"Shenanigans," she shrugs. "I found myself in the past, your family helped me by modifying a curse that would keep me frozen, they neglected to inform me that they would in fact be getting those sixty years from my being frozen when I agreed to give them more, I feel cheated, I would like to not have been cheated."

"Understandable.

I'm not sure I can take your deal, though. You're asking me to pay with a family asset for something that benefits me personally. Unless you think you can convince me that with your support I have a better chance at claiming a vacant seat than Laird does without it?"

"I think there's absolutely no way Laird gets it, now or later. If you don't want to take your chance now, I'm going to back Jeremy and I think he's going to be a way stabler Lord than Conquest is and much harder to oppose. And if it ever looks like he isn't, I will probably in fact make sure to help him however I can. So I do believe you have a better chance with my support than Laird does without it, yeah."

"No way, huh? Sounds like you're underestimating how much deeper the guy holding the key to the well might dig if it's his own name in the running, and overestimating both me and your ability to play kingmaker. Either that or you know something I don't.

How about this, then. If Behaim becomes a big name in Toronto because of your help, then I arrange to get the debt forgiven should I have a chance. So not if nothing happens, but we don't need to actually win. That's probably enough that this coming to light doesn't mean I get accused of selling out the family."

"You have a deal."

"Deal.

But you still haven't tried for anything that goes into effect unless you win. You think you can with what you've got?"

Diana is just as unsure, but knows better than to say so.

"Yup. I do in fact know stuff you don't."

"I ask because I might be able to hire some chronomancy out. Not much, but something. Do you have a lot of that money on hand?"

She eyes him. "That depends on how much is a lot."

"Chronomancy's not very efficient. Somewhere in the neighborhood of seven hundred, and I could offer a minor trick or trinket."

"You probably know it defeats one of the purposes if you just redeem it right away to power more magic," Diana interjects. "For that much, would you be willing to spend half somewhere else? Circulate it instead of heading to Montreal?"

"I'll consider that."

"Seven-fifty and you promise to spend at least a fifth of it elsewhere."

"More than fair.

I'm thinking I could make a weapon hit twice, second time invisible. Or set you up to give a moment more weight so whatever happens sticks better. Useful if you have a plan. Or, you already know about the well. I could hook you up to my knockoff version for a while and then you could just take the time directly."

"I do happen to have a plan. That's tempting. Taking the time directly is also tempting but—how much of a skill component is there?"

"Enough that you wouldn't be able to do much more than stretch out moments when you need it. It's just flexible. I'd probably go with the force multiplier option if you have a use in mind."

"That sounds the most useful of the lot, yes."

"It's a fairly simple ritual. We could do it with the three of us right now. Do you have a few minutes?"

"What does it consist of?"

"Diagrams and chanting. I can give you a script, and a translation if you want one.

It'll empty my miniature well into a trinket, you break the trinket to release the time and make there be more moment to seize. With the amount of time I can put into it, it'll probably matter more than a dramatic speech about being in the right but not as much as actually being in the right."

"I can try to do all three for an extra boost."

Duncan opens his mouth to quibble, but Diana's smiling at Sadde and is this really the time for a "well, actually."

"When we're doing it, it'll be a weird experience. We'll be there as representations of past, present, and future at least as much as we're individuals. You can lose track of who's who, not recognize each other, even yourself, and your own name might not ring a bell if you happen to think of it. It's not dangerous, but can be very confusing while it lasts."

"How do you get past, present, and future without the two of us?" Diana asks.

"Carefully. Two's harder, and for all that the "Behaim family" technically counts as a faction it's pretty much just me and my cousin Earl when I can convince him."

"What do we have to do?"

"You can help me draw out the diagram if you want to set up faster. It'll be like thirty seconds to actually do it."

"Sure, I'll help."

It's not what comes to mind when one pictures a ritual magic diagram. Duncan unrolls two sheets of butcher paper onto his living room floor, giving them about five feet square to draw on. He opens a reference book and tosses each of them a marker.

Diana rushes to peer at the book. Two concentric circles, with three duplicates of the smaller one intersecting it at one point each. Apparently the three of them stand where the large circle passes through the center of each outer small one. She doesn't recognize the language the text of the chant is in, but there are hand-written English notes in the margin.

Drawing it goes quickly, though the markers stumble whenever they cross the break at the overlap of the two sheets. Duncan points Diana to the circle marked past, Sadde to present, and sets himself as future. At the center circle, he places a cedar jewelry box. (As long as Sadde's glasses are on it's just a box. Diana nods and wobbles her hand in a "so-so" gesture. Definitely magic. No large potatoes.)

Once they're all in place, "the background chanting is all about how we're speaking for Time not for ourselves. No idea if that makes sense or not, but it works. We'll all be repeating that line except for whoever's turn it is to say their own part." Which are one word each, transliterated by Duncan or his sources without worrying too much about accuracy. Kas, husam, astawana.

Anything more they need before they start?