Ten hours of work later, Velvet had more or less finished.

The broom diagram was ready, at least!

She had looked at every broom blueprint, noticing the variations and differences on formations, paradigms and mage personalities. To explain it better, the term ‘broom’ included every artifact whose main purpose was allowing a mage to fly, while not being a closed space, like an airplane would be.

So, if she were to get, let’s say, a ship anchor, and apply a magic formation to it, she could divebomb on her enemies (and that ignoring how her body would end up after such impact). Of course, the heavier a broom was, the more magic it consumed. Reason why actual brooms were so popular. Light, easy to acquire, and the flying formation was easy to add.

Fast production was a must for brooms, because they were always targeted, and usually destroyed after combat.

They also had the problem with the formations getting overloaded if used too much too fast. And there was a similar issue when trying to make ‘multipurpose brooms’, like a cannon broom, or broom staff. Usually the magic formations conflicted between themselves, breaking down.

Tristan’s failed projects had several cannon brooms, in fact. And several gun-brooms. She really wanted a rideable gunpowder weapon, was Velvet’s guess.

She also wanted one! But focusing on failed ideas was not a good use of time, so she made several broom blueprints based on the working ones, in her mind, while she went through all the other projects, organizing them.

The door creaked softly, and she heard a scuttering noise, before it closed, whatever made that noise leaving.

A squeak made her stop looking at the door, and she slid her thumb over the mouse’s head, patting it. They had become acquaintances after ten whole hours, and Velvet had even let it nibble on the corners of the failed blueprints.

Someone lost? Mages are weird, I wouldn’t be surprised… Steps going in her direction changed her opinion soon, even more since they weren’t Tristan’s.

Mmm… combat boots, and the sound is long and heavy, with each step taking the same time to land… Tall, well built, military trained… Oh.

She recognized that walk.

Knocking on the door three times, the person waited for an answer.

“It’s open! You can come in, Captain Kartal.”

The man to whom Velvet owed her safety; current captain of the Scales of Poine, the organization responsible for keeping dangerous mages in check, and also doctor, Irsen Kartal, entered the room.

“Miss Velvet, glad to see you so…” He looked at Velvet, who had been reading and classifying files non stop for ten hours under the gas lamps lights, the doctor part in him wanting to put her under the sun for a while, even when it was already gone. “Overworked.”

“I’m almost finished, I promise! Tomorrow I’ll spend the whole day outside!” She justified herself.

“I hope that’s the case.” Velvet noticed something curled around Kartal’s arm. It was a small silver dragon, pressing Kartal’s uniform with its claws while looking at Velvet with its red eyes.

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Was that the thing that opened the door at first? A tracker familiar? Covering the mouse with her hand, in case the dragon was feeling hungry, she asked. “Were you searching for me?”

“Indeed. I have a favor to ask.”

“I’m listening.”

Kartal took a seat, and the small dragon slithered around his neck, keeping watch on Velvet all the time.

I’m not a criminal, stop.

“Are you knowledgeable about the Entrance Ceremony?”

“If you refer to the Arena thing for this year’s selected, yes.”

“Great. Are you knowledgeable about Idirian nobility?”

“No.”

Kartal nodded, expecting that answer. “My selected it’s the Second Prince, Syon Idrees. And I have sources confirming that he’s going to have mages after him on that day.”

“Like assassins?” Velvet could hear Alrai’s laugh on her head.

“No, I took care of those already. Desperate novice mages with no backup who have fallen under dangerous contracts, yes.”

“How big of a chance does he have at getting killed?”

“Zero, there’s enough measures in place to guarantee his exit. But not enough to prevent him from getting permanently harmed.”

Velvet thought about Madam Dorna burned face. There were enough ways to mess someone up without killing them.

“Can’t he just… knock himself out?”

“The Ceremony results are public. Idir is a military nation, if he exited too soon, he would be considered a coward and too weak, losing all the support he possesses.”

“You want me to protect him?” She asked. “Which mages do you consider a threat?”

She couldn’t refuse Kartal's petition. He was the one keeping the Grahams away from her head, so, if she refused, Kartal could just stop having her under his wing. Adeline Graham surely would appreciate that.

Nothing was free in mage society, after all.

Did Alrai know about this? Maybe Adeline knew, she told Ethra, and Ethra told Alrai. Or maybe it was Siberiald’s idea. It didn’t matter, Velvet was suspicious of all of them.

“The ones carrying this family's seals.” He pulled out a folded stack of papers, where ten different seals were depicted, together with realistic drawings of all the novice mages those families selected, with information about paradigms, skills, age, height, place of birth, background, Esca opening…

Velvet’s mouth flinched, amazed and a bit curious. Did Irsen Kartal have similar documents about her?

Fifteen mages were depicted, and, with so much information, Velvet wasn’t worried about surprises.

Give enough information to a knowledge mage, and let them figure out the rest.

Three of those mages had a danger note next to their names. Those were the ones who had killed one or more mages outside the Mergifari. In the documents were summaries about the murdered mages, the method used, and the conflict.

Do I also have a danger next to my name? Probably, next to Cornelius’ photo.

A mage from the Coaltheno family also was included. Alrai had mentioned their intentions to move to Idir.

Who is trying to get the Second Prince killed? This family wants to leave Charlampia for Idir, so… She thought about it. “How many princes does Idir have?”

“Three.”

So the First was dead or dying, and the Third wanted the throne? Kartal didn’t explain it to her, but he didn’t need to. Velvet understood.

But, Idir had a god, a living god, Idir himself. Didn’t he care about who sat on the throne?

Or, perhaps, that was his plan. Kartal said that Second Prince Syon couldn’t surrender on the Arena, because Idir had no need for a cowardly prince.

Was this part of the trials to decide a king? Honestly, Velvet didn’t care about who ruled Idir. She cared about being on Kartal’s good graces, so, if Kartal wanted Syon, Syon was it.

“Of course, if everything goes well, you will be rewarded.”

“Oh?” Velvet raised her head from the pages suddenly. She wasn’t expecting such a word!

Kartal repressed a chuckle. “I won’t tell you to put yourself in danger without giving anything back.”

“Ten thousand auris, and a couple of Strangler Humming Figs.” Kartal rummaged through his pocket, pulling out a small black ball, before handing it to Velvet.

She took it, peeking inside. A tropical forest was contained, with the trees in question coiling around some others. It seemed that they noticed Velvet, starting to make a humming noise.

It was low, but deep, a sound that penetrated Velvet’s soul, making her stop looking to massage her head and close her eyes shut.

“Ugh… those things have quite the temper.”

“Their branches can be alchemized with normal paper.” Kartal had picked something that Velvet needed. She had pets whose parts could be used to give effects to normal paper, but nothing to increase the paper's own qualities.

“I see…” Still suffering from a deep headache, she tried to return the container, but Kartal refused.

“Their branches will be ready for recollection tomorrow. Use them to strengthen yourself for your mission.”

Both of them knew that Kartal was doing more than enough just with his presence, and a reward was more something to keep Velvet happy with him, and loyal.

He wanted her as a future member of the Scales of Poine, and, if she started feeling too unfairly treated, Velvet could become a danger.

After all, she was part of the class of mages that murdered another.