77 replies to this topic

[Serelir]

Vaellanius Manor, Minrathous

Spoiler

When Caius had made Elowyn his First Enchanter, she hadn’t realized how much of her time would be taken up managing the other apprentices. She felt anxious to get on with her investigation, but her clerks could only do so much of the daily work without consulting her. After returning to the manor, she barely had time to straighten her hair before running off to meet with Venerandus to go over the weekly training schedule.

 

She found him by the training grounds, taking notes on two of the guards who were sparring. One was practicing weakening and paralysis hexes, while the other dodged and fade-stepped. There was something familiar in the way they carried themselves. It was almost as if members of the household had been cast from the Vaellanius mold. Elowyn pondered whether the staff was chosen with certain qualities in mind, or whether service in the household forged them in similar patterns. Come to think of it, many of them had those dark Vaellanius eyes, and that couldn’t be changed, could it?

 

“Promising, aren’t they?” asked Venerandus, marking his tablet.

 

“Are they new?” asked Elowyn. The household was so large that she had trouble keeping track of all the slaves and guards. She’d been working hard to match the names of all the apprentices to their faces and backgrounds.

 

“They were born here, children of slaves. We test all the children and assign them to various departments based on their talents and abilities. They’re trained from a young age. These two showed magical aptitude. As slaves, they couldn’t go to the Circle for training. We have our own in-house system for producing guards.”

 

“So you’re telling me that not everyone with magical talents gets sent to the Circle? Does that mean elven slaves don’t have that opportunity?”

 

“Only those with extraordinary talent. Such as yourself,” Venerandus coughed and looked away, slightly embarrassed. Elowyn supposed he still felt a little uncomfortable taking orders from an elf. Many of the staff believed she’d attained her position through her charm rather than her magical ability, to put it nicely. It was time to demonstrate there was more to her than a trim waist and a pretty voice. She handed her wrap to Venerandus and stepped into the ring.

 

“Alright you two,” she called out, “Show me what you’re made of!” The guards turned toward her. The female guard grinned and prepared to cast. Elowyn could take advantage of that one’s overconfidence. The male guard looked slightly apprehensive. He was the dodger and was already sweating a little from slipping between the woman’s hexes. They almost looked like twins with the same dark eyes.

 

The woman cast a hex. Elowyn easily deflected it with her staff, sending it toward the guy. He rolled out of the way. Venerandus made a mark on his tablet. Elowyn wondered if he was scoring her as well. She flicked her fingers and surrounded the guy with ice mines, trapping him momentarily. Meanwhile, the woman had been busy setting up a paralysis trap for Elowyn. She began throwing fireballs, trying to herd Elowyn into the marks.

 

Elowyn cast an ice wall and, while the latest fireball fizzled against the ice, leapt up and pulled the woman by reaching through the Fade, much the way a mage transports herself by fade-stepping. But Elowyn’s trick pulled the other mage right into her own trap, and she was paralyzed.

 

The male guard had gotten through the ice mines, though the cold was slowing him down. Elowyn called up tangling vines to bind him, but suddenly he blinked out of sight and appeared behind her. She dodged, but his lightning bolt slashed her ankle. She cast petrify, yet again he evaded her. Her hunch that he was the trickier opponent had proved correct.

 

Meanwhile, the female guard recovered from paralysis. She grimaced with wounded pride. Knowing that the male guard was about to target her, Elowyn fade-stepped behind the female guard, who’d been getting ready to hit her with an affliction hex. Elowyn grabbed the woman’s shoulder, sending her off-balance. The hex hit the male guard just as his spell, intended for Elowyn, hit the female guard instead. The woman gasped as bruises appeared all over her body. Elowyn looked at the male guard in consternation: he’d just used blood magic.

 

She shouldn’t have been surprised that Caius’ guards had been trained in blood magic, but the force of the guard’s spell betrayed an unexpected talent.

 

“Thalia!” the guard howled, rushing toward his writhing victim. Elowyn hit him with stonefist, knocking him out cold.

 

“Bastard! You meant that spell for me, but you hit your friend instead,” she muttered.

 

Venerandus chuckled and added up his columns of figures. “Match goes to the First Enchanter!” he declared. Elowyn did a mock curtsey.

 

She noticed a servant trying to get her attention. “Yes, what is it?” she asked.

 

“Excuse me, First Enchanter, but there’s a visitor at the door insisting that she be let in.”

 

“Well, who is it?”

 

The servant gulped, clearly still rattled by the visitor’s behavior. Elowyn wondered why the guards hadn’t just sent the person packing.

 

“She… she says she is your mother.”

 

Elowyn clapped her hand over her mouth and groaned.

[Serelir]

Vaellanius Manor, Minrathous

Spoiler

Elowyn could hear her mother’s voice haranguing the guards before she even set foot in the front hall.

 

“...and I told them, I said, ‘It’s a wake-up call,’ but did they listen? Oh, there you are,” she said, noticing Elowyn standing there.

 

“Hello, Mother,” said Elowyn, “What brings you to Minrathous?”

 

“You have to ask? My only daughter, and she has to ask why her mother - her own mother! - wants to see her, after traveling all this way, that’s the first thing she says to me! They didn’t raise you right in that tower. It’s no wonder everyone says there’s something wrong with mages – stunted, the lot of them! And now, here I am, in a city run by those people. What is Thedas coming to?”

 

“It’s nice to see you, Mother. Would you like some refreshment after your journey?” Elowyn tried again.

 

“If there’s anything worth eating in this place! I suppose the wine here is inferior. You know I have an allergy to tropical food. The healer said I have to avoid anything spicy. I won’t be able to eat a thing in this Maker-forsaken place!”

 

“Right this way, Mother,” Elowyn said, taking her mother by the elbow and leading her to a sitting room. She asked a servant for some tea and pastries, knowing her mother had a sweet-tooth. Her mother looked around appraisingly at the furniture and decorations and sniffed.

 

“Well, at least it’s not cold. Your aunt’s place is always so cold. I don’t know why she can’t warm up the house when I visit. I suppose it gets hot here?”

 

“Yes, people tend to remain inside during the middle of the day. There’s a rainy season though,” Elowyn added, hoping to forestall any plans on her mother’s part to stay indefinitely.

 

“There’s nothing worse than days of dreary gray rain!” exclaimed her mother, biting into a pastry with satisfaction. Elowyn poured more tea.

 

“Mother, I didn’t know you were coming for a visit. I would have cleared my schedule, as it is, I have obligations –,” she didn’t finish before her mother interrupted.

 

“The messengers these days! Completely unreliable! Well, I’m not surprised, given the state of the roads. It’s a wonder I wasn’t set upon by brigands – or worse!”

 

“That would have been terrible!” replied Elowyn, only half disingenuously. “Did you know that I was attacked by abolitionists on my way here?”

 

“Oh, I’m sure you were fine. You always did have a tendency to exaggerate,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. Elowyn gritted her teeth.

 

“Ah, Ser Adaran!” said Caius, filling the doorway. He strode over to Elowyn’s mother, extending his hand. Elowyn wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or worried.

 

“What a pleasure it is to meet the mother of my most promising apprentice!” said Caius graciously, kissing Elowyn’s mother on the hand. For once, her mother was speechless.

 

“Mother, this is Magister Caius Vaellanius, the master of this house,” Elowyn said, introducing her boss.

 

“Enchantée,” said her mother, as if she were a grand lady and not a struggling widow from the alienage.

 

“I trust your journey was pleasant?” asked Caius, “We are all surprised, and, let me say, delighted at your unexpected visit. Had I known you were coming, I would have sent an escort.”

 

“Let me tell you about it!” began Elowyn’s mother, gathering breath for a lengthy fulmination.

 

“If there is anything you need, anything at all, be sure to let us know,” interrupted Caius. “Now, you must be exhausted after your long journey. Phillippus will show you to your suite,” he said, gesturing toward a very handsome, muscular servant. Elowyn had mentioned in passing her mother’s dislike of other women, and Caius had adroitly remembered. “Have a rest, and we’ll see you at dinner,” added Caius cheerfully as the servant led Elowyn’s mother from the room. Elowyn could hear her nattering at the servant all the way down the hall.

 

“Now, we have that settled,” said Caius, turning toward Elowyn.

 

“I’m sorry, Master, I didn’t know she was coming. Thank you for rescuing the situation!” Elowyn exclaimed, embarrassed about her mother’s behavior.

 

“We’ve all had such relatives,” said Caius reassuringly. “Now,” he said, taking her hand, “You look like you could do with a little relaxation yourself, and you must tell me what you’ve been up to.” Elowyn let him lead her from the room. She was still in shock at her mother’s abrupt appearance and relieved that Caius had handled the situation so smoothly.

[Serelir]

Vaellanius Manor, Minrathous

Spoiler

After spending a relaxing hour with her Master, Elowyn found herself lost in thought while pinning up her hair. She still didn’t know what to make of her relationship with the man who technically owned her. It was a normal part of Thedan life for the rich to have sexual relationships with their servants and slaves. Elowyn had, however, never considered herself chattel, though she had undoubtedly been subject to the whims of the Templars back in the Circle. The only protection she had then was from Guy, another powerful, privileged man.

 

The general view of elves held by non-elves was that they are whimsical, weak, untrustworthy, but sexually desirable creatures who would betray shemlens without another thought. The standard view of mages was not much better. Elowyn wondered if allowing herself to be seduced by her Master simply played into these stereotypes. She shrugged at her image in the mirror. What could she do about the opinions of others? She had made her choices as best she could, given the small opportunities she had to alter the direction of her life.

 

Did she love Caius? She was sure that she did. She would sacrifice herself for his happiness, it was that important to her. Though he could appear cold and cruel to others, he had shown her nothing but kindness, even before there was any inkling of sexual attraction between the two of them. On her part, anyway. Perhaps Caius had viewed her as prey from the very first time he set eyes on her. Elowyn tended to think most men had a binary view of women: desirable or undesirable, so it would be an unusual man indeed who took a more nuanced view. She felt that men thought of each other in a similar fashion: ally or enemy. She pondered whether women fit this pattern of thinking as well.

 

She herself spent a great deal of mental energy pondering the motivations of the people around her. Perhaps this was simply a survival skill among those who found themselves on the bottom of the social hierarchy. She felt her brow furrow, and pressed the ache with her fingers.

 

Now her mother was here, and she would have to deal with her reactionary attitudes and prejudices. She dreaded to think of what her mother would say if she discovered that Elowyn was in a relationship with a shemlen. Despite their current poverty, her mother’s family were proud of their elven heritage. They lived on dreams of their former glory and longed for the day the shemlens would be wiped from the face of Thedas. In fact, her Dalish father’s attitude had been more tolerant than her mother’s. Elowyn could never understand why her parents had married and stayed together. Then again, her father had drunk himself to death.

 

And why had her mother come at this time? She didn’t possess the resources to make such a long, arduous journey, even though Elowyn had been sending part of her allowance home. Her visit surely didn’t arise out of any desire to aid her child. Her mother had been happy to let the Circle take Elowyn out of her care and had never shown her much warmth or comfort. Perhaps her mother was so mercenary that she had come to see what she could get out of Caius. And Caius would probably indulge her without feeling any pain at all, because his pocket change was a year’s income to an elf in an alienage.

 

Elowyn sighed and tore all the pins out of her hair in frustration. All she wanted to do was to pursue the person who had stolen Decentius’ sword. And after that, she wished she could live happily ever after with Caius, studying magic and perhaps having a family. Part of her knew that was a completely unrealistic wish, but she couldn’t help wanting it anyway. What would a child of Caius and herself be like? Would Caius even care for it? He had Cassius and three grown daughters, and Elowyn had heard rumors of his numerous bastards. He might even be a grandfather soon.

 

Her mother would hate the idea. If Elowyn couldn’t marry another elf, then, in her mother’s view, it would be best to remain celibate. She contemplated herself in the mirror – did she resemble her mother? Would she become a bitter old woman, too?

 

She saw Caius come into the room and walk up behind her. She was surprised he’d returned: he’s said he’d had some business to attend to. He placed his hands on either side of her head and stroked her hair soothingly.

 

“Darling, what troubles you? I can see that you’re feeling frustrated again.” He place his hands on her shoulders and massaged the back of her neck. She let out the breath she’d been holding.

 

“There is much on my mind, Master. But I am loathe to trouble you with it.”

 

Caius smiled. “I need to set aside more time to attend to you.”

 

“Oh, no, you do so much for me already, and you have… responsibilities of your own!” she exclaimed, thinking of how Zera’s situation weighed on Caius’ shoulders.

 

Caius bent down and kissed her on the nape of her neck. His lips sent delightful tingles down her spine. If only they could be alone together without the cares of the world intruding on their happiness!

 

“Your pleasure and happiness are my own, beautiful,” he said. He twisted her hair and secured it with a single pin. Then he took her hand and raised her up. “And now we shall go to dinner, and you need fear nothing from your mother. Leave her to me.”

 

Elowyn was so relieved that she flung her arms around him. He laughed, hugging her back. “Be careful,” he admonished, “or I will be tempted to forgo dinner and linger here with you. And then what would your mother say?”