Spirit Birds & Two Faced Old Men

As Leonora stepped out onto the Main Deck, she paused to open her parasol. It was a frilly confection of pink embroidered roses on cream linen, and the frothy lace edge was trimmed with satin ribbon; it was a complete contrast to the fairly simple looking mage staff, which she carried in her other hand. It was made from gnarled walnut, burnished with age, and it was much shorter than normal, more of a sceptre than a staff. It twisted its way upwards, until it spiralled tightly at the top, creating a natural cage that surrounded a chunk of raw white quartz the size of a grown man's fist, which had inclusions of rose quartz.

Many people had been fooled by the short unassuming mage staff, and the frilly parasol, which matched the mage robe Leonora wore proudly; and thought that Leonora was an easy mark. However, they should have noticed that although embroidered with roses, trimmed with ribbon, and showing ample cleavage, that the robe itself was a military styled jacket, short at the front with long tails at the back, a style favoured by battle mages.

Just as her mother Lavinia had gained notoriety as the 'Sea Witch' during the Centenary War, Leonora had her own notoriety, although for completely different reasons, as the 'Wind Rose'. Plus, En knew for a fact that the parasol contained a rapier in the shaft, which Leonora knew how to use to great effect, and she also wasn't above using her sceptre as a mace when the circumstances required it.

Leonora's eyes swept the deck, but failed to find the person she was looking for... this was because said person had ducked behind some crates stacked on the deck, as soon as Leonora had been distracted by opening her parasol. En swaggered over to the rail and leaned her hip on it, so she had a good view of both her aunt, and the man, who happened to be her lieutenant, and second in command, Javis.

Lavender casually started to polish her apple on her sleeve, and as she spoke she made eye contact with the big man cowering behind the crates, "If you are looking for Javis, he's here behind these crates... I believe he's stowing some ropes." Javis glared viciously at En from his hiding place, stowing ropes was his favourite excuse for ducking out to try to hide from her aunt, but En just grinned and bit into her apple, deliberately crunching it loudly, as Javis stood up sheepishly from behind the crates.

"Stowing ropes, you're always stowing ropes... do you really have nothing better to do?!" Leonora's tone was almost that of a sulky child, but her real feelings were betrayed by Lucy, who had flown over to Javis on silent wings, and was currently perched on his shoulder cooing, and rubbing her beak against his cheek. Of course, Javis was completely oblivious to this fact, as he was not a follower of Aria, and had absolutely no spiritual sense whatsoever.

[Chapter Illustration: tapas.io/episode/1743571]

This meant that En was also getting glared at by her aunt, not that En had any intention of spilling the beans to anyone. Sea voyages were often boring, and the twisted romance that flared hot and cold between the two, was often her greatest entertainment, and she often played devils advocate to get them back together... or should that be cupid, either way En thought that they were better together than apart, whatever the stupid excuses the two came up with why they were 'bad' for each other.

"Javis, come hold my parasol for me, whilst I prepare for the ritual." Javis gritted his teeth, and stomped across to where Leonora was waiting, and although he was scowling, he took the parasol from her with a gentle hand, and En knew that he would follow her faithfully until dismissed, adjusting the angle of the parasol as they moved, so that Leonora was never bothered by the dazzling glare of the sun.

"En, you can help chalk the magic circle." En had known that phrase was coming; Leonora had been getting En to do that job, ever since En had started her apprenticeship aboard The Sea Witch. However, today for the first time En had someone she could officially fob off... ahem, I mean delegate the job to.

"GEORGE" En yelled, and waved the teen over, "Auntie, this is George... he's a genuine weather sensitive, so he should be the ideal person to be your assistant. After all, I have absolutely no talent in that direction whatsoever!" Leonora sniffed, "Fine, follow me boy, and make sure you follow my instructions precisely."

Leonora started to climb up to the quarterdeck, and George went to follow, but En grabbed his sleeve, and spoke to him quietly, "Kid, do everything she asks of you, to the best of your ability. If you continue to work hard and impress her, she has the status to take you on as a full apprentice, and the knowledge to rank you up to a full blown weather mage... do you understand!"

George looked a bit shocked, as En's meaning sunk into his brain, just the possibility of becoming a full mage apprentice... It was something that seemed like a pipe dream for a poor kid like him, who came from a small dockside town in the middle of nowhere.

A look of resolve crossed George's face, and he bowed deeply to En, "Thank you, Sister." En reached out and ruffled his hair, "That's what family is for kid, now go wow her!" George gave her a beaming grin, and then ran quickly up to where Leonora was going to perform the ritual on the poop deck.

En could go and listen in to their progress on the quarterdeck, but that would be too obvious... so instead, with two short jumps En settled herself on top of the stack of crates that Javis had hidden behind earlier.

Even though Leonora kept all the ingredients for the magic ritual in a chest up on the poop deck, drawing the magic circle would take a few minutes, especially considering that George was an absolute beginner, so En finished her apple, and put the core in her waist pouch to give to Lucy later.

Lavender closed her eyes, and took a deep cleansing breath. As she breathed out, En relaxed certain filters that she kept in place even when asleep, and let her mind drift into shadow perception mode.

Shadow Perception was a dangerous technique; it opened your mind to the energies of the universe, let you feel the flow of magic in the air, see the colours of a person's soul... their strengths, and their weaknesses. It let you see things that were normally hidden, and people generally didn't like knowing that you could see their secrets.

It also rang a dinner gong to any evil spirits that might be lurking in the Realm of Shadows, the limbo world between this world and the next; that there was a tasty lump of high spiritual energy here waiting to be devoured.

Thankfully, En's mother Lavinia was well known for the power of her wards; so Lavender had been well protected when she was a defenceless baby, and her parents had soon realised that En was different from other children... even before En herself had been able to talk.

En could feel the strong rosy coloured vortex of Leonora's magic, and next to it there was a cloud of white and pale blue. Weak and wispy at the moment, but with encouragement and nurturing, George's magic would have the opportunity to grow strong. Even now it swelled slightly, as the ritual came to its conclusion, and En felt the localised magical wind form behind the stern of the ship, getting them under way once more.

Lavender hopped down off the crates, and waited at the rail on the main deck, just by the door to the officer's quarters, enjoying the morning sun, and the fresh new breeze. "Tell me, do you really expect me to take that boy on as my apprentice, En?" Lavender turned, and smiled at her aunt, "That will depend entirely on you; and George of course."

"Weather magic is complicated, and often temperamental... most people would consider taking on a weather mage, to be a waste of time and resources." En just snorted with laughter at that, "Since when have you ever gone with the flow, and taken the easy way out, Leonora Loriel? Don't you always say that you like excitement, and a challenge… well I've been a dutiful niece, and provided you with an excellent opportunity."

"George is just some kid from a dockside; he has no family connections to get himself a mage master, and no money to enter a magic school, so he ended up apprenticing as a sailor. But I can tell you right now, that boy has potential, bags of it… his magic core reacted to the ritual, and he only drew the circle, I can't wait to see what happens when he really gets into it!"

Leonora gave a deep sigh, "I'll think about it... if he wants to become my apprentice, he'll have to be accepted as a follower of Aria at the very least. It would also probably be a good idea for him to also make offerings to Ahwei, as Lord of Storms; as well as the usual sailor's devotion to him as Ruler of the Southern Seas."

Leonora paused, "You should go give Blakestaff the Morning Report." En opened the door, "Are you coming?" Leonora shook her head, "No, I've got a lot of things to consider... and I've always done my best thinking with the wind in my hair."

The corridor was dim, after being out in the bright morning sun; En walked right to the end to the fancy double doors of the Main Cabin, and tapped carefully on one of white frosted glass panels that made up the upper part of the doors, "Enter," announced a cultured voice.

Lavender entered the large main cabin that spanned the entire width of the stern; to the left was a curtained bed, with a large wardrobe; to the right was a sofa, with a low coffee table; and ahead, in front of the large windows, was a sturdy desk surrounded by shelves of books.

Blakestaff sat behind this desk as if enthroned; there was usually a chair on this side too, but Blakestaff had deliberately moved it to the seating area... he really did like to make En stand to give her reports, and she could only mentally roll her eyes at this petty power play.

"Master Blakestaff, the wind dropped earlier, and we were becalmed for a short while. However, Mistress Leonora performed a magic ritual to put wind back in the sails. Thus we are back on schedule, and will enter Montague Bay shortly before noon."

"If your negotiation with the Port Authorities goes well, the Harbour Pilot should have us at dock within one turn of the sand timer, just in time for Luncheon at your club. We should have your cargo unloaded by afternoon tea, and have it transported to your usual warehouse by supper time."

"If there are any changes to the normal storage arrangements, please let the Lieutenant in charge of the escort detail know when you disembark." Blakestaff had his elbows resting on the desk, with his fingers steepled in front of him, and he tapped his forefingers against his chin as if in thought. "Hmm, the Jade Crusaders Guild guarantees to offer excellent service as usual, Miss Lavender."

En gritted her teeth behind her business smile, seems like the old bastard wanted to rub in the differences in their statuses. Empire protocol should have required Blakestaff to refer to her as Commander Jade, or Mistress Jade at the very least. Calling her Miss Lavender… that was a familiarity which did not exist in their relationship, even calling her Miss Jade would be pushing it.

"My Father as Guild Master, and Uncle as Vice Guild Master, are proud of their reputation of being the best mercenary and transportation guild in the South Seas. My cousin Artemis, as the current Master of Contracts, is an excellent choice as the next generation leader, after all The Sea Witch is mine, and I am quite happy in my role as her Protector."

The flutter of wings, and the tinkling of the little silver bell installed for that purpose, announced the arrival of a spirit messenger bird. Blakestaff took the offered parchment scroll, and then just as promptly forgot about the unfortunate bird, it twittered and poked at his hand in vain, as the ignorant old man had ceased to see the bird, from the moment he dismissed it from his mind.

Unlike the current Lucy, this was the most basic and common version of the spirit birds of Aria, the kind that the lowest ranking members of the congregation possessed. But there was also a small chance that this bird belonged to a novice priest, taking the first step onto the path to greatness, and this simple bird may one day evolve into something even more powerful than Lucy.

Of course, to evolve it first had to survive, and bringing a message out to a ship at sea was an energy consuming mission for both the bird and its master, this was why there was also a box containing spirit wafers next to the bell. The forgotten bird was pecking at the lid of the box, as it could probably sense the energy source inside, and knew instinctively that it would not have enough energy to return to land; even spirit birds will drown, if they fall exhausted into the ocean.

En stared hard at the bird, and since it had only been a short while since she had used Shadow Perception, she caused a small spike in her aura. Since it was a low level entity, the bird would normally ignore anyone who wasn't their master or the intended recipient of a message; but the aura spike caught the bird's attention, and it turned to look at En for the first time.

Lavender made a come here signal with the hand that was down at her side, and the bird thankfully flew over to land on her shoulder. It cooed in her ear, and played with a strand of hair with its beak.

It seemed that Blakestaff had finally finished reading and considering his letter, and he just continued their conversation from earlier, as if there had been no interruption. "Hmm, yes... I had quite forgotten that you are the official owner of this ship. I believe you inherited it from your Mother... that's quite some dowry you have."

Dowry? What dowry?! Lavender wasn't currently in any kind of a relationship, so marriage was out of the question, and she certainly wasn't desperate enough to join the marriage mart... not yet anyway!

"You've reached the fine old age of five and twenty, and yet unmarried... you must make haste, before your best fertile years are past. If you have no other prospects, then may I suggest my youngest son as a prospective suitor, I can make official arrangements for you to meet at dinner tonight."

The way Blakestaff spoke was as patronising, and as patriarchal as he was, and he had managed to truly piss En off even whilst in her business mode. "I may have reached the quarter of a century mark, but I'm no old maid, and I have elven blood in my veins, so fertility isn't a concern, my own Mother saw four decades before she birthed me after all."

"Besides, I am currently in a serious long distance relationship, and it would be rude to both parties if we were to take this matter any further at the present time. I may consider your offer, if things don't progress as I wish." That was a complete and utter lie, but it sounded like a good excuse to 'politely' refuse the cunning old goat!

"Now, if you will excuse me, I have some tasks to complete before we arrive at port." The first part of her speech had been said with conviction, but En had never been particularly good at lying, so things had started to deteriorate in the middle somewhere, and the last sentence had been said in a rush to exit the room as fast as possible.

As fast as she left one room, as fast as she entered another; in a panic En ran down the corridor, threw open the door to Leonora's room, and entered... without even knocking first, something that she would never normally do. What the hell had she just said?!