"Thalergenic?" It's a word Darlington's heard him use before, a term he can guess at the definition of, but he feels no shame in asking rather than extrapolate. As they step into the house, he can't help taking note of Palamedes' reaction, his curiosity and awe at the wide sweep of the staircase and the dark paneling on the walls, the tiles of the foyer giving way onto the polished wood boards of the floor. Introducing people to Black Elm for the first time, showing them this piece of himself and his heart, was always one of his favorite things.

The question and its limitations has him nodding, thoughtful, and when Palamedes mentions a fireplace in particular, Darlington smiles. "In the great room," he says, nodding towards the vast open space just beyond where they're standing. Since the house's arrival in the city, he and Alex--mostly Alex--have spent a lot of time and money turning it into a place that suits them both, with new paint and updated furnishings, decorative objects on the shelves and a few pieces of art on the walls. Still, there are some parts of Black Elm neither of them are able or willing to change. The fireplace fills a good portion of one wall in the great room, its dark stone blackened further by generations of fires, the wide wood mantle above the hearth burnished to a gloss over the years. He's always loved it.