It took me a second for comprehension to dawn.

"Your Highness," I said, "I do not have your talisman."

Since the conclusion of the Great War of the Continents, women were forbidden from engaging in any form of sorcery. Even possession of talismans, amulets, and any items of sorcery was actively forbidden. I would not in my wildest dreams be caught dead having a talisman such as this.

"You say that but," he pulled out another piece of paper, "You saw what happened to my tracking spell -"

I took a step back and bowed, "Your Highness, you are welcome to search me, but I do not have any talisman -"

"I am not saying you do." he interrupted me again raising his hand. "For whatever reason my spells lead to you. Therefore, you must be integral in helping me find my talisman."

"But I am a woman, I cannot perform sorcery nor am I involved in any such practices that would link your talisman to mine -"

"Yet there is a link."

He frowned.

I thought about my sister - frivolously learning foreign languages and excitedly waiting to be shipped off to Lurris, her childlike demeanor, and her lack of exposure to anything that had to do with strife. And I watched the DragonHeir as he frowned deep in thought, already performing tracking spells, and deep-diving into problems of a scale beyond my understanding.

"Are we going to go around the city together to find this talisman?" I asked.

"No, we cannot do that." he sighed. "What we are going to do, is make a new spell."

"Your Highness, I have no wish to break the law," I said.

"But -" He started.

I bowed deeply, "Women are forbidden from engaging in any form of sorcery, Your Highness."

His cheeks flushed and he pouted. In these angles, he really did look more like a kid. I wondered what to do, just as he seemed to wonder. I had no idea about how sorcery worked or how spells were constructed and dispelled. I did want to be of some use to the DragonHeir, or at least I did not want to be the cause of trouble.

"If I may ask," I said interrupting his stream of thought, "What do you mean when you say you are going to make a spell?"

He bit his lip, "For the world and its forces to give us what we need, we must offer them something intangible, and something precious." He handed me the piece of paper he was holding. The paper was detailed with a list of items written in concentric circles with faint brown ink - names of flowers, names of household items, names of people, names of toys, names of accessories.

"What are these things?" I asked.

"Since a tracking spell is about finding something, the paper is a list of all the things I have lost." He said, "I have a great affinity with air, and the air guides me to find what I am seeking."

"Sow how would you have incorporated me into this spell?" I asked returning the paper.

"Well, either a drop of your blood -"

"That would mean my direct involvement in sorcery -"

"Or you could give me an ingredient!" He clapped his hands together, "Miss Damaran, you would not be involved in sorcery. You would just be providing a crucial ingredient to me for mine."

"What do you mean, Your Highness?"

"Here," He pushed the sheet back to me and pulled out a small bottle of ink and a quill. I was starting to wonder if his jacket was somehow charmed. "Please write about something important that you've lost!"

I pressed the sheet onto the wall as he prepared the quill for me.

What do I write?

I cast my mind back to my childhood, wondering if there was anything I remembered losing. Dolls? RIbbons? Dresses? I thought about things that came further before that, and a sense of uneasiness overcame me. I thought about things much, much more recent, and I sighed. Before I knew it, I was writing in bold strokes, 'My old freedom in my house.'

We had serious faces as the DragonHeir folded and twisted the little paper - this time into a paper butterfly and he threw it upwards. As it twirled and fluttered, I wondered if I should have written more or written less, or written something entirely different.

"Wait," I said, just as the paper butterfly danced in front of the DragonHeir, "I have a better idea -" It burst into smithereens - except this time, it caught fire. We both took a few steps back, feeling the wall as we watched it burn.

"Better idea?" he sighed.

His little shoulders drooped as he shoved around the pieces with his shoes.

"Please, Your Highness," I said.

I folded a new sheet with all the things he had lost to the wall again, this time taking a deep breath. I carefully wrote out what I had sought and what I continued to seek, 'A decent marriage.' It made sense to me that if he wrote about all the things he had lost, then I should write about the things I hoped to find, for the spell to work together on a compounded level.

I watched nervously as he folded up the paper and the paper butterfly fluttered between us.

Would this work?

He cast a nervous look my way and we both held out breaths.

The paper butterfly swooped and shot out of the alley.

"It works!" he cried and took off running behind it, and I followed, hiding my face under my hat and pulling my skirts. My heart fluttered in my chest as we took to the streets. My idea had worked!