Smart wizards.

Eventually the twins persuade Karole to go back and explain to people like the registrar that they are not dead but they are a bit trapped and see if they can complete coursework very off-campus or something. They attempt to persuade both parents, but no, Raikel is not letting her children out of her sight right now.

When they ask the wizard's happy to unsummon Karole.

Eventually Odette disentangles herself from her mother and sister to start quizzing wizards on how things work here, since at least two of them are stuck.

The wizards would be happy to tell her how things work. ...what things?

How does one adult in this country? What are the standards of education, what are policies on people who did not in fact announce entry into the country at the border, are they going to have to worry about taxes..?

Odette would like to know what other long-term problems the world has besides people dying of old age. She would like to remain enrolled, if long-distance, in her university back home, or else that would appeal.

The world has an array of geopolitical problems but that's probably not what she means. Uh, lights can't heal themselves? The wizards will be happy to make arrangements for sending things to and fro for her to remain in touch with her school.

Healing lights: presumably a thing she can do. ...Can wizards not do that? Why not?

Wizard magic is just not super good at things as simple conceptually and difficult technically as healing, and besides, there are lights and witches.

Explain witches.

Witches make potions. Those work on lights fine and are the front line for dealing with ailments in lights.

"If wizardry can't heal, what does it do besides interworld stuff? ...And teleporting. And--a ton of other stuff, presumably. But not healing, really?"

Wizardry does lots of things. Would she like to look at their catalog? It has lists of services they offer. Conception spells, appliances, teleportation on demand to their other sites, translation, enchanting scoots, detecting mage potential, sunscreening for vampires or just people who are outside a lot, wards, conjuration and banishment, lie detection. There are spells that will fix broken bones, that's fairly simple, but healing-in-general not so much.

Well if they could do healing the way mages do it they would be able to de-age people, wouldn't they.

Apparently! Lights don't de-age people.

How do lights work, exactly?

This one wizard is also a light. He cups his hands and gets a little ball of gray-white sparks hovering there. If somebody touches it they will be healed of things.

Okay but how does being healed of things work.

So it just burns out pathogens and closes wounds? Is cancer a more complicated thing? Will a light reset a bone or do you risk requiring rebreaking if you touch it while your leg's a funny angle?

Lights heal cancer just fine without complications. It'll set a bone but if it's healed wrong you do have to rebreak; same with scar tissue.

So what counts as complicated, then?

Things you have to reinjure. They train midwives separately. Anything embedded in an injury, that's specialized work.