She shoots him a surprised glance at the mention of the ether. "Well, it's... Yeah, it has to do with ether. And yeah, I can see how it would be magic in some universes. That kinda seems like what this universe would think of it. So maybe it's just like... my universe was able to apply scientific method to what other places would consider magical practices."

She smiles, pleasantly surprised that they have this in common, sort of. "I love that, how many overlaps there are, in all kinds of ways you wouldn't expect. The possible variations are limitless. It's breathtaking. This is part of what got me into dimensional physics. That's, uh, my other field. Crossing between worlds. That's how I got here, only then I couldn't turn back."