"For the costumes, yes."

Bella asks the genie, "What are examples of magical things you could make and how many grief seed equivalents they'd cost?"

"I don't like providing lists of examples. I'm thinking about how to go home."

"...am I correct in assuming you don't actually care if I save this here world, at all?"

"Unless it will kill me I don't care. I want to learn."

"Yeah, that's a genie for you."

"Does it matter that if I fail to save the world, if you are ever curious about it later on you will be forever unsatisfied, since you can't wish for information and there will be nobody here to ask?"

"I'm not interested in anything in this world right now. After I learn about steel alloys, I might be interested."

"I know genies aren't big fans of long-term planning, Kaff, but - trust me when I say this world is very interesting. Have you ever wanted to study something and then it was lost forever?"

"...Yes. Extinct species. I could not find anything."

"Do you want that to happen again?"

"...No. But I do not know if I will find things here interesting and I do not know how much power saving the world will require."

"Don't you have a way to reason under uncertainty? What if someone owes you a favor, then dies?"

"I weigh the risk of death when calculating the favor and deciding to call upon the favor. If they die, then I do not get the favor. I am too uncertain about the potential value and potential costs of saving this world right now to do the same. I will still fulfill wishes for gold."

"But only as much as you can carry."

"Yes. For thirty Grief Seeds or equivalent magic."

"What would you need to know to make more risky outlays of power?"

"It is unlikely you have prepared extensive notes and histories to deceive a genie. You didn't know genies existed. Reading the notes you mentioned and finding them consistent would reduce my uncertainty. Observing a witch would reduce my uncertainty. When I know how to get home the maximum risk I undertake will be significantly lessened. I will know how to get home in approximately a day."

"Are you going to leave immediately then?"

"Perhaps."

"We probably shouldn't go as soon as you're able to if it cuts off a future resource," Tara insists. The genie makes no comment.

"She's right. Do you disagree?"

"I don't disagree. Very well. I will stay even after I know how to get home. I will leave if I seem to be in danger. I will strand you here if I am forced to leave without you, Tara."

"I understand. It probably won't come to that."

"We should probably all three stick together. If I die, the time loop resets, incidentally. I have no idea what happens if I witch but it's probably worse."

"Probably best to stick together, yes. Where to, then?"

"Well, I was tracking the big witch but I shouldn't take any particular risks this loop since it contains a presumably unique opportunity, so I guess we can just get hotels in Winnipeg if genies and light constructs can be made suitably unobtrusive. - Magic's not common knowledge here."

"Kaff can spread out enough to be plausibly deniable. The light constructs can go invisible. More talking and planning and testing, see if we think of something clever, is the idea?"

"Pretty much. If nothing else you can take back a complete account of the situation to your world and see if you can get me some kind of help."

"We have our own giant monsters. None are of the world-eating variety, but they occasionally destroy cities. It's not impossible to arrange aid. Maybe a coalition of genies tempted with a new world to explore? I wonder if we'd find you on a subsequent loop or what..."

"Good question, I have no idea. And if you timed it wrong and it worked in certain ways you might land on an eaten world."

"I would risk it. I'm sure there are others who would. Fighters, teleporters, investigators. There are a few precogs here and there. I don't know any personally but they exist."