During their perusal of herbs, arms, and almanacs, Kashan and Celeste opted to share a meal of flame roasted boar chunks and bread while they discussed the specifics and their roles in Tuscae’s not yet formed contract. Celeste contemplated the risks of engaging a lesser flood drake, unsure if she should agree to an alliance with a complete stranger. Their conversation took place beneath an ash tree surrounded by grass just south of the town square.
“I understand your apprehension Lady Knoll,” Kashan began, setting aside his meal and clasping his hands together. “I have no qualms if you decline, but I ask you to think of the town. Tuscae offers wealth, sure, but the town is yet to hold the title. Without support, many will suffer unduly.”
Celeste puffed out her chest hearing ‘Lady’ before her surname, smiling and responding,“I am not beholden to the town’s will or whims, nor do I owe any sort of favor to Tuscae. The wealth is tempting, but such danger may be outside my capabilities to combat.”
“I believe your skills far outrange it and your mentor agrees,” Kashan retorts, stowing away the documents into his knapsack. He sighs as he remembers fragments of his own superiors, easily seeing the potential in himself that he was blind to. He continued, “Madam Aleg sees great potential in your spellforms. I am unsure of how much control it takes to manifest and maintain the flames, but your mentor trusted you wholeheartedly, with her livelihood no less. I implore you to reconsider what you think is impossible with your skills, Lady Knoll.”
“Just ‘Celeste’ is fine, and… I will consider it,” she meekly replied, pouting as she realized she may have been played for a fool. She maintains her smug posture, glancing over to Kashan who remained relaxed as he looked out toward the square. “What brought you to Caelma?” was the first thing she could think of to break the oddly comfortable silence.
Kashan had no real reason, but wanderers rarely had reasons to wander anyway, prompting his reply, “Wandering brought me here. Consider me a slayer. I seem to be working closely with the guild now, after all.”
“That’s all? No epic adventure, no grandiose ambitions?” questioned Celeste as she took another chunk out of her piece of boar. “I thought with the blade and papers, there was some quest you had embarked on beforehand.”
“In all honesty, I had no intention of lending my aid to Tuscae. His circumstances and reasons are what convinced me.” Kashan’s voice seemed to soften as the breeze brushed his hair aside. “Perhaps that is my reason. Not only for now, but ever on, to aid where aid is needed.”
Celeste began to laugh as Kashan glanced over, wondering if he’d missed something obvious. “That’s a knight errant’s response, truly!”
A knight errant… Beholden to no country, only aiding the people within them. Kashan smiled at the thought, mumbling, “A knight errant sounds like an arduous yet wonderful life.”
“You cannot honestly be considering that?” was Celeste’s response as she leaned forward to get a better look at Kashan’s face. The confident smile he held somehow reminded her of a child trying to weave baskets for the first time, prompting her to comment, “You will be taken advantage of, mark my words.” For a moment her focus shifted, sensing potent, subtle, recognisable magick that permeated Kashan’s skin. She thought to question its caster later.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“The purpose of a knight is to be taken advantage of, is it not? Is that not why we, uh, they swear fealty?” After his response, Kashan took three quick bites of his meal and wiped the residue on his tunic. As he stood up, Celeste finished her last bite before also using Kashan’s tunic. “It is to prove their loyalty, for it is difficult to weigh the worth of someone’s trust with your life if theirs does not also weigh the scale.”
“I doubt knights are as altruistic as you believe,” Celeste sighed. After ensuring a lack of oils staining her fingers and nails, she began a slow stroll back towards the apothecary’s storefront. “I assume your preparations are finished.”
“I believe…” was the realtime realization that Kashan had neglected to purchase a map. Still, he had the herfenroot solution Celeste brought along and some basic supplies. Other than the map, he needed a compass, a bedroll, perhaps a spare knife.
Celeste had returned to the apothecary after her outing, setting down her satchel of herbs and almanacs on the counter before the corvid crone Aleg. Before she could protest about the added costs of the books, Celeste rebuffed, ”Consider it a payment for my services, as well as a little justice for your magicks.”
Aleg tweets with feigned innocence as a wry smile formed at the edges of her beak. “I’ll have you know, it was a two part enchantment, intertwined and hidden beneath the boy’s senses. He has potential, surprisingly,” she cooed, waving an arm covered in feathers as if to shoo away the spellform that had lingering essence just below the nape of her neck. “One of sight transference and one of truth seeking. Both held steady. I could not weave one of sound transference, so you are my source.” Celeste froze halfway down the steps, now searching through the contents of the conversation and the times certain subjects were brought up. When she was about to ask her questions, she was shushed by a dingy brown root placed on her lips by her teacher. “Bother not, for not once did he lie.”
Not once? Not once. How does anyone say such embarrassing things truthfully? Celeste looked up to Aleg, stammering, ”Not once? At all? Not even a smidge of fallacy?”
“Not. Once,” was the malevolence Aleg cawed, enjoying the awkward dance of thoughts and emotions in Celeste’s eyes. “Did you hear something of import? Perhaps of secrecy or an old flame?”
“No, simply a realization that I have met the most naive man on this side of Stallaertzo,” whined Celeste as she tried to deflect. “I’m returning to my quarters,” was her last retort as she clambered down the stairs again.
“Your chambers are here above ground like the rest of us you mole-ish recluse,” Aleg sang into the now empty stairwell as she lit a flame beneath a kettle. She would have her answers in due time. Out of habit from Celeste’s younger years, she began to slowly measure and sift a portion of honeyspore. While she controlled the stone stove’s flame with her magic, she slowly stepped down the basement stairs, finding Celeste already engrossed in one of her new books. “Anything new from those yet?”
Celeste only mumbles a barely audible, “Nothing yet, just apprentice stuff. It’s all just missiles, I already have a good missile spell, I don’t need more.”
Aleg smiles as she turns back toward the stairs and reminds, “Do be wary, an addled mind is not a studious one. Sleep when the sun does.” Celeste’s only response was a haphazard wave as Aleg began to unravel her magick again, silencing the wheezing kettle above.