"I want to do something stupid and reckless and I want your help."

He grins.

"Sure. What is it?"

"I want to be able to raise the dead. What elements did you need to do it and is there somewhere you can hide me where my family doesn't need to know about it until it's over and will you bring me back if I fail?"

"Life and Death, there's plenty of empty ocean in the world but I don't think I can come up with a reasonable non-terrifying excuse for you to vanish for thirty-two hours so you'll have to figure that part out yourself, and yes, absolutely. A failed self-dedication is a nasty way to go, I hope you realize."

"It would be worth it," she says firmly.

"Okay. Good luck."

"Thanks! I should probably sneak home sooner than later if I want to avoid getting caught."

He laughs. "Yeah. —do you mind if I tell your sister about this, I'd kind of rather not keep it a secret but I can see how you might be reluctant to have her know."

"...I would kind of rather she not know until it's over. Um. My birthday is only a little more than a month away?"

"Okay. I won't bring it up. But if she asks me straight out if I know anything about any reckless birthday-related plans of yours, I won't lie to her, either."

"Yeah that's fair."

He smiles. "Nice talking to you."

"You too!" she says, and dashes off for home.

He flops in the grass and giggles to himself.

Lyrame comes by a little later, still safely before sunrise starts.

"Good morning! Did you manage to get anyone talking about architecture?"

"No one in my family knows enough about architecture to have strong opinions about it, it turns out, but my mother had opinions about interior decorating!"

"I would love to hear your mother's interior decorating opinions."

"She likes pastels for the walls, and dark colors of easy-to-clean materials for floors."

"I can do that!" Hug.

Hug. "I'm not surprised but she'll be pleased."

He grins. He kisses her forehead. "Mm. I love you. I might extend the island today, then."

Snuggle. "Is it going to be interesting to watch?"

"Depends how interested you are in lots of rock moving around, I guess."

"Hm. Not sure."