Harper nodded, lips set in a thin line. "No kidding," she murmured. "I don't think we even know the half of what this can do yet."

"Perhaps the thing to do, then, is experiment," Leo suggested. "Find out what is possible."

Harper blinked. And then she smiled slowly.

"That is a brilliant idea."

Leo smiled in return.

"I rather thought so, too," he said. He held out a hand to her. "Come on, I'm sure I can come up with something for you to try."

Harper took his hand with an honestly relieved smile. "Thank you," she murmured to him, sticking close as they walked through his workshop.

"My pleasure," Leo said. He led her back to his personal worktable and rummaged around for a moment for a suitable notebook and something to write with. "Just say the word if it makes you uncomfortable in any way and we can stop."

Harper nodded, although she doubted she'd have to. "I will. How are we starting out, then?" Clearly he was the mad genius, he was in charge here.

Leo thought about it for a moment.

"First, tell me everything you can about the artifact," he said. "What it is, what it does, what it looks like, where it came from. Anything you can tell me."

Ezio just found a comfortable perch in the workshop where he could keep an eye on both Leo and Harper, and on the city outside.

Harper really hadn't thought she'd known much about the Piece of Eden, besides what it looked like and what it did. Which is why she was surprised to find the short version of its history already in her brain ready to go.

"And it seems to just give me information whenever I so much as think about it," she finished with a little grimace. "Including most of what I just told you."

Leo furiously scribbled down as she spoke. The torrent of information was incredible, and he didn't want to miss any of it.

"Fascinating," he said. "So it is at least partially sentient, and definitely symbiotic, in order to parse and react to your needs."

"...That sounds about right," Harper agreed after a moment. "It definitely reacts."

"But not to every single thing," Leo said. He reached out and brushed the feather of his quill pen over the back of her hand. "Either it reacts to you when you think your in danger, or it knows for itself what counts as dangerous."

"Right," Harper agreed. "But it also responds to questions, so not just dangerous situations. I would definitely agree it has some level of sentience." She dropped her gaze thoughtfully to his quill.

"Truly incredible," Leo said as he jotted that down. He went to dip the quill in the ink again, and accidentally knocked the ink bottle over.

Harper caught it before it could go far, setting it gently back in its place. Sure, she had good reflexes, but that had been something a little more. She frowned down at her hand.

Leo blinked at that. He'd definitely noticed that the motion seemed a little too quick.

"How did you...?" he trailed off, looking at her.

"Not quite sure," Harper murmured. "Maybe it's reactive in other ways? Maybe it doesn't just respond to danger." She worried at her lower lip with her teeth.

"It's alright," Leo said, touching her hand gently. "Just take a breath and try to relax for a moment."

Harper blinked at him, clearly having to take a moment to actually refocus on him rather than whatever was in her head. She nodded and focused on her breathing, staying quiet for a few moments.