"It grants languages - or one language, anyway - and flight and spirit-finding powers and... what else, I wonder? Very versatile for a magic sharp object. My book basically only does the one thing. It's a useful thing and has some useful subcomponents but it's still pretty singular."

"It's not a very coherent sharp object. My original magic system has that going for it even if it has other drawbacks."

"Is it that it isn't coherent, or is it that you haven't found the principle yet?"

"I guess 'make me useful to the creator' is sort of a principle."

"Complementary, maybe. Move faster, see farther, look deeper, because what you have isn't the thing that sits still and collects what it's given and makes new things from it, it's the other thing."

"Complementary, sure."

"'Make you useful to the creator' makes it sound like it'll just abandon you the second this turn of the cycle is resolved one way or another, and I really hope that's not the case because it would seem so unfair to loan you superpowers and then snatch them back as soon as you're done playing a part."

"Especially with my original superpowers turning out to have such a serious drawback!"

"You come across as the sort of person who deserves better than that from your superpowers!"

"Thanks."

"Maybe once we save my world we can do something about yours. It really does seem like there should be a way to fix 'things being more destroyed than you want them to be' with the power of creation..."

"Maybe, but you'd have to fix the spacewarping too."

"Yeah, it's, uh, less clear how to do that part."

Nod.

"If we're really outrageously lucky maybe after I save the world I can just casually make new ones and you can move everybody into unoccupied worldshells with useful nondestructive magic systems!"

"We are probably not that lucky."

"Be cool if it worked though."

"Wouldn't it just!"

"Maybe after we save the one world I will have room to hope for more."

"As soon as I can send someone home to mine I can count - the population, if not the world - saved."

"Well." She smiles slightly. "Then I look forward to tomorrow."

She leans on Telarin and murmurs, "I really hope this one works, Tela."

"As do I."

Quietly flying toward Highpoint.

"Seems maybe lunchtimeish," he comments after a minute. "Thoughts?"