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[Corwin]

"I don't mind," Seira agrees, eager to meet the next challenge in the meantime!

[Anastasia]

"Then go ahead, I'll be right back," Chrona 42 days, vanishing.

"Oh, that's so much," Kascha says, murmuring. "So many options and so much magic!"

[Corwin]

"I hope you realize that there are only two options, Kascha," Seira tells her gently. "Recognizing this sort of magic if you come across any remnants of it, and using it in case the Compact is broken. Both would be insanely dangerous and would probably have swift resolutions, so this is our chance to enjoy ourselves with Chronomancy."

[Anastasia]

"It's not right, magic shouldn't be hobbled, not like this." She says it with soft wonder in every word, "I knew about chronomancy, but not like this. Feeling it so alive, it's like I had a sense that I never knew I had. It's like the Weave has a majesty I was blind to."

[Corwin]

"I suppose Mystra agrees with you," Seira muses, trying to speed up the passage of time.

[Anastasia]

How are you trying to do it? This is a situation where the concept of it matters a lot due to Creation's time metaphysics.

[Corwin]

I'm trying to make every two subjective seconds passing for my avatar back home (and the rest of Creation) take only one subjective second for me (and Kascha, and this testing area) here.

[Anastasia]

Okay, so basically you want double the speed of time around you.

[Corwin]

Correct

[Anastasia]

You find it doesn't quite work - you can't seem to adjust it right. "Ahem," Chrona 42 steps out from nowhere, as if he was always there. "Apologies on that taking so long. You're running into the problem of the absolute Present. Are you familiar with the concept?"

[Corwin]

"Please explain," Seira requests politely, confident that Kascha will take copious notes on the subject.

[Anastasia]

"Ahem," The Inevitable clears his throat, "We are in the present. We can go into the past, but we cannot go into the future, for it is not yet made. A metaphor may help. Imagine we are a single star an empty night sky. As we fly forward, we leave light behind us. We can look back and see the light behind us, for it has been made. But we cannot see ahead, for it is not yet made light, for there is nothing but darkness."

After a moment for that and Kascha to write away, "We call this the present or sometimes the absolute Present. Some works and traditions capitalize it, some do not. Use your own discretion."

Without looking up, "Thank you, that's helpful. Is it to distinguish from casual uses of the word present and the concept of the absolute present?"

"Yes," Is the answer given, "Some prefer to rely on context, but it's ultimately a matter of presentation and personal taste. Certain comma usages are similar to that."

This causes Kascha to keep on writing, but she adds in with, her tongue sticking slightly out of the corner of her mouth, "Commas should be used whenever possible for clarity."

"Quite," General agreement, "But to go back to the point. The present is absolute. You can travel back from the present to the past, but you cannot travel to the future. Likewise, certain things adjusting Creation's time overall are impossible. That's not how you do it. If you want subjective time, adjust time directly around you. It takes a certain touch because the magic has to fortify what it's affecting around you rather than everything else, and not going past the absolute Present. It may seem subjective, but that's how it works. Try it again, focus on a tighter range and affecting yourselves."

[Corwin]

"I was affecting us and our immediate area only," Seira responds, frowning now. "I wanted to speed up ourselves, the grass, wind and everything in the immediate vicinity, and then compare the flows of time both here and home. Just what is the maximum radius I can affect here before Creation starts fighting back against the changes?"

[Anastasia]

"With your divine will?" A rub of his chin, "About this size. In that case, it may just be over. Narrow it down a little and try again, I'll watch in case it's something wrong."

[Corwin]

Seira decides to start with a thousand feet radius! Should it works, she'll keep increasing all the way up to two miles or until Chrona 42 asks her to stop. And if it's just too far, she'll reduce the radius by jumps of a hundred feet at a time.