"So any magic that's done to someone ever just sticks to them?"

"It's possible to detach things..."

"Mm. Most spells that are applied to persons here either wear off after a set amount of time, or have a method for ending them as an integral part of the spell itself."

"I wonder why."

"Most spells that you could cast on someone aren't things that one would prefer to be stuck with forever when the alternative is readily available."

"Hmmm..."

"Hm?"

"...I don't know. It's probably not important."

"Mm." He continues to study the quartz. "Is this 'selfspace' inherently magical, so far as you know, or merely a substrate for magic?"

"How would I tell the difference?"

"I don't know," he says absently. "It might have been apparent for some reason that I would have been aware of. Can you--do something with it, go into it, while I circumscribe the area? If it were possible to examine more of your world's magic than just this," he gestures to the area where the portal was with the quartz, "that could be immensely helpful."

"Yes."

She closes her eyes again.

Kanimir does the same circling-gesturing-muttering thing, and when she opens her eyes again can be found examining another chunk of quartz, this one a smoky variety in contrast to the original clear one.

"What does the rock do?"

"Oh, here--" he hands them to her.

The clear chunk contains a pattern identical to the fading residue from the portal, and the smoky chunk contains a completely unfamiliar pattern.

"The circumscription imprints the stone with a replica of the magic inside the circle, so that it can be examined at one's leisure, unlike the original which will fade over time."

"Oh. That's clever."

"Thank you."

She smiles.

"...So, besides the Door, what Legendaries have there been?"

"The Architect made floating castles and things like that; she's the second most famous. The Healer was the most recent one, about seventy years ago."

"So there have only been three? How long has this been going on?"

"No, there have been more than that, I just don't remember them all. The Door and the Architect are the ones everyone knows about. They've been happening for as long as there have been people."

"That makes significantly more sense."

"Yes."

"In that case, why would not having heard of the Door necessarily mean that magic was completely different? It does appear to be, but we could have had the same magic and different individuals."