She ignores her. "Earth, I beseech thee to release me! Grant me lift, give me motion, let me take to the skies and soar! Let me fly!" Yup, that's better, she's flying now. "Whoop!" She tries twirling in the air and succeeds.

Willow giggles uncontrollably. "This is the best magic."

"… Not a stupid idea, cool."

"So, maybe if we weren't inside and worried about fire, you could get that involved too? Could result in more freedom of movement or greater speed or something. Also the 'thee' thing might be affecting stuff, so maybe we should try it without that and see if modern English works differently."

"Is anyone writing this down? It probably doesn't depend on exact phrasing, I'm just making stuff up as I go along." She zips this way and that as she talks.

"I am," says Maya, pen in hand.

"Okay, I'm gonna try—" and she suddenly loses the ability to flight and goes tumbling onto the (thankfully cushioned) floor.

"You alright?" asks Theo, moving over to her.

"Nnnghh yeees? Floor's soft, didn't really get hurt. That was weird."

"… What did you try?"

"I didn't try anything! I just—fell."

"So there's a time limit or something?"

"Oh, I thought you– hm," he says. "Wind, Earth, I call upon you for flight."

He is: flying!

...well, hovering, really. Not noticeably different than Sadde with the very first version of the spell.

"… And apparently I am hovering, not flying. – Which thing was Windy under again, moon or Sun?"

"Moon, pretty sure."

"… Okay, so unless the affinity things are reversed here, that seems like it should be the opposite of how it is, since I'm moon and I'm pretty sure Kero said affinities were like-for-like?"

"Your phrase was shorter than hers. If this system relies on you being all theatrical..."

"… I'm not really sure what else to say. I don't know if I can be– adequately theatrical, shall I say."

Maya does not laugh at that.

She might smile like she wants to, though.

"This is definitive proof that there is not a god, or, if there is, it has an extremely peculiar sense of humour. Granting magical power and control over artefacts of incredible might to someone who won't even use them properly."

"Well, you can just repeat after me," Willow starts, then strikes a pose. "Wind, I, Theo, command thee to lend me aid and grant me lift! Earth, I, Theo, command thee to release your bonds over me! Under the guidance of the Moon, breaking the shackles of the Sun! Give me flight!"

He… does not strike the pose. He does, however, repeat the words, trying to say them with conviction.

Yep, that's flight. Better flight, even, than what Sadde got. Easier to navigate and stuff. Not as good or easy to steer as the Fly card, but definitely not bad at all.

"So it possibly relies on theatrics, in which case it'd probably matter how we say it and not just how we mean it," he says, moving around a bit – ee, flight is fun. "Or maybe it's just more powerful with long chants?"