fandomania | The Adventure continues... (Reply)

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Our hatchlings:

Tru and I arrived at the sitting room just as Orlando arrived. I quickly apprized Orlando of what little we knew, so he would be aware of the situation as much as we were.

The three of us walked into the sitting room together. There we found Captain Quinton and a small woman with shoulder length, light brown hair and intelligent, dark eyes. Her lovely pale face showed kindliness and she had an aura of patience. She was wearing sapphire blue wool robes, lined with sable fur. She had been wearing a similar hood, but she had taken it off and it was sitting on the chair beside her. She looked to be about forty years old, but if she was a magi as she seemed to be, age and appearance could be deceptive.

The woman stood up as we entered the room. She gracefully walked over to us and inquired, “Lady Patra conAgri? I have heard that you have several very young adept children and are looking for a live-in tutor for them. I am Lady Trysta denRuego. I am here to apply for this position.” She extended her hand in greets to me. When we shook hands, I could feel a shock as soon as we touched.

I smiled at her and said. “My name is now Lady Patra conDylar.” I saw Orlando raise an eyebrow when he heard my introduction, but he kept his face immobile. “This is my husband, Master Piatrus conDylar.” They shook hands. “And last, but not least, is Orlando, my best friend and mentor.” They shook hands. Lady Trysta got a look of surprise on her face when she and Orlando touched. But she quickly hid her emotions.

I thanked Captain Quinton for his help and released him to return to his duties.

"Come, let us sit down and get to know each other.” I pointed to a table and chairs and we sat down facing each other.

"First off, Lady Trysta, I have to ask this. Are you related to the denRuego family from Elphston?”

"Yes, I am. Why do you ask?”

"Because my grandmother's maiden name was Lady Vesta denRuego. Could you be related in some way?”

Lady Trysta looked surprised. “Vesta was my half-sister. My younger half-sister. The last time I saw her was at her wedding to Lord Jehan denFolo in Freedonia. You are her granddaughter? Then that would make me your great-aunt. Which of her daughters are you from?”

I looked at her carefully. “Grandmother Vesta only had one daughter.”

“Yes, that is right. One daughter and four sons. If I remember correctly, Jehan Jr., Harko, Mycon, Faxil, and finally, Eryssa. If I remember correctly Eryssa married one of the king's sons.

“I have been living in Užjūris for the past sixty years, I have lost track of the family many years ago. How are Vesta and Eryssa doing?”

"Dead. All dead. Grandfather Jehan died long before I was born. My mother died giving birth to me. Grandmother Vesta died when I was eleven. My father died four years ago at the hands of Georgists. I have not heard from nor seen any of my mother's brothers since the fall of Freedonia to the Georgists.. I am not sure how many of the family in Elphston survived after the rebellion there was put down.”

"It is obvious that I have spent too many years in Užjūris and have exiled myself from the family too long. I am sorry to hear about this. You have said nothing about Vesta's twin sister Rhea. How is she doing?”

"I don't know. I never met her. Grandmother rarely talked about her. I only heard stories of her from their childhood. I only heard that she had, as a young woman, been the concubine of King Theofan in the last years of his life. Grandmother never told me anything further about her. Although, thinking about it, I seem to recall her saying that she had half-siblings. That her mother had been the second wife of her father, although she did not say much of anything about them.”

"Yes, that is true. My sisters and brother were teenagers when Vesta and Rhea were born. I really only saw them occasionally after I went to magic users school in Rawn-Devu. After Vesta's marriage to Jehan, I left for Užjūris. I would get occasional letters from family over the years, but the letters stopped coming not quite thirty years ago, so I am woefully behind the times, family-wise.”

Orlando broke his silence. “Užjūris is quite a distance away from here, what brings you to Alfaria? My call out for tutors for the children never went much beyond Rawn-Devu. How and when did you hear it?”

"Ah, Magister Dragon, those are good questions. I hope that my answers will satisfy you.

"I have been dissatisfied with my life in Užjūris lately. I have been contemplating where I was to go from there. The little voices in my head kept telling me to go to Alfaria. So I did. I have been staying with a Magi friend and former schoolmate here in Daihor. He told me of your call out and of the interesting situation with the Council of Magic Users in Rawn-Devu. I fulfill a lot of the requirements that you have asked for and the situation sounded intriguing, so here I am. I didn't know that the mother of the children in question would be my grand-niece. Perhaps that is why my voices led me here,” replied Trysta.

"You do not look anything like Lady Patra. She has said that she resembles her mother and grandmother a lot.”

"It is very true that she does look like them,” remarked Trysta. “And also like Lady Rhea. But as I said earlier, I am the product of my father's first wife, Lady Dreama denFasso, while Vesta and Rhea were the products of his second wife, Lady Ayana denKalto. My mother was a typical Elphstonian: brunette, brown eyes, pale skin and short.. But my step-mother, Patra's great-grandmother, was very exotic amongst the people. Blonde hair, amethyst colored eyes, fair skin and tall, fairly tall for a woman. My father was considered tall for an Elphstonian man. Lady Ayana was about an inch or two taller than he was. Probably about five foot nine inches tall, maybe five foot ten. We never knew exactly where Lady Ayana came from. I just remember Father coming back from a trip to Pradat-Vashnah, and they were already married. But Pradatans tend to be redheads and not blondes.”

"She was from Gyventi. A region of Rosta,” replied Orlando.

"Really? Hmm. That is an area that I haven't explored yet. Although the instability of the region is a bit daunting, to say the least.”

"So, Lady Trysta, what are your qualifications?” asked Tru. “It is wonderful that you are part of Patra's family. But I have always made it a policy not to hire someone based solely on the fact that they are related to me. I am not against hiring relatives, but they have to be qualified for whatever position I give them.”

"That is fair,” remarked Trysta. She brought our a list for him to scan. Tru read it and then handed it to Orlando, who then handed it to me.

"I expect that you will send your agents to Užjūris to verify my claims. I am totally for that. With children, you cannot be too careful with the people you hire to work with them.”

"You are aware that it will take time to check these out?” asked Tru. “Are you prepared to wait a month or two in order to do so?”

Trysta shrugged. “If I have to. But there are faster ways of doing this, are there not, Magister Dragon?”

Orlando shrugged also. “I can think of several ways. How amenable would these people be to receiving a visit from a dragon?”

"Every family that I worked with have been Magi families. While dragons are not common in Užjūris, they are not unknown. They are less likely to freak at the sight of a dragon than the non-magical are.”

Orlando took the list from me and went off to another room.

"In the meantime,” I said, “perhaps you could talk about some of your experiences with young adepts, so that I can understand your methods?”

"All right.” Trysta replied. “I like to stay as close to the child or children as I possibly can. This way I can detect everything they do that is magical and quickly be on hand to either stop them or to guide them in their further understanding of the process., depending on what they are doing. I do not supplant the child's parents in the raising and disciplining of their children. I supplement it along whatever guidelines you give me. I do not teach the children regular subjects like reading or writing or mathematics. I leave that to school teachers or governesses. I deal only in magic. If the child is school aged, then the child will attend school as normal. I will teach them either before or after school, whichever works best.

"How old are your adept children?”

"Loysa is almost five. The twins, Vâlen and Gælen, just turned three.”

"Three of your children are adept? And at such a young age. How many others do you have? Are they all adept also?”

"I don't know if any of the others are adept. Technically, Loysa is adopted. I have seven other children ages thirteen down to one, and two other adopted children.”

"You have twelve children and you are expecting another?” Trysta said, astonished.

I could feel myself blushing.

"And what is wrong with having a lot of children?” asked Tru, bristling at Trysta's inference. “All of Patra's children are well loved and well taken care of. I have plenty of money to make sure that they want for nothing and will get the best of educations.”

"Nothing. Nothing is wrong with it, if you are rich enough to care for them. I am just astounded. Patra seems too young, to have a child of thirteen ...”

"I am twenty-six years old.” I replied matter-of-factly.

Trysta looked aghast. “You were thirteen when you had your first baby? I am astounded that Vesta would have allowed that to happen.”

"Grandmother died when I was eleven. My father forced an arranged marriage on me when I was thirteen.”

“Oh. It appears to have worked out fine. You two look happy.” Trysta remarked.

"No. I didn't marry Tru then. Tru and I have only been married less than a day. My first marriage was to General Jaizel finSorda, which lasted ten years before he died. I was then married to Donal conAgri for over three years before he died.”

"The General Jaizel?”

"Yes. Unfortunately.”

"Oh dear ...”

But before this conversation went any further, Orlando returned. “I have dispatched several friends to check your references. We should be getting their answers in thirty-six hours or less.”

"Good.” I replied “Perhaps you would like to meet my children? Not as a tutor, but as a visiting relative?”

"Yes. I would like that.”

The three of us escorted Trysta to the nursery, where all the children were eating their breakfasts. When they saw us enter they got up and ran to us with cries of “Mommy!” “Pahpey!” and “Uncle Orlando!”

After allowing them some time to greet us, I got their attention. “Children, I have a surprise for you. We have a visitor today. She is my grandmother's sister. This is your Aunt Trysta. She has come all the way from Užjūris to see us.”

I introduced my children starting with the oldest down to my youngest. Trysta shook hands with all of them, even little Yusaf. Trysta chatted with them for a few minutes and answered some of their questions. When I noticed the time, I sent the children back to finish their breakfasts and then get ready for school, or at least the older ones. While they were eating, we went off to one side to talk and observe.

"What beautiful and well-mannered children you have, Lady Patra.” Trysta commented.

"Thank you, but please call me Patra? May I call you Aunt Trysta?”

"Of course! But you were fibbing that you have adopted Loysa, were you not? Although the circumstances must be unusual, I can tell that she is not your daughter, but rather your twin sister.”

“How could you know? How could you tell?”

"One of my talents is to instantly learn things about people when I simply touch them. When I touched her, Loysa immediately felt just like you did. The main difference between you two is age. You both have enormous powers. Hers is just lying under the surface, ready to be used whenever she feels like it. Yours is hidden deep down inside you, hidden from view and difficult to access. She will be the easiest to teach. Loysa needs to learn control of her powers and self-control so as not to constantly use and abuse them. You, on the other hand, need to learn how to bring your powers out from where they are hidden, learn to focus on what you want to do with them and to keep yourself from wasting them needlessly.

“Your twin sons exude more power than you and your sister possess. That is saying a lot, as all you, singly and combined, possess more power that most magic users. It is a good thing to start tutoring them this early, while their minds are still malleable. They will grow up with a code of ethics already instilled in them, so that they will not be a menace, but rather a blessing, to society and the world around them.”

It took me a while to process and fully appreciate all that Aunt Trysta said.

Orlando asked this question, “With your abilities, can you or have you assessed the potential for magic in each child? With what happened to the Council recently, I am not sure that it would be wise to expose Patra's children to the standard Council magic test. And interestingly enough, when Patra was tested in Freedonia, her testers managed to completely miss her potential.”

“Those magic users must have been either lazy or incompetent. Her powers are hidden, that is true, but she still exudes power to those of us who are attuned to looking for it. It might have taken a deeper probe than normal, but still...

“As for her children … Celianne should have some hints of power by now, if she is going to develop them at all. But then given how her mother has well hidden powers, I will, if I am allowed to, continue to monitor her. At best, from her current appearance, she has the make up to be a mother to future adepts if she married someone with a similar disposition.

“Melia and Melisant seem to have no powers at all. They seem to follow their father's make up. But, again, they need monitoring.
“Reuel is the same as his sisters. While I doubt that he has magical abilities, I do think that he has the potential for great anger and destruction inside him. He needs to be watched carefully and trained early to control and overcome these issues.

“Jayzon … I don't mean to imply anything against you, my dear, but Jayzon does not seem to have the same father. From the look on your face, Patra, I can tell I am correct. I don't need to know the circumstances of his conception. I promise you that I don't think the lesser of you for this. Jayzon is what he is. I don't see any signs of magic in him. I can see the potential for addictive behavior in him. I think that his teenage years will need careful watching.

“We have already talked about your twin sons. Eryssa, along with them, seem to be the children of your second husband?” I nodded affirmatively.

“Eryssa seems non-magical at the moment. She is way too young to say anything positively about this yet. But I think that she has artistic talents. She might benefit from an education that will bring this out in her better.

“Finally, from those of your own children, Yusaf. He has an interesting mixture of potential skills. Being so young it is hard to say which way he will go. He may had some magic potential in him. He may have some leadership abilities. He too will need watching as he grows. I am not sure that his magic abilities will show up as early as his brothers, but I think they will come when puberty arrives.

“As for your adopted children, we have already discussed Loysa. Maxel is your second husband's child also?” Again I nodded affirmatively. “Since he isn't the child of your body, I would hazard a guess that he is not magical also. He does appear to have artistic potential and, like Eryssa, would benefit from an artistic education.

“Sammy is the only child not related to any of you. He seems to be a solid, nice little boy. I doubt that he will be much of a scholar, but he has the potential for manual dexterity. He, depending on his own inclinations, would be a good craftsman, like a carpenter or a smith. Perhaps if you were to include him in the art lessons, he might rise to be brilliant in those fields.”

“You got all that from a simple touch?” inquired Tru incredulously.

“Yes. That is one of my talents. I will know more about a person with every contact that I have with them. That is why I am so good with young adepts. As I get to know them, even when they are still young and relatively unformed, I can learn to anticipate them and help them better. I could even prevent them from doing something unwittingly disastrous.

“To illustrate this better for you, I know that you have followed the best course you could for your talents and your class. You, in your non-magical way, have a similar talent to mine. You are able to assess and understand people and use that understanding to your advantage. Because you are a merchant, this has helped you prosper and become a very rich man, with a viable and still growing business.

“If you had been born to a higher class, you would have equally prospered as a politician or a general. Your talent would have helped you to sway people to your agenda or to anticipate moves your enemies would make on the battlefield.

“Yours is a rare talent, sir, and one that has been wisely used.”

I took all that she said and pondered over them for many years thereafter.