"I apologise," Solomon said instantly. He didn't usually believe in apologies, but he was himself unsettled by what he'd done by accident. It hadn't even been an accident, exactly--he'd intended to do what he did, or else it wouldn't have worked; such was Asti's boon. He just hadn't realised it was using the death-aura technique, from a different side.

"Is it?" That was a surprise. Tentatively he touched the mushroom again, but this time he didn't focus on taking, but putting back. There wasn't much of a difference--a faint wave of dizziness, and nothing more; but there was a difference. "And now?"