The advert posted had been simple:
The payment written underneath would have been exceptionally generous enough even if it had not been followed by "plus invoiced expenses."
There were many times in her life Serene was grateful for her own wisdom and foresight. Most people in her position would think themselves unworthy fools for making such a terrible mistake as she had by drinking a Youth Potion, but she knew this was only a setback, not the end of her career.
Of course she'd wept at first, and thrown objects and screamed and bitten her lips bloody agonising over how to deal with her loss of power. Anyone would have done the same and she didn't hold the reaction against herself, no, for she'd come back to herself and realised she could easily invent a ruse to take a brief sabbatical until she figured out how to fix herself.
Her first ray of hope came when she'd found the Thought Paper she'd prepared sheaves of years ago, churning out the precious stuff in a fit of productivity over weeks so that she'd save herself time in the future. It was a precious magical item, imbued with the power to connect one mind to another at the shallower levels, which she usually used when she required immediate replies to her missives. Better yet she only needed a drop of her own blood to activate the paper.
... but who to ask for help? The First and Second wizards were out, as were the courtiers and nobles she'd spent decades cultivating relationships with. To reveal herself young and powerful would have been a marvel, but to reveal herself as simply young would be seen as a farcical act by a desperate old woman. She couldn't let herself be so scorned.
There was one person who she could manoeuvre, perhaps. Her granddaughter, the awful girl, lived in exile in Mervale with the dolt she'd fallen in love with three years ago. Serene had set the ninny up to be betrothed to Prince Ludwic as soon as the boy turned twelve but Maire had humiliated her by outright refusing as soon as she'd been told the news. She'd thrown away power! She'd thrown away riches! She'd thrown away her chance to elevate the entire Aescrof line in the only way such an untalented girl could do so.
But Serene wasn't cruel. Harsh, yes, but not cruel. Three years was more than enough time for grinding poverty to have ground off Maire's contrariness. If the girl proved herself able to help her dear grandmama then Serene would be happy to bring her back into the family and soothe over the fracture it had caused between her and her son.
To ask Maire to come to the palace would take too much time, as the girl was a ditherer. Serene would have to leave the palace and go to her.
She'd had to instruct the court servant through a crack in the door what to do, of course, as she was struggling to glamour herself back to old age, but the man had understood her instructions clearly: take this notice to a place where travellers gather and pin it up, and warn the proprietor that if the notice is sold or stolen she'd know.
Of course, posting such paper out in public carried a risk of being spammed by curious minds, but she was supremely confident that her reputation, built up over decades, would make the idle curious wary of simply poking the notice.
"Female escort needed to accompany a magical initiate from Theloss town to Mervale. The applicant must be an experienced traveller and well versed in the magical arts. Required ASAP."
Applicants are to contact Archmage Serene Aescrof, Third Wizard of the Court of Theloss, by touching this notice."
Applicants are to contact Archmage Serene Aescrof, Third Wizard of the Court of Theloss, by touching this notice."
The payment written underneath would have been exceptionally generous enough even if it had not been followed by "plus invoiced expenses."
There were many times in her life Serene was grateful for her own wisdom and foresight. Most people in her position would think themselves unworthy fools for making such a terrible mistake as she had by drinking a Youth Potion, but she knew this was only a setback, not the end of her career.
Of course she'd wept at first, and thrown objects and screamed and bitten her lips bloody agonising over how to deal with her loss of power. Anyone would have done the same and she didn't hold the reaction against herself, no, for she'd come back to herself and realised she could easily invent a ruse to take a brief sabbatical until she figured out how to fix herself.
Her first ray of hope came when she'd found the Thought Paper she'd prepared sheaves of years ago, churning out the precious stuff in a fit of productivity over weeks so that she'd save herself time in the future. It was a precious magical item, imbued with the power to connect one mind to another at the shallower levels, which she usually used when she required immediate replies to her missives. Better yet she only needed a drop of her own blood to activate the paper.
... but who to ask for help? The First and Second wizards were out, as were the courtiers and nobles she'd spent decades cultivating relationships with. To reveal herself young and powerful would have been a marvel, but to reveal herself as simply young would be seen as a farcical act by a desperate old woman. She couldn't let herself be so scorned.
There was one person who she could manoeuvre, perhaps. Her granddaughter, the awful girl, lived in exile in Mervale with the dolt she'd fallen in love with three years ago. Serene had set the ninny up to be betrothed to Prince Ludwic as soon as the boy turned twelve but Maire had humiliated her by outright refusing as soon as she'd been told the news. She'd thrown away power! She'd thrown away riches! She'd thrown away her chance to elevate the entire Aescrof line in the only way such an untalented girl could do so.
But Serene wasn't cruel. Harsh, yes, but not cruel. Three years was more than enough time for grinding poverty to have ground off Maire's contrariness. If the girl proved herself able to help her dear grandmama then Serene would be happy to bring her back into the family and soothe over the fracture it had caused between her and her son.
To ask Maire to come to the palace would take too much time, as the girl was a ditherer. Serene would have to leave the palace and go to her.
She'd had to instruct the court servant through a crack in the door what to do, of course, as she was struggling to glamour herself back to old age, but the man had understood her instructions clearly: take this notice to a place where travellers gather and pin it up, and warn the proprietor that if the notice is sold or stolen she'd know.
Of course, posting such paper out in public carried a risk of being spammed by curious minds, but she was supremely confident that her reputation, built up over decades, would make the idle curious wary of simply poking the notice.
Luckily, this was no idly curious woman. Datoya Mars was new to Theloss, perhaps, but not to much else on the list.
She stood in front of the advert board for some time, considering the amount of money and the fact that nobody had reached out to snatch the work. Strange. That alone told her the work would not be as simplistic as it seemed. Then again, city mages were often difficult. She'd learned this the hard way when she'd been in the army of the warlord that had 'protected' her homeland. The hedgewitches and wizards at home were generally curious, eccentric, and harmless. Those who trained their entire lives for the will of their rulers were entirely a different breed.
Still... Datoya needed funds badly, and a change from the hardships of healing those whose bodies couldn't do it for themselves was appealing. A break, if this could be considered one. If escorting an initiate didn't mean getting entangled in some plot or another.
She considered for a time longer, and decided that if she were to do this, she needed an out. She needed to craft a guise, lest she get embroiled. Mages had a way of making you pay for a slight in excruciating ways, and though she had a knack for magical healing, she knew she was no match for the properly trained.
Datoya reached out and touched the paper.
::Hello, my name is Inesbeth Freine. May I speak with the Archmage about the advertised escort contract?::
She stood in front of the advert board for some time, considering the amount of money and the fact that nobody had reached out to snatch the work. Strange. That alone told her the work would not be as simplistic as it seemed. Then again, city mages were often difficult. She'd learned this the hard way when she'd been in the army of the warlord that had 'protected' her homeland. The hedgewitches and wizards at home were generally curious, eccentric, and harmless. Those who trained their entire lives for the will of their rulers were entirely a different breed.
Still... Datoya needed funds badly, and a change from the hardships of healing those whose bodies couldn't do it for themselves was appealing. A break, if this could be considered one. If escorting an initiate didn't mean getting entangled in some plot or another.
She considered for a time longer, and decided that if she were to do this, she needed an out. She needed to craft a guise, lest she get embroiled. Mages had a way of making you pay for a slight in excruciating ways, and though she had a knack for magical healing, she knew she was no match for the properly trained.
Datoya reached out and touched the paper.
::Hello, my name is Inesbeth Freine. May I speak with the Archmage about the advertised escort contract?::
Serene had been in the midst of choosing which clothes to pack when the thought had touched hers, hours after she'd had the notice sent.
Had she been in her full power she could have reached out to this Inesbeth directly and drawn her in closer, like a spider to a fly, close enough to taste her truths and fears. Right now though Serene was stuck in a disgustingly passive state, so she simply sat on her rich rugs with a deep sigh and thought back.
::Inesbeth Freine. Yes, I am the Archmage Aescrof. What are your qualifications?::
Freine... it wasn't a name Serene recognised, which could be a good sign. She was familiar with the most powerful mages who inhabited the main cities of Theloss, but a travelling mage wouldn't have made the same impression... this Freine was either a wanderer or a fake, and Serene was confident she could still sniff out a fake.
Had she been in her full power she could have reached out to this Inesbeth directly and drawn her in closer, like a spider to a fly, close enough to taste her truths and fears. Right now though Serene was stuck in a disgustingly passive state, so she simply sat on her rich rugs with a deep sigh and thought back.
::Inesbeth Freine. Yes, I am the Archmage Aescrof. What are your qualifications?::
Freine... it wasn't a name Serene recognised, which could be a good sign. She was familiar with the most powerful mages who inhabited the main cities of Theloss, but a travelling mage wouldn't have made the same impression... this Freine was either a wanderer or a fake, and Serene was confident she could still sniff out a fake.
::My qualifications lie largely in the recuperative arts, though they are apprenticed skills rather than university-trained. I augment my talents with the essence of the natural world, and therefore I have had to do much travel to find the correct reagents.:: All true enough, should someone as powerful as an Archmage be sniffing around.
Datoya firmed up her mind before she could let stray another thought. Apprenticed, true, though she had been further honed for the battlefield, to withstand the undead and those who would ruthlessly target mages sent out to drag the injured and dying back from the lines. She was prepared for extraction by torture, though she hoped that this head of acedemia would be further from that kind of bloody business than any of the mages she'd known from home.
::My travels have led me to a part of the world new to me. An escort would be an excellent way to get acquainted with this Mervale for me, and should anything happen to your initiate, I'm there to help.:: She paused a beat. :
should like access to a few of your related texts on the local history of healing techniques in addition to the listed rewards. Part of my mission has been to amalgamate my training with those of other cultures to obtain the credentials required to take on official apprentices.:: This wasn't strictly true, though it had been a dream, one day. Datoya wondered if she'd ever have that kind of unbridled hope again.
Datoya firmed up her mind before she could let stray another thought. Apprenticed, true, though she had been further honed for the battlefield, to withstand the undead and those who would ruthlessly target mages sent out to drag the injured and dying back from the lines. She was prepared for extraction by torture, though she hoped that this head of acedemia would be further from that kind of bloody business than any of the mages she'd known from home.
::My travels have led me to a part of the world new to me. An escort would be an excellent way to get acquainted with this Mervale for me, and should anything happen to your initiate, I'm there to help.:: She paused a beat. :
should like access to a few of your related texts on the local history of healing techniques in addition to the listed rewards. Part of my mission has been to amalgamate my training with those of other cultures to obtain the credentials required to take on official apprentices.:: This wasn't strictly true, though it had been a dream, one day. Datoya wondered if she'd ever have that kind of unbridled hope again.
Serene smiled to herself within her empty room, delighted with the little fish she'd caught. A healer? That would prove useful indeed. Serene fully intended to use this travelling time to reteach herself magic from scratch, and with a healer nearby she could afford to take more risks.
::And where are you from originally, Inesbeth Freine? My tower contains a vast and comprehensive library drawn from across the continent. Do you require a tome that teaches the principles of the Theloss curative system, or do we share enough First Principles that you'd do better with abook that assumes that base knowledge?::
Lending a tome to her travelling companion would be no trouble, if the woman proved to be honest; Serene would simply take the texts back from her at the end of the journey.
::And where are you from originally, Inesbeth Freine? My tower contains a vast and comprehensive library drawn from across the continent. Do you require a tome that teaches the principles of the Theloss curative system, or do we share enough First Principles that you'd do better with abook that assumes that base knowledge?::
Lending a tome to her travelling companion would be no trouble, if the woman proved to be honest; Serene would simply take the texts back from her at the end of the journey.
::Well, that really quite depends.:: Datoya considered. She had been traveling within Theloss for only a few days; having been on boat before that, and moving largely on foot when her funds ran low, she wasn't exactly sure how far she was from the Lordhold of Andesatra, but then she had also begun to lose track of time. Since her spouse had died, she had not been keeping much track of anything.
...But that was something she did not want to colour the conversation, and so she squished the iota of doubt down. ::Have your girl bring me your first principles as well as the combinatorial uses of local flora and fungi within the streams of curative magic, and you shall have me happy as a clam. Where exactly shall I meet you, so we can seal this arrangement?:: when speaking with academia, better to drive the point to a close, Datoya was thinking; she didn't want to be talked in circles.
...But that was something she did not want to colour the conversation, and so she squished the iota of doubt down. ::Have your girl bring me your first principles as well as the combinatorial uses of local flora and fungi within the streams of curative magic, and you shall have me happy as a clam. Where exactly shall I meet you, so we can seal this arrangement?:: when speaking with academia, better to drive the point to a close, Datoya was thinking; she didn't want to be talked in circles.
That was an answer Serene could respect: not boastful, nor grovelling, nor hesitant in the face of Serene's watchful mind.
::I'll send the girl down to meet you in my stead. She will make the final assessment for me, though she will have my familiar with her so that I may observe the proceedings. I'll consider this the final test of both of your characters.::
Thankfully Archimedes was still bound to her heart; it was proving that magic cast before her change had not been disrupted by the change. She would have to ensure that he was not killed, for she didn't think she had the strength to resummon him again.
::I'll have her bring the first principles with her for you to look through as you talk.:: And as a measure of the woman, to see how this Inesbeth responds to handling a magical text. ::I do not have time to waste. Pull this notice from the noticeboard and touch it again when you reach the Pleasant Vale inn opposite the palace. I will send out the girl; she will be wearing blue robes, have blonde curls and be carrying an owl.::
Serene could have shoved through a mental image simply by opening her eyes and looking into a mirror, but that was risky if this Inesbeth was too observant. No, if the woman couldn't spot her in a crowd with that description then she would be useless, just as useless as she would be if she couldn't ask for directions to the Pleasant Vale.
She bit her own thumb hard to sever her concentration and the current connection between their minds (ahh, but she'd need to get that paper back and burn it with a match like a peasant, how far she'd fallen), and set about to packing in earnest.
::I'll send the girl down to meet you in my stead. She will make the final assessment for me, though she will have my familiar with her so that I may observe the proceedings. I'll consider this the final test of both of your characters.::
Thankfully Archimedes was still bound to her heart; it was proving that magic cast before her change had not been disrupted by the change. She would have to ensure that he was not killed, for she didn't think she had the strength to resummon him again.
::I'll have her bring the first principles with her for you to look through as you talk.:: And as a measure of the woman, to see how this Inesbeth responds to handling a magical text. ::I do not have time to waste. Pull this notice from the noticeboard and touch it again when you reach the Pleasant Vale inn opposite the palace. I will send out the girl; she will be wearing blue robes, have blonde curls and be carrying an owl.::
Serene could have shoved through a mental image simply by opening her eyes and looking into a mirror, but that was risky if this Inesbeth was too observant. No, if the woman couldn't spot her in a crowd with that description then she would be useless, just as useless as she would be if she couldn't ask for directions to the Pleasant Vale.
She bit her own thumb hard to sever her concentration and the current connection between their minds (ahh, but she'd need to get that paper back and burn it with a match like a peasant, how far she'd fallen), and set about to packing in earnest.