Lord Cosgrave, and those remaining at the lavish dinner table, watched as Nero, Nick, and Jennings left to go have an impromptu magic lesson. She looked over at Vera Salvatore and grimaced. Noting the woman’s wide smile, she realized this was going to be an unpleasant conversation.

Before she could take control of the conversation, the general spoke up, “Angelton, I want you to go with them. Try to get that boy interested in tactics and combat. I don’t want a tactical mind like his to be locked in some tower. Right now he is looking for a path, and he needs options. Give him some.”

The Captain wiped his mouth with a napkin and stood up. With a bow to the table, he said, “Thank you for the meal M’Lord. It appears I have a duty to attend to.”

With long strides the captain left to catch up with the mages.

Lord Cosgrave took the opportunity to seize the initiative. “Before anything else, we’ll address the distribution of spoils. Of course, Mr. Walker will have to take the pledge before he receives anything,” she said, nodding to Lord Bennings who was about to mention the applicable laws.

Vera said, “That’s acceptable. The trials and his future will be addressed in due time. What were the specifics of his reward?”

Lord Cosgrave replied, “The Noble War results were tabulated and posted by the Populators. They acted as arbiters since they were here. Their findings stated that Mr. Walker earned 20% of the Dorchen fortune, elevation to the rank of minor noble, and a residence in the city he defended.”

Lord Bennings clarified, “The residence was to be a Dorchen property, but does not count toward the 20%. It was listed as a separate reward, it must be taken from the spoils before they are divided, and then awarded separately.”

The general and Vera both smiled, as Lord Cosgrave grimaced. Nick’s brother, Lord Salvatore, just sat there looking uncomfortable being included in this conversation.

Lord Cosgrave gave Lord Bennings a cold stare. “Thank you for the clarification. Now the details of what constitutes the 20% were left to MY discretion,” she said.

Turning to Vera, she said, “I mean no insult to House Walker, but as it is a new house, without backing, and considering the head of the house’s age, I’m reluctant to offer any interests. I propose that Dorchester hosts an auction for the Dorchen interests and assets, and 20% of the proceeds will be considered the award.”

Vera nodded in understanding. “That sounds very reasonable. But, in the interests of precision, I’d like to clarify a few things. First, the Dorchen’s mansion located in the inner ring is the obvious choice for Lord Walker’s city residence. You could consider it the award for Mr. Walker’s heroic actions while saving the lives of your children. Second, considering that my husband has a standing invitation to start a branch under House Salvatore, Mr. Walker is not without backing. Third, age and history has never been a valid factor in considering the distribution of spoils,” she said with a polite smile.

Turning to Nick’s brother, Lord Salvatore, she continued, “I’ve spoken with Nick and he is delighted to accept your offer. He will be applying for the patent of nobility tomorrow, and we look forward to a prosperous working relationship with you.”

Looking over at Lord Bennings, “And isn’t it customary for the house receiving the award to host the auction? I appreciate the city lord’s efforts to help a new noble find his place in the city he defended with his life, but the fees associated with an auction of this kind should be substantial. The profits will be substantial as well. I’d like to request an auditor from the Tower of Law to oversee the accuracy of the accounting. We wouldn’t like any irregularities to become an issue.”

Lord Cosgrave looked at Lord Salvatore’s shoulders, and watched him wilt further into his chair. He wouldn’t be of any help. The general was looking at Vera like he had never seen her before, but was now treating her as a dangerous ambush predator. Lord Bennings just sat there smiling and admiring Vera’s attention to protocol.

With a sigh, Lord Cosgrave said, “All good points Mrs. Salvatore.”

If she couldn’t skim from the auction, perhaps Lord Cosgrave could redirect the focus of the discussion. There was no way that Vera knew about the Dorchen’s business interests. After all, the woman worked in a Center, those people are always focused on paths over profits.

Lord Cosgrave said, “The idea of an auction was just an idle thought. Of course it would be simpler if one of the interests could be transferred to House Walker directly. Finding one that constitutes 20% of the Dorchen fortune exactly would be difficult, but accountants can be very precise. I’m sure within a month, an accurate audit could be performed.”

Vera smiled politely, and took a sip of her wine. “Another splendid suggestion m’lord. I do wonder who would be running the interests during that month. As the Noble War ended last night, come tomorrow the interests will be adrift. A firm hand will be required to make sure that they retain their value, and don’t sell off portions to family friends and associates. I’d again ask for an auditor from the Tower of Law. They have an entire division to examine unethical business practices just for occasions like these. I’m good friends with the departmental head, I could ping her if you’d like?” Vera said, causing Lord Cosgrave’s smile to tighten.

Lord Salvatore’s back was sweating. He could feel the pressure in the room building. He’d seen this countless times, over many years. No one, absolutely no one, got one over on Vera Salvatore. She already had the optimal outcome determined before she sat down. The discussion they were having was a farce. He could only offer a pained smile in commiseration with Lord Cosgrave.

Vera Salvatore sat in her chair, the image of calm, sipping her wine and smiling politely. She didn’t seem in a hurry to push the conversation forward. She just directed her polite, unblinking stare at the city lord, and waited for the next turn in the game.

Lord Heleema Cosgrave was tapping her finger on the table. How had she never noticed such a viper in her city. Her thoughts went back to her mother’s teachings. She had told Heleema, “There are always sleepers. Be cautious with your moves, because you don’t know who you will provoke. Some people prefer not to get involved. Most of those people will buckle under your pressure. However, there are some who don’t get involved because they fear what they do when they become involved. You can’t plan for them, no amount of preparation can prepare you for their entrance into your game. All you can do is minimize their impact on your interests. You must feed them an enemy, or give them a reason to resume their lives, even humble yourself if you have to. And remember, they didn’t want to be involved. As long as their reason for waking is addressed, they’ll go back to sleep. Your game is not with them. It is with your original opponents, for they are always awake and they hunger for what you have.”

Nodding as if she had decided something, Lord Cosgrave’s posture relaxed. She leaned back into her chair at the head of the table and said, “Mrs. Salvatore, your suggestions are welcome. You have a keen mind, and I'm sure that you can offer great insight into the matter at hand. What would you suggest we do to address House Walker’s spoils?”

Raising an eyebrow in surprise, Vera saw the city lord’s play for what it was: a surrender.

Lord Cosgrave hid her smile, as she noticed Vera’s smile dim. The woman was unhappy that the game had ended. She now had the measure of Mrs. Vera Salvatore. As long as the woman wasn’t provoked, she was content to live her life in peace. Perhaps, in the future, that trait could be of use.

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Vera sighed and said, “Thank you for your words m’lord. I think it might be easier to just transfer a small shipping interest to House Walker. As I am the silent director of ‘Precision Shipping’, I can offer some help to House Walker with running the interest. If I am not mistaken, Dorchen shipping accounts for approximately 18% of their annual profit.” Everyone was both surprised and confused at Vera’s knowledge of the Dorchen interests.

Seeing their confusion, she continued, “As I knew the Dorchens were the source of the spoils, I made a few pings during dinner. With the addition of 20% of their account balances, verified through the tower of law, that should be enough to address the spoil distribution until such time as the Tower of Law can oversee a fair auction for the remainder of the Dorchen estate. That should fulfill the reward requirements, am I correct Lord Bennings?”

With a look of shock, Lord Bennings replied, “Yes. That should account for 20% of the Dorchen estate, and the Tower of Law would be happy to see to the dissolution of the estate. It shouldn’t take more than a month or two.”

Lord Salvatore spoke up, “When did you start a shipping company? How did I not know about that?”

Vera replied with a smirk, “I didn’t start a shipping company. I acquired it from your sister when she demanded an official duel. All of her assets became mine after my victory, as stated in the agreement she made when she demanded my presence in the arena. You assumed I’d sell them... I didn’t. And since House Salvatore wasn’t associated with my husband at the time, they weren’t required to be informed of what I did with them.”

Lord Cosgrave was happy with the outcome. Although she gained substantially less than she could have, she managed to put Vera Salvatore back to sleep. It had cost her nothing, only lost profits that weren’t hers to begin with, and some pride. Her mother would be proud.

-----

Captain Angelton summoned a large square shield in front of them. It was relatively translucent and glowing with a golden hue. Both Arch-Mage Jennings and Nick didn’t appear very impressed, but Nero was fascinated.

Nero poked the shield with his finger, and it was like touching a floating wall. Stepping to the side, he examined the edge. It looked razor sharp, and he didn’t want to test it. While he was doing his examination, the other three just watched on in amusement.

“Alright young Nero, enough waiting. I want to see your spell in action. Just treat the dummy like an enemy, and hide behind the shield,” Jennings said while sounding rather impatient.

“Fine. But someone is showing me how to make a shield. If I had one of these, I wouldn’t have blown myself up,” Nero finished with a mutter.

Focusing on the dummy, Nero spread his psychic field and took hold of the ambient essence. He didn’t notice as the three old men exchanged perplexed looks. Using air essence to sculpt the spell form, he started pumping in air and heat essence. It seemed easier to compress his spell than he remembered, but he chalked it up to not currently being in a life and death situation.

It only took a moment for Nero to decide that it was ready. He released his hold on the heat essence, so that it would transfer the collected energy into the compressed air. The air essence condensed into actual air and the temperature spiked. Rather than hold on to the spell form, he let it explode, but this time kept his psychic field active to watch the result.

The collected air flashed a bright white, and his spell form was shredded as the bubble expanded. The light faded as the air pressure equalized. The explosive decompression caused the dummy to fold at the hip and launch toward one of the walls. It stayed airborne for longer than Nero expected, but it didn’t reach the wall. It just slid to a stop in a tangled heap. The bubble of air reached the shield, and it flashed a solid gold. The air whipped past the observers and they felt the room shake.

Silence held for a second, until Nero said, “Huh, the spell form really only collected the compressed heat essence. The explosion was just air pressure, I thought I remembered fire, but it was just really hot air.”

The three older men watched as Nero narrowed his eyes in thought. His eyes widened and he practically screamed, “FUEL! I need to add something to burn. Hydrogen and air can burn together I think. And most of the spell form isn’t needed. I just need the section that collects the heat and air essence. I can hold the heat essence while it’s in the compression bubble, along with the actual bubble. When it gets too hard, I can just let everything go at once. I don’t have to concentrate on the filter part at all. I bet that it was only there to help convert water vapor in order to make the water essence solidify better.”

Finishing his analysis with a nod, Nero turned to the men. They were all just staring at him.

Captain Angelton was sporting a smirk. He just snorted and went to examine the blast site and the dummy.

Nick looked mortified, like Nero just launched a cat with a homemade potato gun.

It was Jennings who sported a crazy grin and said, “That was the dumbest, most brilliant thing I’ve seen in years. Over the scry I could see the essence, but I couldn’t see how you used your psychic field. You cast like an idiot. It’s amazing!” He finished with his hands waving around in jubilation.

Nero liked the tone, but not the old man’s words. “What do you mean? I’m casting like the book said. How about you stop your word vomit and show me how you’re supposed to cast the spell,” he said and crossed his arms.

Nick was shaking his head in exasperation. He stepped in front of Nero and held his hands up to Jennings. “Please don’t take offense at his words. He doesn’t understand who you are. I apologize on behalf of House Walker,” he pleaded.

Jennings looked confused, then started laughing. “Don’t worry director. I’m not offended. The boy just wants to learn some magic. What kind of an arch-mage would stifle that kind of enthusiasm.”

Turning to Nero, Jennings said, “Come here boy, stand next to me. Spread out your psychic field, but don’t exert your control.”

Nero shot Nick a dirty look, apparently offended that Nick apologized for him. Standing next to Jennings, he let his psychic field spread and sensed the essence in room.

“No, No, No. You’re trying to control the essence. Just open yourself up to feel it. You’re wasting your energy doing it the way you're doing. The lightest touch is all you need, you can feel other people’s fields of control,” Jennings coached Nero.

Getting the hang of it, Nero realized that he had never just let the essence flow around him without impeding it. He never tried to just feel the essence. With the lightest touch, he could now feel where his control ended. He also sensed the small bubbles of essence around Nick and Jennings. Although he couldn’t control anything within their control fields, he could ‘see’ the essence they were using. It looked like they had a bubble of control extending an arms length all around them. Jennings also had a tightly woven mesh of condensed essence in a field around his body, like a full body wet-suit.

“Is this why I couldn’t affect the essence near the mercenaries? I couldn’t even sense anything near them,” Nero asked.

Nick replied, “Yes. Everyone has a field of control based on a combination of several factors. The inherent control distance is emitted from your body and soul. The area of your psychic field is a combination of your mind and body. It takes a strong mind to influence essence within an opponents inherent control distance. Doing so is called, ‘breaking their circle’. Once you control the essence surrounding someone, that is usually when the fight ends.”

Jennings nodded and said, “That’s correct, but let’s just focus on casting for the moment.”

Nero interrupted, “Hold on, what’s with all the essence wrapped around your body?”

Jennings eyebrows rose. “You can sense that? Remarkable. It’s an essence shield. When in combat, mages use them to protect themselves. It isn’t an easy technique, and most people only bother when combat is eminent. However, I tend to keep one active at all times. I never like to be unprotected,” he said.

Nero focused on trying to understand the shield. Nodding he said, “It’s only paranoia if no one is out to get you. And someone is always out to get you.”

“Well said. Now pay attention to the spell form that I create. You watching? Good,” Jennings said.

He watched as Nero focused all his attention on the air in front of them. Jennings formed a simple essence collection form using his center, and then created a ball of hydrogen and some oxygen. He allowed a small flow of heat essence to enter it, and the ball ignited.

Nero used his psychic field to see the spell form appear from what appeared to be ‘Jennings essence’. His jaw dropped, as the ball of air and fuel were pulled out of the ambient air. When the heat essence seemed to flow of it’s own accord toward the ball, and simply brush it, the ball ignited. Nero’s eyes were wide as he watched the floating ball of fire hover in front of them.

In a hushed and reverent whisper, Nero said, “You have your own essence. Just how powerful are you?”

Jennings kept the spell form feeding the ball of fire, and turned to see Nick bursting out in laughter. He couldn’t keep his amusement in check and joined in.

It was their laughter that clued Nero in to the obvious. He was missing something. Something obvious.

As they tried to control their laughter, Nero said in a cold tone, “You guys are dicks.”