11

There were numerous difficulties in getting my store off the ground. Johannes had come through with the promised employees and I sent them to Koren's smithy to get a grounding in using and maintaining the press. Luckily the fundamentals were simple, setting the type and applying ink to pages was laborious but for the enthusiastic workers it wasn't too much of a challenge. Making new letters was little more tricky, but lead was cheap and any flawed castings could just be replaced. I intended to contract the work to Koren for now anyways, his apprentices used the letters as practice in making fine designs since without the molds it was challenging to make letters that fit the grooves. Paper was another challenge, I was vaguely aware of how paper was made and thought with effort I could figure it out, but I was in no position yet to deal with it myself. Parchment would have to suffice for now.

Beyond printing the real source of income would come from the compasses. I had asked around the club to see what they thought would be the correct price point, the answers were large enough that the gold used creating them was a rounding error. There was a backlog from giving out my samples to the members but I was thinking of that as advertising. One of the earliest captains to get one had already tested his out, leaving one cube in Braavos as he sailed to Lorath and left the other cube there. He had taken a circuitous route back and the compasses always matched up with his location. He had loudly proclaimed this to me at the club, and there were discussions underway to create new charts using the angles to various locations as reckoning points. The eventual goal would be to have tables of coordinates with the angles to base locations, a few of the richer members were already discussing funding expeditions to place the base blocks across the known world and create new and more accurate maps. I intended to print the new charts and navigational aids once they were made, but I was leaving the exploration to others.

Time passed but making the compasses had invigorated me. I had always loved magic and using it to create and improve the world fit right in how I felt it should be used. I had fought with magic for noble causes, saved lives and arguably the world, but something in me exulted at using it in a purely beneficial way. I finally managed to build the compasses without the crutch of Soulfire, and with increasing skill came speed. I hadn't had any other marketable ideas but when I had them I wold be ready. I had a lot more time with Maggie as a result since I wasn't constantly wandering the city looking for lost items. I wanted Maggie to have the same joy in using magic I did, so I spent my time not being the means of production trying to show her the fun and beauty we could create. We made spells together, instead of Flickum Bickus hers was Luci, to shine. When she first called light using her own spell I knew she was hooked. We continued with her hated shield lessons, but now that she saw what she could do, she do she was much more willing to press on.

It was partially as a reward for her hard work that we were on a ferry to the mainland. In the two years and change we'd been here neither of us had left the city, and I was hugely excited to escape the omnipresent scent of fish. We were going to a set of springs two days travel into the countryside that were a popular resort for the rich, whom I was rapidly joining. Being wealthy was strange since for so much of my life I'd struggled to make ends meet. It was nicer, don't get me wrong but that was somewhat muted here given that all the comforts of wealth were matched by my previous lifestyle in Chicago.

We were joining a caravan of others, tourists and traders, and I had enough equipment to continue constructing my compasses. Once we were at the resort we would have enough space and privacy for Maggie to play with more exuberant magic, fire, force and lightening. So far it seemed she shared my strength and getting her the hang of her powers was better done quickly. "Have you ever ridden a horse Papa?" Maggie asked. Ever since she'd learned we'd be riding she'd been excited about horses. I wasn't quite prepared for my daughter to go through a horse loving phase but living on an island at least gave me a decent reason not to get her a pony.

"When I was younger, on my grandfather's farm." I had told Maggie all I knew about our family, it was depressingly little between my half forgotten life traveling with my father, the stories Thomas had and the years of not knowing Ebenezer was related. All of them were out of reach now so I didn't feel keeping them secret would serve any purpose. Besides, Maggie had lost her adopted family, trying to give her a sense of a new one was the least I could do.

I had forgotten how sore horseback riding could make me when we stopped for the night. We were just outside of a farming village that supported Braavos and the caravan had enough guards for when they went further afield that I felt safe. Maggie and I wandered around the little town, eating at the inn before returning to the group. It was a cool night, but not too cold to sleep under the stars. The seasons were strange here, I had tried to figure out what sort of orbit could produce them but had given up. Now that I knew there was magic in the world it seemed a more likely suspect. Perhaps some analogues of the faerie courts were feuding, whatever it was I'd have time to figure it out. Maggie was asleep under blankets and I was sitting by the low fire, watching it burn out. I looked over to towards her, she didn't snore and her quiet breathing had occasionally terrified me when I first took care of her. Seeing that she was just as silent as ever and not abducted I turned back to the fire and saw Quaithe sitting across from me.

I didn't panic or scream like a little girl but I did pull my staff to my hand with a burst of wind while jumping up. Quaithe, still in her mask, was as unreadable as ever staring up at me. "Why don't you sit Warden?"

"Why don't you ever walk up to people shadow-binder?" I wasn't sure what to do with her, I was pretty sure that she was a projection I could disrupt, but as long as she was in front of me I wanted answers.

"There are many things I have to do, walking takes time I don't have." Quaithe maintained her inscrutable air and seemed happy with the increasingly awkward silence. I began to walk round the fire, keeping a distance from her. She twisted to look at me but didn't say anything.

"If you're so busy, then why are you here? The view isn't very good in the day and less so in the dark." I finished my circuit and sat back down, although I kept my staff up and readied my shield bracelet.

"You continue to change things. Much was foretold of the coming years, and you are pushing the world from it's course."

"You said that the first time we met. Almost all I've done since is in response to your arrival." Quaithe's incredible vagueness was annoying but two could play at that game.

"I cannot say too much, if the future is to hold secrets must be kept."

I didn't take my eyes off her, that had sounded like a prelude to vanishing. "You know if I didn't live here I might let you get away with that. Now, however," I drew in as much power as I could hold, slammed my staff to the ground, and closed the circle I'd drawn around the campfire, "you will answer my questions."

I wasn't sure what Quaithe would do in response but laughter was not anticipated. "Warden your binding will not hold me."

I continued to hold the power I'd called. "You say that, but I don't see you leaving."

"Oh, well then.." Quaithe looked as if she expected to end the conversation when her figure blurred but it reformed. For the first time I saw true emotion on her face, fear.

"Now I don't know all about how your magic works. In fact I spent a lot of time trying to find anyone who did. But in my world if you're trapped away from your body too long.." I trailed off letting her draw her own conclusions. At least one thing seemed to be the same between here and home. "Tell me what I want to know and give an oath not to harm or incite harm against me or mine and I'll release you."

She shrank on herself in a way that brought up what Murphy called my caveman instincts. I suppressed them, Maggie was more important that chivalry especially out in the country away from the wealth and friends I'd made. "Ask your questions Warden."

"How did you know about us and how did you find us?" It was the first and most important question. While Quaithe had not been malicious, to my knowledge, what one could do another could duplicate, and I might not be lucky twice.

"It is like I said, your arrival caused a shock through the world." She paused looking into the fire. "For those who have been trained, futures can be seen in the flames and they whisper names, truths, and lies to us. I saw you and your daughter in them and recognized Braavos."

"Can anything block this sight?" I didn't want random people scrying for me, Toot-Toot's information about location had been too useful for me to cede it to others without a fight.

"I had thought not, but tonight was the first time I'd seen you since I last came to you." So it looked like my expanded wards had done something. I'd have to see about expanding them from my island to all of Braavos, maybe the Titan would be a suitable base for them. It would be a monumental undertaking though, especially not knowing what ward did what. Vanishing an entire city from future knowledge might also be a clue that those involved should come and investigate which could ruin the whole thing. I might not even be able to do it either, large scale permanent workings like that relied on enormous ley-lines and I hadn't encountered any fit for the purpose yet. Whatever, that was a tomorrow project, I'd focus on the witch in front of me.

"What other powers of magic do you have that I should be worried about?" It was a vague question sure but as long as I had the chance I'd grill her for all I could get.

"Our powers are vast, beware of shadows for we can command them. Never let a shadow-binder have your blood and don't trust anyone a shadow-binder healed" Well that was fairly normal, standard practice but for the whole shadow command thing, and I'd fought shades before. It wasn't enough to make me confident but I felt better knowing more.

"What should I do to defend myself against your kind."

"This barrier seems efficacious, but the traditional way to stop a shadow-binder is complete darkness. Without light there are no shadows." Quaithe was starting to look a little ragged, I'd never seen someone die from a failure at astral projection but I knew it was possible. Time to wrap things up before I killed her.

"Swear your oath then and I'll release you."

Quaithe swore with desperate quickness and I scuffed the circle. She blurred then vanished immediately. I got up and drew a circle around Maggie and I, we wouldn't be sleeping anywhere without at least minimal warding from then on. I lay down with my eyes open, the starry sky which had looked beautiful before was now just pinpricks of light that could spawn hungry shadows. I stayed up for awhile but eventually sleep overcame me, and I dreamt of snatching shadows and red and gold masks looking down.