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"I don't think it's a robot either," Mistral replied, eyes not moving from Gevaudan and her dog. "I think it's a construct. An artificial intelligence. It has to keep its brain somewhere, doesn't it?" Maybe some people didn't spend all their free time considering these things, but Mistral did. If the Code didn't have one centralized processing hub, then the alternate was that it was made up of a network of omnipresent quantum nanomachines or... something.

"Personally," she said, "I'm not completely sure magic exists. Our sandbox is the ruins of an incredibly advanced intergalactic civilization. It's much more likely that what we call magic is just technology that harnesses the universe's fundamental forces in ways we can't explain."

Order and Chaos weren't magic. They were like... energy. A part of the fabric of the universe. "Calling things magic is like saying, 'I don't know how it works, let's not find out.'"

Realizing that she'd gotten a bit too fired up there, Mistral laughed and slouched back against her pillow nest. "I mean," she said, "Yeah, I guess that's what there is to me. I'm Mistral. I have a dog. I don't believe in magic. And if I could take the universe apart and see how it works, I would."

Mistral shook her head. "So water falls from the sky, and then it evaporates, and then it rains again," she said, trying to think of an example someone not so tech-savvy could hand. "That's not magic. That's just a natural function. The relationship between negaversers and youma might not be technologically based, obviously or otherwise, but I'm confident that it's explainable within the laws of physics. Teleportation is just a usage of quantum entanglement. I think."

She'd heard that the Negaverse would like her from others - Zircon had said as much. But half of Mistral's strength was in her wonder, and corruption had too many wild factors. If she lost her powered memories, if she lost Asimov, then all the research trips in the world would be useless to her. Zinkenite's potential favorite or not, she'd be staying put with Order.

"We don't have those," she said, "although if anyone else wanted to help with my research, I wouldn't say no." She could admire the Negaverse for their organization skills without wanting to drink the kool-aid.

His last question gave her cause to grin. "In the Silver Millennium, I was a brilliant young scientist," she said. "I had so much potential. But I was sent to earth, cut off from my research, my magic, my heritage. I could have done great things. I can still do great things. So that's my goal. I knew it all once, I can know it again, and then I can change the world."

Mistral pursed her lips. "I don't think they would be opposed, no," she said. She'd never known the knights to be actively self-defeating, just resistant to anyone forcing them to organize. "They would never allow themselves to have that kind of structure imposed on them, but they wouldn't stop people from networking. But they're famously resistant to anyone trying to crown themselves king."

She was in agreement with Gevaudan that they would all benefit from structure, but if it was done wrong, it would only brew dissent. "I would like it if we were more connected," said Mistral. "With better communication and a better support system. But I'm not so naïve as to think that it can be brute-forced."

Pausing, she fixed Gevaudan with a thoughtful look. He might have come over from the Negaverse, but he still seemed to be highly skeptic about all this knight business. Mistral didn't expect him to start drinking the kool-aid over night, but she'd at least hoped he might have at least been to his wonder and tried to figure some things out for himself.

"No, we can have them, too," she said. "Some knights have ancestors, but others are reborn. The only way to know which you are is to go to your Wonder. A thousand years ago, my starseed belonged to the last knight of Mistral, Asimov. She's me. I'm her. And when I walk the halls of my labyrinth, I can uncover my memories. I had to abandon my post before. leave work unfinished... but now I have a second chance."

"Then I don't think you'll have any trouble," replied Mistral, smiling primly at him. Perhaps he'd taken her warning as an accusation - but she thought herself above such petty drama. "They won't hail Caesar, but you can win their friendship - and with it, their loyalty."

The dog nudged his face towards Gevaudan, trying to figure out why the petting had stopped.

"It's no problem. All I've ever wanted to do was help," she said, eyes on her dog more than on the knight. "It just... backfires, sometimes. Thanks for taking the time to talk."

Mistral gave shot him a slightly deadpan look. "Go get your ring from your Wonder," she said, "And you can send me all the free text messages you want."

Honestly, what was even the point of giving people cool tech if they were going to ask silly questions like how do I contact you? But she supposed she could forgive Gevaudan just this once - he was rather new to things, after all.

Her expression lightening, she got to her feet and curtsied slightly in his direction. "I'm sure we'll see each other again soon. It's been a pleasure."