Kestra knew enough about putting needle and thread into fabric and leathers to make passable clothing, something which the Myriad Realms seemed to agree with her was only passable. She had earned the Tailoring skill, but she wasn't making much progress past the seventh rank, and none of her clothes had come out as higher than Mid Novice grade. Neither she nor the Divine Creatures cared that much, but she caught more than a few disparaging glances at her tunic and pants in the tavern of Tang's Hospitality when they came down for an early breakfast.
That, Kestra thought, might present a problem. She asked their server, "Are there any Tailors in the city that could provide me with an outfit this morning that is suitable to meet with the Lost Ways Healer House?"
The server paused for a moment to consider the question. Reluctantly, she answered, "The time limit is the true problem, Honored Lady. Most of the tailor shops are an hour's walk from here. The nearest tailor of quality is Xucat Patrem, and he is ... temperamental. We would not normally direct a guest to his shop. As gifted as he is with silks, he is prone to fits. If possible, his wife Nan Beatrice or daughter Nan Odelia are best with customers."
Kestra smiled her thanks and followed Graemire's suggestion on how to pass along a tip for the information. Tipping for regular service was an insult, as if the one providing that service were some lazy bum that needed extra incentive to take pride in their work. Tipping for information, on the other hand, was right and proper.
She got the map data for the tailor shops near and far, in case this Xucat wasn't worth giving their patronage to, and they headed off to see if they could get Kestra's outfit updated while they waited for Scarlet.
The shop's exterior was meticulously maintained, which Kestra took for a neutral sign. Either the owner was fastidiously detail focused and paid for someone to maintain the exterior to their standards, or had sufficient free time on their hands to do so themselves. The free time would mean a lack of patronage, for which there was likely a very good reason.
Inside was just as spotless, with a few manikins holding up completed samples of the tailor's wares and the walls lined with bolts of fabrics, ribbons, threads, and a display of beaded embroidery samples.
A man greeted Kestra, his gaze dripping disdain until coming to rest on Graemire, in his cloak aspect. With a pinched expression, the man asked, "How may this tailor aid you?"
Not even an introduction, Kestra noticed. Probably expecting her to be someone's odd servant, she guessed. Kestra smiled, unperturbed. "I have an unexpected meeting with the Lost Ways Healing House later this morning, and was hoping to find a tailor capable of equipping me with suitable attire."
The tailor's expression soured, though he managed to maintain a smile. "We do not provide servant's uniforms," he said.
"You misunderstand," Kestra responded, producing a Base mana stone. "I'm looking to meet with the Head of the House to hire them. My current dress is a matter of my preference for comfort and fondness for the admittedly unskilled crafter. I don't care about fashions, but I also don't care to make other shows of power. They tend to be quite ... messy. So, are you of sufficient skill to meet my needs or need I look elsewhere?"
The tailor's gaze turned to the mana stone, his expression blanking. Then a sly gleam came across his face. "This Xucat Patrem will certainly be quite capable of meeting your needs, Honorable Lady. A dress of cloth of gold?"
Kestra gave the man a flat stare. That was just plain gaudy, and she didn't need Graemire's, "Heavens raining fire! No!" to know that.
"No? Dancing Dragon brocade, then?" That was a more subtle jab as the pattern one put on their brocade was supposed to be a reflection of the accomplishments of their house, according to some of the romantic novels Inspri delighted in reading.
Kestra's lips curled up as she realized the brocade would be accurate, given Graemire's Emperor form was an Azure Dragon, albeit a small one until he regained his cultivation. However, it was also considered an ostentatious and foolish boastfulness.
"Do you have any brocade with plant motifs? Flowers or ferns, trees would be acceptable," she responded. That was supposed to be for alchemists and rich landowners. Farmers wouldn't ever be expected to come into the money to buy silks.
The slyness in the tailor's expression muted with her decision, but didn't wholly fade.
"I have some, Honorable Lady," Xucat said and led her over to the fabrics.
Kestra quickly decided on a blue brocade with bold yellow motifs for her long jacket, and a yellow brocade with green motifs for her split skirt style pants. Green silk without motif was to be used for her belt and edgings.
Xucat's daughter, her mana cringing into her at Xucat's attention, though she maintained a neutral expression, was called out of the back of the shop to get Kestra's measurements. There was a familiar stiffness in the girl's posture as she went about her assigned task, something Kestra expected from novices training combat skills, not from a tailor.
When it was just the two of them in a side room, Kestra quietly used her Organic Assay on the girl. She was bruised from knee to shoulders, and up and down her arms, layers of bruising that spoke of repeated beatings.
Kestra said nothing, and worked hard to keep her emotions from flavoring the mana around her. She had Inspri query if the city had its laws available through the City Stone. It did not.
Through the communications device, Graemire asked, "What angers you so much?"
"Not here, not now," she jaw-talked back to him.
The sense of his alert curiosity settled next to her, but he did not press.
While she waited on the outfit to be stitched up, an older woman introduced herself as Nan Beatrice. She moved with a more fluid grace, and served Kestra tea and made polite small talk.
Kestra pulled on her memories of dealing with the Honorables of Moh, the families close enough to the sitting nobles to be considered for inheritance. She used those memories to create a false mien, and asked, "What is the common method of acquiring servants in Hadenshire? My arrival was rather sudden, and I find myself in need of such."
"Why, most of the common servants are indentured. Some with particularly good skills may be hired. How many and for what term would you be looking?"
"The quantity depends upon the quality. I'm mostly interested in an assistant to run errands and delay guests when I'm working in my lab. I would require that at least one be able to travel, though Ascension isn't needful just yet. If they are particularly competent, I would level them through a dungeon to prepare for their first Tribulation. If they are young enough to still be helping in their parents' shop, I would compensate their families for the lost labor."
That brought a slyness to the woman's gaze similar to her husband's, and Kestra had to fight back the urge to skewer the woman.
"Well," Nan Beatrice said, "It just so happens little Odelia is about ready for her first apprenticeship. Sadly, she seems more capable with sums and accounts than needle and thread. It seems to me that a term of indenture, especially one to a strong patron such as yourself, would permit her to grow a bit more and discover where her true talents lie. She is a dear help in the shop, but it is a parent's duty to see their children well launched, is it not?"
By the time Kestra left the shop, she had a new suit for her meeting, a newly indentured Nan Odelia walking three steps behind her, and a very curious Elemental on her shoulders.
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Back at their inn, Kestra ordered four full meals brought to her room, and informed the innkeeper that Nan Odelia was now her personal servant. The man didn't even blink, but she could still feel his curiosity.
In her room, she pulled out a stack of papers, along with a brush and ink. The top page had an oath of silence recorded. "Please read this, and if you desire to remain my servant, swear this oath."
Swallowing visibly, Nan Odelia read the page, sounding out the words. Then she repeated them, this time with something closer to conviction. On the second go-round, the light of the Heavens confirmed her oath.
"Are you oath bound to anyone else?" Kestra asked.
"No, Honorable Lady," Nan Odelia answered.
Part of her oath was to speak only truth when Kestra questioned her, so Kestra took Nan Odelia's lack of screaming as confirmation that she was upholding her end of the bargain.
"Good. Please list out the skills in your Skill Book and their rank. Mark which skills you want to grow. So long as you are a faithful servant to me, I will aid you in growing your skills and gaining those of interest to you and use to the both of us."
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Food arrived then, and Kestra had the meal platters placed on the table. When the inn's staff were gone again, Kestra said, "But first, eat. You're going to need it for the Healing."
Nan Odelia stilled, then asked, her voice higher pitched, "Healing? Honorable Lady?"
"No servant of mine will wear bruises from neck to knee that come from aught but honest combat practice, and even then only as long as they're needed for the lessons of war to be learned," Kestra declared.
Nan Odelia looked stunned by a growing hope. "I ... can learn ... to fight?" she hesitantly asked.
"You will learn to defend yourself and those under your protection," Kestra corrected her.
A bright smile took over the girl's face.
"Now eat," Kestra ordered again.
Once most of the first meal was in Nan Odelia's belly, Kestra cast Minor Healing, and then channeled another casting of Organic Assay. Kestra made Nan Odelia continue to eat, and she went through two and half meals before her stamina was too low to continue.
By that time, the worst of the bruising was easing up, but the channeled healing had also scattered to mending small divots in the girl's bones and dissolving bits of free-floating bone chunks in areas where she had been bruised repeatedly.
The bone-floats were something Kestra had heard about as a Free Lancer. Something in blood made bone, and if it was stagnant in one area for too long, new bones that had no business being in the body would start to grow. Getting them out sometimes took a [Blessed Healer] as those working with skills alone often lacked the ability to restore older bone-floats to tissue and blood.
The girl was quite exhausted by then, so Kestra tucked her into bed in the attached servant's room in her suite. Back in her room, she disrobed and wiped herself down before changing into her new clothes. Kestra left a note with instructions for the girl beside her bed, just in case she woke before Kestra returned.
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The Lost Ways Healing House took half an hour to reach by coach, but Kestra was certain that she would have been able to walk there in ten minutes at a leisurely stroll. The roads simply twisted that much, and walking presented opportunities to cut down alleys between the houses.
She and Scarlet discussed a few matters, the Branch Manager flicking nervous glances at Kestra's "cloak" every so often. Kestra brought up the matter of hiring an indentured servant, and at Scarlet's gentle prodding relayed the whole of the matter.
"Well, we shall not be doing business with the Xucat's," Scarlet declared at the end. "As one not versed in our fashions, you did well to require the motifs you did, but the cut of your jacket and skirts are those of a servant, not the master of a house. They slighted you in that, and asked far too much as compensation for their child. She'll be your servant for at least a hundred years to repay that indenture! If they act so callously to their own child, what sort of indignities would they perpetuate upon their business partners?"
Kestra flicked her fingers dismissively. "Nan Odelia will be my servant for as long as it pleases the both of us and no longer. I see a potential in her, but I won't force her to grow in soil for which she has no care. And as for Xucat's slight, it is to my advantage. If I appear a servant when I act the broker, well, less cause for the [Healers] to refuse to travel with me. I don't appear to be a servant of low standing, do I?"
Scarlet paused to consider while she drawled out, "No .... No, you actually give the appearance of a servant to someone of the higher realms."
"Good," Kestra said, already adjusting her initial plan of approach. "But, no, I see no reason to bring fortune to rats like that. I will be looking for formulas to help dissolve bone-floats from all the bruising they left on the girl. Maybe the [Healers] will be able to help there, too, though?"
Sympathy tightened Scarlet's face at the mention of Nan Odelia's injuries, but at the musings on getting the healers to help, she snorted, her lips pressing together with a resigned exasperation. "I doubt it. Most of the House healers won't even look at a patient without gold changing hands, and preferably political favors, too."
[Healer] Halls weren't quite that bad on Moh, but healing was a rarely unlocked class path. The need for food, shelter, and defense against the mana hungry monsters called rather strongly to peoples' basic natures. Healing wasn't necessarily a selfless act, but it did involve a kind of giving away of the self. Gaining the First Aid skill had shown Kestra a hint of the kind of person called to heal, and she hadn't quite worked out the words to define it, but she knew that her passions lay in the discovery of new formulas and new alchemical reagents.
Kestra dipped her head to acknowledge Scarlet's words, and they sank into a thoughtful silence, broken by the halting of the carriage. Scarlet exited first, Kestra behind her.
They were greeted by the majordomo of the house, who escorted them to a lovely tea room that was already occupied by an older man.
The man wore calf-length robes of white silk brocade with actual gold thread motifs of serpents bent into interlocking triangles. His pants and undershirt were plain white silk, and his belt and hems were cloth of gold. Kestra couldn't be sure, but his slippers appeared to be leather overlaid with cloth of gold.
Scarlet smiled and cupped her hands during their greetings, then turned and introduced Kestra. Graemire had made it clear that he did not want to be revealed at this time. "Elder Ming Hadal, this Honored Transcendental is Kestra Boom-Smiter the Harmonious, companion of the Divine Emperor of Wood Graemire. Honored Transcendental requested of our humble Jade Pearl Auction House an introduction to healers able to discern the state of mana foramina, and naturally I thought of Elder Ming's Lost Ways Healing House."
Elder Ming returned a troubled smile at the manager's words. "It is not yet my House. Our Venerable Founder still lives, and we have naught with which to cure age itself. Lo, how I would that we did and I might return the reins to our Founder's hands! But that is my own sorrow speaking out! Please, come, sit! I have a lovely tea of the green preparation to share while we discuss Honored Transcendental's needs."
Once they were seated, the tea poured and shared out, Elder Ming eyed Kestra's "cloak", but politely refrained from comment. He was drawing in a breath to open up the negotiation portion of the visit when the door through which Kestra and Scarlet had arrived opened once more.
Elder Ming was older: his hair beginning the change from thick brown to thin shades of gray, lines etched into his face from the concerns of living which served to emphasize the shape of his face.
The man who entered was elderly. Whatever the color of his hair in his youth, it was now all pale shades of silver and white. His face peeked out of folds of skin, most prominently the hook of his nose and point of his chin, with over-sized ears framing his face. Those were the places of soft bone, and unlike between bones, there wasn't any constant press to grind those soft bones back. His skin was speckled with spots of darked color and had that fine, dry quality that promised to be delicate, easily bruised and torn, though at least he didn't have any visible lingering wounds.
He, like Elder Ming, wore a calf-length robe, though his clothes were made from undyed wool and lacked embroidery. His slippers were a bit oversized and lined with fur that spilled out around the edges. What he wore was still of obviously excellent craftsmanship, though unadorned and just as obviously more focused on comfort than pomp.
"Sit, my boy, sit-sit!" He tutted as Elder Ming began to rise, surprise on his face. The venerable elder did lean on Elder Ming's shoulder to seat himself at the tea table, and looked at Kestra with an understated excitement.
"You are the Harmonious one, eh? Have to be as you're the only new face here. Been a while since I got a quest, and such an open ended one, too! Word of advice from your senior, young miss: beware what you speak out loud. The Heavens may be listening, and if they like the idea, bam! Quest to the face! Hadi, pour me a cup, for it seems this is more my consultation than yours. Now, Harmonious Miss, how may this old fool help you?"
Kestra took a moment to study the new arrival. "Perhaps introductions and an idea of the nature of your quest should be addressed first?" she suggested.
"Ah! Jonathan Augustus Pierce, at your service, and my quest, dear Miss, is to, I quote, 'aid a bearer of the Harmonious title', end quote. Imagine my surprise when I looked upon my map and found the quest marker in the compound of my own order!"
"I'm Kestra, and I do have the Harmonious title. I'm here looking for a Healer able to assess the state, the condition of mana foramina. While there would be travel involved for the Healer, it will be provided via teleport. I shall require a heavenly oath of silence concerning the location and inhabitants, and I'm willing to swear a return oath to guarantee I will do what I can to ensure the safety of the Healer while undertaking this mission. Communications with those at the location are limited. If the Healer in question is open to teaching some about the nature of Healing, and exploring possible ways to combine alchemical and magical healing with, shall we say, more mundane methods, that would be worth a great compensation."
Pierce laughed and clapped his hands together. "So you're looking to hire a Healer as a retainer? Ha! Well, that would neatly solve a few difficulties for our order, if you'll take on a decrepit old man of my years!"
"Venerable Founder!" Elder Ming exclaimed, looking both shocked and alarmed.
"Hush, now, Hadi! You know my kicking around hasn't been doing you any favors! Too many people still toadying up to me, hoping I'll change my mind. Retiring into research at a location where they can't natter on in my ears all day? That sounds like a brilliant move! Especially if I am not restricted from sharing my research with my order." The last was said with an arch smile shot Kestra's direction.
She returned that arch smile, calmly stating, "New formulas, methods, and techniques developed with your advice and aid as recognized by the Heavens will be freely licensed to your Lost Ways Healing House, and proceeds from licensing through various interested associations shall be evenly split among the co-authors. Where the Heavens do not recognize you as author or co-author, you may receive a one-time payment of appreciation for sparking insights or enlightenments, at the determination of the author recognized by the Heavens. Is this fair?"
"Quite so, quite so!" Pierce said.
And then they settled in for haggling over the details.
Pierce, Elder Ming, and Kestra drafted the employment contract, checked it over, haggled a point here and there, finalized the draft, and signed it.
Upon the signing, Kestra said, "Before I teleport you, I recently hired an indentured servant. She has bone-floats in her muscles. Will you be able to cure that?"
The two Healers frowned, offense on Elder Ming's face, concerned fury on Pierce's.
Pierce held up his hand before Elder Ming could speak. "How did she acquire these bone-floats? And I assume you speak of bone formed inside of muscles where no bones aught to be?"
Kestra felt her own expression turn coldly furious. "Yes, and I'm guessing that the bone-floats are from the layers upon layers of bruising she bore from neck to knee before I stuffed her with food and used my Minor Healing spell to aid her. Her name is Nan Odelia, and I hired her this morning from her parents, Xucat Patrem and Nan Beatrice."
"Healed this morning, you say?" Pierce said, severe disapproval faded to the edges of a craftsman's consideration of a new project. "Then she'll need time to fully recover her stamina before I start on healing her bone-floats. I'll gather my belongings and say my farewells to the order, then meet you at your lodgings this evening."
"Excellent. You are familiar with Tang's Hospitality? I'll ensure they have accommodations ready for you, in the event you decide you'll want to delay departure for Nan Odelia's healing. If there are furnishings you have a particular attachment to, there will be room at the new location for you to bring them. Otherwise, you'll have a selection to choose from."