Guild Mage: Apprentice

"How long will it take?" Liv asked. "For the message to reach him, I mean. And then to get here."

"Kelthelis is not an easy place to travel to," Ambassador Sakari said. "It is the furthest north of all our holdings, past any place that trees grow, and the waystone that once served the Tomb of Celris lies deep within the shoals, almost at the depths of the rift. Your family sometimes uses it to travel out, but no one would risk arriving that way unless they came in force. We sent a message to Mountain Home, and they will need to travel on foot from there."

"And the snows often come early that far north," Keri said. "Even at Mountain Home. Your family's lands are worse."

"Not today, then," Liv decided. "And likely not even tomorrow."

"That seems a reasonable guess to make," Sakari agreed. "And now, I suspect we have kept you here for long enough. Tomorrow will be a very busy day, Livara, so I recommend you take a bit of time now, while you can. The council will meet during the day, which Keri and I must prepare for. At the very least, we will see you at the masque that evening."

"Thank you for answering my questions," Liv said. "And the necklace." She reached up to touch a finger to the small mana-stone set in gold.

"Of course," Keri said. "My apologies, again, for before. I believe we can find our way back to the house, if you want a moment alone."

"Yes, please," Liv said. Both men inclined their heads, then turned and made their way back through the garden. She ran her hand over the rough stone of the bench. Lady Julianne and Thora would see that she had something to wear to the masque at the palace; she probably didn't need to worry about that. Instead, Liv found that she had questions for Master Grenfell. Having come to a decision, she took up her staff, walked back to the house, and headed up to the second floor, where she knocked on the door to his chambers.

If her teacher was surprised to see her there, he didn't show it. "Oh, good," Kazimir Grenfell said. "I thought I would only get in the way at luncheon today, but there were a few things I wanted to speak to you about. Come in, Liv."

She saw that his rooms were somewhat smaller than hers, but still included a sitting room with a desk and a few chairs. "I had something to ask you about, as well," she said. She almost took a seat on a cushioned bench, then thought better of it: her skirts were shedding sand everywhere already.

"Something that will take a bit of talking?" Grenfell asked, and Liv nodded. "Let me go first, then. While the great council meets tomorrow, the mages' guild will gather, as well. There's rarely so many of us in one place, so we're going to take advantage of it. I'd like you to come with me."

"Of course." Liv nodded.

"Good. Your turn, then," the older man said.

"I liked having that spell prepared," she admitted. "I've been taken by surprise too many times. During the eruption, of course, and then when that first blood monster appeared. Even a few drunks at an inn could have really hurt me. I think I want to have something like that set all the time."

"Not a bad idea," Grenfell agreed. "Many members of the guild do something similar with Aluth - in fact, if I could teach you the word now, I'd tell you to use that instead of Cel. It's better suited because a shield of mana doesn't take time to form."

"Something for after Coral Bay, then," Liv said. "I want to change the shape, though. That intent, the rose, it worked well for a duel because it let me do several things at once. But without knowing where I'd be when I needed a shield, or what I'm going to need, it's too much. I want something simpler. And I need a trigger that I don't have to put so much work into avoiding. I can't be remembering to hold my staff up all the time."

Grenfell nodded, walked over to his desk, and opened his spellbook. "I believe the most common spell structure will suit your needs here," he explained. "There's a reason so many of us use it. Take a look."

"Aluthēvō ais'veh Orvis theræ Mae," Liv read aloud. "Future tense, sped up with veh. Orvis is what, a sphere? I've seen that before. To surround the caster."

"Good," Grenfell said. "You're going to be so far ahead of anyone else at college," he remarked. "I hope Jurian has them ready for you. Usually, we anchor it to our rings. See the second part?"

"Cwo Trethō Æ'Hrin," Liv read aloud. "When I turn this ring. Why do we always use something like mana-stone, or a staff?"

"If you were in a shoal, you wouldn't need to," Grenfell said. Here, copy that down while we're talking." He handed her a piece of parchment and a quill, then uncorked a bottle of ink and got out of her way. "The mana-structure fades too quickly, otherwise. Think about it like this: if you pour out a cup of water on a table, does the water keep its form very long?"

Liv shook her head, writing out the incantation carefully. She substituted Celēvō at the beginning of the spell, however. "No, because there's nothing to keep it contained," she said.

"So it is with mana," Grenfell said. "Or close enough that it is a useful image to learn from. In a shoal, there is enough ambient mana in the world around us that it won't disperse quickly. But here, where there is so little, the mana wants to fill an absence. Without an anchor, you have to use it immediately when it leaves your body. But something designed to accept mana, like your staff, a guild ring, or even that necklace you're wearing, can hold it for longer. Without an actual sigil, however, you won't get more than a day or two out of it."

"That's fine," Liv said. "I can renew the spell each morning when I wake." She set aside the loaned quill, capped the ink bottle, and blew on the parchment gently to dry what she'd written. "I'll take this back to my room and get it copied over," she said. "But before I go. Lady Julianne mentioned a second word the guild could teach."

"Cei," Grenfell said. "Jurian taught me."

"What does it do?" Liv asked, turning away from the desk.

"It allows the caster to control dreams," Grenfell said. "Our own or, in theory, the dreams of others. I've spent many nights experimenting with it. Unlike Aluth, we only have a few decades of research, which is why we don't yet share it with every apprentice who comes through Coral Bay. Finding the limits of a new word of power can be dangerous work."

Liv frowned. "So what, you can decide what you dream about? It sounds nice," she said, "but not very powerful. I wouldn't mind dreaming of home tonight."

"You are underestimating the word's power," Grenfell said. "Consider this. You know more about how the princess' spells work, now that you've fought her yourself, don't you?"

Liv nodded.

"What if you could spend this evening replaying the duel over and over in your dreams?" her teacher asked. "Changing something each time. Rather than theorizing over how you might face her, you could test a dozen tactics and find the flaws. It's limited by your own knowledge, of course. Until you know at least a bit about how a word works, that particular technique is not effective. Or, with matching enchantments, what if we could link dreams from across the kingdom? Two separated lovers could meet every evening in their dreams - or a spy and their master. Could we send nightmares, from a distance, to destroy the confidence of our enemies?"

"I guess I'm used to thinking about physical things," Liv admitted. "All of that, though - you're right. It sounds worth learning. I'm going to go get cleaned up," she said, motioning to her sandy skirts, "and try out this spell. Thank you."

"Of course," Grenfell said, bidding her goodbye with a casual wave. "Tomorrow, after breakfast. We'll take a carriage." Liv nodded, and headed off to her own rooms. There, Thora helped her change.

"You've got an invitation," the maid told her. "From Baron Kenric Talbot. Dinner before the masque, tomorrow."

"That will be Cade's father," Liv said.

"They want you to come over and then take a carriage with them to the palace," Thora explained, gathering up the dirty clothing. "I'd go with you, to help you change."

"It doesn't sound like my father is likely to have arrived by then," Liv said, considering. "I'll write a response, and you can bring it down to be sent over. We'll go, but I'll tell them that if my father arrives between now and then, that will change."

Once she'd sent Thora off with the message, Liv copied the modified incantation she'd gotten from Master Grenfell into her spellbook, under the heading 'Ice Sphere,' and then made an experiment of it. "Celēvō ais'veh Orvis theræ Mae Cwo Trethō Æ'Hrin," she sang, letting the sounds vibrate up through her body, and her intent shape the mana, and taking the measure of how much the casting depleted her mana reserves. "About four rings, using the staff," Liv decided, and wrote that down, as well. She almost twisted the ring on her finger right then and there, but decided she wouldn't make poor Thora clean the floor of a mass of melting ice, and went down to the beach again instead.

Standing on the last stone step above the dunes, so that she wouldn't need to change her skirts again, Liv made the experiment. When she turned the ring, the spell released, rapidly building a protective sphere of solid ice around her. Inside, Liv grinned. The ice was nearly white, so she couldn't see out of it, but it would protect her. The only drawback was that the temperature inside the globe rapidly cooled, and her breath was already frosting.

After a moment of checking the structure over, Liv tapped it with her staff and realized the second problem. "No petals to open, and I don't have a way to melt it," she complained, with a sigh. Liv would need to do some thinking and check over a few words to create a way to open the sphere when she needed to. In the meanwhile, she could try hitting it with her staff, but she didn't want to risk breaking a bone. Instead, she wasted more mana by blasting a hole out through the ice with her Frozen Shards spell, and more mana again by recasting the defensive spell on her ring. By the time she headed back up the stairs to the house, she left behind a wreck of ice on the beach.

☙

Dinner that evening was quiet - at least compared to luncheon. Lady Julianne must have decided the Eld had been enough guests for one day, so it was just the family, Liv, Master Grenfell and Mistress Trafford.

"Tomorrow I'll be at the council from just after breakfast until dinner," Baron Henry said. "I doubt we'll get much done on the first day. That evening, we will all go to the masque at the palace. With practically the entire aristocracy in one place, everyone of courting age will be hunting for a husband or wife."

"And Matthew, you'll be presented to my father," Julianne said. "I'm not certain yet whether it will be public or private, and which way it ends up will tell us a good deal about how much he's willing or able to protect you. The morning after, the mages' guild will begin taking groups of new students to Coral Bay from the waystone, so you'll want to be up early and packed."

"I've told Liv already," Grenfell broke in, "But she and I will spend most of tomorrow with the guild."

"I need to be back in time to go to dinner with the Talbots," Liv warned him. "We're going to take a carriage from there to the masque, and I'll need Thora to come with me."

"Maybe I should go with you, as well," Matthew offered.

"No, you're with me," his father ordered. "As my heir, you're permitted to sit in and listen. And we've made the argument that I need your mother there to care for me, so it will be all three of us. The only time that being a cripple has actually come in useful."

"It sounds like you all have a busy day ahead of you," Mistress Trafford remarked. "I'm going to take advantage of the quiet and buy herbs in the market. There's things I can't get up in Whitehill, so I'm going to stock up while we're here."

After dinner, Liv was sitting in her rooms, eyes closed while Thora brushed her hair out when a knock came at her door. "Come in," she called. It was relaxing, and made her drowsy, but she opened her eyes enough to watch Lady Julianne come in.

"May I speak to you for a moment?" the baron's wife asked.

"Of course," Liv said.

"Here, I'll finish that." Julianne took the hairbrush from Thora, who curtsied and left the room. "I wanted to apologize," the baron's wife said after a moment, and moved around to sit behind Liv in the chair Thora had vacated. Liv couldn't see her, so she let her eyes close again. "And to explain a little, if I can."

"I should apologize, too," Liv murmured. "I lost my temper over luncheon, and I shouldn't have."

"I don't really remember my mother," Julianne said. "And my step-mother was always horrid. I promised myself that I would never treat my children like she treated me. And whatever you decide, Liv, I do think of you as part of the family. I want you to know that. I suppose it's just - you were a child for so long, I got to thinking like you always would be, in a way. But you are growing up now, and I guess I wasn't ready for it."

"I've always known you were trying to protect me," Liv said. "From when you spoke up against Alban Cooper. You remember? So I'm not angry at that so much, but - I need to figure out what my life is going to be. What I want."

For a moment, there was no sound but the brush moving through her hair in slow, careful strokes. "What do you want?" Julianne asked her.

"I want to meet my father," Liv said, without hesitation. "I want to learn more about where that side of me comes from. I want to see the north - not tomorrow, maybe, but eventually."

"How about this boy?"

"I'm not sure," Liv admitted. "In almost every way, he's been nothing but nice. But then there's this thing about his family, and wanting Elden blood for his children. It would be nice to just believe that he likes me. But if there was some other girl who could give him the children he wants, would he be just as happy with her? It's not as if he really knows me very well. He can't, in what, four or five days?"

"He's his father's only son," Julianne said, after a moment. "However much he might want to, he can't separate his personal feelings from what's best for his family. And honestly, Liv, you can't expect him to. It wouldn't be fair. I know the type - his father has put the weight of their entire legacy on his shoulders for as long as he can remember. And he's still so young."

"There's that, too," Liv said. "Fourteen. He'd be two years ahead of me at Coral Bay, but at least we'd be there at the same time for a while. That's something. If I can't go with Matthew, I'd like to have someone I know there."

"Do you want my advice?" Lady Julianne asked.

Liv was a bit surprised that she was asking, instead of just speaking her mind right off. "Please. You grew up with all this; I didn't."

"Politically, he's a good match if you want to settle in Lucania," Julianne said. "You'd be in a different duchy, but you're not likely to do better than a baron. Bradon Bridge is a nice town, I've been there once or twice. There's a pretty river through the hills, and farms much like you're familiar with. It's the lowlands, of course, not the mountains, but that means it will be warmer, if a bit damp."

"But," Liv urged her.

"But to some extent, our guests were right," Julianne admitted. "You'll survive him, and still be young. If you do want to go north, that may work out. Live a life in Lucania, and then one in the north. But the most important thing is this, Liv," she said. "You need to actually like him. It doesn't need to start like love from a song, but if you don't at least enjoy spending time with him, you're going to be miserable."

"That's what the courting is for, isn't it?" Liv said. "To figure that out. And in the meanwhile, I've got you another set of votes. If I have to pay for that by sitting down to dinner with a boy I don't end up liking, or dancing with him a few times, there are worse things in the world."

With a soft click of wood on wood, Julianne set the hairbrush down on Liv's desk, and came around to stand in front of her. "So long as you don't let yourself get trapped," she warned. "You can visit each other's houses, and even appear in public together, alone. But do not let yourself be caught unchaperoned in private. That kind of scandal can force a marriage."

"I understand," Liv said, standing up. "Thank you." On impulse, she wrapped her arms around the older woman. For a moment, Lady Julianne didn't seem to know what to do, and then she relaxed and held Liv close in return.