Good luck with the board meeting today! I hope they're recognising you for all the hard work you've done on their minutes and presenting you with a gold-plated pen with which to take even more minutes :)
Recognition The waiter led Fabian into the Admiralty bar, moving lightly and silently in rubber shoes across the tiled floor. The room was mage-lit above the tables so that there were patches of light with narrow, darker corridors between them and Fabian felt a little like he was moving through a room with invisible cubicle walls. He found him delivered to a medium-sized table that looked like six people could sit there and told that Admiral Dread had not yet arrived. Fabian sat, and since the waiter was hovering with an air of expectation, ordered an Imperial Ale. He caught the look of disdain on the waiter's face fast enough to correct himself to an Admiralty Ale and felt very slightly smug to see the waiter's expression change to approval. The room was busy but quiet; the same spell that affected the lighting also muted sound from other tables. Fabian sipped his drink and watched; noting that some tables seemed blurred and indistinct, obviously a privacy measure, while others were bold and open and seemed to be much more hedonistic. He was wondering how they perceived Dread's table when the man himself arrived at last. "Fabian," he said, sitting down. A waiter appeared as though by magic and Dread gave him a quick drinks order and waited till he was out of earshot. "You've caused a ruckus." "I found out what the wisp-elves are upset about," said Fabian, slightly taken aback. He'd expected to be the one with news. "Four of them died round about the time we were in the Halls of Sunset." Fabian looked startled. The waiter set the drinks down and disappeared again. "What? How do you know?" "The mage-guards report to me; they told me about the spell triggering the wards and showed me the note you read." "Oh. Well, that makes sense, I suppose." Fabian tried not to feel too let down. "It wasn't a big thing though, I'm surprised they bothered you." "An assault, or an attempt at one, on Director-level citizens is a serious thing," said Dread. "At least, the Empire thinks so, even if one of its Directors thinks this is normal." Fabian laughed, just a little nervously and tried his new drink. It was fruity and he didn't recognise it. "Two things," said Dread. "Which are why I'm slightly late actually, so sorry about that." He didn't sound sorry. "While I was looking into the Day of No Sun I uncovered an oddity in the records about one of our mages. And when I dug a little deeper there, because it's pretty safe to check out HR records, I confirmed it: Sebastian Framer has quite a lot of wisp-elf heritage." "Framer?" said Fabian. He sipped his drink again. "That rings a bell... the Maestro?" "He's the guy who lent you a book," said Dread. "And the Maestro lent you the same book and then they got into a fight over it." "Oh yes! I never did figure out what the problem was there. Professional jealousy, I think." "Sebastian enchanted the book he lent you to put the beginnings of a control spell on you." Fabian's face changed like the sun was rising over it. "That's it!" he said. "I thought I recognised the wisp-elf alter -- no, the one in the forest that Rystin showed me, not the one in... you know where. When we were there, the feeling that the altar had... it was the same as what was outside my door!" "Yes, he put that spell there too. And he put a spell on the note he delivered to you today."
Greg - as long as there's enough gold on it that I can get something for it at the nearest pawn shop, I'd be good with it.
Ah, it would seem the Maestro was all too right about Mr. Framer. How... unfortunate for Fabian, as I can already picture how smug he shall be about it.
2 comments:
Good luck with the board meeting today! I hope they're recognising you for all the hard work you've done on their minutes and presenting you with a gold-plated pen with which to take even more minutes :)
Recognition
The waiter led Fabian into the Admiralty bar, moving lightly and silently in rubber shoes across the tiled floor. The room was mage-lit above the tables so that there were patches of light with narrow, darker corridors between them and Fabian felt a little like he was moving through a room with invisible cubicle walls. He found him delivered to a medium-sized table that looked like six people could sit there and told that Admiral Dread had not yet arrived. Fabian sat, and since the waiter was hovering with an air of expectation, ordered an Imperial Ale. He caught the look of disdain on the waiter's face fast enough to correct himself to an Admiralty Ale and felt very slightly smug to see the waiter's expression change to approval.
The room was busy but quiet; the same spell that affected the lighting also muted sound from other tables. Fabian sipped his drink and watched; noting that some tables seemed blurred and indistinct, obviously a privacy measure, while others were bold and open and seemed to be much more hedonistic. He was wondering how they perceived Dread's table when the man himself arrived at last.
"Fabian," he said, sitting down. A waiter appeared as though by magic and Dread gave him a quick drinks order and waited till he was out of earshot. "You've caused a ruckus."
"I found out what the wisp-elves are upset about," said Fabian, slightly taken aback. He'd expected to be the one with news.
"Four of them died round about the time we were in the Halls of Sunset."
Fabian looked startled. The waiter set the drinks down and disappeared again.
"What? How do you know?"
"The mage-guards report to me; they told me about the spell triggering the wards and showed me the note you read."
"Oh. Well, that makes sense, I suppose." Fabian tried not to feel too let down. "It wasn't a big thing though, I'm surprised they bothered you."
"An assault, or an attempt at one, on Director-level citizens is a serious thing," said Dread. "At least, the Empire thinks so, even if one of its Directors thinks this is normal."
Fabian laughed, just a little nervously and tried his new drink. It was fruity and he didn't recognise it.
"Two things," said Dread. "Which are why I'm slightly late actually, so sorry about that." He didn't sound sorry. "While I was looking into the Day of No Sun I uncovered an oddity in the records about one of our mages. And when I dug a little deeper there, because it's pretty safe to check out HR records, I confirmed it: Sebastian Framer has quite a lot of wisp-elf heritage."
"Framer?" said Fabian. He sipped his drink again. "That rings a bell... the Maestro?"
"He's the guy who lent you a book," said Dread. "And the Maestro lent you the same book and then they got into a fight over it."
"Oh yes! I never did figure out what the problem was there. Professional jealousy, I think."
"Sebastian enchanted the book he lent you to put the beginnings of a control spell on you."
Fabian's face changed like the sun was rising over it. "That's it!" he said. "I thought I recognised the wisp-elf alter -- no, the one in the forest that Rystin showed me, not the one in... you know where. When we were there, the feeling that the altar had... it was the same as what was outside my door!"
"Yes, he put that spell there too. And he put a spell on the note he delivered to you today."
Greg - as long as there's enough gold on it that I can get something for it at the nearest pawn shop, I'd be good with it.
Ah, it would seem the Maestro was all too right about Mr. Framer. How... unfortunate for Fabian, as I can already picture how smug he shall be about it.
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