"So what I'm hearing is 'stay low enough to the ground that you won't crack your head open when the spell slips for the forseeable future' and 'it's a good thing the fountain of youth suddenly became relevant to your life.'"

He laughs. "Yes, if that's how you want to see it."

"Flying is fun!"

"It is!"

"And flying for myself is something I can do with magic that's not rendered redundant by living here."

"True."

"I won't claim I'm disappointed that that's such a small category, but it's nice that it's not empty."

He smiles.

"I can teach you how to conjure, too," he says, picking a glass flower out of thin air - a pink carnation, its petals gleaming in the light. "It's tricky, but once you get the hang of it you can make anything you please, as long as you understand it well enough."

"Ooh!"

He spins the flower by its stem. "And that's how I manage to make a hobby of decorating guest rooms."

"It's a cute hobby. The guest rooms are lovely."

"Glad you like them!"

"So are the beds magically cozy, or are there just materials that soft?"

"There are just materials that soft, if you conjure them carefully enough!"

"Conjuration sounds very convenient."

"It is."

"If anyone had told me a week ago that being a masochist would be good for more than a little fun, I would have been...not as disbelieving as if someone told me I'd be glad to catch your attention, of course, but skeptical."

"If someone had told me a week ago that I'd dance with a girl and take her home and not make her a swan... I'm not sure I'd have been skeptical exactly, but I'd have been very curious about why I'd do that."

"I expect I would still have managed to surprise you."

"You are an excellent surprise."

"I'd say I try but no, this is just me."

Giggle.

"I was scared of you, when you asked me to dance. I just didn't think cowering would have helped anything."

"And look how right you were!"

"It's very gratifying!"