3.2 Magic in the Water

General Summary

Day 23

  While we have breakfast, Alder arrives. He is remarkably canny about presenting himself when he’s needed. This time, he brings me an invitation to meet with a local elven businessman named Sahlon, who was formerly the head of a large trading family on the other side of the mountains.   Alder, to his credit, has many opinions on this gentleman and how he might react to me.

• He’s a cautious man, like a cornered viper
• He may be afraid of me demanding things
• He helps the Lost by giving them jobs, but he may also be taking advantage of them
• He may be afraid that I’ll demand that he give me everything he’s collected (wealth/people)
• “He will be a powerful ally or a constant stumbling block”
• He’s built a successful life here but probably wants to return home

  I resolve to treat him graciously and ask nothing of him unless he offers. I think it is best to let Sahlon set his own level of involvement. Anything I say would be something he’s probably oathsworn to obey. Hella will be accompanying me, so this will be an excellent opportunity for her to learn about dealing with People.   Once again Alder prove useful by recommending a strategy when it comes to dealing with the human authorities. They don’t understand the way elves ages so he can spread a rumour that I’m much younger than I really am, and that I’m the daughter of someone powerful without holding power myself. People may try to curry favour with me or attempt to use me, but at least they won’t feel threatened by me. To that end - we come up with new relationships for Bran, Rosalia, and Hella. Rosalia will be with me to repay an embarrassing life debt, while Bran will be...simply infatuated with me. Hella will be his sister.   With the rest of the day, Bran will continue smithing and Rosalia will go shopping for supplies for us. As Hella and I prepare to visit Sahlon, I give her a brief lesson on politicking. She seems worried that he won’t like her because she’s a human, and imagines a city in which humans and elves can live together. Then she feels sad because all the elves here have lost their families so a large group of them must be very sad. It’s funny to hear her grappling out loud with the idea of loss and racial injustice to me. I’m reminded of why I treat her like a child - it’s because she is one. She’s a brand new apprentice and not one who has spent years with me and grown into the role.  

It’s amazingly bright, wherever I am. The mountains rise so close to me and I get the sense that this is very recent. I’m in a desolate, high plateau, nearing what looks like a mountain pass. Fog shrouds the peaks and I’m staring at something so immeasurably impassable...and my apprentices are there with me. I say “Today I’m afraid your apprenticeship must end. And you’ll have to walk without me for a time. But we will see each other again, I promise you. You’ve both put it off for a very long time, you’ve passed the point when you could have been declared masters years ago. Today that mastery is thrust upon you, and I thank you for it.”   One of them (Alwen) looks at me with tears in his eyes, “You’ve only ever asked us for things we could give, even when they were hard. This is hard. What you’re doing is so much harder. We’ll see you again soon,”   I nod and take his hands, “Soon, yes.”   Tira looks at me and says, “If you’re ready...I can’t bear a long goodbye,” and I nod. They take me to a large stone outcropping and I lay down on top of it. One of them takes a knife and starts with my right arm and fills a bowl with my blood. He walks around, drawing runes with my blood in the dirt, creating a large circle. She begins on my left arm, carving runes in my flesh to match the ones on the ground. I get the sense of tremendous magical energy. My last thought as consciousness slips away is “This has to work. Failure is unacceptable and unimaginable. We’ve paid too much, sacrificed too much, bled too much for it to end here,”   Both of them, as they were carving my arm or creating the circle, they were referencing very, very old tomes, not written in Elvish, like the runes on my upper and outer arm when I woke up here. There’s something deeply significant about the books but I don’t know what it was.

  This is the most recent memory I’ve had. This must have been the moment that took me across the barrier, but what language and what magic were we using?   But those are questions for later. Right now, we must go to pay a visit. Hella remarks that I’m donning my dress like armour, and I suppose that’s exactly what it is. Maybe it will protect me!   We walk for about an hour to Sahlon’s farmhouse, if it could be called that. It is surrounded by walls, stables, barns, and even a small mill, all both human and elven in design. He’s done well for himself here. There’s even a small floral garden like the ones in the capital.   A human servant opens the door and escorts us into a room overlooking the garden. Alder takes up a position at my shoulder. When Sahlon arrives, I’m surprised at how old he is - probably in his 7th century. He is groomed and dressed like a human, but the craftsmanship is elvish. Perhaps Dreah made his clothing for him. Regardless, he kneels and greets me properly, and offers us elvish wine (only 10 years old, but still very good).   We have a remarkably civil conversation

• He asks right away if the barrier is intact, and refers to it as a Great Working. I gather he’d like to return home, and was hopeful that my presence here meant I had torn down the barrier.
• He was in the audience when I was given my title 100 years ago, and has been here for 30 years.
• At home, he brought capital goods to the frontier, as well as the other way around.
• He serves the community here by freeing those he can, and offering them jobs.
• He trains human traders to carry elvish goods and fetch fair prices to bring back to the elves.
• He feels that perhaps he exploited people in his business on the other side, and is now trying to atone for it.
• He tries to ignore the guilt of being able to help everyone, otherwise the guilt would consume him.
• “I owe debts to all of our people”
• He offers to be at my service for logistics and supplies, as he expects I will be gathering an army
• He also offers whatever information he can, from his network (maps, information about trading posts, business contacts, and letters of introduction)
• He gives me 5 horses, a mule, and a small cart
• In return, he asks that I keep my eye out for his granddaughter, Asaelien.
• He feels like his time is coming, and he wants to see her again.
• “If you find her, will you free her?”
• As he leaves, he looks like he is about to weep at the thought of his granddaughter.

  I reassure him that it is common courtesy amongst our people to remember the names of the Lost, but perhaps that is not the case given how he and Dreah reacted to my assurance that I would look for their relatives. Perhaps this is a small bit of hope I can continue to offer. I’ll start keeping a list of names.   Before Hella and I leave, we spend some time in the garden. It reminds me of the gardens I’ve seen myself in with Thalien, and where I spoke to the Empress, but a less refined imitation. It was clearly designed by someone familiar with the capital gardens, but there is only so much one can do in 30 years with mostly humans for help.   The fountain the centre flows in channels out to nourish the plants and even the sound of the water is carefully curated to be pleasant and musical. Hella notices the magic in the water - the path it takes forms a cyclical well of renewal and this is a magic unto itself. She’s surprised to learn about magic that isn’t for fighting or hiding or surviving. Magic like that only exists to make magic like this garden possible. What would there be to fight for, or hide, or protect if not the simple beauty of something that only exists to bring peace?   We head back to Ipth, promising to return and collect our horses and supply wagon before we leave.