 Bathes in Maple Syrup | Dancing Lobster | Moy Pomidor | Seneca's Beard | That Is So Fetch!
"The great question. Were I attempting to steal them, I would hardly sit directly in front of the display and document my observations," he said louder than needed, his gaze flicking toward the parchment covered in notes and diagrams, in case an adult was eavesdropping nearby. "That would be remarkably poor criminal planning."
"The originals." Étienne's answer came without hesitation, causing his smile to widen slightly at the question. "The replicas are useful for study, but they're missing the interesting parts. The wear patterns. Residual enchantments. The tiny inconsistencies left behind by centuries of handling. History is far more fascinating when you can observe the actual object rather than a copy of it." Unfortunately, the château seemed determined to prevent precisely that.
When Jonathan winced, Étienne felt a small measure of satisfaction. Not because his assessment had been correct, but because the reaction confirmed he had identified the problem.
"Quite that bad. You've been wandering around looking like the protagonist of a tragic French novel." His tone was dry, but the image amused him enough to earn a brief smile. "All you need now is a rainstorm and a doomed romance."
As Jonathan finally accepted the invitation and sat down, Étienne inclined his head in acknowledgment. The gratitude, however, caught him slightly off guard.
"For this?" he asked. "Jonathan, I offered you a chair, not an oasis. And you don't need to thank me for existing in your general vicinity." Despite the teasing, there was warmth beneath it.
Then came the real confession. The thing haunting nearly every seventh-year corridor conversation these days.
"If it helps, I don't think having no idea is nearly as uncommon as people pretend." The adults all seemed convinced that certainty arrived automatically with age. Étienne had yet to see evidence supporting the theory.
"What do you actually enjoy?" he asked. "Not what you're good at. Not what your family expects. Not what sounds impressive when professors ask. What do you find yourself wanting to do when nobody is telling you what you should be doing? That's usually a better place to start than trying to select a career for the next forty years."
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