Captive Magics

41 - The Idea

Though he didn't believe in get-rich-quick schemes, if anyone could do it he knew it would be her. She was vague and lost in thought for the rest of the evening and Leander gave her room to think, knowing the sense of purpose could do her some good. When he returned home the following day she was lying on her stomach in the back sitting room, books and sketches spread about her on the floor. He stopped at the threshold in surprise and she sat up, dusting off her skirt.

"You've been busy!"

"Sorry, it's a mess," she said apologetically. "I seem to have spread everything out..."

"What are you working on?" he asked, and bent to look at one of her diagrams.

"Don't look at that one!" she cried, snatching it from sight. She clutched it to herself, looking flustered, and pawed another two pages away from him.

"Why not?"

"It's got a mistake on it," she said, embarrassed. Leander, smiling bemusedly, dropped to the floorboards and joined her on hands and knees as she sifted through papers.

"Oh, okay. How about this-"

"No!"

"This?"

"Not that either!" she pulled them all away, flushing as he laughed.

"Why do you mind me seeing them?" he asked, almost nose-to-nose with her as she grabbed at another sheet in panic. Since it bothered her so much he didn't interfere, and she rapidly succeeded in hiding everything.

"I mind."

"I know. I just don't see why."

"You're better at this than me," she replied, sitting back on her haunches. "I'm not good at runes."

"Yes you are. Come on, just show me."

"Well, alright," she replied uncertainly, and he sat watching her as she hovered, deliberating, over two sheets of paper, then she chose one suddenly and handed it to him. "There's a mistake in it somewhere, but I can't work out where," she told him sheepishly. Leander was convinced he couldn't do any better than her. He took the diagram and sat, flummoxed, trying to make head or tail of it. "Is it that bad?" she asked anxiously.

"No, it's good," he said, "I just don't understand it."

"Oh no..."

"I'm sure it's fine," he insisted, though he had spotted several small mistakes already. "I don't completely understand the purpose of it."

"I was hoping you could tell me," she said, leaning closer to him and chewing her fingertips anxiously. "Then I'd know if I'd got it right. I thought maybe we could build something that deflects the curse decaying food, to try out on our pantry. But we don't even know if it is a curse, or what sort – it's trying to find an answer for an unknown question. I've got cants to couple it to, and I'm sure of them, but the runes are tricky-"

"Oh!" he exclaimed, suddenly seeing what she hoped to achieve. "Cants? And runes? In one spell...can you do that?"

"I don't know," she admitted.

"Lissy that's brilliant. It all makes sense now." The broken cycle of runes, tied to an entirely different sort of magic, seemed complex and improbable, but the slim chance of it working was intriguing enough to be worth the effort. "I think that could work," he told her, pointing at the bit where the two magics would mix. "If it doesn't, I can think of a few other things for you to try."

She passed him another sheet and he sketched out some alternative suggestions for her. Nothing he had read had ever mentioned mixing magics, and she must have read more than him. Still, it would be worth doing a bit of research in the library over the next few days. If he could help her at all, he would, because for the first time in weeks he had noticed the listlessness missing from her, and she was restored by purpose. They sat together side by side and looked at the sprawl of ideas drawn out before them.

"You know," she said thoughtfully, "it's a long shot, but I reckon we can do it."