Light streamed in from between the narrow gap in her curtains, brightening her room and forcing Delde from her slumber. She tried to go back to sleep but couldn’t, her mind wouldn’t let herself return to torpor, so she dragged herself out of her warm, comfy bed and got dressed in her dark green robes. Her black and purple robes were still in the process of being cleaned by a local washerwoman, although Delde wondered if their state was beyond the professional’s power to clean. She had spent days attempting to remove the stink of mould and rot from them before accepting defeat and handing them off to a specialist.

Onyx was lying on her desk enjoying the warmth of the narrow band of light and didn’t bother to respond to her getting ready for the day, not even when she opened the curtains fully illuminating her room. He just stretched himself before curling into a ball. She looked around her room for a moment, admiring her organised chaos, the bulging bookcases heaving with tomes, arcane accoutrements and bric-a-brac, her immensely comfortable bed, her wardroom filled with robes fitting for a respectable spellcaster. It was her home, a safe haven for her, only the library of Holgast came close to reaching a similar status in her mind. But as her eyes ran over everything, she found it somewhat… smaller than she remembered.

It had been five days since she and her companions had returned from the crypt of the Everflame. After a couple of days of being questioned by various members of the town council and the captain of the town guard she had been left to her own devices. With her mentor being part of the councils’ deliberations on what was to be done with the desecrated crypt Delde found herself on her own once more.

She did want to spend more time with her newfound friends, but she found the prospect of approaching them to be daunting. Delde realised shortly after they all went their separate ways that she knew relatively little about the most fundamental aspects of social interactions. She had been spared from all sorts of issues this would have created when they first united because they were all grouped up and were essentially bound in their purpose, even it did change part way through their journey. Now though there were considerations she had to make; should she approach them at where she knew them to work? That could be seen as improper and distracting. Wait for them at their homes? That could be seen as an imposition and an intrusion. Perhaps try to find them at a place they frequented outside of work? Delde didn’t know any of them well enough to know where such places might be for them.

Glancing down at her leg she saw Onyx stroking himself against her, purring as he did so. She bent down and clapped him in response eliciting more purrs of contentment. Delde decided to clear her mind by walking down to Holgasts tower and reading in his library again for the day, her typical routine for the past few days. Perhaps she would run into Igmar on patrol or someone else on their way and they could strike up a conversation. Or perhaps not, it hadn’t happened any other time she went down.

Before she left her room though Delde sat down at her desk with her newly acquired spell book already sitting on it and prepared her spells for the day. It was something she had gotten into a habit of a long time ago, as soon as she could cast her first cantrip in fact, but now the ritual had changed somewhat. Before, Delde chose her spells for the day with only the broadest consideration for is she would need them. Mainly the spells she prepared were based off how long it had been since she had prepared them before, she hadn’t wanted to grow rusty with them. The only time she used to give serious consideration to which spells she would have access to were times she knew that there would be a specific need for a specific spell. Now though? The actual decision making behind the choices took longer as Delde carefully weighted the value of each one. For the most part her daily repertoire was a versatile one, granting her a good mix of offensive, defensive and support-based spells. She also cast a spell of mage armour on herself and put on the enchanted bracers she had before leaving her room each day. The chance of her needing the additional defence was low she knew, but it felt natural for her to do so after her experiences on her “quest”.

Onyx began to paw at the hem of her robes now, not using his claws yet, but clearly trying to catch her attention. She took out a couple of pieces of dries fish from a drawer on her desk and dropped them before him. The first one never even hit the floor so swift was her familiar in eating it, and its twin didn’t last long either.

‘There now. You’ll get more later, and don’t give me that look. You think I don’t know you’ve been sneaking off and eating fish? I can smell it off your breath when you come back’.

The cat rolled on its back before her eliciting a small smile from Delde. She shook her head and made her way out of her room. Although there was no need to rush, she still wanted to get something done while the sun was up.

Walking through the long winding hallways of her father’s estate Delde eventually crossed paths with one of her numerous half-siblings, Roth. He was a short, reedy looking fellow with a rat like face that was only accentuated with his mousy coloured hair tied in a rat’s tail. Her half-brother was wearing an outfit suitable for a high ranking noble, or at least it once was, the threadbare frockcoat and the tattered lace at the cuffs likely looked rather fashionable a decade ago, but poor upkeep and passing trends made him appear closer to a pauper with delusions of grandeur than a true nobleman. Roth was a couple of years older than her and had participated in the “Quest for the Everflame” a few years before her, now that she thought about it, he may have gone with Alro. Although unlike him Roth had managed to show up on time and fully dressed, Roth did enjoy playing the part of a man of wealth and means, even if all said wealth and means came directly from their father.

‘Heya Delde, where’re you headed?’.

She stopped midstride and turned to face and answer her half-brother. He hardly ever chose to speak to her, and even then, it was either to spit some jibe at her or prattle on about his own superiority. But the tone he spoke to her just now was different from the typical haughty one she was used to hearing from him. Now he sounded almost respectful, no it was more than that, he was practically slavish.

‘I’m… headed out for now. Why?’.

‘Oh no reason no reason at all. D’ you want me to walk with you for a bit? Talk a while?’.

‘If you want to, I’m not bothered’.

That was a lie, she was bothered by his new interest in her but didn’t want to say anything. The pair carried on walking down the twisting hallways, Roth notably walking in the opposite direction he was from before. Delde wondered if this was the lead up to some sort of prank on her, she had noticed that all her half-siblings had been avoiding her more ever since she returned from the crypt of the Everflame. Perhaps they had come together as a group and were planning some sort of trick on her? It wouldn’t be the first time they had done something like that to her, memories of her thirteenth birthday still returned to her in her nightmares.

‘So, what’re y’ plannin’ for the day? Anythin’ I can give you a hand with? Not that I’m implyin’ you’d need any help for whatever your up to of course!’.

What was once suspicion was now certainty, something was definitely off with Roth and Delde had no intention of being caught out. She stopped walking and turned to him, staring him down with her best attempt at an intimidating glare.

‘Look, if you’re trying to play some inane trick on me it’s not going to work. I’ve dealt with worse things than whatever it is your playing at in the past week than you could come up with in a lifetime’.

The idea of using a minor prestidigitation cantrip to make her eyes glow or cause flames to lick across her form but she felt that might be excessive. What’s more it may have been impressive to a layman, but to someone capable of magic it would be obvious that such an effect was the result of a basic spell and might undermine the effect she was trying to create.

That said, it appeared to be unnecessary as Roth was cringing before her out of apparent fear.

‘I-I wasn’t trying anythin’ I swear, honest! I-It’s just… Look a lot of people are talkin’ about you now. About what happened down in that old crypt and how dangerous it was there. I just figured that it’d be good t’ get on your good side, y’know?’.

Roth’s excuse was inane and petty but made perfect sense to Delde coming from him. She didn’t know much about how powerful he was but given that he rarely made any use of magic outside of prestidigitations of his own to impress the locals she suspected that he was comparatively weak next to her.

‘L-look, I’ve been thinkin’, I’ve got plans, big plans, plans that you could be a part of. If you wanted to! Way I see it if we play our cards right we could end up runnin’ this whole town!’.

So that’s what it was, he wanted to make some play for ruling over the town and thought that she would make a good pawn. She had gone up in her siblings’ estimations from a source of ridicule to a potential tool. Delde wasn’t interested and intended to tell Roth exactly how little she thought of his foolish aspirations when she witnessed all colour drain from his face as his eyes were focused on something behind her. She turned around and saw her father Moltus Vargidan silently staring at them impassively.

‘O-oh, h-hi father. What’re you- ‘

Her father’s arms whipped out before him and sickly green light pulsed from his hands, as his eyes narrowed.

‘EEEEPPPPP!!!’.

An utterly pathetic sound came from Roth as he fell to the ground before crawling away with impressive speed on all fours. Delde for her part stood unmoving and unconcerned over her father’s apparent overtures at attacking them. She, unlike Roth apparently, could recognise when a person was casting prestidigitation rather than a more powerful spell. In any case she reasoned, if he had any intention on attacking anyone, he would simply do it at once, Moltus Vargidan was not a man famed for his sense of decorum or social niceties. She just stared him down, waiting until he either moved on or explained himself. Not that an explanation was something she was realistically expecting from him.

He blinked, turning his emerald green eyes to a deep sea blue as he gave a little half smirk at Delde’s defiant look towards him as he lowered his arms. Roth had scampered off somewhere down the hallway out of sight.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

‘You’ll do well for yourself… In life I mean’.

His face returned to a stoney mask of disinterest.

‘But be careful about becoming too reliant on others. As high as they can raise you up, they can drag you even further down’.

For her father to so much as notice her presence was one thing, but talking to her and giving her advice was a rarity. Something that she would have spent hours pondering over a few weeks prior; the reason why he would choose those specific words for her and why he would choose to speak to her now. Now though, she couldn’t bring herself to care much about whatever inscrutable message or lesson he was trying to pass on, and she wasn’t about to let him dictate her life for her after a lifetime of bland negligence.

‘It’s a bit late for fatherly advice now, isn’t it? And if you think I place enough worth on your words that I’ll just give up on my friends your wrong!’.

Delde was somewhat surprised at how impassioned she was getting, her voice echoed down the empty hallway, and she stood up straighter as she spoke down to her father. For his part the little half smirk returned and blossomed into a fully blown crooked grin as he began to quietly chuckle to himself.

‘I’m not telling you to do anything. You’ll make your own choices anyway, it’s all any of us can do’.

He made a slight gesture with his fingers and a piece of parchment, no, a letter, flew out from behind him as if it had been floating there, waiting for his command. It hovered before Delde, dropping into her hands as she went to touch it. It was good quality parchment, addressed to her in delicate cursive text and it had been sealed in red wax with the symbol of an angel superimposed over an ankh. “Had been” being the operative term as apparently her father had decided to violate her privacy and read the letter before her. It wasn’t surprising but it was aggravating. Moltus Vargidan was already walking away from her, satisfied that she had received her letter apparently.

‘If you go don’t destroy anything there. I’ve already had to buy enough replacements that I’m practically furnishing the place’.

Soft footsteps signalled her father’s departure which she didn’t bother to watch as she was too engrossed in reading her letter.

‘Dear Delde,

I hope this letter finds you well, I apologise for not coming to see you in person over the past few days, but I have been indisposed as of late. I imagine you have been in a similar situation, what with all the questions from the town council and the guard captain. My parents were also very stricken with fear over what transpired within the Crypt of Kassen and the danger in which I and the rest of us were in. They were most concerned with the scars on my face even though they have practically faded away to nothing now. I suspect that if they could find a reasonable excuse for me to not leave my room for the next decade, they would leap at the opportunity to keep me here. That said they do recognise that I am an adult now in the eyes of the town and must treat me as such, which I am most grateful for.

Over the past few days, I have also had several illuminating talks with Father Prasst over the nature of a cleric’s relationship with their patron deity. My experiences within the crypt and the talk that we shared gave me a new perspective on what it means to truly serve my goddess, and thanks to my discussions with the good Father I believe I have reached a greater understanding on what I shall strive for in the future.

But forgive me, I have gone off topic. My intention with this letter, other than to wish you well of course, is to invite you to a gathering at the Seven Silvers. I, Baye, Dal and Igmar will all be there this evening before sunset and would very much enjoy your company. I would have invited you personally, but you rarely leave your families estate and your father’s ill disposition towards unsolicited visitors is a well-known thing. It will be an informal affair in which we will have a light meal and some very moderate drinking, along with discussing some things that some our group would like to address and would very much like you to join us. Of course, if this evening is too soon, or otherwise a poor time for you we can reschedule to better suit you, you need only contact myself or any of our friends. I can usually be found either at my home or at the temple and if I am not there then if you leave me a message there it will soon enough find its way to me.

I hope to meet you again later tonight but appreciate if your studies must take priority.

Sincerely,

Your Friend Adriana Uptal

P.S.

I also give all my best wishes to Onyx as well and would be happy for him to accompany you this evening. From what I understand the Seven Silvers has a very open-door policy towards animals so long as they are well behaved which your familiar most certainly is.’

Delde stood in the empty hallway for several minutes, reading and re-reading her letter, wanting to make sure that she wasn’t misinterpreting anything. It wasn’t until Onyx nudged her leg that she snapped out of it and continued walking, this time with more of a spring in her step. Her good mood only marred by a minor point that rattled through her mind as she muttered to herself.

‘Why didn’t I just write one of them a letter?! It would have solved all the difficulties with communication! Sigh, no matter. At least its settled now and I can talk to everyone without having to come up with some excuse’.

She strode out of the mansion and through the grounds of the estate without glancing at the barren patch of grass that marked the site of her oldest half-brother’s demise. She didn’t even bother shutting the gates or doors knowing full well that they were both enchanted to shut on their own if nobody was passing through them. It was only once she was onto the street before her family estate that Delde finally paused, looking up to the sky. The letter had said that the… meeting? Gathering? Reunion? That it would be just before sunset. It would have been more convenient if the specific time was indicated, but as there was no town clocktower most people from Kassen judged time through the suns position. Her father’s home had several clocks inside it but throughout the rest of the town there was likely only a couple privately owned ones which the rest of her friends would not have access to. Well, perhaps Adrianas family would have one or two, it would make sense for the mayor of town to have at least one, as a display of privilege and status if nothing else.

In any case, the sun was nearing sunset, but she was still a couple of hours early. It was at that point that Delde realised how late she had slept in; she knew that she had been up late going over her newly acquired spell book and all its spells, but she hadn’t realised how long she had been asleep. Her room was not one of the ones equipped with a clock.

The spell book was interesting to her and as the only other wizard, Holgast her mentor, could find nothing within it that gave any indication as to the motivations or history of its previous owner she was permitted to keep it. She had copied all of the pertinent spells within it into her own spell book, but chose to keep it as a backup if nothing else. It was not a mass-produced book made from a printing press but one that was handwritten which had led Delde to wonder if the previous owner had left some hidden clues to his identity or goals within it that Holgast had missed, but she could find no trace of it. That was a curious feature of the book; typically, if a wizard was writing their own personal book of spells they would include personal notes, theories, observations, anecdotes, alongside the spell formula for magic. But this one was entirely devoid of such personal touches. It made Delde suspect if perhaps the spell book had been prepared for the robed graverobber by a more experienced wizard and given to guide or direct their development. That was only a theory though and she had no way of proving it for the time being.

Irrespective of why she was only rising so late in the day, Delde understood that she only had a couple of hours before she would be expected to make an appearance at the Seven Silvers. She half considered returning to her room and trying to choose the most appropriate attire for the event but dismissed that thought almost as soon as she had it. Delde was no fashion maven, having little knowledge and even less interest in styles outside of her own personal preferences. The robes she was wearing were clean and of good quality so they would do for the evening.

More pressing to her was the issue of where exactly she was meant to be meeting everyone at. Delde had been born and raised in Kassen, but hers had been an isolated childhood, one spent in her father’s estate, or more recently within her mentor’s tower. She didn’t have friends to spend time with, and her fathers’ servants dealt with all the purchases she ever needed so her experiences in Kassen itself were woefully limited for a local. It occurred to her that it was ironically quite likely that there were merchants that only passed through the town once every couple of months or so that had a better understanding of the layout of the town compared to herself.

There was the option of asking someone off the street where to go, but Delde was not enthusiastic about that. Such an action seemed childish to her; she didn’t want to wander about looking like a lost child, asking a grown up where her friends were! And knowing Kassen and her townspeople the story of her ineptitude would spread like wildfire. Gossip didn’t bother Delde, but she had her own sense of pride and wouldn’t diminish it unless absolutely necessary.

Ultimately, she decided to head for the town square and start to look around there for the tavern. It seemed reasonable for her to start looking there as it was the natural crossroads for the town, right in the heart of it. She also reasoned that the Seven Silvers, being the only tavern and inn that Kassen had would be easy enough to find, she just needed to follow the sounds of bawdy songs and loud drunks.

Delde walked through the unpathed streets of Kassen, her staff in her hand, Onyx padding along at her side. The streets were moderately busy as people were beginning to finish up their work for the day, but none of them dared to bother her. She walked at a leisurely pace through the town, but with her head held high and purpose in her eyes, certain that her reputation as a wizard of power would protect her from inane banter that most townspeople felt compelled to engage in.

All of the town’s buildings were mostly made of wood, though there were stone foundations that were just visible to the eye that Delde could see. She wondered how many of those foundations were made during the time of Kassen, how much of the town existed then? How much of it had he planned out? How much of it continued as a direct result of his actions?

She reached the town square and wandered about for a little while. It seemed different than the last time she was there, on the morning of the beginning of her “Quest for the Everflame”. There were still people about, but nowhere near as many as had been gathered to see them all off, and they all walked with their own goals and destinations, none of them were paying her any mind.

Looking towards the sun she could see she still had some time so she wandered about casually, searching to see if she could spot some people who appeared to be the likely sort of people who would be heading to or from the Seven Silvers. She noticed as small group of what appeared to be merchants judging from their bright, well-tailored clothes, they were walking away from the river’s docks and as the day’s work was coming to an end Delde concluded that they were getting ready to retire for the evening. If there was anyone a more likely candidate for going to the Seven Silvers, it would be from this group.

While not a natural in the ways of sneaking and skulduggery Delde was already a fair distance behind the group and at her casual pace she was able to trail them easily. They only went down one street before she finally saw the Seven Silvers. It was a two-story building, the first being made of stone, but the second of wood, with its weathered shingled roof it was an eclectic building, but the sign bearing seven silver coins surrounding a tankard made its purpose easy to discern.

With her destination now clear to her Delde walked with purpose in her step towards the front door of the inn and tavern, a simple thing of sandy coloured wood with a plain handle of tin. It was her first time inside the Seven Silvers, she never had any reason to enter it before now, but she had heard good things about it from mentions from her half-siblings and partly overheard conversations from people passing her in the street. As the only tavern and inn within Kassen, a town with a not inconsiderable number of merchants and trade flowing through it thanks to the river that many trade barges used running through it, the business made a good amount of money. The owner also appeared to be competent enough to invest a good portion of the earnings back into the building as well as although nothing about it seemed especially expensive everything looked to be of good quality.