"I have a birth-blessing immunity, for which I'm very thankful, because, yeah, ick. I don't actually know much about them - and wards ward them off as well as they do other things so they'd have to aim at you while you were away from home and not on the clan lands either. I can write Metis if you want to know more. I don't think they're impossible to fight, any of them, if that helps? But I'm not sure how subtle they get."

"That helps, it's just a little - disturbing," he says. He stops to think. "Nothing I've done has been particularly - strange or completely unlike me. I see a logical train of events that leads to a conclusion that's not - absurdly perfect or something. It's nice, better than I could have hoped, but if it were perfect we would be finished helping everyone in a weekend. So I stand by my earlier analysis and say there was no strange magic involved."

"I don't think you're under one of these spells. Like I said, they're not common, and I can't have been gotten so I'd notice if you were acting weird." She squeezes him.

He kisses her hair, gently. "Thank you. I did mean it, when I said I trusted you. Let me know if I start acting weird."

"I will. But I don't expect it."

"Neither do I. But it is a better idea to be careful than not and be some kind of magical puppet. Or worse."

"If it makes you nervous I can look into more warding spells to put on your person, which might help, but there's a reason we do geographical locations - it just works a lot better than personally wrapping up everyone in protections."

"If you have some that'll stick instead of constantly draining you? Yeah, might not be amiss. I'll write to some people about more wards. Hopefully you don't run out of places to put tattoos."

"I could put them on clothes, I think that would work. Maybe reinforcing your silks to be like body armor. If I run out of places to put tattoos I will be extremely surprised. There's a lot of room on my back left already, if that runs out then I suppose we can move on to creative things, like the bottom of my feet or something."

"Ooh, if you turn my silks into armor I might switch to a different tying style. In which case I'd need different lengths. So I guess you can test it on this set but if it works I'll want it on a longer piece or three."

"I will add it to my list of projects," he says brightly. "I love having this many magic things to do, it's fun."

"It's good to be busy!"

"Indeed it is! I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I wasn't."

"Be bored, I imagine. Some people like being bored. I imagine that's what Charlie likes about fishing."

Adarin snickers. "I would still like to try it once and see what it's like myself. Eventually, when I have less things to do."

"But ideally while I still have plenty on my plate and will not become disconsolate without company."

"Of course," laughs Adarin. "I can always think of new things to do to throw at you, if that becomes a problem."

"Hmm... A we- er, five days. I am trying very hard to get used to your calendar. It only sometimes works."

"I have no idea where seven-day-weeks came from, they're weird and don't match with anything else."

"Yes. It's terrible and you should feel ashamed on behalf of your people," deadpans Adarin.

"Does Wikipedia make up for it?"

"Hmmmm. Yes."

"Well then. Since in addition to Wikipedia we also have chocolate, I think I will be proud instead."