#earthrunes

"Ram-a-dam-a-ding-dong?" She follows up.

"Oh, a pooka. Tis April fool's."

"Heh. Yeah, guess it is. Good thing I'm here. A'right, let's take a look...." And she noses around the bookstacks.

Miriam notices one of the mathbooks has something in its pages. A DVD for a movie?

Yeah, the novels and such don't seem to interest her, but the math? Sure. She pulls the book and checks it out.

The formerly conealed DVD would appear to be for the movie Hidden Figures

"What did you find, Mom?"

"This thing. Says 'Hidden Figures.'"

"Oh! Ha. Pooka. Oo - we could watch it, nu? It's about the lady mathematicians who helped launch the apollo missions."

"Do you think there's the Dreaming in space?"

"Or, I suppose, outer space in the dreaming?"

"Guaran-freakin'-tee it." She says solidly. "Watch it, huh? Yeah. Could do. Sounds .... ok."

"I haven't seen it yet - there's a book, though!"

Miriam checks to see if the movie was in the book.

Nope. The book of math it's in has...what the heck ?

Zara can see some nocker formulas in there

but unlike Miriam, she can't quite make out what they do.

"That's gematria, isn't it?" She peers, head tilted.

"Huh! Yeah, it is." She is looking the formulas over. "Kinda stupid, but it's gematria."

"How is it stupid? I know the... mundane stuff, but not the nocker..."

"Well, it's a dumb idea is all. Enchanted helium? For what? Still." She shrugs, closes the book. "Mind if I take a look through this? I can sign something, if you want."

"Enchanted... like, say, a zeppelin? Aye, you can borrow it. I made cards!" She bounces of to get one.

Miriam follows, tucking the DVD back into the book for safekeeping.

Zara offers a pale purple card - a place for name and date borrowed on it.

"Mayhaps enchanted helium could get you to the space-dreaming...."

"Yeah, if you don't mind your blood boilin' in space...."

She fills out the card.

"Well, mundane space..."

Miriam waves off speculation. "I could maybe come up with some space suit ideas, but the hard-tech for flight? Outta my area."

"Fair enough. But an awesome fabric balloon?"

"You could be like Phileas Fogg..."

"-Space-, Zara, we're talking about -space-, vershtay? I mean... a vessel that could carry Fae into space, Dreaming-Space, it would...." She trails off, thinking.

"Maybe that's where, say, Star Trek chimera go?"

"Or any number of aliens. Like Barsoom!"

"Mean..." Muttered "... tensile strength alone... an' heat resistant... splash down... something inflatable maybe... but... if launched from the Dreaming, an' back ... "

She quietly fetches "A Princess of Mars" and adds it to the pile.

When she returns, Miriam has flipped the check-out card over and is doodling on the back.

A quiet smile. "Would you like more paper, Mom?"

"Yeah, guess so." absently.

Zara fetches - paper, a back up pencil, a ruler... she finds another light to turn on.

"Thanks, kiddo...."

"You're welcome." She settles down to watch, content.

Miriam drifts off on visions of the next frontier.

The sluagh is happy.

Some time later... the door opens, and Earl slips in, a few scratches ...he tries to move quietly so not to disturb.

A silent wave from her chair - Miriam is still engrossed in her work. A cup of coffee has been added to the table, and a few more books from the stacks.

Earl smiles to see Zara. Yes, he has scratches on his face, but seems okay.

She sits up, dark eyes narrowing. A gesture at her own cheek, and raised eyebrows.

Miriam is staring at the paper in front of her, as if willing it to spontaneously combust.

A blush "Wayfare practice" he whispers "I landed in some bushes. A few were thorny"