"Thanks," says Theo, likewise. "So, do we have any particular symbols in mind, or are we just going to try writing words, or…?"

Three of the things Manfred brought are laptops!

"These connect to the wifi automatically, we should look stuff up."

That's useful! "Yeah, we should. Maybe we could do diagrams with this, too? Depending on how the symbols have to be drawn, if they do anything, it might work to just display them electronically."

Maya moves to get using one and look some stuff up.

"First thing: measure the time taken by a single spell when spoken by different people? If it's always the same or always the same ratio we'll know how to multitask more effectively."

"I like you."

"Maybe we should see if how long it takes to say the spell affects the power – I mean, currently we've tested things with the same words, but if you rush it through or if you drag it out, does it affect the power of the spell? I'd guess not, because of the repetition thing, but should probably test it just in case."

"Okay, yeah, good idea. Let's pick someone as guinea pig, here. Theo?"

"Sure," he says. "What phrase should I use?"

"The last one you used? It's long enough to be a good baseline for everything, I think."

He nods, then looks over at Maya's notes to find what it was and says it again at a regular speed.

Maya starts a timer when he starts saying it, makes a note of the time when he finishes, makes a note of the time he starts flying if that's separated by much, and then waits until it runs out.

It lasts a few minutes!

Maya notes down the time it takes.

Theo says it again, more quickly this time!

It lasts the exact same amount of time!

Maya notes and mentions this.

"Okay, I was going to suggest we retry the normal-speed one to see if it's consistent about how long that takes and not just random variation, but if it's taking exactly the same amount of time anyway, that probably doesn't matter."

"Do it anyway, to be consistent."

So he does!

Same amount of time again.

Maya notes and mentions this.

"Okay, so it's just what is said, not how fast it's said. Tyler tried murmuring it earlier and it seemed to work just fine, Theo you can try that, and I can try just saying it out loud and seeing whether it changes from person to person."

She recites the spell again and is flying.

Theo tries murmuring it too!

Maya times it.