"Angels can do that, too?" That's surprising enough - and alarming enough, to think that Gabriel might be able to do such a thing - that she blurts the question before it can occur to her that she really shouldn't be letting on that she knows any angels. "I don't remember the Bible saying anything about that," she hastily continues, hoping he'll just assume she read up on local gods because she expected to them to be as meddlesome as those back home.

As to his questions, she shrugs. She's not necessarily the best person to be asking. Learning how to use her magic took up most of her attention, and she hasn't much concerned herself with the philosophical side of things.

"I reckon it's the gods that give it to you," she hazards, "but it's not as if you can ask them to give it to you if you don't have it - or ask them to take it away if you do. Or you could, but I doubt they'd listen." Pulling a face, she adds, "You're most likely to hear from them when they want something from you, not the other way around."