Under Dr. Ellison's direction, you and Manish move away from the other pairs. "As you will be channeling magic as part of this assessment," she tells all of you, "you must be prepared to handle backlash."
To channel magic energy, you configure your mind by staring at a pattern. That alters your mind, and the energy that flows through your mind alters it more. You're physically changing your mind to work with truly alien energy. That's backlash.
Your brain will recover, but only if you put the pattern out of your mind as quickly as possible. Every practitioner has a way of forgetting a pattern as soon as they're done with it to minimize how much their mind changes. Your aunt helped you decide on yours.
Calculating a math sequence keeps you from remembering a pattern. You prefer the Fibonacci sequence, where each number is the sum of the previous two: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, and so on. You've got the early numbers memorized, so these days you start with higher numbers: 34, 55, 89….
"As you no doubt recall, I gave you the assignment to prepare your method to minimize backlash before this assessment. Before we channel any magic, please demonstrate your approach to your partner."
Manish looks at the floor. "I'm ready." He doesn't sound like he's ready. "Are you? How'd you choose your method?"