"You're welcome," sighs Bella. "Were you going to tell me how quick healing spells are? Or don't you know?"

"I don't really know, and I think it depends, and I don't really know what it depends on."

"Okay, I guess I've got a research project. What's the simplest spell you can think of that I might conceivably want to do here in my bedroom, so I can practice doing magic at all without you - doing whatever it is you did?"

"Um... Shield, maybe?"

"Okay. I just - try saying it and wanting it, to start?"

"Yep!"

And there it is, in Brilliance's glowing rotation of colours.

"Does all magic look about like this?" she asks.

"...Huh?"

"The colors, the design. It's pretty. Why does it look like that, or can't you see when you're a deck of cards?"

"Oh," he says. "The colours are mine. I guess you picked that up from me. People's mana colours sync to their devices sometimes, or the other way around, if the match is good. The design is mine too, but that comes with the spell; if we learned a spell with a different style, we'd get whatever its design was when we used it."

"Where does one get spells? Are they so easy to make up that I don't need to worry about it or does it make sense to trade spells with other - magic people? What am I exactly?"

"You're a magic person, I guess," says Brilliance. "I dunno."

"What, there's not a word for magic people? And what about where I get spells, do you not know?"

"I don't know what you mean by where you get them. I know where I get them - I make them, or somebody installs them, or I copy them from somewhere - but you're not a device, I don't know if you work the same way."

"Well, I can clearly do a shield, did I just - download all your spells when I was dressed up or something?" she asks quizzically.

"I think it's only the ones we used," he says.

"What other ones do you have?"

"Mostly ones you don't want me using in here unless you really hate your walls," he says. "A couple searches, I guess."

"What can you search for?"

"People I've met. Things I've seen. Nearby magic."

"That sounds really useful. I guess I could test the hypothesis that I only got the spells we used while I was in costume, if you'll tell me the incantation for one of those?"

"Sure," he says. "'Area Search'."

"What all do I need to have in mind? The thing I'm looking for - anything else?"