Chapter 97: A lead

I stood up to assert dominance, careful to not look at the paradoxical apple too close. It was fine if I didn't concentrate on it—then my brain just assumed that since it was blue, it was, well, of the right kinds of blue. The illusion shattered when I looked at it directly, so I didn't. When I looked the gathered witches over, I saw that neither did they.

"Well," I started carefully gathering my words, "I thought it would be obvious. I simply turned the apple blue by putting said aspect into it."

"But…" Alexandra paused and, after a moment of contemplation, closed her mouth and nodded. "Of course! This is a very unorthodox approach to something like this, but it's also very interesting. I see you have been practicing on your own, and it did your skills a great deal of good." She gave me a praising smile before turning to glance at the guest witches with unmistakable pride.