"Yes, very much so," Morgana replied with a little firm nod. "Wards on people tend to work best when they're only meant to do one thing. Piling wards on top of wards as Jochy has--I don't trust them. They tend to contradict one another. But he seems to feel the risk worth it."

"Do you think the risk is worth it?" Cara asked. "I'm a little nervous about this, about something going wrong with his wards and being the only one around when it happens, or not having anyone there who can fix it."

"We sorted through a lot of the old wards," Morgana assured her. "He let me deactivate some of the less important ones in favour of the bands. It was one of the conditions I set when I put them on. I wouldn't go putting on any more, mind."

"But still," Cara replied. "What do I do if something breaks? I--" She smiled slightly. "I don't like not knowing how to fix something."

Morgana took a deep breath while she thought of something reassuring to say. "I won't say it can't be broken," she replied, "but I will say it's not something that's going to happen unexpectedly or by mistake. It would have to be something someone set out to do. I would say that the most likely thing to break it is Jochy himself. And if he's done that, after all this trouble, it's because he wanted it done."

Cara sighed. "Not that Jochy always wants what's best for him," she answered. "But I'll take your meaning. I'm just...worried, I suppose. Nervous about something that I don't have answers to."

"He's fair apt with his warding," Morgana said. "And you know he'll talk about anything put to him. We don't quite work in the same patterns, he and I, but I don't doubt he'd explain anything if you asked."

"It's not the asking Cara replied. "The problem is that no matter how well I understand it in the abstract, I can't actually do anything with the knowledge. I can't make my own wards."

"You shouldn't have to. That's not for you." Morgana bent her head. "It's not the wardings that trouble me. It's the idea of turning him back into the world in his full power. He near destroyed himself last time. Now is when we all find out if all this getting better of his has been true change or lack of opportunity."

Cara's little bird tipped toward the door, and her own face followed for a moment. "I supposed I'll just have to keep a very close watch, then, won't I?" she asked. "Keeping him occupied productively is something I can do."