Her conspiratorial tone was endearing, which helped solidify August's thinking. He held the paneled door to the library open for her with his free hand.

"I'm not sure if one of my siblings brought this, or our cousin Professor Bauer," August said. Once they were in the library, he walked as swiftly as his cane would allow to the bookshelf. He slid the thick tome out and set it down on the nearest table, opening it — it was not really a book, and opened smoothly after the thick cover.

"Miniaturized German old-growth trees," he explained, stepping back so she could look at the small gathering of them. It was a mirror of the weather in Germany now, warm August spell-created-sun on the evergreens, which stretched back into the 'book' and took up the space that would have been occupied by hundreds of pages . In the winter, it would be snowy inside. "Nothing compared to your plants, of course." He had not seen them, yet, but had to assume her efforts were better than this.