Bryana closed the last book just as there was a knock on the door to break the silence. She was almost glad of it as it cut off the impending sigh of frustration. "Come."
Deres entered with Elan just behind and he looked upon her with sympathy. He knew that look, and he let her have a bit of silence to continue to work through her frustrations before offering, "You look annoyed."
"Very observant, love." She took a moment to escape her frustration, "You look...rested." her eyes darted between the two. She liked that Elan, shy as she was in most cases, did not shy away from that.
"We simply took your advice," he deadpanned. "A meal and a bath worked wonders." He walked behind her to press his fingers in slow circles to her shoulders and her long neck, the tension pushing back against his fingers as her golden blonde curls caressed his fingers in return.
Her breath caught for an instant as she began to let the tension go, if but for a moment. Her loves were her peace and she let herself feel that before bringing her hand up to caress the back of his, "Actually I did find something that we need." As she spoke, she opened the ledger to the weathered yellow page held by the black ribbon. Deres peered over her shoulder while Elan walked to her right to examine the book. It wasn't language as she understood it. It was more a seemingly random collection of symbols and freehand writing that Bryana had once explained were cobbled pieces of long dead languages used to create a coded shorthand to hide their dealings should anyone find the guild mage strongholds.
"I am willing to bet that this is her." She pointed to a specific reference near the middle of the page. "A nameless woman came here for healing within hours of the attack."
"She would have had to," Deres said plainly. "Even the darkest avenues of the southern quarter wouldn't hide her for long once news got out, even if just to sell her out in the hopes of a bounty." He knelt down next to her. "Why is this not good news? We have a place to go."
"If it were simply that, I would rejoice." To punctuate her dismay, she flipped through to several pages of the ledger and pointed to what she needed them to see, "See these marks? They are the names we give to those without names. Lian has met with this person and more than once for 'consultations.'"
"So, this Lian has done work for Wyrnn, or put her in touch with people who have," Elan concluded, her mind reflexively studying the code, looking for common symbols, as she had always had an affinity for puzzles. They were quiet ways to spend the day as a girl. She and her siblings could wile away a snowy day with them. She could already see links between bits and where the common vowels might be, but the texts looped back upon themselves sometimes and it was complicated indeed. In fact, she knew enough to know those commonalities could easily be false keys. She bowed to those who had developed it over, quite probably, generations.
Bryana nodded. "Add to that there is no reference to what the consultation entailed and it...is a cause for concern. There would be...something, if even vague. That there is nothing beyond the most base references suggests that he didn't want it seen."
"Why then enter it at all?"
She looked to Elan, "Because inexplicable disappearances would invite talk or investigation from the Guild Master or from those seeking opportunities over rivals. It's less conspicuous to simply jot down vagaries. All guild mages take jobs like that from time to time, but, obviously, these circumstances are different from most."
She shook her head before closing the book yet again. "He has always been impetuous and arrogant."
"Arrogance comes with 'mage' in this part of the world," Deres said.
Bryana sighed. It was closer to truth than not. Deres having been found as an orphan in the southern quarter of Erette, but raised in Adar, a city of near-literal myth deep in the wastes beyond the mountains. Driven out of the known lands because they freely practiced magic and explored all the ways they could mingle it with science they used both to make lives where no human was meant to live. Stories of a gleaming city with spires that touched the sky returned with some of those few that sought it out or sought simply to survive the wastes. Few believed the stories, but they took on a life of their own until they were fairy tales to be read or as a punishment to be doled out to disobedient to children to be sent away to Adar never to be seen again.
With mages in the known kingdoms, arrogance was indeed a component of things and not entirely without cause. Many acted as though others were beneath them because they could see and interact with the world in ways no one else could even though at least the latter was true. For Adaran mages, it was just a tool. Certainly there was pride amongst those who could master it, but all tried not to allow that to lead them to darker places, as magic was not to be trifled with and could corrupt just by being used, as all great power could.
"It does," she said with some resignation, "but there are limits." She rose to pace the room. I've been content to have his little side projects as others do, but other Guild Masters have hinted to me over months that I should keep him close. He has attempted to recruit others from other guilds to start his own without sanction. Perhaps if I had leashed him more and let him know it, this might not have happened."
"Or you could have just taught him to hide himself better and leave us with no one to look to," Deres told her to console her, even as it was the truth.
"Do you know where he is now? Shouldn't we go get him?" Elan sounded reserved, but her hand went to one of her daggers to feel the security of it. As much as she prided herself on her control, she wanted to act.
Bryana glanced over her shoulder in the direction of the ledger. "His last entry states that he went to Honn village to attempt to collect a debt for a client. "I expect that, without incident, he should return soon. I think we should wait a reasonable time for him to do so before we attempt to hunt him." She looked to Deres, trying not to react to his lopsided grin. "What?"
"The queen dare not show weakness by chasing after him."
Her eyes showed rare uncertainty, "I object to 'queen,' but that is my thinking, and not without cause. Do you think differently?"
He noticed the tension in Elan's body and understood it as he drew closer to Bryana. "I would like to say yes. I would like to act quickly, but it would arouse his suspicions if we gave chase, so...a reasonable time to wait for his return seems wise."
"And if the entry is fake? If he simply fled or fled with her?"
"Then we chase them down," Bryana assured Elan. "But my instinct says it's not fake. I've met the man from Honn. He runs a gambling den and uses the guilds frequently, and Lian often. Aside from that, we're guild mages, everything we do is done in shadow and is perceived as evil. Mages simply don't often see as vile the things that others do. That doesn't mean we are all amoral, it's just that, as we live with shades of gray, our morality also tends to be less rigid as well. There is likely no reason to flee because, in his mind, he has done nothing wrong."
Elan shook her head slowly, but didn't comment beyond that.
"I had done many such things before that one drew me into his snare," she said, tilting her head to Deres. She stiffened, decision made. "I have rounds to make, so I'll do that and perhaps find some of that stew I smelled coming in."
"It has kick, you'll like it." Deres assured, watching her go.
"You know me so well." Her voice carried the smile even if he couldn't see it.
***
The remainder of the day passed and the night as well. Morning came, though it was impossible to tell through the underground bunker that was the guild sanctuary. Many of the sanctuaries were similarly situated, so in her years, as she'd moved from one to another to take work or to learn, she had developed a nearly uncanny sense of time. She simply woke up when she needed to more often than not. Maneuvering carefully by feel and memory she lit the small lamp anchored into the wall which gave enough flickering light to make out the furnishings in the room without details . She wanted to wake and adjust her eyes without disturbing her bedmates overmuch. Also, she simply didn't want to leave them.
As soon as she settled back into the fur blankets, she felt his strong arm wrap her tightly, seemingly just as unwilling to let her go and she was content in that. She didn't need to look to know that Elan was on the other side of him.
That reminded her of home and it pleased her. It wasn't uncommon for her to bookend a coupling such as this with him and it gave her comfort even though it also served to remind her of how much she missed Neral. Ordinarily it was she who preferred the middle and Bryana took pleasure in being able to turn to touch that strong but feminine frame and look into those dark pools. She worried for the situation back home even knowing that Neral would have contacted them had it turned for the worse. Bryana knew the game was still being played and anything could happen, and, as much as all that concerned her, she knew that Neral was clever off the battlefield as much as on it. She would handle things with all the skill of a Jaye, which was considerable.
Still...
Rather than dwell on things she could not control, she decided to act on the things that she could, she turned to kiss Deres on the cheek while letting her hand slide down the back of his head. "I'm just getting up, no worries."
He let her go, his eyes closed, but his voice sounding fully awake. "Right behind you."
"Take your time, love."
She padded to the door, opening it to find their freshly laundered clothes neatly folded into bundles and tied together. Bringing them in to set them in her place on the bed, she opened the closet to find her formal outfit; an all black affair, layered so the creases in the material conveyed a sense of velvet softness. When she put the heavy cowl over her she looked like she'd been swallowed by the night. She put on the thin silver belt, the buckle of which was a sigil of her guild: a rather demonic looking feline. She placed around her neck a pendant of the same, relishing its weight.
It was in these moments when she felt what it must feel like to actually
be
Neral. Responsibility had weight and she felt it here of all places. In ways though, her burdens were greater. She had to protect the guild and its members from being rooted out and literally put to death for practicing their craft. She had to sometimes protect the individual mages from themselves. And she had to do what she could for all the guilds in using what influence she had to keep them from the darker paths.
Bryana started her day with a quick breakfast before meeting with other mages regarding their own tasks and primarily making sure nothing had slipped by her. It was something of a balancing act to walk the line between here and home and Lian served as a warning to her to make certain she knew everything that she thought she did. Seeing her in full dress had the desired effect. She carried herself in a more imposing manner and projected that power.
In return, she saw deference and respect. She had oftentimes led them unconventionally over the years, but she led well and profitably with this guild being one of the safer ones to be part of since it, like some others shunned factions and backbiting. One of the parts she most enjoyed were the lessons, passing knowledge from one generation to the next. Having been under the instruction of Deres for a number of years, she was nearly his match, which meant her skill far exceeded theirs. As such, she was careful in what she taught so as to maintain balance amongst the guilds, usually preferring simply to help perfect what they were already doing.
Morning spread into mid-afternoon and she was in the midst of one such lesson, helping Vale, a pudgy, yet attractive enough young mage learn to modulate her use of magic in levitation. Bryana's hand was outstretched and feet before them a chair hovered, being spun in a slow circle. "Do you see the lines of force, Vale? Do you see how I move them into an ever more fine point until the whole of the weight rests on that point?"
