The woods are lovely, dark and deep

Open

It was a simple enough task. There were some Wisher's Isle moonseeds her grandfather had started growing, and it was enough generations since the last check that Astoria needed to compare her own stocks to the true plant. There was a well-drawn map her grandfather had thoughtfully provided so that Astoria might reach the plant the cuttings had been drawn from, had she the desire to find and explicitly compare. The Greenhouse had mimicked the location most precisely, though it would be rather interesting to see how the growing fauna had impacted the first location.

She had a sampling of the moonseed with her, though she knew far better than to return it to the roots. She'd found out the rather hard way when she was young, her parents had allowed her to do so to ensure she'd never make the same error again. It was for comparison only, though--

Astoria bit off a Morgana, Circe, and Semiramis. The map was old enough that her grandfather hadn't known about the spells to fix the spot and track her path to where the original moonseed had been. Yes, it was something she could find on her own, but landscapes did change, and her father hadn't bothered updating the map. She'd simply have to do that herself, and it was lucky she came early.

It wasn't like Silas to spend time outside the house when he didn't have to work. Not away from his family, at least. They'd come back from their honeymoon recently, however, and he and Aydrien and Zach had had a wonderful time to make up for all the work he and his husband did. He missed them awfully, always, but with summer here he had all the time in the world to give them. Then again, Zach really enjoyed spending time with his cousins and aunt and uncle and grandparents as well. Aydrien did have summer essays to correct, and he had projects to prepare for the year. It was best for them all to do it at the same time so they had the rest of the week to be together and have fun together. The could even go on another holiday some time soon. Maybe another week somewhere. Even if it was just here in the UK, they could still explore and get themselves a nice place and have fun. It was true that they should probably make time to go to Egypt, though, to visit Aydrien's parents. That was something they should do more often.

So the project this time was... well, he didn't have all that many student. Every year there were maybe a few dozens. He liked keeping it fun, puzzling. This was for the more beginners, second years, maybe first years. Instead of making a star chart, they were getting one. Only it was more of a subtle thing. Different ones for each student, different locations of creation each time. They had to take the chart and puzzle out the place. Then give him the coordinates or where he'd been standing when he made it. The amount of precision in his work made it so that there could only be about half a dozen feet's worth of deviation, really. It would be fun, but it took him many nights to get it all done. In one night, he could do about three charts. Maybe four. This was the second night so he had several to go. Thankfully, he didn't do entire nights. Sometimes he went from sundown to midnight. Sometimes from just past midnight to sunrise. Yes, during the night stars rotated. They would have to tell him the time too. About the hour, not exact minutes. He wasn't that cruel. There was just little point to an astronomer that couldn't navigate with a star chart.

The various locations were random, yes. He could just aparate away, of course, but he preferred to walk a bit before that. Clear his head. After sitting and working for so many hours on end, his mind would keep wandering back to that for a while. Wonderful way to get splinched, really. So, instead, he made his way through the trees until he heard movement nearby. Blinking, he turned to the side only to see a familiar face. Familiar, yes, but not one was overly happy to see. Ah, Astoria. They'd been in the same year at school. She'd been married to Anthony, a friend, and then she'd just taken off because of the political change. It had never sat well with him. In silence, he looked at her.