"… Possibly try calling on, like, air and earth or something, some combination of the typical elements – probably not fire, because, uh," he looks around a bit pointedly. "Even though the idea of hot air might help with the floating."

"Why would earth help?"

What, really, no 'why on earth'? "I have no idea, I was mainly just meaning to give it extra strength instead of being thematically appropriate, but perhaps the things can do the opposite of their themes too, and since Earth is about the ground, and you want to fly, perhaps it'd be able to get rid of the annoying thing, like reduce gravity on you or something."

Shrug.

"Wind, I call upon thee to lend me aid—"

"Thee?"

She ignores her. "Earth, I beseech thee to release me! Grant me lift, give me motion, let me take to the skies and soar! Let me fly!" Yup, that's better, she's flying now. "Whoop!" She tries twirling in the air and succeeds.

Willow giggles uncontrollably. "This is the best magic."

"… Not a stupid idea, cool."

"So, maybe if we weren't inside and worried about fire, you could get that involved too? Could result in more freedom of movement or greater speed or something. Also the 'thee' thing might be affecting stuff, so maybe we should try it without that and see if modern English works differently."

"Is anyone writing this down? It probably doesn't depend on exact phrasing, I'm just making stuff up as I go along." She zips this way and that as she talks.

"I am," says Maya, pen in hand.

"Okay, I'm gonna try—" and she suddenly loses the ability to flight and goes tumbling onto the (thankfully cushioned) floor.

"You alright?" asks Theo, moving over to her.

"Nnnghh yeees? Floor's soft, didn't really get hurt. That was weird."

"… What did you try?"

"I didn't try anything! I just—fell."

"So there's a time limit or something?"

"Oh, I thought you– hm," he says. "Wind, Earth, I call upon you for flight."

He is: flying!

...well, hovering, really. Not noticeably different than Sadde with the very first version of the spell.

"… And apparently I am hovering, not flying. – Which thing was Windy under again, moon or Sun?"

"Moon, pretty sure."

"… Okay, so unless the affinity things are reversed here, that seems like it should be the opposite of how it is, since I'm moon and I'm pretty sure Kero said affinities were like-for-like?"

"Your phrase was shorter than hers. If this system relies on you being all theatrical..."

"… I'm not really sure what else to say. I don't know if I can be– adequately theatrical, shall I say."

Maya does not laugh at that.

She might smile like she wants to, though.