The old wooden floorboards creaked with each of his steps. Theo walked down the corridor and stopped in front of the study door. He raised his hand in a fist and held it up in the air, confused at the lack of sound coming from the other side of the door. He knocked on the door before opening it with great caution and saw Hayden, who, as if he had been brought back to life, emerged from his self-absorption and turned his face towards Theo.

"Hey," Hayden said and approached the door with long steps. "What's up?"

Theo looked up, into Hayden’s haunting eyes and their darkening shadows, thinly veiled by the brightness of a false composure.

"Oswin's almost done cooking," Theo said, stepping back. "He told me you'd be here."

"Oh," Hayden stepped out of the room. "Let's go then."

The smell of the spices Oswin was using to season the food was the first thing they noticed. Hayden leaned against the frame of the arch that connected the kitchen and the living room and stared at the ingredients on the counter that the professor had used to cook.

"Is everything all right?" Oswin asked as he mixed the contents of a pot.

"Yeah," Hayden reached over to help Theo set the table. "Madelyn says hi."

"Were you just talking to her?" Oswin glanced at him, grabbing a bowl from the kitchen cabinet.

"Mhm," Hayden said, more interested in taking a look at the ingredients once again. "Are you making Cerven stew?"

"Yeah," Oswin smiled, proud of himself. "Theo said he never tried it so I couldn't help myself."

"I've never even heard of it," Theo added. "Though I can imagine why."

"Then, did you use Helrac?" Hayden looked over the pot.

"Of course, I had to. It's not complete without it," Oswin said, serving the food in a large bowl. "He's always been a picky eater,” he told Theo in a low voice.

"I heard that."

"You don't like vegetables?" Theo asked him, raising his eyebrows.

"I do like them. It's just that this one, in particular, has a weird texture..." Hayden said, sitting in one of the chairs. "It doesn't matter. I can eat it."

"Yeah, yeah. I know," replied Oswin without trying to hold back his smile. "Here." He handed Theo a plate full of purplish food.

"I've never seen anything like it," Theo admired the colorful dish. "I barely know the names of the ingredients."

Pushing up his glasses, Oswin smiled and wrinkles formed around his eyes. He turned to Hayden, who was eating from his plate and looking at the food attentively.

"By the way, Theo was just telling me that he works in a Café," Oswin said, sitting at the round table in the middle of the kitchen.

"Yeah, I heard about it."

"You heard?" inquired Theo, raising his eyebrow.

Hayden narrowed his eyes and gave him a confused look.

"Oh," he said, nodding slowly. "Your brother told me." He drank water. "I had to find you somehow.”

"Well, you did barge into my house in the middle of the night," he remarked sarcastically, and one of the corners of Theo's mouth raised. "The stalker status is not so bad in comparison to that." He took a bite of the food.

"You broke into his house?" Oswin jumped into the conversation.

"It's not like I had any other choice," said Hayden, trying to defend himself and glancing sideways at Theo, whose lips broke into a teasing smile, with one corner hinting upwards. "I knocked!"

"Very thoughtful of you. But still illegal," said Theo and before Hayden could reply, he turned to Oswin. "I have a question."

Oswin shook his head reproachfully at Hayden, before looking at Theo.

"Yeah?" he said, serving Hayden more food. "What is it?"

"I heard from Hayden that magic can be exhausting," he said, measuring his words by observing the reaction of Oswin, who had focused all his attention on him. "What happens if you overdo it?"

Oswin put his fork down and rested his forearms on the table.

"It's usually something similar to what starvation would be for humans, but a bit more...extreme. In a way, more energy is lost than the body can withstand."

“So, you pass out?”

"Well, yes." Oswin paused. "At best. If you don't get to recover from the energy loss, it could eventually lead to death."

"Oh..." was all Theo could say.

"Though it doesn't happen very often," said Hayden.

"Tell me, Theo. How did you feel when you used magic? You said it was involuntary," Oswin said.

Theo looked at Hayden out of the corner of his eye.

"It's... a little hard to explain. I mean, it was as if something warm was expanding from inside my body...or more like an electric tingling sensation…”

"Did you feel any different after using it?" Oswin frowned. "Tired?"

"Not particularly," said Theo. "I hardly used it."

Oswin narrowed his eyes in thought.

"Would you mind if I examined the necklace?" Oswin said. "I can try to gather some information about it."

Theo hesitated and averted his eyes to his hands.

"He'll just take a look at it," Hayden assured him. "It could shed some light on the matter."

But it was impossible for Theo not to hesitate. That necklace, that vestige of an unknown memory, was what had allowed him to get to that point, the reason that had driven him to that mission on foreign lands. It would probably become his only protection.

"You are welcome to stay in the study while I look into it." Oswin smiled softly at him. "You don't have to hand it over if you don't want to, I just want to see if I can find a match, something." He grabbed a spoon. "It won't take long."

"Okay." Theo half-smiled. "It's not like I'm busy anyway."

"You could read something," Oswin said. "Hayden told me you were interested in magic. You can check out the bookcase; there's a lot of books about it. I could use some company other than Hayden's."

"Hey, my presence is a gift," said Hayden as he finished his third glass of water.

"Yeah,” Oswin chuckled. “You're a real ray of sunshine,"

Theo listened to the conversation in silence, smiling from time to time at Hayden's comments. The noonday sun entered through the window unaggressively, covering the scene in a golden veil. The momentary harmony resurfaced in Theo's dim childhood memories, those of peaceful moments which he did not know he had been feverishly longing for. Realizing that was more shocking than he had expected. He encountered in the happiness of others the very ghost of his repressed longing. It was the desire for a connection as authentic as that one; a connection he had thought he had with Ethan, and which was crumbling under the weight of untold truths. It was also the hope that he wasn't the only one who was longing for it. For now, the feelings of regret were all he had left. And they were consuming him from within. He just hoped there was still time to fix it all.

"Do you want more, Theo?" Oswin's voice mentioning his name brought him back to reality.

"Mhm?" Theo said, noticing the spoon in Oswin's hand. "Oh, no. I'm pretty full, thanks anyway," he smiled. "But I think Hayden would love some more."

"Funny," said Hayden, and a smirk crept across Oswin's face.

"True," said Oswin, and Hayden raised his hand to prevent Oswin, who was more than willing, from serving him even more food. “You weren't taking your eyes off it.”

Hayden watched helplessly as Oswin served him one more portion of food on his plate. Theo then handed him the crystal water jug.

"In case you want any more," he smiled innocently. "I've had enough for today," he raised his eyebrow.

Hayden sighed in defeat and glanced at Theo, who was sitting on his left. There was something in the genuine but fleeting glow of Theo's eyes that kept drawing Hayden in.

“You are something else,” Hayden said, holding his fork.

He had the feeling that he could get carried away by those eyes, so bright with joy and so enigmatic at the same time. But he didn't necessarily consider it to be an unfortunate thing. That was what he supposed for the moment. There was still time to find out where that thought would lead him.