Sign: Snake

  Buffs: Serpent’s Kiss (Romance twice as easy)

  Debuffs: Curse of the Unspecified (Start the game with no gender, no name, and no other identifying feature)

EXP: 1,169

Alchemy

  Coagula (LVL 0, 24 SKP)

  Solvé (LVL 0, 19 SKP)

  Theoria (LVL 0, 23 SKP)

Botany

  Tending (LVL 0, 5 SKP)

  ?

  ?

Cooking

  Fire (LVL 0, 31 SKP) Ready to level up!

  Water (LVL 0, 11 SKP)

  ?  

Homesteading

  Fire Tending (LVL 0, 7 SKP)

  Tidying (LVL 1, 5 SKP)

  Dirt Buster: The magical branch of Purification lends this Sorcerer the ability to ‘Bust Dirt.’ Dust and grime accumulate at a infinitesimally slow rate on objects you have cleaned.

  ?

Speech

  Logic (LVL 1, 13 SKP)

  Rhetoric: The magical branch of Entreatment lends this Sorcerer the ability to heightened ‘Rhetoric.’ The structure of your arguments is smooth, regular and orthogonal. Spirits and people are more likely to agree with you.

  Linguistics (LVL 0, 17 SKP)

  Cajoling (LVL 0, 10 SKP)

Total SKP: 181

Inventory:

  Auros: 0

  Cards of Destiny: 5 of ?? Discovered

Names: 3

  Vitas, The Wind Thief (Sparrow)

  Gillygad, The Stiched-Up Wonder (Pitchfork)

  Zinia, The Serpent’s Caress (Snake)

Mistress Addlebern was standing in the middle of the kitchen, like she was on a stage.

Together, Tess and I had pushed the furniture out of the room, and cleared a space for the Closing Ceremony. It was evening, and I had lit dozens of candles. The room was bathed in a soft, orange glow, which danced in the Sorceress’s dark eyes. The long drapery of her black skirt fell in graceful pools around her feet.

I was seated on the edge of a counter, outside of a circle of candles which were placed around the Sorceress. I was told that nothing would be required of me, but I soon found out that wasn’t quite correct.

“Apprentice!” Tess said in a loud, and deep tone. “You may call the Name behind your Sign!” Then she waited, and I stared back at her, my eyes wide.

“Just say her name, and tell her she’s welcome to join us.” Mistress added, this time in a quick and subdued whisper, like she was giving instructions to a stagehand, and didn’t wish the audience to hear.

“Oh,” I exhaled, and quickly said, “Zinia, you are welcome to join us.” Tess nodded at me, with a half smile.

Nothing happened, except that I felt a prickling sensation like someone behind my back was watching me. I turned around. No one was there.

The Sorceress paused for several moments, then began to speak, projecting her voice in the small kitchen. It echoed off the brick and plaster walls, and I felt like her every word bounced around inside my skull.

“Nestor, Holy Wounded, Knight of Arrows, Lone and Punctured Pilgrim. Join us.” Tess said. I had already found out that she was under the Sign of Arrow. That must be why she was calling the knight to the Ceremony. Again, I felt the sensation that someone, just out of sight, was observing me.

Tess paused again, closing her eyes, and seemingly preparing herself for the rest. While she did that, something was bothering me. I needed to do something, but I wasn’t sure if I was allowed.

“Tess!” I whispered. She opened one eye and looked at me. “Can I call another Sign?”

“Name, not Sign. Why? Who do you want to call?” She answered back in the same whisper.

“I want to call Gillygad, because…” I paused, not knowing how to explain. “Because he helped me. A lot.”

Tess’s eyebrows shot up. “Gillygad? Really?” I could tell by Tess’s expression that she didn’t care for the scarecrow. Hadn’t Aleister told me that most Sorcerers discount Pitchfork out of hand?

“Go on.” Tess finally conceded, after some thought.

I called out Gillygad, and asked him to join us.

I felt some of my nervousness melt. The kitchen didn’t just remind me of a stage. I could almost see the velvet red curtains fluttering behind Tess, the candles created a spotlight, the actress was poised, and ready to deliver the moving soliloquy. A smile stretched across my face. I was in for a show!

“A woman walked in the garden at twilight.” Tess started, taking dramatic pauses between each line,

“She saw a white horse.

The horse said: listen to me, and be wise.

And the woman listened.

And she held the words hidden and safe in her heart.

And she whispered the secret words to the man.

And the man told his sons.

And the sons told their wives.

And the wives told their daughters.

And now.

I tell you. Listen.”

I was listening. As Tess spoke, I saw the spool of the story unwind in my imagination. I saw a primordial world, the trees impossibly tall, and the people, dressed in nothing. I saw a magnificent white horse, and how frightening but beautiful it was to look upon. And I heard the horse’s words, unintelligible to my mind, flowing smoothly into the ear of the first woman.

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“And so,” Tess began her monologue again, “this is a tale of the old days. This is a record of the old ways.” She walked over to the fireplace.

“When the daughters and the sons, and the husbands and the wives, who learned the words, sat before their fire, and prepared the food which they would eat…” Tess put her hand out to the mantle of the fireplace. My eyes grew wide. The fire was only a smolder, but as Tess put her hand out, the flames rose to meet her fingers. The orange tongues of flame tickled her fingertips and I wondered how she didn’t get burnt.

“The sons and daughters looked upon the fire, and they learned much in this watching. And they willed the fire to show them its secrets, and they dared to reach out and touch the burning heart.” Then Tess did something that made me yelp. She stuck her hand, quickly and smoothly into the burning logs!

Something was in her hand as she pulled it back out, and she cradled it gently. Slowly, she walked over to me.

“They learned the secret of the burnt heart, and the drowned heart, and the winded heart. And the last, the buried heart, they learned of it, too, through Silence.” She said, and then tipped her hand so that I could see what was inside.

It was no bigger than the palm of her hand. It was blackened and charred, but also reddened and bloody. Looking closer, I could see it rising and falling rhythmically.

I was repelled by the small, bloody thing, but I also wanted to reach out and touch it.

“Increasing your cooking skills,” Tess said in a low whisper, and I understood that it was not part of the Ceremony, “will help you with the Elemental Branch of Sorcery.”

I nodded mutely, staring at the presumably living thing in Tess’s hands. It must have been my imagination, but I thought I heard a very soft whimper coming from it.

Tess coo’d at it, like it was a baby bird, and walked back to the hearth. Before placing it amid the ashes, Tess shifted once again into her performance.

“Witness the burning heart Apprentice. Witness the secrets which the daughters and sons pass unto you!”

She held the heart out, and with her other hand, made complicated gestures over it. I recognized the first as the sign of Opening, but then lost track as she twirled her fingers over the heart.

Flames shot from the Sorceress’s hand! I nearly fell off the counter, as the fire, which burned an unnatural shade of pink, danced around Tess in swirls. Where it touched the kitchen floor, it singed the wood. I even saw the edge of Tess's skirt start to smoke, but she noticed it first and stamped her foot to extinguish it.

Despite the strange color, and the kaleidoscope-like movement, this fire was real and dangerous!

The flames died down, and Tess coo’d and softly whispered to the bloody and burnt heart. She gently placed it among the logs in the hearth. I hadn’t noticed, but the fire was completely cold. When the Sorceress placed the heart between the logs, the flames kicked up again, this time the normal orange and red.

The Sorceress stood up and walked back to the center of the room.

“The daughters and the sons, they looked upon the green, growing things around them, and they learned much in this watching. They willed the growing things to teach them the secret of stillness. They dared to eat those things which might benefit or poison, and they kept a silent vigil, learning of the life within the things which move not.”

Mistress then produced a sprig of a plant from the folds of her skirt. Did she have pockets there?

She held the plant out and gently touched one of the leaves. The plant then bent towards her hand, like a cat looking for a back scratch.

“And they knew that the still things they watched had life, and so they learned that they may place life in other still things.”

Then Tess put away the plant, and produced something else from the folds of her black skirt. She held it up and I saw that it was a metal spoon.

“Witness, Apprentice, the breath of life, with which a still thing may breathe!” She walked over to me, holding the spoon like a cross out in front of her. I found it quite comical, but I was too nervous to laugh.

When she was only a few feet from me, Tess whispered words to the spoon, and then made complicated gestures. When she was done, she held it out again, and the spoon started moving! It bent left, then right, as though the strong metal was bending under intense heat, and then it folded in on itself. Tess placed it on the floor, but it was no longer a spoon. Whatever it was, skittered over to me, with soft metallic clangs on the wooden floor.

It was so close, I could pick it up. I eased off the counter, and put my hands towards it. It was a small crustacean; a crawfish, or a juvenile lobster.

I picked it up cautiously, and examined it. The shell of the crawfish had a metallic glint, and it was quite heavy. My hands shook as I gave it back to Tess.

In her possession, the spoon-crawfish turned back into its original, still form. She put the metal spoon away.

This must be how she turned her gray boots into a horse, and then back into boots, again!

“Enchantment is built from your skills in Botany. Objects have their own desire for living forms, and you can’t make them into just anything.” Tess added in a whisper. “Through using an object, you may learn about its desires. Even better, through using an object in a certain way, you may persuade it into different forms, which would benefit you.”

Tess walked back to the center of the room. She looked back at me. “Just brace yourself, it might get somewhat frightening now.” She said to me in a low voice.

I did brace myself. I gripped my hands on the edge of the counter, and drew steady, long breaths.

“The words which the first woman passed to the first man echoed and repeated for millennia, mother to daughter, father to son. And the sons and daughters who heard those same words noticed that what they spoke had a life of its own. And they listened to their own words, and they saw that there was power in their speaking. And then,” Tess paused, standing in the middle of the kitchen, and looking up at the ceiling, “they heard the voices which spoke back.”

She started walking in a circle, and I noticed that, like in a Vision, the shadows started to twist and shiver.

“The voices they heard came from the purple twilight that split night and day, from the hedgerows which split fields, from the rivers which split the earth, and from the shadows, which split light.” As the Sorceress said the words, I could make out figures in the shadows. The shadows were poised in the wings, waiting for their turn on the stage of the Ceremony.

“And the sons and daughters learned to know the speech of the shade-things, and they willed the shades into their presence, and they dared to command the shades and bind them into silent acquiescence.” Tess was looking around. I was confident that she could also see the way that the shadows wildly billowed in every corner of the kitchen. She was carefully looking around, judging each shade.

“Witness, Apprentice, the power of choosing the right words!” Tess said, then she turned towards a particular corner of the kitchen, where I noticed a large, dark, and curiously hairy shadow.

“Step forth.” Tess said, in a voice which wasn’t quite her ‘Ceremony’ tone nor the whisper with which she spoke to me. Her voice was entrancing, and I found myself stepping forward towards the circle of candlelight. I had not noticed earlier, but there were times when she commanded me, and I found myself obeying her words without question. When she told me to be silent, I was silent. When she told me to hop on her gray horse, outside of Solomon’s house, I hardly resisted. It never even entered my mind that the Sorceress was using magic to compel me.

This must be the magic to which the Speech skill was tied!

The large shivering shadow in the corner drew closer to Tess, and the dark outline became more distinct. There were too many legs. The trembling limbs were long, and spider-like, but the thing which came towards Tess was not a spider. It was hideous in a way nothing that walked the earth could be. It was an amalgamation of animal parts which should not be. There were horns in the most unlikely places, and a large crooked beak on what I guessed was the creature’s face. The nicest thing I could say was that I was glad the thing was completely covered in a shiny coat of black fur. I was sure I did not want to see what was underneath the fur.

It stood on a pair of spindly hind legs, and bent into what I could only assume was a bow, its many arms prostrate on the ground.

It reached a fingerless, furry arm towards Tess, its numerous, mismatched eyes glinting in the firelight. The Sorceress placed a metal rectangle, a coin known as a Bone, into the fingerless palm of the creature, and I suddenly recognized this shade-thing.

Haven't I seen something very similar present Mr. Solomon Beaugiron his breakfast?

Tess kneeled in front of the shade creature, and spoke to it.

“Bound and set, go clean my bedroom.” I started walking towards the kitchen door, intent on sweeping and mopping the Sorceress’s room.

“Andy, get back here!” Tess called after me, and I spun around just in time to see the furry, many armed creature skitter impossibly up the wall, then upside-down along the ceiling, and through the door. I crouched as the dark thing passed over me, but it was only a moment, and then the creature was gone.

Something tugged at my sleeve, and I jumped with an undignified squeal. Another thing, this one with leather wings, and a doggish snout, tugged at my sleeve with a paw. I reeled, trying to put distance between me and the doggish thing. I felt a warm hand on my shoulder, and Tess steered me towards the center of the circle of candlelight. I looked around, and the shadows all had forms, and details, and there were monsters everywhere, coming closer. And there were other spirits among the monsters.

I looked back to the counter on which I sat through most of the Ceremony, and there sat Zinia, the black snake curling around her sensuously. In another corner, swimming in a sea of glittering half bug, half mammal creatures was Gillygad, the patchwork smile on his burlap face sending shivers down my spine. I knew I would find him, but the sight of the old knight, Nestor, pierced with arrows, nauseated me with his gruesome, one eyed visage.

My head swam and the kitchen felt much too confining. I was trapped, and there were things I did not understand coming closer, reaching out their arms which were claws, and paws, and talons, and tentacles, and…

“And the sons and the daughters, who learned to walk through the shadow world, and speak with the voices from the shadows, became frightened. They wished to dispel the voices and the shadows, and return to the light of their own world.” Tess spoke, directly above me, and I tried to hold on to my consciousness, so I focused on her words. Surely, the Closing Ceremony was almost complete!

“And they wished to not see, but they could not shut their eyes. And they wished to not hear, but their ears remained open. They wished to not speak with the shadows, but the words were already alive, and the shadows would not leave. So the sons and the daughters, which carried the knowledge of the first woman, turned to Silence. And in Silence, they found the antidote to Speech.”

Her hand still gripping my shoulder, Tess walked us towards the fireplace. We stepped right next to the pierced knight, and I shrank back from him, withering under the spirit’s one-eyed gaze. Tess reached out, and grabbed a broom, which had been leaning against the hearth. In an awkward step, me trying to not get tangled in her long skirt, we stepped around in a circle, with the Sorceress gently sweeping the broom, the bristles making a comforting shush noise against the floor.

The shadows started melting out of view. We passed in a circle, and each time Tess swept, there were fewer and fewer creatures, until finally, only Nestor, Gillygad, and Zinia were present. The candlelight was brighter, and the room felt clean. The very air had a fresh crispness, like a winter morning, or the countryside after a long and heavy storm.

“Witness the simplest power. The silent and steady way, the old way, which brings peace and purity.” Tess spoke, and then added in a whisper, “Homesteading, especially cleaning, helps you with Purification. It’s essential. Focus on that skill, above all others.” I nodded mutely. I was starting to grasp why the Sorceress made such a big deal about housework.

The Closing Ceremony ended. I thought there might be a big speech at the end, but Tess simply dismissed the three Names, and then started putting out the candles. I helped her, and after we finished dragging the furniture back to the kitchen, Tess spoke again.

“The Closing is done. Keep my words safe. Keep my words secret.” She said, and told me to go to bed. I was exhausted, so I did just that.

I loped up the spiral staircase, intent on dropping like a rock once I got under a blanket. But as I turned on the light in my bedroom, I saw that there was something on the covers of my bed.