Captive Magics

38 - Paper wings

A stack was beginning to grow from what initially Leander had expected would just be a few scraps of paper for his personal notes, and he justified it by telling himself it was making his book-sorting quicker. And it was, until he was distracted by an idea which he was compelled to sketch out, luring him back to it periodically through the morning as his work lagged. It was the first set of runes he had constructed entirely himself, none of them being mentioned together in any book, and he was so desperate to know if it would work, if he really had understood, that he resolved to go home for lunch to see if Lissy could test it for him.

When he arrived the house was empty, the door locked, and Leander unlocked it with a feeling of dread. He went through every empty room before cutting some musty bread and cheese for himself in the kitchen, and returned for work with a nagging worry at the forefront of his mind.

That evening as he arrived home again after work, Lissy was in the kitchen as usual.

"Did you go to the repair shop today?" he asked as he entered. She looked up and smiled at him, then got to her feet to find cups for them both.

"Oh, no, I've been here all day," she said cheerfully, her back turned to him as she opened the cupboard. Leander frowned, one hand on the kettle, and wondered whether he should ask. What had she been doing? He found himself suddenly questioning the value she placed on their friendship. Perhaps he was a fool. "Actually, I did pop out—" she added casually, turning back and abruptly pausing when she saw his face. "Oh. Are you alright?"

"Perfectly, thank you. You popped out?" he assumed a smile as he set the full kettle on the stove, but the unease had transferred from him to her. In the process of passing him cups and setting the kettle steaming away merrily with a flick of her hand, he noticed a crease of unease forming in her forehead.

"Have you had a rotten day?" she asked.

"No, no, it was fine. I had an idea I wanted to discuss with you. You popped out?"

"Really? What was your idea?"

"No, what were you saying?"

"Well," she hesitated, watching him spoon tealeaves into the pot. "I'm not sure I want to say. It's not very interesting. In addition, I'm worried about telling you when you look upset already."

"I came home for lunch. You weren't here: I worried."

"Oh, is that all? Okay, well you needn't have, I'm quite alright."

"Where did you go?" he asked, trying to keep his voice light and failing slightly, and was rewarded with a guilty half-smile before she answered.

"I was just going for a walk," she told him, paused again, then continued in a rush, "Sir Quislin was there, I spotted him, he was with some other people but I followed them for a bit to see where he was staying..." She winced at Leander's poorly concealed expression.

"Fine. Fine. That's what we're here for."

"It is," she agreed. "I was perfectly safe."

"Nobody saw you?" he asked anxiously.

"Not a soul, apart from an urchin girl hoping to pick his pockets."

"More fool her, the man's dangerous," Leander said, then made another effort to look at the positives for her sake. "That sounds like the first time we've made progress while we've been here. Did you see where he lives?"

"Yes. Yes, I did."

"Good work!" he said, expecting her to suggest another badly-schemed break-in.

"He's in a hotel," she said, and they looked at each other thoughtfully. Not a private house with a hidden library, then. Did he have a house somewhere else in the country? It was more mysteries than answers.

"What was the idea you had?" Lissy asked abruptly as she poured them both tea.

"It's stupid really," he told her, fishing around in his pocket for his runes, and he pulled out a paper bird, which he unfolded to a creased sheet and handed to her. "Not exactly a living gargoyle. I just wanted to see if it worked." Lissy turned the paper round, flipped it over, ran a single finger across the runes, then folded it carefully back into its original shape where the runes formed a different pattern. She set it flying, shivering its paper wings in the air above their heads and making Leander's heart lift in jubilant twinned flight.

He had understood. He had achieved.

Lissy watched it climb the eddies of the room and Leander watched her, wondering whether she thought him an idiot.

"It is a bit stupid," he said again, sheepishly, turning his eyes to the bird. "A toy with no purpose. I just wondered if it would work. And I couldn't even make it come alive myself..."

"It's not stupid at all, it's elegant," she said matter-of-factly, propping her chin in her hands to watch it. The bird fluttered, then perched like a real bird would on the windowsill. "Most people struggle with runes," she added. "You're brilliant already - just think how good you'll be in a week."