"I mean, it depends on what level of cause you want, it's the sort of thing that happens when you promise something too specific or try to watch too carefully or try to show off, but I don't know the mechanism."

"I'm not actually sure what you're talking about."

"Uh... hm. You know how, when you do things that don't involve magic, if you're very careful to do exactly the same thing every time you get the same results?"

"Yes..."

"And with magic, it's not quite like that, and it's less like that the closer you watch it. At least in my experience."

"That... is not my experience."

"It might be different for your kind or it might be different in... afternoon autumn forests."

...she makes a little fairylight, this time where he can see.

He is mildly surprised by this.

"Flashy. Is that how you expected it to look?"

"Yes... they generally are, but I guess I don't know if they always will be around here."

"It might be that you'll be able to do really precise magic and people will pay you hundreds of crowns and you'll live like a king."

"For lights? Or would I need to do other things?"

"Probably other things. The chestnut blight example is real, it's a big problem in some places."

"I guess I could try to fix a blighted chestnut."

"Probably useful. Also humans need healing sometimes, but you'd want to be careful if you're going to deal with them."

"Why's that?"

"Well, they're dangerous. Less so than one of us, individually, but if you're in their territory you'll be surrounded. And they don't like us much, at least not in most places near here. Or did you mean why do they need healing?"

"No, I know why they'd need healing. What do they tend to do about not liking us?"

"Well, I had some humans try to beat me to death once. Obviously that didn't work and all of them had other things come up pretty urgently, you know how it is, but I got a concussion and some broken ribs out of it and then one of them slit my throat before leaving."

"- I don't actually know how it is, I've never met a human."

"Hmm. If you're like us, then a lot of things go well for you. When you drop things they don't roll out of reach unless digging them out of wherever they wound up would be fun or educational or you'd find something else with them. If you're flipping a coin to decide what to do, you'll usually get good advice. And humans aren't like that. So even if they knew how to kill a fae, or had the persistence to just keep beating you up forever, something would happen to get in their way, because their luck is worse. That and they always have urgent appointments because everything is urgent with them because they're all dying. So if some humans ever do start trying to beat you up you can just wait them out."

"I see."

"They're not all like that. Just... enough of them."

"I imagine they vary, yes... I'm not sure what else I ought to be asking, hm."

"Hm. Does this look like a tech level you recognize?"