The unwanted elves 34

 

Chapter 34

 

We decided to rest and sleep overnight before heading back to the Tower and were surprised to be joined at breakfast by Dragovar’s junior apprentice, Riccar.

“Good morning Riccar, how are you?” Chessina said, “We haven’t seen you for a while.”

I didn’t say anything as at that juncture my mouth was full of toast.

“Well, thank you Journeywizard Chessina,” Riccar replied.

“Oh please, just Chessina informally,” She said.

“Master Dragovar says I’m progressing satisfactorily,” Riccar said.

“From him that’s high praise,” I said, having rapidly swallowed the toast.

“We apprentices normally eat together, so that we and Dragovar can have a little time apart,” He said, “Only Tassayne has been having her meals with Dragovar for a while now, and it’s a bit lonely now Ceslin has left. I hoped you wouldn’t mind me joining you.”

“Not at all,” Said Chessina, “Where has he gone?”

“Braidfleet,” Replied Riccar, “He’s recently been made Journeywizard and Master Dragovar had discussed things with Sir Tasseder that as Braidfleet is an active port again, since you removed the rune silting up the harbour Towermaster, the place needed a resident wizard.”

“That’s a good idea,” I remarked.

“Sir Tasseder planned to reopen Agravar’s house, so that it would once again be a wizard’s dwelling.” Riccar said, “Ceslin and I helped with the clearing. There were some very nasty things there.”

“Agravar was a very nasty man.” I said.

Chessina said nothing. Although fortunately she didn’t remember her soul being sacrificed to Fishface by Agravar, her own brother, and subsequently reborn as a ‘pseudo-demon’, it wasn’t something she liked to dwell on. Riccar didn’t know about Chessina’s antecedents and carried on blithely.

“About the only magically relating things that hadn’t decayed into uselessness, were the armillary sphere and the duskwood chair of entrapment. I reset the sphere to the correct angle so it can now be used for astronomy, and the chair is stored in one of the shielded vaults underneath this tower.”

Riccar stopped and then added, diffidently,

“I would like to ask your advice, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course we don’t mind,” Chessina replied and I nodded agreement.

“Dragovar put me in charge of the tower and I’m a bit worried in case people want something dealt with by the royal wizard,” He blurted out.

“You can use the tower’s facilities to send a letter to Dragovar?” I enquired.

“Yes, Towermaster,” Riccar replied.

“Oh please, just Castamir,” I entreated him.

“How long have you been an apprentice?” Chessina asked.

“Six years, almost seven,” Said Riccar.

“Then you know enough to evaluate not only the seriousness of the problem, but also its immediacy,” Chessina stated, “If the problem needs to be dealt with now, send them to one of the Ducal wizards.”

“It had better be a genuine emergency in that case,” I said, “Harmon mentioned that none of them suffered fools at all, let alone gladly.”

“And if it isn’t an emergency, have them submit the problem in writing, and tell them that you will inform the Royal Wizard on his return,” Chessina concluded.

“What if they ask when Dragovar will return?” Riccar continued.

“Tell them that the Royal Wizard has not informed you of his intended return date,” Chessina suggested.

“Don’t let people know that you don’t know,” I responded, “Start cultivating a reputation for wizardly omniscience. Just tell them you are not at liberty to discuss the matter, and smile enigmatically after doing so. It works for me.” I grinned.

 

 

After breakfast and seeing that Riccar was feeling happier we prepared to depart, and while Chessina conjured invisible servants and oversaw the packing, I went to take formal leave of the King. When I got near the private royal apartments, I saw Vellera, our new apprentice apparently looking for me. I was glad to see that she was dressed in clothes suitable for travelling.

“Master, may I ask you a question?” Said Vellera, standing on one leg and fidgeting with the other foot.

“You may ask any question of Chessina or myself, and we will do our best to answer it,” I replied.

“How old were you when you became an apprentice?” Asked Vellera.

“I was about nine, nearly as old as you are now,” I said.

“I’m nearly  eleven, Master,” Vellera corrected me, she continued, “Did you miss your mother when you started being an apprentice?” Her voice was quite quiet.

Ah, that was what this was about.

“I didn’t have a mother when I became an apprentice, as she died when I was born,” I said, “Being an apprentice doesn’t mean that you won’t see your mother again. We will take you to see her when we can, and she can come to see you, although being Queen she does have duties that will prevent her from coming as often as she would wish.”

“It’s just that your tower is such a long way away from the palace, I looked on a map to see where it was.” Vellera said, her lower lip quivering.

“It’s a strange thing Vellera,” I began, and oh dear I could hear that I had just taken up my lecturing tone, “When people ask how far away something is, what they really mean, is how long will it take to get there. On horseback the journey would take longer than a week, maybe two if the weather is bad, but using a rug of travel it takes less than a day. So it won’t be difficult for you to visit your mother. Have you ever been on a rug?”

“Yes Royal Wizard Dragovar took me once,” Vellera said, “It was a bit scary, but it was fun to look down on all the things that look so small.”

“Are you feeling a little happier now?” I asked.

“Yes thank you master,” She replied.

“Are you all packed Vellera?”

“Yes,” She said, “Journeywizard Chessina gave me a list of the things I would need.”

How like Chessina, I thought not only was she very organised, but even during the directing of the wedding, she had taken the time and effort to take care of Vellera; I was so proud of my wife. She had come such a long way from the rather selfish creature she had been when first I met her.

“I packed my luggage myself master,” Vellera announced proudly, “I had to order the servants to stop packing as they kept putting things in that they thought I should have.”

“Well done, Vellera,” I said encouragingly, “Now off you go and make your farewells. I’ll have your luggage placed on the rug in the courtyard of Dragovar’s tower, we will leave from there.”

Vellera dashed off, holding her skirts up a little to facilitate moving at the speed a child of her age thought proper.

 

I made a brief detour to the quarters assigned to the elven ambassadors to wish them every success, and remind them that Riccar, Dragovar’s apprentice could send a message to me if they had problems.

 

Entering the king’s private quarters after being announced and seeing him seated at his desk, I bowed and said,

“Your Majesty, as the problem of the elves has been successfully concluded, it is time for us to return to the Tower.”

“Will you not wait until Dragovar returns?” The king asked.

“If there are magical problems that Riccar can’t handle, there are the Ducal wizards to turn to,” I said, “In the unlikely event of there being a problem they can’t handle, a letter can be sent to either myself or Dragovar. In any case it is high time that your daughter, Princess Vellera started her formal magical education. This has been delayed further than I would like by the elven situation. As this is now over it is time to leave. Would you and the Queen care to wish Vellera well on her journey?”

“Of course, Towermaster,” Said the king, sending a servant to inform the queen.

 

When I arrived in the courtyard of Dragovar’s tower, not just the king and queen were present, but all the royal children including the crown prince. There was much last minute hugging and kissing and some tears, but Vellera seated herself on the rug, with apparent aplomb and we lifted above the rooftops of the city and started homewards.

 

Vellera was a little subdued at first, hardly surprising for a child away from the bosom of her family for the first time. It wasn’t long though, before curiosity got the better of her and she started asking questions. One question led to another and it wasn’t long before Vellera was chattering nineteen to the dozen, and she and Chessina seemed to be getting on very well together. As I was guiding the rug I wasn’t paying attention to all of Vellera’s questions, but one of them piqued my particular interest.

“What is ‘The Change’?” Vellera asked, “I could hear the capital letters when mother spoke to one of her ladies-in-waiting.”

“What was the gist of the conversation?” Chessina asked for clarification.

“Mother was saying to Lady Orgela that she was pleasantly surprised that it seemed she had gone through The Change without any hot flushes or stomach cramps or constipation that she expected. Mother said that Grandma, her mother had had a terrible time dealing with The Change.”

“Did your mother know that you were listening to her talking to Lady Orgela,” I asked.

“No,” Vellera replied, slightly evasively, “I was behind the sofa playing with my dolly Tilly, and they sort of forgot about me.”

Vellera still held her doll, but she had relaxed enough to no longer be holding the toy in a death grip.

“When girls are little, they can’t have babies,” Chessina began to explain, “When they grow up to become women, they can have babies, but when they get older they stop being able to have babies. That is what some people call ‘The Change’, the proper term is ‘the menopause’.”

“Oh, is that one of those kind of words that you use for things that people find a bit icky to talk about, but they need to talk about it anyway and just use silly words instead of just talking about the thing?” Vellera asked, in one breath.

“Yes, such words are called ‘euphemisms’,” Chessina explained, “Similar ways of avoiding a subject are called ‘circumlocutions’, meaning to talk around something.”

I thought I detected Arcana’s hand in this, and it re-emphasised how important Vellera was to Arcana. The Queen had finally given birth to the child Arcana wanted, her seventh, so no further children were needed. If I was correct Arcana had rewarded the Queen, not only by making sure she kept her figure between pregnancies, but now had an incredibly easy menopause.

 

We started to get to know each other as we flew and the journey passed remarkably quickly, so it was almost a surprise when the Tower came in sight. Vellera was eager to see what was to be her new home.

“It’s rather big,” She said, “Even bigger than the royal tower of wizardry. I hope I don’t get lost inside.”

“If you do ever get lost, just tell the Tower that you are lost and it will help you.” I said, comfortingly.

“Is the Tower alive?” Vellera asked in surprise.

“Not as we are alive, but it has an awareness, which I don’t really understand,” I replied.

“There are things you don’t understand?” The little girl was shocked.

“There are many things I don’t understand,” I said, “So I try to learn more. I’m just a little further on the path of magic than you are.”

 

Vellera was a little overawed as the main door to the Tower opened and we flew in.

“Welcome to your new home Vellera,” Chessina said, “We both hope you will be happy here.”

“I contacted the Tower and asked it to prepare a room for you,” I said, having wondered on the journey here if I could communicate simple requests to the Tower at a distance and found that I could.

“We can decorate your room as you would like it later on,” Said Chessina, “I’ll help you unpack.”

“And I will organise a meal,” I said.

 

Despite being somewhat tired, Vellera did justice to the food.  She was startled that the dishes seemingly moved themselves, and Chessina explained about invisible servants. As the last dishes were removed by the servants Vellera’s eyes were drooping.

“Just before you go to bed Vellera, I have something to give you,” I said, handing her two leather bound books, “Here are your first spellbook and your first workbook. Welcome to the Tower, Apprentice Vellera.”

Chessina and I were rewarded with impulsive hugs from our newest apprentice. It seemed another child had taken a place in our hearts.

 

Although it was late, we made a visit to the cottage next to the tower, to see Elizelle our foster daughter. She was asleep and we didn’t disturb her, explaining to her carers that we would talk to them more tomorrow. I would also need to speak to Matille the village wise woman to check if the village had any problems.

 

Later, as I settled down to sleep, I reflected that while Sekemhef, Fishface’s son was dead, Fishface was unfortunately still alive, at least for now.

 

Fin