's thing appeared, since apparently it didn't exist before and most other forms of magic seem very old."

"Everything was invented at one time or another. Someone contacts a powerful Other or collection of spirits, and trains them the way a man might a dog. Over time they reinforce the connection between a particular action and its effect, and they can gradually earn more leeway. I see no reason to suspect the Astrologers are doing anything different."

"'Cause as I understand it, they were much... faster than that."

Isadora shrugs. Her shoulders move back as much as up; she's not bothering with pretending to be naturally humanoid.

"The number of generations varies. It could be that their predecessors stumbled upon some unusually responsive spirits, or simply that they are not hoarding their power. Building a practice can be done in a single human lifetime; it would not be unprecedented."

"Huh. So there wasn't some practitioner that used to be around and disappeared around that time?"

"Would you expect there to be?"

"It'd explain where it could've come from."

"How so?"

"I don't know, that's why I'm asking you, but if you say a new form of practice could appear like that over a single human's lifetime then that must be all there is to it."

"Not must be. Can be, and is likely to be. Imprecision is irritating. But yes, there has been more than a minimum time for their practice to have evolved away from an arid ritual of meaningless form."

"I apologise for the imprecision. Thank you, though."

"The practical implications should be obvious enough, but I will leave them to you to determine."

"Obvious enough, yes," she says, smiling a bit.