And she had done it:

The summoning circle, the outer layer of twelve rings of protection, repellent, and safeguards against unwilling guests.

All she had to do now was to seal the summoning circle with her blood, — why did it always have to be blood? — step out of the way as fast as she could, and wait for as long as it would take. It might be forever.

And all that knowing that the portal she had opened with her summoning circle was like a banner on a bloody battlefield, attracting to her all kinds of unwanted attention, though none of those malicious onlookers should be able to cross and actually harm her.

It would be honestly nothing short of a miracle if that ritual did anything at all and someone, or something, answered her call. But Paolo's summoning circle was too good not to give it a try and it would have been a crime not to improve it, so it would do what it was intended for.

"Here goes nothing." She said, suddenly not feeling so brave just before prinking her left palm with her dagger.

And then, as predicted... nothing happened.

So she sat comfortably on a chair and started reading. Somehow, she must have fallen asleep because Paolo's scream of terror before he closed the door shut behind him woke her up.

Twelve hours and still nothing.

The stupid thing was, she couldn't simply undo the ritual. Her protection would unravel before the summoning circle did. And if she tried to shut it down, the backlash would be terrible as well. So long nothing responded to her summon, the summoning circle was effectively a landmine ready to explode in her face.

Paolo was kind enough to bring her food, knocking at the door before running for his life in the opposite direction.

And so she got herself comfortable.

An entire day and still nothing.

Someone else would have embraced death or messed with the protection at this point. But she was stubborn.

And so she had gone to sleep.

And woke up to the meowing of a cat.

A majestic winged glowing cat that looked utterly pissed off, that's it.

"Finally! Come on sleepyhead. The night is short."

That's when she finally got back to her senses and it finally hit her.

She wasn't dreaming. She had a talking magical creature, waiting in her summoning circle, for her to contract with.

"You... you... you responded to my call!" She stuttered, still not believing her eyes.

"Such eloquence! I know. I'm the most beautiful thing you've ever seen." It ruffled his wings against its tail for effect. "But I would let you admire me later. We have things to discuss and a contract to forge."

"Okay. I'm all ears." She responded, grounding herself by sitting on the floor, right at the limit of the ritual circles.

"I'm here to speak and act on behalf of your actual prospective patron. On the contract, she will be mentioned as Lady Silverhair, as any other name would give away her identity. And before you ask, I'm only allowed to tell you she classified as a chaotic good celestial."

Sophia simply nodded her understanding, chaotic was not ideal as it was associated with arbitrary and untrustworthy individuals. But she had purposefully not pushed further the alignment restrictions than refusing all Evil. And on the spectrum of all things, chaotic good was supposedly nicer than chaotic neutral.

"Due to the restrictions you placed on this summoning circle, bribing me into making this offer had been a significant expense Lady Silverhair had to concede, solely to make you this offer. Please keep that consideration in mind while we are bargaining."

Again, Sophia simply nodded and pondered that new information.

"Good. Here is Lady Silverhair's first offer:

Since you already have magic in the form of a bloodline and understanding your reluctance to awaken it, Lady Silverhair offers to grant you the [weavesinging] boon. By singing in lieu of spellcasting, it will negate every adverse effect of your bloodline and let you harness its chaotic energy to your advantage. You would still be able to spellcast normally if you so wish but the protection [weavesinging] will grant you will not apply.

However, this boon has the undesirable effect of being critically vulnerable to the [silence] spell effect. So Lady Silverhair is willing to grant you a very special pair of shortswords to even the odds. One absorbs some of the magic of hostile area of effect spells when wielded and the other replicates the effect absorbed by its twin for a short duration.

Finally, she is willing to grant you her signature spell, [magic missile] as a magical ability, meaning that you could use it as much as you want, on the condition that you forgo all ranged weapons. Should you refuse, she does not intend to grant you any spell. But thanks to [weavesinging] you would be able to learn spells from scrolls as [Wizards] and [Arcanists] do.

Do you want me to repeat those terms before we talk about what she would ask of you in return?"

"I would pass on magic missile." Sophia simply replied.

"Duly noted. In exchange for this single boon, the shortswords having been offered without any compensation to sweeten the deal, you would have to abide by the following terms:

-Once you are freed from the tutorial, you would have to play music once a month, on the night of the full moon, in a place of your patron's choosing. The place in question would always be within a day on foot and you will always be notified three days in advance. Unless incapacitated, either temporarily or permanently, these terms should stand until your death. But while you would be contractually obligated to do so, you would still receive Lady Silverhair's blessing based on your performance.

-You would have to take me as your familiar, to help and guide you until the end of the tutorial, for which services I will be generously compensated by Lady Silverhair for my trouble. To be noted that I have an incentive to promote her values and report to her anything she might disapprove of but would be otherwise contracted to serve YOUR best interests.

-Finally, should you be so inclined and with no contractual obligation to do so, you would be regularly notified of warmongers or other hatred-kindlers that Lady Silverhair wishes to be dealt with. Should you accept any of those missions, Lady Silverhair would recompense you on completion with further boons of your choice from the [weavesinger] Archetype.

But while this last part is more of an option left to your moral appreciation, Lady Silverhair feels like the discretion attached to it should be a contractual obligation, regardless of whether you agree to pursue her targets or not. Otherwise said, Lady Silverhair wants to invest in you as a contracted assassin loyal to her and with no association with her clergy to do her dirty work, in her name, but with all due discretion.

This concludes the lecture on Lady Silverhair's first offer. You are now allowed to bargain for additional favors or to negotiate the letters of the current terms if you so wish."

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Sophia was sure she must have misunderstood some of those terms that felt far too generous but she had questions first:

"Would I have to awaken my bloodline and acquire the sorcerer Archetype to make use of the weavesinging boon?"

It appears that the winged cat was more than prepared for her question:

"No. Your bloodline would be integrated into the Weavesinger Archetype. The source of your magic would still be the same but would functionally work as Arcane magic instead of Feywild. You will have the same advantages and limitations with only two significant caveats:

-Weavesinging is going to harness your Feywild magic to convert it to Arcane magic rather than outright suppress it. You would still be able to use your Feywild magic if you do so wish. And Weavesinging would even let you incorporate a wild surge to your Weavesinging whenever it would actually benefit you.

-The obvious trade-off is that Weavesinging is going to awaken your Feywild Magic, irrevocably, and if you are silenced while weavesinging, it might trigger a very detrimental wild surge that Weavesinging was suppressing. Similarly, if you were to find yourself unable to use Weavesinging for whatever reasons, you might have to rely on your untamed Feywild magic instead."

So Weavesinging was integrating Feywild Magic into a new Archetype and added an extra layer to it instead of replacing it. She wished her patron had offered to grant her magic cleaned of the Fey influence instead but the price she would have to pay instead might not have been so cheap.

"So let me rephrase the contract to make sure I understand the contract correctly. I get [Weavesinging] I cannot use until I learn spells all by myself and two magical Shortswords with interesting properties. In exchange, I have to sing for Lady Silverhair once a month, take you in until the end of the tutorial, and make a vow of absolute silence about people who earned her ire. As a bonus, I might accept contracts to kill in exchange for more power. Did I get that right?"

"Why are they always so sloppy on the finer details?" The cat whined before going back to his professional persona: "But you got the essentials right. So I'm going to ask again: ANYTHING you might want to negotiate?"

"Unless you could offer me to replace my Feywild Bloodline entirely without a ludicrous price in exchange, I have no idea what to ask for. Since you would be arguably working in my best interest, here is your chance to prove it. What would you ask for if you were me and for how cheap could I get away with it?"

"Should I assume you agreed to the spirit of the contract and that we are merely negotiating the finer details?" He asked, with a big feline toothy grin.

Sophia sighed but humored the cat: "I agree to the spirit of the contract and I'm asking my soon-to-be-familiar to help me and guide me to get the best deal I can out of those negotiations. Satisfied?"

"Very. You see, I'm a gourmet and Celestials has some very convincing argument to put to the negotiation table."

"You sold yourself for food?" Sophia was now questioning the sanity of her advisor.

"I merely put my skill for hire, for a temporary contract, not dissimilar to what a mercenary would do, in exchange for a lifetime of divine food. And you just guaranteed I would get paid in full. You may ask me to call you my Queen and play games at my expense for your amusement and I will gladly do so."

"And what skills were you hired for, exactly?"

"I was magical enough, inoffensive enough, and absolute proof that Lady Silverhair's projected virtue is true. You see, while us Tressym might be swayed, by food, for example, we have notorious deep-rooted hatred of everything Evil. Add my natural charm, boundless wisdom, and absolute eloquence as a cherry on top and I was the perfect Tressym for the job, of course."

"Of course." She repeated, slightly amused at the 'Tressym' antics "I'm still waiting for your suggestion, you know, for that contract we are supposed to sign before the end of the night, if I remember correctly."

"I'm sorry to have been found distracted in the line of duty." The winged cat bowed in feigned apology before continuing.

"First advice concerned the end of my obligation to you, which is purposefully vague. Assuming we have an understanding of my preferred method of payment in food and magic and should we find ourselves appreciating each other company, I would be amenable to prolonging this contract, an option that should be added to the contract to prevent, other unfortunate interpretations."

She nodded. She did not know what the Tressym was implying exactly, but having her option opened instead of pulled from under her feet sounded sensible.

"Second advice concerned the discretion clause which is also left to interpretation, much to your disadvantage. The spirit of the contract implies that you should never reveal Lady Silverhair's implications, even under duress, or purposefully let the target know that their life is under threat. And you should change the terms to be defined as such so they could not be misconstrued later."

Again, she nodded. She would appreciate not being sanctioned for failing an assassination attempt. Or NOT to have her entire life dictated by some punctual imperative of discretion.

"Finally, you do not know who Lady Silverhair is, so you have no idea what sort of place she deems appropriate to fulfill your monthly obligation. And while those terms are not negotiable, you should ask to be rewarded based on your performance AND the risks she might put you through."

So the part that she thought was all nice and sweet was actually THE nasty trap in the whole contract?

"So, otherwise said, Lady Silverhair is contractually entitled by contract to put my life in danger once a month?" She rephrased.

"May I remind you that you already AGREED to the spirit of the contract and that you were not AWARE of the issue until I kindly pointed it out as your faithful familiar?" The Tressym said, uncomfortable.

"I wasn't going to try to talk my way out of it. A promise is a promise. Plus, I need that contract anyway." Sophia answered the winged cat's discomfort before verbalizing her disappointment: "I was expecting far worse than this. I just wrongly assume Celestials were above that sort of trickery."

"In public, she is very much above trickery and intends to stay that way. She is a bit wild but a paragon of goodness, even by gods' standards and you would have a hard time finding her a single fault. In private, however, Celestials are not that different from mortals. And as you are going to work as the less glamorous left hand of Lady Silverhair, you would better never forget that fact."

That's right. She was now working for a celestial — or rather, actual goddess — who outright asked her NOT to associate with her cult, to keep a low profile, and to assassinate people in the name of love, peace, and harmony.

"Noted. I have one last question, though not directly related to the contract."

"And I'm contracted to serve you the best I can. I might not always have an answer, but I'm here to help and guide you to the best of my capabilities."

"Thanks for the reminder." She cringed "And you can drop the formalities. Is there some sort of Bard Archetype and should I invest in it?"

"Short Answers: Yes, it exists. Yes, there might be synergies and you might pursue it if you like. But no, you don't absolutely have to, unless you already plan to never accept Lady Silverhair opportunities to get additional boons, which I don't recommend.

Basic [Performance] is included in [Weavesinging], and further down the line, you might gain boons to replicate the bard [Song of Rest] and a repertoire of Cleric healing spells through [Song Healing]. The only thing you might want from the core boons of [Bard] that [Weavesinger] is missing would be [Bardic Inspiration] to empower your Allies."

Sophia could not help but laugh: "And that was the short answer?"

"I would have you know that I love bards and I have a lot to say about them. I could have made a poem or hours-long serenade to tell you how glorious and lovable they are." The Tressym said, indignant.

"And I'm sure it would have been beautiful." She humored him. "The contract?"

"Fine printed!" The winged cat declared with pride "Courtesy of the Celestials' powers bestowed upon me. I cannot advise you more than to read it meticulously although I assure you I found no fault in it. None that is negotiable, that is."

All the modifications the Tressym had suggested had been detailed, leaving no room for ambiguity. All the nasty parts of the contract had been made apparent. And every benefit and limitation of [weavesinging] had been detailed in excruciating detail for her benefit. All in all, no matter how ill-advised it might sound, letting the winged cat do both sides of the negotiations probably improved her future quality of life.

She got away with one extremely risky obligation a month, for which she should be rewarded appropriately, and an imperative of discretion that only applied within the limits it was intended to.

The tressym even went on describing his own role in great detail, especially the part about spying on her she was sure her patrons would have rather seen left untold and unwritten. What a very peculiar magical creature he was. It appears evident that his only true master would always be himself and his appetite. But he was also a colorful character, honest to a fault, and truly 'everything but evil'.

"Looking good," She concluded after reading it for the third time. She has tried extra hard to channel her inner evil and imagine the worst and failed to find anything but exacting words the Tressym had promised.

"Signature in blood here. Your initials here and there. Same on your copy of the contract. Then one quick portal trip back to report the good news to Lady Silverhair and your promised boon, weapons and myself should be delivered to you at your earliest convenience."

When both congrats were complete, they shined a gold hue while a soft heavenly aurora surrounded her.

"Perks of contracting to a Celestial?" Sophia asked.

"You should know better than to take projected virtue visual effect at face value. But Feywild does like fairy lights or Devils their beloved flames I guess." He humored her before concluding: "Tons of bullshits if you ask me. See you soon."

And just like that, the cute little Tressym was gone, the damn summoning circle went out and she was finally free to leave the library, take a break and have a breath of fresh air.

On second thought... she urgently needed to take a shower.