Cyg could tell she was trying to pick apart his words. Everyone in this blasted forest was the same; their situations only bred suspicion until paranoia drowned all else. The real question was whether the plan could take place before she figured it out. The Alicia from the previous loop pitched in suggestions as to what to lie about, the two ultimately deciding on a combination of misdirection and omitting future events.

So here they sat, staring at each other, trying to read each other's next steps without daring to broach the topic.

After a few minutes of frustrated thinking, Alicia sighed and stood, patting off her dress. "Very well, we'll see what you and past me had in store."

And to that Cyg pursed his lips. "Don't put it so ominously."

"Says the one who just told such a dubious tale."

"Wha—!?" He recoiled in genuine offense. "It is not dubious! It's... it's rigorous!"

"...Rigorously lacking, maybe."

"..." Silently, he stared at her, trying his very best to not blurt out it was half her idea.

Sighing, Alicia shook her head as she walked back. "Forget it. We'll find out as time comes."

"You're right on that," Cyg said, "I'll continue scouting the area. If you can gather the marked herbs near the house, that'd be a huge help." Separating the map into a grid was an idea the thief found to be increasingly impressive. Without much issue, he was able to recreate it at any time, the marking and memorizing of plant locations becoming far more precise.

Choosing to leave it at that, Alicia acquiesced to the plan. Unbeknownst to her, Cyg only had a single day to gather all the ingredients. If he were to have the poison ready by Thursday, then he'd need to have started making the tincture on Wednesday morning—and since it poured all throughout Tuesday, all that was left was Monday. Fate truly seemed to be against him.

So as swiftly as he could, he went around to the places Alicia could not reasonably get to and afterwards spent what little was left of the day checking new squares on the grid. He never passed the river, however, finding the task obnoxious and unnecessary while there are easier, closer locations left.

When Cyg arrived back at the house, Merry was waiting for him with crossed arms. Luckily, he had stashed everything he grabbed in his shirt, seemingly returning with only a reference book in hand. She asked, "Now, what are you scurrying around the forest for?"

"Mapping," he replied, "Alicia and I talked and we came to the conclusion it's a good idea for me to get familiar with the landscape here."

Merry, not quite frowning, grumbled, "It would be smart to have an extra hand where Alicia's unable." Then, to Cyg, she gave in. "Very well."

No further interrogation followed, and the day ended without any trouble. Tuesday was more of the usual, with Alicia going over more local fauna in great detail while Cyg tried desperately to focus. Only at nightfall did he find a chance to sneak out alchemy equipment, and he set it up in the closet and buried it in gems and clothes.

On Wednesday, Bassy dragged over a faerie. While Cyg was expecting it, Alicia didn't take being blindsided well. She wondered for a moment if it was merely that unimportant, and that seemed to be confirmed when Merry told the apprentice to go help Cyg instead of assisting with its processing.

By the creek, they spoke of their future plans again.

Cyg asked, "Can you make me a few bombs? I think five is enough."

"With metal in it?" Alicia wondered with a finger on her chin. "I suppose we can take down some lanterns to use."

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"No, no, completely wooden ones are enough for now. I just need some practice throwing and priming them on the fly," he said, "Oh, and I forgot to ask—they don't blow up if you shake them too hard, do they?"

"It shouldn't be possible, no."

Briefly, the elf wondered if she should try to pick apart whatever he was plotting. If it was genuine, then surely such a thing would hold up to scrutiny, would it not? But, there was one errant idea that stuck to her mind—what if being lied to was part of the whole thing? After all, their opponent in question this week was a mind-reading magical creature, and her being left out of the loop could be part of the strategy.

The ultimate deciding factor that tipped the scales was simply how confidently Alicia had set up the situation. It should be impossible for the thief to escape alone, and that was enough to quell her worries. So, she dropped the topic, cheerfully getting to work making the bombs with the weight lifted off her shoulders. And Cyg, having watched her facial expressions change curiously over the course of about ten minutes, just furrowed his brow. A strange elvish proclivity, he dismissed.

Wednesday passed, and Thursday took its place. In the morning after breakfast, the witch told Alicia to go and make a treat for Bassy. It's been a month or so since she's last done so, so it wasn't too strange of an event—preparing a large "snack" stuffed with lard, thyme, and mint. Merry had already snatched and killed a pheasant for her, a task that normally would be impossible for the elf unless she wanted to serve up charred, splintery remains.

Merry flew out to tend to some lanterns that broke from Tuesday's rain, and Cyg was outside, collecting a ton of small rocks in a bag. Luckily for him, the basilisk was nowhere nearby, likely out in the woods doing whatever a basilisk does, all the while Alicia was working in the kitchen with practiced ease. And while she doing so, she wondered what exactly her past self and Cyg had cooked up.

* * *

"Can you swap liquids?" Alicia had asked a week ago.

"Huh. You know, I actually never tried," he replied, "I mean, it used to take forever to swap, and what was I going to do with it?"

"...Well, that sort of thing would be fitting for assassination, no?"

The thief rolled his eyes. "I think you stuffed your head with one too many stories. Not that I've ever killed someone before, but anyone can tell a knife to the back would be far easier."

Alicia huffed and said, "I was only theorizing. Anyway, can you do it or not?"

Given that he could scoop out loose earth, there shouldn't be any reason he wouldn't, Cyg figured. And sure enough, when he tried his Aspect out on the flowing waters, two little splashes resulted from the exchange. Then he did so with a stone, exchanging solid and liquid without any issue—though their shapes were not exact and more water had been pulled out than there was rock.

"Still kinda useless. The fowl isn't going to make a watertight seal, right? And if Bassy bites down on a poison-filled bird, it'll just spit it out. Not to mention, the tincture doesn’t look like anything that should be around food, so if I do it in front of you, you'd notice right away."

"...Wait," she replied with an entirely different line of thought, "You aren't limited to swapping whole objects."

"Right. Oh, that's true; you weren't around for that bit," Cyg mumbled.

"Then what's stopping you from swapping out chunks of earth?"

He gave it another try, visualizing his mana cutting through the earth. While it didn't take as long as the necklace with Merry, it still took a few seconds. With something as firm as stone, it was impossible. "I think my Aspect has to carve through the thing first, and only when it's made a perfect seal it can perform a swap."

"You have trouble even against non-living material?" Alicia asked, placing her chin and mouth on a hand. "My earth Aspect has trouble because it's my mana invading another living thing's mana—which is just mana permeation. If you're having trouble, then something's pushing back. And if you say your Aspect is what it is..."

"Then it's... reality permeation?"

She frowned. "Doesn't roll off the tongue as well; let's deem it too niche for a new phrase."

"Whatever. Anyway, the point is that unless I figure out a way to dismantle the fabric of space-time, I won't be slicing through objects anytime soon. And if I could, I would've swapped a fork into Merry's head ages ago."

"Terrible image you've just conjured into my mind," Alicia said as she picked up a pebble. Presenting it to Cyg first before hiding it behind her back, she then asked, "Can you swap something if you don't see it but know where it is?"

"Well that's the problem, isn't it? I don't know where it is, or at least not precisely," Cyg answered as he gave it a go. As expected, his mana repeatedly fizzled and withdrew at contact with presumably her fingers and the stone. But, by sheer trial and error, he managed the task after a minute or so. "That's impractical, especially when the target's moving."

"What if you had some sight of it? None of the ingredients inside the bird should be as impervious as stone, so there would be more leeway. Would you be able to swap it inside the bundle if you could only see its outside and not its contents?"

The thief pondered it for a second.

"I just might."