"I trust your selections completely. I'm sure you know that deciphering weighty tomes is all in a day's work to a scholar," Felix says easily to Viatorus, then winks at the other man. "Besides, I can always have Jim read them to me. I so enjoy when he does that."

He's standing out of reach for Jim to shove him, no luck there captain.

His fingers trace around the rim of the cauldron as the others speak. He hopes the flowers will last a long while; the magic woven into them- no, by them, somehow - is unfamiliar to him.

"I'd like to put the wreath there," he says, when Jim mentions the house. "In the farmhouse. And since I've been teaching Jim as much alchemy as I can, I've no doubt the cauldron will be put to the test between the two of us. You're welcome to sample the results, once we have the hang of using it."