Lots of particular things for cinnamon, [ Matt corrects with a smile. ] I've read it's good in spells for strength, psychic enhancement, love ... success, luck, protection, healing--

[ Matt's smile curls into a grin as the list drags on. Even he can tell when he's really getting into the weeds, as it were. ]

And money, [ he concludes. A curious pause. ] You don't think lavender is multifunctional like that? I find myself casting with it a lot.

[ It's nice to be out here. It's quiet, a quiet that only feels more profound in the falling dark. Matt gets the sense he's being regarded from behind the hedges, but he always has creepy feelings like that around Saltburnt. You learn to make that background.

The further they get from the manor, the more Matt seems to ease. He tends to carry himself with a sense of pleasant belonging to the space he inhabits, an openness to its contours and its occupants. But the past few weeks have seen him turn inward, nursing wounds both physical and emotional. He was happy with Luffy and Dani, Chrissy and Bella, Erik when he returned; that's about it. Now, he starts to unfurl a little bit.

The alcohol helps, of course. Matt breathes in the scent of his drink, savoring it before he takes another pull. ]