“Yore a-takin’ all this ’bout magic purdy well,” she observed after a while.

“On account’a I allus knowed magic was out thar,” he said, between chips. “Never reckoned I had it, but figgered someone did. All’a the tales ’bout hants an’ curses, an’ witchery, so many on’em there had t’ be some truth there. An’ ain’t all the stories ’bout bad stuff, neither.” He turned his head slightly to give her a little grin. “My Granny was jest full of stories afore she passed, an’ she tol’ ’em like they was the gospel truth. Granny niver lied t’me, not once. When somethin’ was jest a story, she come out an’ said so afore she told it. But when she told me ’bout people she knowed with magic, it were jest like she were a-tellin’ me straight up. Now I come t’think of it,” he continued, returning his gaze to the statue, “she had some stories ’bout liddle critters, like we been a-seein’, on’y they was things with wings. An’ most of her stories ’bout magic was about them as can whistle up storms an’ shut ’em down agin. So—reckon thet’d be Air Elementals?”

Anna considered that. “Dunno what else it’d be,” she admitted. “Ain’t never seed them, an’ Aunt Jinny cain’t whistle up no storms or nothin’, but she says we-uns is got Earth magic, so stands to reason we ain’t gonna see no Air nor Water nor Fire.”

“Reckon thet’s where I got th’ magic from, then, was Granny.” He took a few more chips. “Though hang if I know why it’d matter where I got it from. Ain’t no cause t’wonder where it come from iffen I got it. Jest gotter figger out how t’use it.”

“Gotter see it afore y’all c’n use it,” she told him. “I could see the critters afore I could see the magic.”

“Reckon thet’s where I oughter start, then,” he observed. “An’ right now, tryin’ t’see magic ain’t gonna get no stone cut.”

“Mebbe it could, but I dunno how,” she admitted. “An’ Aunt Jinny says usually it’s harder t’ do thangs with magic than it is t’do ’em with yore hands.”

“Durn pity,” he chuckled. “Here I was hopin’ I c’d jest sit back an’ let magic dry th’ dishes an’ muck out the mule when it’s my turn!”

She laughed at that, picturing the dishes floating in the air, and then laughed even harder, trying to picture the poor little Earth critters trying to juggle dishes that were their own size or bigger.

“Naw, I wouldn’ do thet t’ the pore liddle critters,” he agreed. “Not even if they’d let me, which they prolly would not.” He worked the stone a while more. “How hard’s it t’larn this stuff, anyways?”

“Reckon it’s different fer ev’body,” she said, after a moment of consideration.

“Wall, then, we’ll wait till I needs a liddle rest fer m’hands, an’ y’all c’n see iffen y’all c’n larn me,” he said reasonably. He cast a grin at her over his shoulder. “I dunno why, Anna May, but I kinder feels like I knowed y’all all m’life. Y’all’s plenty easy t’talk to. Like I could tell y’all anythin’, anythin’ a-tall. Like I could trust y’all with anythin’.”