I'm not.

...she makes sure this sound only reaches Promise's ears and "Say 'fifty-four' in telepathy if you're really not deaf and not under any orders I did not give you."

Fifty-four.

Okay, she's visible and tangible and not deaf and not blurry again. "Hi."

"Hi. How does that spell work?"

"Which? And 'work' in what sense?"

"The telepathy spell, what does it do."

"Oh, it's strictly communicative, sends thoughts you want to send and only those. Mindreading is possible but hopelessly expensive and also unethical."

"Okay."

"How have you been?"

"I'm all right."

"Did you find a place to put your new tree?"

"Yeah."

"Show me?"

"Why?"

"Just curiosity.—if you want to rescind any orders I might be under or something you can feel free to. You can even tell me to stop if that'll convince you I'm not selectively deafening myself or something."

"I don't think you're compromised now but that's not necessarily permanent."

"Oh. Yeah, that makes sense. Oh and by the way I think I figured out why sorcery doesn't work in the—or at least my—mortal world."

"Oh?"

"Harmonics do in fact exist there, but they're all—scrunched up, messy, noisy, not flat at all—enough so that I haven't really been able to properly flatten them yet. I didn't dedicate much time to that, granted, but still."

"...huh. That might do it if they were chaotic and extreme enough."

"You have no idea. And whenever I move one part all other parts move and it's like trying to hold water and I still don't quite have the hang of it. I'm thinking though once I do it might be useful to figure out a way to make an artefact that does it."

"Then you could be a sorcerer."

"Yeah. And more interestingly, depending on how gates work, that'd be a way to make intra-world portals."

"Ooh."