My anger had settled considerably by the time I returned to Rhine’s office. While I didn’t regret the end results, I was trying to steel myself to avoid a repeat performance. I didn’t want to have either the reality or reputation of having a bad temper. I knew what that turned into.

Rhine was almost groveling in apology, but the nature of his apology annoyed me. He was throwing words at me in order to get what he wanted - that is, to be transformed back into a male. He had no respect for me; he only respected my power. He didn’t believe that he’d done anything wrong, other than make a misjudgement about the reality of my power.

When I clarified that my anger was primarily due to his disgusting, blatant disregard for academic principles - that is, his failure to favor evidence over assumptions - he finally picked decent words of apology to throw at me. They were about as sincere as a schoolyard bully’s forced apology, but by then, I was tired of dealing with him.

Pash served, more or less willingly, as the template for a male body, and I restored Rhine to the best of my ability, according to my memory.

Afterwards, Pash brought up the subject of the test, and I agreed to come with.

He set off down the hall, and I followed, along with Rhine. After a brief walk, he guided us into a room that had a table with a few objects on it, and to the side, an actual film camera. I’d heard them described enough to recognize it, and was surprised. There was also a microphone set up to record sound.

“You can go sit at the table,” Pash said, gesturing. “Profes- ah, Mister Rhine, if you would administer the test while I operate the equipment.”

Rhine’s face twitched in irritation, and he took a seat on the far side of the table, grabbing a deck of cards as he did so. Pash went to the camera and sound recorder, and got them ready.

I sat down opposite of Rhine, looking at him curiously. He gestured at Pash, and then spoke.

“This is test one with subject alpha,” Rhine said, in clipped, professional tones. “The purpose of this test is to demonstrate the subject’s psychic ability.”

He looked at me, drew a card, and said, “Please tell me which card I am holding.”

“Er…” I hesitated. “Previously, you’d given me blank permission to access your mind, but that was a test of your intelligence, which you failed. Now that you’ve learned a little more, morally, I feel the need to ask your permission to go into your mind.”

Rhine sighed.

“Cutting it here,” Pash said, and started changing something on the camera.

“Obviously you have permission to proceed with the test,” Rhine said, annoyed.

“It’s a moral boundary,” I said. “Going into your mind is no minor feat!”

“Either way, you can do so with both of us, for this test,” Rhine said dismissively.

I looked over at Pash, and he nodded slightly.

“Very well,” I said.

“We are ready to begin recording,” Pash said, and Rhine nodded.

“This is test one with subject alpha,” Rhine said again, in almost exactly the same tone as before. “The purpose of this test is to demonstrate the subject’s psychic ability. Please tell me which card I am holding.”

I slipped Aeros magic into his mind, to gain access to his ability to see. It was the closest thing to “psychic” among my abilities. As I gained control over his eyes - therefore making him lose control - he jumped back in shock and dropped the card.

“Are you alright?” asked Pash, curious what had happened.

“It’s fine,” Rhine said dismissively. “I felt the effect. Let’s begin again.”

Once more, Pash prepared the camera for a fresh recording, followed by Rhine presenting the test in dull, professional monotone.

This time, while he flinched when I gained control over his eyes, he didn’t drop the card.

“Three of spades,” I said, rubbing at my own eyes. It was a strange sensation.

Pash began writing down notes.

Rhine nodded, and grabbed another card, giving me an expectant look. I raised an eyebrow, but went along with it.

Ten seconds later, I said, “Ten of hearts.”

Then he grabbed another card, as Pash wrote some more.

“How many of these are we going through?” I asked.

Rhine’s lip twitched in annoyance.

“It shouldn’t take too long to go through the entire deck,” he said.

“You must be joking,” I said, staring at him.

“Why on Earth would I be joking?” he asked.

“That… that is… incredibly tedious…” I said.

Pash’s cheek tightened in a faint smile.

“If you can go through the entire deck without any errors, it is a significant demonstration of your ability,” he said.

I frowned.

“But it’s so pathetic,” I said. “If we’re testing my ability to control the mind, why not have me make you break your own finger, and then heal it?”

“We have a set arrangement of tests, designed by my department, for you to work with,” he said. “You agreed to cooperate with the tests, so let us continue.”

I gave Pash a dark look, and his expression was a blend of amused and apologetic.

He’d really been letting his expression be more readable over the last few times we’d met.

“Fine,” I said, grumbling.

“We will edit the tape to remove this dialogue,” Pash said. “Continue.”

Rhine held up the next card, and I rolled my eyes.

“Seven of clubs,” I said after another several seconds.

By the time we got halfway through the deck, I was annoyed, fatigued, with a headache, and a bizarre sensation in my eyes, like my mind wasn’t attaching to them properly. That said, I’d gotten faster - I could get the information in half the time.

Pash and Rhine switched off, so that I was going into Pash’s mind for access to his sense of sight. It was incredibly tempting to misbehave and look at things I wasn’t supposed to, but I restrained myself.

While recording, Rhine wrote his own notes. I vaguely wondered what they were writing down, but I wasn’t curious enough to push the matter.

By the time we reached the end of the deck, I’d slowed down to a full ten seconds again, maybe even longer.

“Last one’s done,” I said, feeling like smashing my face against the table. “Let’s not do that again…”

“The elapsed time of the test, in total, is sixteen minutes,” Rhine said. “This concludes test one.”

“We should take a ten minute break,” Pash said, giving me that miniscule smile again. “I will go take a smoke.”

I made a face, and he looked curious.

“Those things fill your lungs with gunk,” I said. “I cleaned out Slick’s lungs once. It was disgusting.”

“Interesting,” Pash said. “Perhaps we can add that to the list of tests. However, I would not be the initial volunteer.”

Rhine’s face twisted a little, and I realized that Pash had effectively volunteered him into the activity.

I didn’t feel like commenting further. I just laid my head down on the table and made incoherent grumbling noises.

Rhine also apparently wanted to smoke, and a number of minutes later, both of them returned. My headache had diminished somewhat. Unfortunately, magic strain was not something that magic could fix, so I was going to have to deal with it.

This time, Rhine started the recording, while Pash sat down at the table.

“Before the test begins,” Pash said, “this test is to have you levitate this ball.”

He gestured at a little rubber ball, which was probably lighter than the deck of cards.

“Like this?” I asked, in a tongue in cheek way, using a touch of Flamus to send the ball flying into the air.

Both looked fascinated.

“That is correct,” Pash said.

“Can I make it interesting, say by flying it around in various fun ways?” I asked, demonstrating some loop de loops, and spinning the ball all around the room.

“I’m afraid, for this test, you are simply to hold it in the air,” he said.

“Right,” I said, raising an eyebrow. “For how long?”

“As long as you can,” he said.

“You’re kidding…” I said.

He looked curious, and I started making my seat more comfortable.

“Is that an issue?” he asked.

“We’ll be here for hours,” I said.

Both of them looked surprised again. I rolled my eyes. It was annoyingly stupid to make a series of tests without actually asking me what I was able to do.

“Perhaps ten minutes will suffice,” Pash said.

“If I’m going to be holding something for ten minutes, how about I hold you?” I asked dryly.

“Would that be equivalent effort?” he asked.

“No,” I said. “And that’s why it wouldn’t be so boring. You’d take more power, since you’re heavier, but for ten minutes, that’s still well within my strength. The bigger issue is making sure I don’t pinch anything, or cut off circulation, which means I’d at least have something to do for those ten minutes.”

He smiled.

“In any case, let us simply proceed with the test as planned, for now,” he said.

I sighed, and Rhine began recording.

When Pash indicated, with his introduction of “test two with subject alpha,” I levitated the little ball and waited.

At least it was a different element, so it required a different type of focus. The shift in strain was like exercising a different muscle, leaving me with plenty to work with.

At the ten minute mark, I amused myself by splitting the ball into eight pieces, and making them fly around each other in various patterns. Both men watched in fascination for a moment.

“I can put the ball back together, if you like,” I said, after I was done.

“We have no further need of it,” Pash said.

With that, he stood up, and swapped with Rhine again.

“The third test will be for you to turn this stone into a diamond,” Rhine said, holding out an entirely ordinary rock.

“But…” I started to protest.

“We know you are capable of that. Boring as it may be, this is the test chosen,” Rhine said.

I shook my head.

“But it has no diamond bits in it,” I said.

“I’m sorry?” Rhine asked.

“I don’t know the words,” I said. “But diamond is made of itty bitty bits. Those bits are in everything that’s alive, but they’re not in rocks.”

“I… see,” he said. “What could you turn the rock into?”

I extended my mage sense into the rock.

“Um… metal,” I said. “There’s some metal bits in here.”

“That’s not very impressive,” Rhine said.

I gave him a dark look.

“What about gemstones?” he asked.

I looked at the rock again.

“Quartz, maybe?” I said.

“Even less impressive,” Rhine said. “How did you make the diamond ring?”

“From shavings of wood, from your hotel bed,” I said.

He sighed.

“I suppose we can delay the tests while I get some wood,” Rhine said.

“Not really necessary,” I said. “I don’t need long hair - I could take off a handful of it, make diamond out of it, and grow more later. Or, if you’re willing to be patient, I can make it from the air.”

“From the air?” Pash asked, startled.

“The air we breathe out has the bits that make up diamond,” I explained. “But there’s not a lot of it, so it’d take some time to gather.”

“What you are describing sounds like atoms,” Rhine said. “You can see individual atoms?”

“Not exactly,” I said. “It’s more that I can feel patterns, and I’ve learned to recognize and use some patterns to various ends.”

“We will have to incorporate that into future tests,” Rhine said. “In the meantime, I will go gather some wood to use, since that’s what was used previously.”

I nodded, and he quickly left the room. Pash was giving me a contemplative look, but didn’t speak for a moment.

“Carbon atoms,” he said, surprising me.

“I’m sorry?” I said.

“The name for the ‘diamond bits,’” Pash said, with an amused smile.

“Thanks,” I said, feeling a little torn. I felt like I wasn’t supposed to be grateful to him, because he wasn’t trustworthy, but gratitude was filling my chest anyway.

“You are quite welcome, Ms. Koryn,” he said.

After a few minutes, Rhine returned with a chunk of wood. It looked like part of a broken branch from outside.

“I believe this will do,” he said, putting it on the table, and I nodded again.

He sat down next to me while Pash got the camera ready again.

“This is test three with subject alpha,” Rhine said, in exactly the same tone as before. “The purpose of this test is to demonstrate the subject’s ability to transmute wood into diamond.”

“I forgot to ask,” I said sheepishly. “Do you want me to narrate the process?”

“No need,” Rhine said.

I nodded and got to work. First, I pulled out all the water, and then all the other non carbon atoms from the framework. All of the carbon was attached to non carbon, which is why that step was more difficult, but it only took me a few seconds.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

When that step was completed, I had loose, black soot in my hands. Rhine and Pash were fascinated, and I treated them to an amused smile before the final step. Now that it was pure, I simply had to compress it all together, and get it to bind to itself in the pattern it liked most.

Once done, I presented the final product to Rhine. The most natural shape that magic takes is a sphere, always. In three dimensions, anyway - it takes the shape of a circle, in two dimensions, and in one dimension, there is only one shape - a line. I could have permitted it to take the shape most natural for diamond, but I thought it’d be nicer to showcase the preferences of magic.

Rhine picked up the three inch diameter sphere and gave it an appreciative look before turning to the camera.

“This will be sent along with the video as evidence,” Rhine said. “That concludes test three.”

With that, Pash turned off the camera.

“I believe that will be all for today,” Pash said.

“How much more of this inanity should I expect to endure?” I asked.

Rhine gave me an annoyed look as he started packing things away.

“There is a long series of recorded demonstrations that we have planned,” Pash said.

“These demonstrations are pathetic,” I said. “You’ve asked nothing of me that I couldn’t do from the time I was five, nevermind that I wouldn’t have done them so well.”

“With all due respect, Ms. Koryn, we haven’t any idea what you were capable of at five,” Pash said smoothly.

“With all due respect, Lieutenant, you never asked,” I said. “Wouldn’t it make far more sense to sit down with me and have me tell you my capabilities, and then design your tests accordingly?”

“While I will be happy to have dinner with you,” Pash said, catching me by surprise, “and hear about what you can do, this set of tests has less to do with the extent of your ability, and more to do with persuading others to listen, without causing unrest.”

“Hmph. It seems like a waste of my valuable time,” I said.

“It is good of you to be willing to sacrifice it, for the sake of a peaceful introduction,” Pash said, making my lip twitch in consternation. “As far as that discussion, perhaps Thursday evening?”

“Very well,” I said. “And in the meantime? I’ve been wasting my time trying to figure out how to track magic - I honestly don’t think I’ll manage it in under a year, at the rate I’m going.”

“Every advancement in that attempt is invaluable, if the Germans do, indeed, have access to magic,” Pash said.

“Fine,” I muttered. “I suppose I should be off, then?”

“As you prefer, Ms. Koryn,” Pash said. “I will call you as soon as we are ready for the next set of tests, and I will pick you up at eight o’clock on Thursday.”

The following two days were more of the strange torture, of feeling I could do so much more, and was held back by the advice of others. Still, I tried, and grew more aggressive in my approach. If something went massively out of control, it wouldn’t be as large of a problem now, since I’d already been “found out.”

Thursday evening, I wore a simple dress, trying to look formal, but not fetching, since aside from talking with Pash, I wasn’t sure what the plan was.

At eight o’clock, the doorbell rang, and I answered it to see Pash looking quite sharp, but not particularly military.

“Greetings, Ms. Koryn,” he said with a charming smile. “You look lovely, as always. Shall we?”

I nodded as I stepped outside with him, and said, “Where are we going?”

“There’s an italian restaurant that I suspect you haven’t tried,” he said. “The food is excellent.”

“A restaurant?” I said, surprised, as I started to get into his car. “An actual restaurant? For the sort of discussion we’re going to have?”

“There is no reason to concern yourself,” he said. “No one will have any idea what we are talking about, as long as you don’t mention that you are ‘the impossible.’”

“I wasn’t planning on it,” I said huffily, and he smiled.

The ride was quiet for a moment, aside from the muted roar of the engine.

“Any new information on the testing process?” I asked.

He nodded.

“We submitted the report Tuesday afternoon,” he said. “There has been a bit of excitement over the contents, but, as expected, it is well controlled. As I understand, the material is being discussed by higher ranking military officials as of earlier today. I expect to hear from them tomorrow.”

I nodded thoughtfully.

“That does sound quite… tame,” I said. “Did you know, one of my ideas was to walk into a military base, demonstrate my power, and whenever they stopped trying to kill or capture me, to talk with whomever hadn’t run away?”

He chuckled at that, long and slow. I had a feeling that this rumbling amusement was as close to belly laughing as this man ever got.

“That would have been fascinating to see,” he said, mirth still thick in his voice. “I imagine the results would depend in great deal upon which base you approached. Some commanders would merely escalate, and would not think to stop and simply discuss.”

“Truly?” I asked. “In the face of a superior foe, your people would keep trying?”

“To date, humanity has never encountered an enemy that cannot be overcome by the application of more numerous or more powerful weapons,” he said. “Explosives, in particular.”

I frowned at that.

“And, forgive me if I am mistaken, Ms. Koryn, but would such a tactic fail against you?” he asked.

“I suppose not,” I said with a sigh. “Though, really, I would be able to tell when my defenses were crumbling. I’d have to make the choice whether to flee or fight back, if it got bad enough.”

“And if you could not flee?” he asked.

I opened my mouth to answer, but made no sound.

The fastest and most effective way to instantly kill a mundane is to snip the base of the brain stem, my mother’s voice whispered, and I shuddered, just as I had shuddered when she’d first told me that.

Connections in the spine itself could be magically replicated, such as by an enchantment. Stopping the heart permitted consciousness for several seconds, permitting various mind magics to record, transmit, or otherwise provide control. An attack could still continue after the heart was stopped, though not for long.

That approach was something that could only be blocked by someone who was personally a spellcaster, or had powerful or specialized enchantments, since I’d learned to trace the path through the very nervous system of the target.

I could make all of the attackers drop dead on the spot.

But…

Only if I could will it to happen. Only if I wanted to. Which meant...

“I couldn’t do that,” I said softly. “Not on purpose.”

He nodded.

“It is good that you did not choose that approach,” he said.

I felt like curling up in a little ball.

We were quiet for the rest of the drive. Pash looked contemplative.

“Here we are,” he said, as we parked.

I got out of the car and walked with him into the restaurant. We were guided to our seats in the back. There was enough ambient music, combined with enough distance between tables that it would be hard for anyone to overhear anything we said.

We sat and made meaningless small talk about the restaurant while our orders were taken. Once I expected us to not be disturbed for a few minutes, at least, I decided to change the topic.

“As for the real reason we’re here,” I said, and his eyes glinted, as the only sign that he knew what I was talking about. “I believe the best approach is to briefly describe the six elements, which will give you the tools to predict how magic might be made to work.”

He nodded, either completely failing to hide the intensity of his interest, or having decided not to bother trying.

As I explained, he asked very few questions, and then, only to clarify aspects that I hadn’t described well.

“That’s why I was using Aeros for the card test,” I said. “I connected the chaos of my mind with the chaos of your mind, swapping in your mind’s ability to understand sight. That’s also why you lost control of your eyes - I’m not good at mind magic, so I ended up taking over all of your connection with sight.”

“I see,” he said, looking thoughtful. “But surely that’s not the only element you could have achieved that with.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Lum, for instance,” he said. “Would you have been able to simply know the nature of the card’s existence?”

“Oh,” I said. “Um, maybe? That does sound like Lum, but I can barely do anything with that element. I, personally, couldn’t do that.”

“What about making a way to see it, from a distance?” he asked. “A way to redirect the light to your eyes?”

“A mirror, you mean?” I said.

“Perhaps in a way that others couldn’t see,” he said, looking amused.

“I can imagine the idea of how to make a sort of light bending device that could get light only from where I need it, and direct it where it needs to go, while letting all other light pass through, leaving it effectively invisible,” I said. “But you have to understand, there’s… sort of two parts of magic.”

His eyes lit up again.

“There’s raw power, which I have a decent measure of, and can apply equally to all of the elements,” I said. “I can make light with Lum, and I can make it bright enough to blind you. Probably bright enough to scorch your flesh into withered scraps. But, the other aspect, the part that makes the idea of elements matter, is control.”

I tried to think of how to express it.

“Like being amazing at giving speeches, but bad at handwriting, because of damage to your hands,” I said. “Even if all the words are there in your head, actually making them come out properly just won’t work if you can’t hold a pen.”

He nodded thoughtfully.

“So you are poor at grasping the element of Lum,” he said, in his slow, contemplative way.

I nodded.

“I’m not terrible at comprehending it, which is what that word usually means,” I said. “But, on a gut level, on a spiritual level, however you describe the equivalent of the hands with which I hold magic, my hands shake and stutter at trying to command Lum.”

“I see,” he said. “Which of the elements are you skilled with?”

“Aquas,” I said immediately. “I would likely be called masterful in my skill with it, even back home. Flamus and An Lum are my next best elements, though I’ve been getting rustier with An Lum. Aeros, I’ve gotten quite a bit of practice with since coming here, especially with creating the language enchantment.”

“Hmm,” he said, musing. “With Aquas - let me think. I imagine that you could make the cards partially transparent, and modify your eyes to match, so that only you could see through them.”

“True,” I said. “But it’s important to also understand the limit of knowledge. I don’t actually know how eyes work. Rather, I know enough to enable me to copy someone else’s eye, copy the function, and make it compatible with my own process of vision. If I had, for instance, some sort of bird that could see another type of light, I could copy that bird’s sight, and do so myself. But, aside from making my vision perfectly clear, I simply don’t know enough to enhance my sight.”

He nodded. “And the transparency effect itself?”

“As long as I have the knowledge, such a process would be child’s play,” I said, with a shrug. “I haven’t got that knowledge, but a simple book on the topic would be all I’d need.”

He tapped his finger on his chin.

“With Grath, then, I imagine you could make the back of the card change to match the pattern on the front?” he asked. “Perhaps by raising it in relief?”

I thought for a second, trying to force my mind into the rigid pattern of Grath thinking, then nodded.

“I think that’d work,” I said. “Though, Grath is the other element with which I am wretched.”

“Flamus is giving me some trouble,” he said, still looking contemplative, and I laughed.

“Flamus is wretched for discreet information gathering,” I said wryly. “It would, however, be fantastic at simply acquiring the card by force.”

“That I can imagine,” he said. “As for An Lum - would you simply know which card it was?”

I shook my head.

“An Lum isn’t great at giving actual knowledge, exactly,” I said. “Instead, you’d ‘randomly’ guess which card it was, and happen to be correct.”

“Fascinating,” he said. “Was there a reason you didn’t use that element?”

“Three reasons,” I said. “One, he said it was a test of my ‘psychic’ ability, so I figured the type of magic that was the closest fit to that was the best choice.”

He chuckled at that.

“Two,” I continued, “it’s a hard element for most people to understand, and if people asked me how I did it, it’d set up a challenging precedent to work with. An Lum is reliable, and it does follow rules, but if your understanding of it is imperfect, you’re liable to come to false conclusions. If your people did that, they might end up concluding I was lying about something, especially if they didn’t want to admit to being wrong.”

“An exceptionally wise concern,” he said. “And the third reason?”

“An Lum is known as simultaneously the most powerful and least powerful of all the elements,” I said. “To do anything in the moment with An Lum requires an extreme amount of power. But it is the only element with the ability to truly perceive the future or past. I’ve made an enchantment for O’Brien along those lines, actually.”

“Is that so?” he asked. “What sort of enchantment?”

“It permits him to see the history of an area, up to an hour back,” I said, choosing the simpler of the enchantments to explain. I further described how it worked.

“Is he a spellcaster, then?” he asked, and I spluttered.

“I, er, I mean,” I said, trying to go back to a straight face. “I-it’s an enchantment, so he doesn’t, um, need to be a spellcaster to, um, do that.”

He raised an eyebrow and smiled as I shoved a bite of cold pasta into my mouth to give me the excuse to not say anything. My masterful deception did not appear to be especially effective.

“I see,” he said, and thankfully, he didn’t seem to intend to push the matter. “Are there any other key aspects of magic I should know about?”

“Probably,” I said. “I can’t think of any other major fundamentals I should mention off the top of my head. What you know should suffice for designing tests that are not ludicrously pathetic.”

He chuckled at that.

“You should be aware that Rhine and his department are the ones involved in designing the tests,” he said with an amused glint in his eye. “My role is to simply assist in their research process, and to supervise for the purpose of validating the results with the military.”

“Why is he in charge, when you are the one with intelligence?” I asked.

A deep chuckle emerged from him, just like the one in the car that made me think it was as much as he ever laughed.

“I suspect our society would look far different, if intelligence were the deciding factor in placing people into positions of power,” he said dryly.

“I suppose my world is no better, for that,” I said with a sigh. “Outside of spellcasters, all sorts of people rule for all sorts of reasons, some more sensible than others. Within spellcasters, the only law is power, and certain lines that must never be crossed. Intelligence only plays a role in that it’s hard to achieve truly great power with magic without it.”

“Which does not always end well, I suspect,” he said.

“You have no idea,” I said, closing my eyes and shuddering. “Perhaps… perhaps I should tell you some of the stories, so that there’s another measure of protection to prevent such things happening here.”

“Another time,” he said with a smile. “We will have a great deal of time together, you and I, and I see no reason to bring down a perfectly good dinner with such morbid tales.”

“I suppose so,” I said, giving him a wry smile.

I wasn’t quite so much a fool as to believe he wasn’t manipulating me. Between the distrust the others had for him and the fact that Lou believed that he was choosing his words to align with my preferences, it made this transformation of his rather suspect.

The change was as slow as though he were simply growing to trust me and that this was his true self beneath the harsh exterior I’d seen before. From the cold, rigid investigator who’d scared the life out of me, into the sort of intelligent, personable, charm that I found nearly irresistable for a friend? It was far too perfect to be believed.

And yet, even though my mind was nearly completely sure it was an attack, a fool part of my heart wanted to believe that this revelation was actually truth, and wanted to trust him.

Even though I knew from first meeting him, that he was a fox.

But he could be a nice fox, the thought whispered in my mind.

I was obviously an idiot. Still, I didn’t want to call him out on it. Better to face the nice approach than to force him to try a different angle of attack, one that I might not see through. I just had to somehow guard myself against his newly acquired charm.

Which included not letting this last manuever make me feel like I was obligated to have more evenings like this, in order to share more knowledge of my homeworld.

Yes, because more evenings as lovely and pleasant as this one would be terrible, that snide part of my mind thought.

I smiled at my own idiocy, directing the smile at the pleasant foe with amusement glinting in his eyes.

“Going back to the subject of the tests,” I said, “Is there any chance you might be able to influence them to perhaps be less mind numbingly boring?”

“I fear that would prove difficult,” he said, his smile warm. “The tests are designed with the aim of demonstrating only one capability at any given time, which makes them simple by necessity.”

I frowned.

“That said,” he went on, “with the knowledge I now have of your ability, I can encourage the tests to better match your actual limits.”

“What difference would that actually make?” I asked. “What you need to know is the potential of magic itself, within the context of the Germans. What do my limits matter?”

“You, personally, are the only resource available to America that has any ability to counter, directly or indirectly, the prospect of magic-wielding Nazi forces,” he said.

“Not as a weapon,” I said.

“That has been made clear,” he said wryly. “Regardless, knowing your limits are critical for the purpose of ensuring your talents are both used to their fullest extent, while also not risking you in any way.”

“One would think,” I said dryly, “That if he were going to design tests for me, that he’d make the tests more explicitly impossible, considering that he’s labeled me ‘the Impossible.’”

He went still, all except for his eyes, as my brain caught up with my mouth.

The one thing I wasn’t supposed to say.

I went bright red, and as he recovered from his surprise, he chuckled again.

“Okay, fine, so I’d make a terrible spy,” I muttered.

“The worst spy to ever live,” he said, amusement still thick in his voice.

“Maybe not the worst spy,” I said, scowling.

He raised an eyebrow and was clearly trying not to openly snicker at me.

“Don’t forget, I can cheat,” I said. “I could be a perfectly good spy, as long as talking wasn’t involved.”

“I struggle to think of how that could be managed,” he said.

“I could just go over to Berlin and walk wherever I pleased,” I said. “Who could stop me?”

“You look Jewish,” he said wryly. “I’m quite certain that they’d stop you. And if you resisted, they’d use guns - which, I believe, would be effective in sufficient quantities.”

“I don’t have to look like this,” I said, giving him a pointed look. “You already know that.”

“Regardless of your appearance, Ms. Koryn, I don’t believe you could act like you belong convincingly enough to fool anyone,” he said, still smiling.

“I could always shift into a dog,” I said. “No one suspects dogs of anything. And even if they figured it out, I can still use magic like that, so I could still protect myself.”

“In which case, they’d know they’re facing a dog,” he said, looking terribly amused.

“But what kind?” I asked. “Changing fur details is trivial.”

“In which case, they might try to kill all the dogs in all of Germany,” he said, leaning on his arm in a relaxed posture. “Would you truly wish to be the cause of a canine genocide?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at that, a sound which prompted him to join me. We laughed like old friends for a long moment, and I found myself wishing it were real.

“In all seriousness, though, I am concerned about Rhine,” I said. “It is deeply unsettling to me that someone so blatantly idiotic has any measure of authority over me, in any respect that anyone believes legitimate. I mean, he gave me blanket permission to do anything I wished to with his mind, last we spoke.”

“He is merely a stepping stone,” Pash said, still smiling from our moment of shared laughter. “There are brilliant minds here in America, and I suspect you will be working with them directly in the relatively near future.”

“But are they in charge, though?” I asked.

He flinched in an entirely believable way.

“Dealing with politicians is a reality that most everyone must endure, at some point,” he said. “But you will be serving the interests of America, which means you can be certain that, whatever the means, it is to a good end.”

“I will not be serving the interests of America,” I said. “I will be serving the interests of humanity, and as long as America cooperates with that, it will have my aid, but not for an instant longer.”

“Humanity, according to your perceptions of what it requires,” he said, his expression wry. “Many would find that concerning.”

“Many would also find it concerning for someone with the power to change the entire existance of the world as you know it to simply do as she is told, with no consideration for the consequences,” I said.

“A fair point,” he said. “Regardless, there are times when it is wise to confer with others.”

“Which is the main reason I’ve allowed myself to be leashed to the will of my friends for these years,” I said. “There is no force more dangerous than a spellcaster who believes he needs no perspective other than his own.”

“An exceptionally reassuring thing for you to say, Ms. Koryn,” he said. “‘Leashing’ yourself, as you say, to America would be the safest course for this world’s future. This is the land of the free, and it is more dedicated to that ideal than any other nation.”

“Perhaps, when I meet these brilliant minds you mentioned, I might be persuaded,” I said.

His smile brightened.

“Tell me, Ms. Koryn,” he said. “Have you ever heard of Einstein?”