"Aha!" she exclaims, unearthing the right chart. "You sing very well, by the way."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," she says, and spreads out the chart on a relatively flat bit of desk.

Chart!

Chart! The chart tracks different numerical power levels using some kind of efficiency equation compared with a handful of arbitrary tasks. Apparently power level is tracked separately for the three branches of magic.

Now that's more like it. What a nice chart. She memorizes it.

"Most people don't actually use the numbers much, just go by intuition," she says, "or I'd've found this faster."

"I appreciate intuition, but it's nice to have numbers to anchor on in the absence of any prior experience with magic."

"Oh, I can totally see that."

"So thank you." She points. "Yea much?"

"Yes, that's about right."

"What's next?"

"The basic idea is to get to the point where you have a very very low level of this running at all times, so it doesn't register anything unless someone does magic to you."

"Interesting... how long does that normally take to figure out?"

"That depends on how much time and effort--literal effort, not Effort magic--you put into it. It's theoretically possible to do in as little as a few hours, but...not really the kind of thing that happens."

"I'm not in as great a hurry as that, although if Atennesi thinks I need to learn it perhaps I should aim for days."

"I think if he's seriously worried about you getting assassinated he's probably got people watching out for it, but there's always a chance of something slipping through the cracks."

Nod. "I'd rather avoid dying."

She nodsl

"Although if it happens anyway I'd appreciate it if the bit of metal in my head were retrieved intact and remanded to Vala custody, or someone who can deliver it to them."

"Okay, I'll let Atennesi know. Or you can, if you see him first."

"I will be sure to mention it."

"Why do you have a bit of metal in your head?"

"My species uses them to record and augment our minds."

"Oh, cool."