Fantastic Hearts and When to Trust Them (2)

Cacti of the Human Variety

Celia stood back the next day and watched as Newt muttered a repeating string of nonsense words and moved his wand in complicated, lifting patterns. She observed for several minutes before he finally lowered his wand and stood back, sliding his free hand into his pocket, tapping his wand against his thigh.

Celia stepped up to his shoulder. "What you doing to that poor cactus?"

He started. "It's growing too fast for its own good—its limbs are too heavy to support itself. But the only support spells I've been able to find don't allow for growth; I have to deconstruct and reset them every week so they don't harm the cactus."

"It's growing too fast?"

He offered down a half-smile. "Have you ever heard the phrase 'progress is a double-edged sword'? Well, I've been trying to reduce the amount of nutrients in the air immediately around it just enough that it can develop its bones—so to speak—without allowing them to continue growing in length."

"But you don't want the support spells....constricting it?"

"No, that damages it even worse than it growing like this does."

"Hm."

Newt glanced sidelong at her, noting the particular shape of the furrow in her brow.

"Wait you're reducing the nutrients in the air?"

"Yes. Plants do get nutrients out of the soil as well, but most of what plants are composed of is what they pulled out of the air."

Celia made a face. "That just doesn't make sense. Air has....there's nothing to it."

One side of his mouth twitched up. "You can feel it when you're breathing hard though, or when it's windy. There's got to be something to it."

Tina came slogging over with some furry, multi-armed creature clinging to her leg. "Wait plants get all their weight from air?"

Newt grinned now, and indicated his attached creature. "You get too close again?"

"Newt you have got to find some way to stop their voices leaving their enclosure. They're just too tempting."

"Yes, well." He cleared his throat. "No it's true, it all comes from air. Plants are just as good at processing what's in the air as we are at processing what's in our food, which obviously isn't air. It's a common misconception that they get their mass from the soil they're in. They rely mostly on the soil to get water and for lesser things, like supplemental nutrients, and such."

Celia shook her head, astounded, and Tina nodded with interest. Newt crouched and began a solemn conversation with the fur-creature latched onto Tina's leg.

Celia touched the back of his shoulder. "I'll be back in an hour or two, scholar." She'd just fed Patricia, and she would sleep for another hour at least, and shouldn't be hungry before another three.

"Would you like me to take you?"

Celia smiled because he offered before even knowing where she was going. "Oh no, the weather's too nice for that. Thank you though."

She left her jacket behind.

Queenie's eyes widened from where she was filling a teapot when Celia returned. Celia had a long box under one arm and a paper bag cradled in the other. "Oh honey, let me help you with that!"

"Here," Celia grunted, tilting the paper bag forward on her hip. "You take this. We're going downstairs with it."

"Downst—oh right! Actually let me help with the other one too—I'd hate for you to hurt yourself." Queenie drew her wand from a slim pocket in her sleeve and twirled it gently through the air. The weight of the long box lifted from Celia's arm, and the paper bag as well. Celia sighed, and watched with fascination as the items floated toward Newt's case. "Open that up for me, honey?"