"Yeah, something to keep them attached to whatever you've still got that's closest. But I think the layers idea would be better if I could make it work. It'd also have more applications besides learning spells."

"Well, yes, but it's a good idea to have multiple ways to approach a problem in case one goes wrong."

Iobel nods.

"She's a very gifted spellbinder."

Edarial smiles at her.

"Look, you have someone to geek out about magic with!"

"Oh goodness. I occasionally tried to keep up with Iobel talking magic - but I only know simple spells. I spend them on boiling water and dusting the living room as often as not."

"Well, you taught me to read, which is certainly the most important prerequisite."

"Oh, nonsense, you taught yourself to read and I slightly improved your penmanship."

"Edarial's tried to persuade me to talk to him about magic. Ugh."

"That doesn't make much sense. You're no spellbinder."

"I mostly just don't have people to talk to about magic."

"Well, now there's Iobel."

"There is," he agrees.

"I should really translate my wall-walking spell into Marlese."

"And I should give you my notes on the perception spell."

"I may as well loan you my copies of my published spellbooks, too, unless they've already made their way into the library, I hadn't thought to check. The ones I published are mostly just improvements on standards that are already floating around, though."

He nods. "Thank you, I'll look into them."

"I did write a few originals just to make sure I knew how to do it in general, for the big complicated projects. I can fly, for instance. But it's got about five minutes duration for fifteen charging, which was very disappointing."

"That... Does sound kind of disappointing, but it could be useful in certain situations."

"Sure. I'm glad I have it rather than not, but I don't use it for recreational swooping around like I was hoping. I've considered redoing it from scratch and seeing if I get better luck with a different configuration but I've had other priorities."

He nods. "I know the feeling there. I've been trying to work on something that lets food keep for longer periods of time, to help with transporting it to places far away and reduce disease by it spoiling.."

"I have one that freezes water, in, not arbitrary quantities, but potentially large ones. With the right sort of boat you could turn it into an icebox for at least medium-sized journeys, longer if there were waystations with spellbinders between the starting and ending points."

"Useful, but not quite as permanent as I'd like. I can freeze water, too, I'm just trying to get as much food as possible onto a boat without spoiling things - ice takes up a lot of space if you want it to keep for longer."

"Ice floats, but of course then it would melt faster."