Even when Steven gets back, it turns out it isn't going to be a quick solution. His body completely ravaged by faerie mutations, he spent most of that first night passed out, only occasionally stirring to talk with visitors. As Jasper has seemed stable for the last little while, the medical tent opts to leave him to it.

It isn't until the next morning that he's told of Jasper's condition - inadvertently, when Herbert asks him to spit into a cup. One question leads to another, and soon he finds himself explaining that he isn't sure if his spit will work when he's not there to do the magic. When he finds out what it's for, he doesn't want to leave it up to chance.

So, he uses his freshly grown toes, still made of crystal and shaped more like roots than he's used to, to walk to the portion of the tent that Jasper is still resting in. His body is unnaturally heavy with its changes, and his wings are still mostly stubs, though the structure is starting to grow back into the right shape. He still feels really crappy, but he can go back to resting after this.

"Hi Jasper," he says, earnestly but still a bit grumpy with exhaustion and the fact that he feels like he's about to be rebuked by her.