Nathaniel, surprisingly, had no smart answer to her question if Magic existed other than "Let's find out."

So that was what they set out to do - even though, by that time, Catherine had already remembered that Solas had mentioned something about it. A wonder she did at all, really, considering everything that had happened that day.

They discovered that the book did indeed have a title, On Magickal Creatures, Sprites and Theyr Eternal War on This Earth. The eternal war part made Catherine's stomach queasy, but Nathaniel, of course, being the teacher that she'd just discovered she was, simply had to poke fun at the mistakes.

"Honestly, you'd think a professional typesetter would know how to spell."

"Honestly, you'd think someone who studied literature would know there was no standardised spelling back then," she said, annoyed. But his words made her stop in her tracks. Professional Typesetter. That was more than just curious. If this book was just half the secret she thought it must've been, why hadn't it been written by hand?

When she asked Nathaniel that, he just pointed to a subtitle she'd previously overlooked: A Fictional Chronicle to Entertain the Mind.

"They made it easy for themselves. Slap the label fictional on something as ludicrous as this and save future generations the grief of dealing with your terrible handwriting."

She snorted. "Expensive."

"I'm sure they had more than enough money."

"True." The current estimate of the family estate was a good hint in that direction. All that money still gave her the shivers, and not in a good way. What could one ever do with so much money, except donate it?

They discovered that magic, indeed, did exist. But, as Nathaniel read out to her after a rather frustrating bout of laughter, it could only be "wielded by those honest and pure".

The way it was put made Catherine groan in frustration. "Does that mean what I think it does?"

"What? That everybody who got their cherry popped is screwed in both senses of the word?" Mirth gleamed in his eyes as he batted his lashes and made the most innocent face he could. Not very successfully, one might add, he just looked hilarious - and very guilty.

"That about covers it, yeah." She did her best to glower at him, but that only made him grin.

"Don't worry, spreading your legs won't get you into trouble, Kitty-Cat. The Elves are actually quite progressive on that front. Innocent or pure means intentions, not sexual experience. Whoever wrote this made his confusion on that part very clear. Listen to this: How any woman bereft of her maidenhood could be pure is inconceivable to the author. Only women, though. I'm safe."

Catherine shook her head. Dealing with old-guy sexism wasn't really high on her priority list right now. "So does that mean anyone can do it, as long as their intentions are pure?"

"Seems so." He appeared to re-read the passage, and then shrugged. "Doesn't say anything about humans here. But maybe whoever wrote this didn't even think about that. You know how religious people can get about magic. Devil here, devil there, blah blah, hell..."

She snorted. "Let's not get into that, yeah?" And just like that, she was yawning, her mouth open so wide she could've swallowed a small watermelon. That was when she realized that it was the middle of the night - and she was bloody tired.

Her sleeping pattern these last couple of years had left much to be desired, but this went one step further. Saying she was "dead on her feet" would bo longer be the exaggeration she'd always thought it was.

Nathaniel chuckled, and then she could feel his warm hand on her shoulder, relaxing and grounding. "You should really go to sleep, you know. In this condition, you're not gonna do anyone any good. Much less solve a crime."

Again, she yawned. Of course he was right. Why did he always have to be so right? It was downright annoying.

About as annoying as it was that she couldn't just keep going. Or that she had no idea where to start. Who did she even have that she could turn to?

Crevan popped into her mind, until it caught up to her that the guy had just abducted her. Apparently, long days didn't only make you tired, they also made you stupid. But maybe that was just her.

With a sigh, Nathaniel rubbed his hand over his face. "Alright. How about a plan of attack for tomorrow. Would that help you sleep?"

How on this planet had he gotten to know her so well? They'd barely ever spent any time together growing up, and whatever had happened recently should be easily neglectable. Should being the operative word, because she couldn't just put it aside. The way he'd acted around her... It was weird. Weirdly comforting, but still very weird. She didn't like not being able to explain things. And this she most definitely could not explain.

"Yeah," she said - there wasn't anything else she could say. And then... "Solas. I told him I'd meet him. He wanted to come here on Sunday."

"Perfect!" The triumphant force behind that little word made her flinch. Bugger him, she really was tired. "See, that's all we need. Even if he doesn't know anything, he probably knows someone who does. And maybe they'll talk to him."

She huffed out a laugh that immediately made her head pound again. "Nobody talks to him about anything. He's invisible."

There were little lines around his eyes. Not the permanent kind, not yet. But you could tell how much he'd recently been worried. "Could you stop distracting? You were going to go to sleep."

"No, I wasn't."

"Yes, you were. Don't get sassy with me, Cat, you need it."

"Don't call me that!" But the indignation in her voice was masked by a giant yawn. Even she knew when it was time to admit defeat.

So she let him lead her up to her room, and she let him find her pajamas somewhere on the floor and throw them at her head, and she let him pretend to be a gentleman and turn his back to her while she changed.

And when she was all tucked in, and he ducked his head and turned to leave, she asked him to stay. Completely platonic, of course. And only if he could keep his ruddy hands to himself.

Nathaniel laughed. But he took his shoes off. And he had the decency to not ask for one of his brother's shirts.

XXX

When Solas showed up on her doorstep, he looked so young and human she quickly checked if she was, indeed, already awake. His messy blond hair was up in what - on him - was probably more of a boy bun than a man bun, multiple piercings in his ear, his turquoise eyes wide and bright.

His lips were stretched in the biggest grin she thought she'd ever seen - and in his hand was a giant bouquet of wild flowers.

He must've seen her surprise at that because the first thing he said was: "I have been told that the bringing of flowers is a human custom. These are for you." And he extended them to her.

Nathaniel reacted much quicker than she did, taking the flowers and going off in search of a vase while they were still standing in the doorframe.

"Sooo... Does your mother know you're here?" She immediately knew it was a mistake - incredible, how patronizing you could sound without even meaning to. And towards an almost two hundred year-old Elf on top of that.

Solas pulled a face, looking way too much like an actual teenager. "I didn't tell her. She knows I'm gone, of course, I managed to shake the guards. But she doesn't know I'm here."

"And what would she say if she knew?" Part of her didn't even want to know. That lady, that... queen... she had seemed like the type who'd have your head on a spike if you just thought of thinking the wrong thing.

"Well, I'd get a death stare, that much I know. But she can't really treat me any worse than she already does. Respect-wise, at least. She could make Gaoth my personal guard, but I wouldn't mind all that much."

There was a small, secret smile on his face - and she thought she saw the tips of his ears turn pink. Holy shit. That was amazing! The Princeling and the Queen's Guard, it was like one of those cheap romance novel titles.

"So you and him... Are you a thing?" she asked as they were making their way to the living room.

Solas stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes opened almost comically wide.  "No! Why would you think that?"

"Because of what you just said?"

"I didn't say anything!" His voice was almost shrill with indignant fear. Pressing the matter would probably not make him help them. So Catherine backpedalled.

"Never mind. Did you find the place okay?" The change in subject was about as clear as a freshly-cleaned window, but the young Elf seemed thankful for it, back to being bouncy in no time.

"Of course! There's signs everywhere. And people are so helpful! I like the roads here."

"The roads?" Nate was back in the room and approaching them, his eyebrows drawn together in confusion. "What do you mean, you like the roads?"

Solas looked to be taken aback by that question. "Well, you don't constantly trip over roots and stones. And I'm sure it's much cleaner when there's been rain."

Catherine almost snorted. It was amazing what people could marvel at, if only they didn't know it. Here she was, having been fascinated by intricate buildings adorned with elaborate carvings and the Elves' almost other-worldly fashion  - and Solas liked the roads. Huh.

She didn't really know what to follow a statement like that with. "Oh, why don't you have roads in the forest?" likely wouldn't quite cut it. So the silence stretched on, oh so horribly awkward. Until, thankfully, Nathaniel managed to get himself together enough to offer Solas a seat on the couch.

Catherine sat down across from him, tryig to hide a grin at the way he bounced off the cushions a few times, and the fascinated expression on his face. But she didn't have to pretend for too long before he squared his shoulders and looked at her attentively.

"So, what do you want?"

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on." The Elf rolled his eyes. "You obviously know what you want now. What I don't get is why you bother with me. I mean, I'm nobody. I can't help you."

It was gutting. How could he thnk so low of himself? What had happened to him in his life, how had people treated him, that this was how he saw himself? And why would he lump her in with the rest of them when he had been so eager to offer her help at first?

"You mean, like Beith helped me? Most I got from him were prejudiced guesses and pseudo-facts. I want you, you grew up around these people. You know how they work."

"But-"

"But nothing. History gets written by the victor, have you ever heard that saying?" she asked.

Solas shook his head no, his eyebrows pinched together in puzzlement, confused but curious. Encouraged, Catherine ventured on.

"I spoke to some Dwarves yesterday." That was about as euphemistic as she could be without saying they'd had a tea party. "Now, I'm not saying they were without prejudice, but what I heard from them... First off, there wasn't just a conflict, there was an all-out war. He didn't tell me that. The term he used to refer to the Dwarve's government was incorrect. He wouldn't even have cared about that. Never mind the fact that the reason that I came in contact with the Dwarves in the first place is that the Light Court isn't keeping the treaty! And yet, he managed to paint everybody else as the bad guys."

"Yeah," Nathaniel said. "They kept the royal warhammer."

The mirth in his eyes made it extremely hard for her to keep her composure, damn him. But the shell-shocked look on Solas's face made it  worth the effort. No matter if the claims were true, he clearly had never heard them.

"They said that?"

She sighed. "Yes, basically."

"A warhammer? Big thing, blackened silver, jewel-encrusted handle?" He ran a pale hand through his hair, and his bun was a thing of the past, flaxen strands falling in his face.

The level of description stunned her a bit. "I don't know, they didn't tell me what it looked like." And she'd been way too distracted by trying not to get killed to ask for a picture.

But the young Elf looked defeated even without her confirming it. "I've seen it." He rubbed at his eyes as if that was going to change anything, maybe erase the sight from his mind. "They've got it displayed. Publically! I always thought it was a gift or something."

"Well, we don't know..."

"If the Dwarves found it important enough to contact you, we do know," Solas deadpanned. "They don't speak to just anybody. And Keepers? Only if they have to."

"Sounds familiar." Crevan had said something similar. Really, what was it with communication in this world? Jonathan had told her nothing, the Elves weren't speaking with each other or the Dwarves, no one bleeding talked! Could this be any harder? Any more frustrating?

And really, the Elves were displaying that thing? That was just messed up. Such a blatant disregard of rules for all to see. They had to think they were above the rules. It'd been clear when she'd been there that they thought they were the good guys, but this... This was definitely not good.

"Shit." Hearing Solas swear was equally shocking and hilarious. Catherine could only imagine what it would be like to hear him belt out the level of profanity Nathaniel preferred - that was something she'd pay to see. Or hear. Really, it didn't matter.

"How am I ever gonna look my mother in the eyes again after she did that?" The distress in his voice was palpable. "That's not the kinda thing you just forget."

"Wait. Your Mum did that?" Nathaniel sounded about as shocked as she felt.

"Mother, please, not Mum. Important distinction. And not directly. She didn't steal that thing, but she certainly had centuries to give it back. Or at least move it somewhere less public. So I'd say by now she's just as responsible."

"What, and before today you thought Mother dearest was completely innocent?" There was a concerning level of aggravation in Nathaniel's voice, the words biting and sharp.

Clearly, they hit Solas hard. "Of course not! But what do you expect? I knew she was racist and snobbish as it gets. I knew that she was disrespectful. But the way she always talked about the treaty... You should've heard her, she was so damn proud of keeping that thing!" A slender hand slammed down on the couch table, then went to cover his face. "Turns out she wasn't."

It looked like Nathaniel would like to comment on that, but Catherine intervened before he could cause the poor boy even more anguish. "Everyone lies, Nate. You lie all the time, Jon lied to me... And we know people lie. We just don't know how big these lies are."

That shut him up successfully.

She took a deep breath to calm herself down. Getting herself worked up right now was of no use to anyone. They had a goal to reach. Solas could help - and she damn well hoped he would. Even if it was going to be hard for him. God knew it was going to be hard for her.

Author's Note:

So, we already know Solas is going to agree. Let's not kid ourselves. But what is the queen going to say when Catherine comes striding in there, demanding answers? (And what was that about Gaoth? Does our darling prince have a crush?)