Title: To Make an Obstinate Man Leave London
Fandom: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
Rating: PG
Characters: Arabella/Grant/Jonathan
Content: no warnings apply
Author notes: For Fen, who encouraged me to fill a prompt here
Summary: While packing, Arabella finds a spell




After Jonathan leaves and she is packing the house for Shropshire, Arabella finds the bit of paper. It's such a shockingly ordinary thing too, folded up among the books and notes that clutter Jonathan's desk. Impressively dirty it may be, but it still came as one sheet of paper from so many others in Norrell's library. How strange that so small and flimsy a thing can contain such power.

'A spell to make an obstinate man leave London' she reads and, in a moment of horror, she wonders if the spell was cast on Jonathan to make him leave and go to war. She sits for a while, half afraid of the words in front of her. Then she gives herself a shake and tells herself very firmly that it cannot be so. Jonathan, for all he would deny it, is not so very important when compared to the threat of Napoleon. As Grant had said, he is the army's magician and the army had need of him. There is no call to go looking for a more sinister reason. Jonathan’s departure is no different to Grant’s.

At first she had been glad, knowing that Jonathan would have Grant with him. It had comforted her to think that they would watch over one another, to know that although far away from her they would not be alone. All too soon she had realised that instead her fears had doubled. In the darkest hours of the night she had thought of Grant, not kept safe as she hoped the army might keep their only magician safe, but sent into the fighting with the other officers. She knows that either of the two men would be reckless to save the other and the very thing she had comforted herself with becomes a source of dread. She would do anything to protect them both.

It is so hard to be left at home with nothing to do but hope. Arabella is not one to sit idle, doing nothing.

She has a letter from Grant in the drawer of her desk. Only one - propriety dictates that nothing be written between them and he would not risk discovery for any of their sakes. It is a short note, accepting her kind invitation to dine with them. His firm, sure hand has traced the ink dark against the paper. It makes her think of his strength, his dependable nature. She smooths her fingers over his signature, and wishes she had something less formal, something more of the man he is. The man who has laughed with her, teased her and loved them both.

The note from Jonathan is a contrast in its informality. Scribbled in his erratic hand over a thin sheet of paper, it had been left wedged onto the tray with her morning cup of tea. "Dearest Bell," he had written, "I have left early for Norrell's but promise to return in good time for dinner. With all my love, Jonathan" She had laughed when she read it. How many times she had asked that he remember to be on time, not to let food go cold on the plate while his nose was buried in a book? She would welcome him now, late for dinner or not. However careless he might have been, she has never once doubted his love.

She sits with the two letters on her lap. One so formal and the other not. She remembers the last time they were together, the last night, before they were caught up by Wellington's orders and leaving on the next tide. She wants them home and the wanting is fierce. Fierce enough, she thinks.

She folds the two letters together, kisses the folded pages and tucks them into the bodice of her dress to keep them safe. It is a very domestic sort of magic. No doubt Norrell would despise it. Yet Arabella has heard Jonathan say that magic is part knowledge and part the will of the magician to see it done. Will she has aplenty and though she has no formal spell to cast, she hopes. If one piece of paper can make men leave London, perhaps two such pages can bring them safely home again.