Arielle was still having trouble coming up with the kernel. She knew so far that the basis of the numbers meant that the spell affects physical touch and humans. So that must mean that it affects the physical touch of a human. The range, what activates the spell, she knew was verbal magic, so she could not use a verbal spell on the box to open it. The cline numbers meant that the curse is immediate and short-lived. The kernel she was still having trouble with, and looked back down at the number meanings to try and figure it out. So far she had change written down, so the spell must change something... And physical touch was what it affected, so maybe physical touch was also what it did? It could change physical touch and... something with a 2... humans? The same as what the spell affects? Arielle gathered her thoughts and jotted them down in her notes.



Looking up from her notebook Arielle glanced around the room. Her eyes stopped when she saw a box with the same golden numbers as hers. It was the only one like hers in the room. Maybe the girl had some ideas? But she looked more confused than Ari. Maybe if we worked together... Ari thought. Deciding to go over to her, Ari picked up her notes and her box and strode over to the girl's desk, the numbers above the box gliding with them.

"Hi, I'm Arielle," she said, and sat her box on the girl's desk. "My box has the same numbers as yours so maybe if we work together we can figure it out." Arielle sat down and spread her notes out on the desk, immediately jumping into an explanation of what she had worked out so far. "Okay. So. So far I know that the spell affects physical touch of humans. And I'm pretty sure that the kernel means the spell changes a human's physical touch, which I think means that the curse is a jelly-fingers curse. But I'm not sure. I do know for sure that it's activated by verbal magic, and that the effect is immediate and doesn't last long." Arielle stopped to take a breath and see if the girl was following. "Anyway, half of the assignment is to break the curse, and I don't really know the counter curse for a jelly-fingers curse. I don't even know how to cast a jelly-fingers curse, I've only heard about it. But the other half of the assignment is to open the box, and since the spell is only activated by verbal magic we can just physically open it, right? I mean, as long as we open it we should get half credit..."

Maybe Arielle wasn't as confused as she thought she was. Explaining everything out loud seemed to help her connect everything. She glanced down at her notes and then back at the girl. "Do you have any ideas?" she asked. She could have been wrong about what curse it is and she could be wrong about physically opening it. And maybe the girl knew the counter curse. Arielle finally shut up and waited for her new partner's input.