"Calliope!" said Diogenes, beaming as she came to meet him. "Precisely who I was hoping to find down here."

Which meant one of two things. He had a terrible, possibly dangerous idea or there was some manner of Blackwood meeting going on and Diogenes couldn't bear listening to some of the other family members drone on.

"I have had an idea that I've been working on I would like to discuss with you."

It was the terrible dangerous idea option, it seemed.

"Brilliant," said Diogenes, though it was a known factor that he might just tell her the idea anyway. Or anyone within his vocal range, which was still fairly impressive despite his age.

"I have been experimenting," he began. Which was a given, as sure as the sun rose and set. "This time on continuing enchantments."

"Of course not, more shrine work," said Diogenes, waving her questions off. He only attempted the most difficult of enchantments, as he'd reminded everyone. As often as possible. At this point he just assumed Calliope was barbing him the way young folk always did towards their elders and did his part in pretending to be annoyed by it.

"Think of it like this," Diogenes began, "Take your hammer, for example. How does it work?"

He paused for a second before she could answer, his mind going faster than his words.

"Beyond swinging it around, I'm fairly sure I don't have to explain that bit to you."

"Yes, precisely," said Diogenes, knowing full well he hadn't really had to ask, but if nothing else Diogenes was long-winded. Painfully so, depending on who you asked. He could very well be brief but that would not impress his genius on others quite so much.

"So the enchantment is absorption, storing, and finally release. Yes?" he continued, despite the horse being long since dead.

"Of course it's related," said Diogenes. "Everything is related, looking at the world. No man is an island, of course, so nor is any enchantment. They all follow the same basic principles. Your hammer, however, is a brilliantly designed one and one that I am sure you are very familiar with."

Not that he was biased regarding the quality of her hammer, of course.

"The basic premise of enchanting is using souls for magic, this is a truism we've come to accept as those who have been enlightened. However, what if we applied this basic premise forward?"

"That is also true!" said Diogenes. "Magic comes in many forms across Terra Nova. We simply have our own field of study for it here, whereas the only comparable kingdom with any routines regarding their magics are the witches of Nevermere. And even then they seem to think of women as second class citizens despite being the magically inclined sex," he said, shaking his head. The uneducated. What a pity.

"But that might not be relevant, or it could be the key," Diogenes continued, "Yes, magic is inherent in every single being with a soul. That is how enchanting works. If this is untrue, then enchanting as we know it is fundamentally incorrect and we have been getting away with breaking the rules of the world for countless years, somehow."

Which was unlikely, given that Arynn Frey was as civilized as it was. But there was still a chance, infinitesmal as it might be.

"So if we accept that souls are magic, and living beings have souls, then it would stand, yes, anything with a soul has some untapped potential for some kind of magic."