While Lunise remained stony, Sabine was far more expressive in her silence. She held her eyes ahead and her lips slightly parted, with her breath held as if to say something. In truth, the framework for all things -- including magic -- that Hal-Neesa placed onto their minds was a heavy one to adjust to. Just enough of it spoke of the bare basic mechanics of mysticism magic that there could have been some transference. Sabine suspected she was barely a hair from being able to link the two concepts.

Sabine shook her head after a moment. The notion of tones had precedents all of its own. "You make it sound easy," she said. "But more than that, you make it sound...unlimited. If all of reality is made from tones, then what could you not compose?"