A lesson with Sinjin and the Cafe

I woke up with so many things on my mind that I didn't even have time to take in the pretty purple dress that Edna had helped me into. Its light flowy material was just up my alley, and becaue I was going into town today I didn't want to overdress and stand out too much.

First, I went to go find Agnes and gave her everybody's wages and told her how much each person must get. At first she had tried to give half the money back to me but I flatly refused to take it back. I knew cleaning and taking care of me was hard work so I wanted to make sure that they were adequately payed, so doubling everybody's wages was a no-brainer, I was also planning on giving them end-of-year bonuses.

Afterwards, I said goodbye to everybody and I was off to the Mage society to have a lesson with Sinjin Von Esterheim. Since the Mage society was located within palace grounds, for security purposes, it was required that each Mage society member carried a special jeweled tablet with them that showed they were a member of the society and were allowed into the palace, it was basicaly the same things as an entry ticket. I tied the jewel tablet to a silk ribbon around my waist so that I wouldn't loose it, and so that it was visiable to the gaurds at the gate, thus they would let me in without stopping me.

I left Bard at the palace gate and gave him some money to go and buy some tools he wanted to get for the greenhouse. I scheduled to meet him back at the same spot in two hours time. Then left him and made my way to the head quarters.

The Mage society head quarters was about the size of a small mansion and was located on the left most side of the palace grounds and was very close to the Marcellus mansion - since the Marcellus's ran the Mage society. I entered the large marble foyer which was decorated with a darker grey colour scheme: dark woods and dark marble, and made my way up to the private rooms on the third floor. The private rooms were meant for senior members of the society as well as very influential or promising members of the society, thus Sinjin had his own room. When I reached the large wooden doors I knocked twice.

"Come in." Called Sinjin from inside.

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Sinjin had been trying to analyse Riley's potion for almost a whole day now. He had slaved away at his desk in his study and had tried various alchemic means to decipher her ingredients, however, no matter what he tried he just could not figure it out. His steely eyes were full of frustration but also amusement. He couldn't stop thinking about this strange woman, a woman who involved herself with alchemy, a woman who spelled her own safe room. What a strange and curious creature she was.

Sinjin turned as he heard a gentle knock in his study door. "Come in." He called, realising that it was the woman in question who was coming for her lesson.

Riley opened the door tentatively and looked around the room curiosuly. The stone room was larger than she had expected, with plenty of space to walk around. A large wooden desk was placed under a fancy stained glass window that deipcted the God of water swimming happily in the sea, with a large silver spear in his hand. Riley thought the craftmanship was beautiful, and the stained glass colour tinted ther room a light blue as the early light shone through it. Sinjin noticed that Riley was admiring the glass pane and then said, "I chose this study because of that window."

Riley eyed him skeptically, "Really? Why?"

"The god of Water is the most revered god in the Von Esterheim family," He began, "Do you know why?" He asked, while he stared up at the glass window, thinking of so many memories from his childhood.

"No, why?" She asked intrigued as she saw his mind drift away to another time.

"I'm sure you've heard of Merge magic before..."

"Yes I have. Rosalie Stanburg used her flower magic as the mage society tournament." Riley recalled Rosalie's powerful display from the tournament:

[Rosalie immediately began with her trump card, "Oh fresh spirits of Spring, once more I beseech you to grant upon the noble house of Stanburg the blossoming beauty of your divine flowers..." everybody was immediately enthralled with her pre-casting ritual. The dust at her feet started to rise and beautiful wisps of what looked like pink smoke swished and swirled around her. Slowly a divine fragrance washed over the arena, the smell of blossoming flowers, a beautiful garden blooming spring.']

"Ah, yes she did. The stanburg family Merge magic is very beautiful, but not very effective in close combat battle situations." He mused, thinking about Rosalie's defeat at the hands of the powerful fire mage, Alice Marcellus.

"My family also has merge magic. Only ours it much more efffective in battle than the Stanburg's." He said. Riley looked at Sinjin's eyes and could see a cold glow within them. She was very curious as to what their merge magic was.

"My family has the unique ability to use Ice magic."

He said as he looked towards the window again.

Riley's heart raced at the mention of ice magic. An element she noticed was missing in this world. Then he turned towards Riley who was looking at him with a look of fascination. She was dying to see ice magic. Sinjin obliged and gently exteneded his hand out in front of him, slowly wafting his long fingers through the air. Her heart almost stopped at the beauty of ice mage: As his hand traveled through the air small glinting ice crystals floated down from his hand and created a sparkling curtain of shimmering ice crystals between them. The beauty caused her to swoon at the sight.

"Legend has it that long ago, when this world was still young, The god of water fell in love with a beautiful silver-haired maiden and asked her to be his wife. Although she loved the god, she knew that she could not leave her family behind in the dangerous world it was back then, that was in the middle of a raging war. So she promised the God that if he gave her family a power strong enough to protect themselves, then she would happily go with him and be his wife. The god agreed and then gave her family the ability to harden water into weapons so that they could fight and forever porsper. Thus ice magic was bestowed on the Von Esterheim family, and since then, our family has prospered with the help of the sacred gift from the god of water. To this day my family remains one of the most powerful in the world."

Sinjin had recounted the story to Riley as he had been told so many times before.

"It's an interesting story." Riley's eye drifted to the snow crystals that were melting on the stone floor and forming wet patches.

"Do you believe the story?" She asked, wondering if such a thing could actually happen, after what happened to her, the story sounded quite plausible.

"I believe it." He said his eyes seeming to drift off to another place.

"but let's get back to the point of today. The magic exam with be held on the first day of the Falling season." Riley's head spun at the sudden change of subject, but she quickly adjusted and carried on listening.

"The exam requirements are simple and yet quite challenging. The only thing you are required to do is create an original spell, however this spell must be up to the standards of the board." He explained while tucking a strand of loose silver hair behind his ear.

"Do the spells I used a the Mage tournament count as original spells?" Riley asked, wondering if those qualified.

"Even though they are your spells, they no longer count since the board has seen then before, so you will have to come up with something new." He smiled, apologetically at me.

"You must also write down your spell in grimoire format so that others are able to use it." He added. "That is what I will teach you how to do today so that you are able to create your spell and write it down for yourself." He said, as he reached behind him for a grimoire.

Riley was actually a little bit familiar with how to write down spells, but since she had never had official lessons on how to do it, she saw this as a good opportunity. For the remainder of their lesson time Riley and Sinijn sat down at his desk and went through examples of well written grimoires, filled with different spells, examples to learn from.

Riley learned the correct terminology, the annotations she was supposed to make, as well as the drawings and diagrams she was meant to include for different aspects of the spell. After he had finished teaching her, they bid each other farewell. Riley left to go and meet Bard at the gates, while Sinjin took out the 'Delton Healing potion' and continued to try and decipher how she made it.

As soon as Riley got back into the cart, Bard proceeded to tell her about what he had seen in town. Apparently there had been a complete ruckus in the town sect where her potion had been selling. People had been going crazy over buying the potion. Buyers had been pushing and grabbing each other to get to the potion, and within an hour, all the potion had been sold out. Riley was very glad that the potion was selling but she wasn't glad that there wasn't enough for everybody. She would have to talk to prince Geoffrey about raising the production amount.

"It was a real spectacle Milady! People were pushing and shoving and screaming to get their hands on the potion." Bard said recalling what he had seen when he went to go and buy gardening tools.

"I am truly proud to call you my lady, Milady." Said Bard passionately as he steered the horses through the noble sect, feeling like the proudest butler in Gismead.

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Bard sat in front of me on the one-person carriage and steered it to the harbor side of Gismead where I was going to look for property for my cafe. He rode me slowly through the streets so I could stop at any properties that I liked. I had seen a few empty buildings with large glass shopfronts, but they were all too small for the cafe/restaurant type thing I was planning. Finally we took a turn down a twisting cobblestone street and happened upon this beautiful old building with a sizable overgrown lawn around it, which would be perfect for putting some tables and chairs out. It was a two storey building that was painted a light pink color, with faded black lettering that spelled 'Matilda's Inn'.

Bard and I stepped out of the carriage and walked to the front door. The place was quite run down and the inside of the shop was completely empty and quite dusty. But suddenly a young girl popped her head out from behind a counter.

"Mornin' Milday!" She spoke in a very thick and unique accent. It sounded somewhere between Scottish and Australian. As awful as that sounds it was surprisingly delightful to the ear.

"Good morning." I replied smiling at her messy bushels of carrot red hair and warm light brown eyes. "Are you the owner of this building?" I inquired.

"No milady. This here shop belongs to me Ma, Matilda. It used to be a nice inn but then we ran out of coin, so we had to close it." She said sadly.

"Well, how would you feel about selling it to me..." I suggested.

"You want this here shop Milady?" She asked again, to make sure she had heard correctly, she seemed completely dumbfounded.

"Yes, I do." I chuckled at the astonished look on her face.

Then the girl straightened up, as if suddenly realizing that she had just come across a brilliant opportunity.

"Well, of course Milady would want this here Inn. It's a lovely inn! It's got the most prettiest views of the harbor, and the building has got a strong heart, and it's on a nice quiet street for a pretty noble lady such as yourself!" She said using large gestures to fully show off the perks of this place, and she smiled brightly, trying to look as honest as possible. I could tell that she desperately wanted to sell this place, she sounded and dressed like a commoner, so I imagined that she needed the money.

"I'll be willing to sell Milady this beauty for an honest 80 silvers." She said with a twinkle in her eye. I knew that in Gismead buildings of this size could sell for 80 silvers, but only if they were in good condition, which this building was not. But I didn't blame her for trying to overcharge me because I could see the tint of desperation in her eyes. I could see that her clothes and her skin were dirty, as if she hadn't bathed in a while, and she was a bit thinner than she should be. Her scrawny arms on full display in her scruffy over-worn dress. Her face was quite gaunt as well, she looked like she could use a proper feeding.

She was just trying to earn a living. She must have mistaken my contemplation for a lack of enthusiasm at the price.

"I'll go down to 70 silvers!" She called out, letting the desperate tone of her voice ring in my ears.

"Hmm.... how about this. I will pay you 1 gold coin, but you have to help me restore this building." I said smiling.

She looked overjoyed, as if she was about to cry with happiness and just when she was about to speak, an old woman with a hunched back rushed out from the back of the Inn and shouted out,

"SOLD!"

The old lady did a happy little jig. I noticed that she had the same carrot red hair as the shop girl, and I concluded that they must've been mother and daughter.

"Wonderful." I said as they hugged each other happily. "Do you have the house's seal?" I Asked ready to make the transaction.

Instead of paperwork or documentation the people of Girannon used magic to show house ownership. Each house had a special tablet of its own which the owner would funnel their magic into. And the law was: whoever's Magic was in the house's tablet owned the house. So, for example, if there was a dispute over who owned what house or land, the house's seal would be brought to who was disputing what, if the seal glowed when a person touched it the house belonged to them, because all the seals were enchanted to glow whenever the magic inside the seal comes into contact with the person whose magic it was.

The older woman fetched the bronze seal and brought it to me, she took back the fire magic she had placed inside of it and then handed it to me, then I paced some water magic inside of it. I then proceeded to give the older woman one gold coin.

I sent Bard to go and find some young men looking for money to help cleanup the place, and also to find some paint to have them repaint the shop. I liked the pale pink colour so I asked Bard to find something similar.

I then stayed behind with the two ladies to chat to them. The younger girls name was Briony and her mother's name was Matilda. They use to run an Inn for a while but after some time newer fancier Inns opened up by the harbor and their business went south. All they had left was this building.

"Well, I am planning on opening a restaurant here, so if you need work, I would be happy to give you jobs in my restaurant." I said wanting to help them out of their sad situation.

"Really Milady! D'ya mean it?" Gushed Briony, overcome with joy.

"You truly are kind, Milady. We will be in your debt forever." Matilda said sincerely in her hoarse voice.

"No, no, you owe me nothing." I insisted. "But please help get this place into good condition, so that I can open the cafe as soon as possible." I would probably only start with a cafe that sold cakes and treats before I opened a restaurant. For a restaurant I would need a fully functioning kitchen with a chef and cooks, at first I would just employ these ladies and a few others to make the cakes and the treats to sell. I wanted this cafe to introduce a new style of baking and cooking into Gismead as well as employ impoverished people and give them a new start to life. I planned to pay the cafe workers very well.

'Meow Meow!'

My thoughts were interrupted by the sudden arrival of a small thin cat. I could tell that it was underfed and very weak by its scrawny appearance, but it too had that desperate pleading look in its eyes, and I found myself unable to turn away from it.

The cat had a white belly with a very light grey back. Even though it was skinny and hungry it still looked so cute as it slowly made its way over to me. The cat nuzzled its body onto my skirt and purred happily against me.

Honestly I had always wanted a cat but my dad had never let me have one. He always thought of cats as creepy, while I was always thought they were adorable. Perhaps this was my chance to get one. I bent down and stroked the cats soft fur and gently tickled its ears. It responded very well to me and enthusiastically rubbed itself into my hands.

"Is this your cat?" I asked Matilda.

"No, that's just a stray Milady." She replied.

Yay! I would keep the little cat.

"Milady, I have found some workers!" I heard Bard call. I turned to see him approaching with two young men. "I have explained that they must clean out the building and neaten the yard, they requested to be paid twenty bronzes for their work." He finished.

"If you do your work well and are finished by the day of Fire, I will give you each a silver coin." I said.

"Certainly Milday!"

"We're most grateful Milday!"

"Thank you Milday!" They all Replied enthusiastically.

I wished them good luck and said goodbye to them as Bard and I got back into the carriage. I was holding the small cat in my arms, he purred lightly as we rode through the harbor side and back home. I had arranged to come back on the day of Fire, in three days, to see if everything was in order. I was excited to come back here and begin making deserts and selling them.

Since it used to be an Inn, I didn't have to pay for a new kitchen to be installed, and since Matilda is a fire user, cooking would be easier for her, I would just have to get Augustus to teach her the basics of my Earth baking and cooking.

In terms of employing staff, I really wanted to employ women who were really desperate and had no other hope. I knew there were probably plenty of such women living in the common sect, but I didn't know how I would come into contact with them.

Actually, Bard and Agnes were sure to know someone who was desperately seeking a job. I would just ask them. It depended on the success of my cafe though, if it got very popular I would have to hire more staff, if it didn't gain much popularity I wouldn't be able to. I hoped that it would get popular very soon though.

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That night, Riley got into her bed feeling quite exhausted and satisfied. After eating another wonderful meal that Augustus had made, she went straight to bed. Although she slept soundly, Riley's dreams were haunted by a pair of golden eyes, a pair of piercing golden eyes that made her shiver and sing at the same time. They were Geoffrey's golden eyes, for some reason, since the day that she had shown her product to the Mage society, those pair of brilliant eyes had never left her.

While their Lady slept in her room, the servants talked amongst each other about what she had done today in the pantry, while Mellie gave the poor little cat that her mistress had brought back a bath.

"Now she is going to open up an Inn at the harbor, she told me that she will be selling her cakes and sweets at the Inn." Reported Bard to the others.

"My goodness, Milady does not realize how popular that Inn will become! The cakes and treats that she has me making are without a doubt the best in the whole of Girannon! That Inn will soon become a sensation!" Declared Augustus.

"This is very good news, if our Lady is known to be the owner of a successful or famous shop, it will only help to promote her status in society." Said Agnes, thinking solely about raising Riley's ranking in society. Agnes was still determined for Riley to become the most popular lady in the land.

"It's just like our Lady to go and start her own business. She is truly a brave and clever Lady." Commented Auberon, his eyes gleaming with admiration for Riley.

"Indeed, she is a very interesting Lady." Said Rudyard. Even though he was spying on Lady Riley, he was meant to be clear headed and only focused on the wishes of his clients, the Royal family, he couldn't help but admire and want to protect Lady Riley.

"She is an amazing Lady." Edna commented softly as she thought about how the Von Esterheim brothers had been so calm and playful in her presence. Even though Edna had worked for the Von Esterheim family for years, they had never extended their kindness to her. Edna knew that it took a very special type of person to disarm the Von Esterheim's. Lady Riley had that amazing quality. Edna could not help but admire her.

"And above all other things..." started Agnes. They all listened closely, waiting to see if they would agree on Lady Riley's best quality. "She plays the uldreyin like a master musician and she has a voice that can rival the song birds."

"Indeed."

"She has true talent."

"She plays and sings beautifully."

They were all feeling a lot of affection for their Lady that night, especially since they had gotten their wages and had seen that she had doubled their normal fees.

After they had finished talking, all of them except Mellie went down to the servants quarters. Mellie gave the little cat a small bowl of milk and waited for it to finish the bowl before she took the cat up to Riley's room and placed it on one of the cushioned chairs. She also placed a blanket around the small creature to insure that it was comfortable, then left for her room in the servants quarters.