Disclaimer: What's Bethesda's is theirs, etc. Stories might not be in chronological order.
Apprentices
"How is the new girl working out?"
"Learning quite quickly, master," said Savela, smiling. "She knows organization, knows her numbers, and treats customers very well. She is not shy about asking questions about items and stocks she can't identify or hasn't enough experience with. She also is learning dunmeris quickly. It's funny, though, she pronounces a lot of things like Tirenea and her grandpa would." She giggled a bit. "Dunmer men seem attracted to her. I asked one of my friends what he thinks of her and he says that she's cute for a nord but it's the challenge she gives off. Something that makes a guy curious about her?" She ended the statement on a note of curiosity as she looked at him.
"I will agree she's attractive, but I haven't detected any mystery about her," said Revyn as he thoughtfully sipped his tea. "Perhaps it's because I'm so thoroughly married. In any case, I am pleased she's working out. The Blackwing family were quite daring to send her to me, unannounced, based on a casual conversation with my wife."
"Are the Blackwings an important family in Markarth, master?"
"No. They barely hold onto their mountainous piece of land at the border of High Rock. Their boldness, I suppose, is the reason they've managed to stay there.
"Well, I'm please Yannig is doing so well in the early weeks of her apprenticeship. And thank you for helping her settle in and instructing her on the basics.
"Now we will speak of your apprenticeship, my dear." Revyn paused and studied her with pride. He recalled the day he'd caught her trying to steal from his shop. So thin, so desperate, so determined. It had been a lucky day for both of them. "You've come a long way and have exceeded any expectations I might have had. We have now reached a point where you will have to tell me where we move on from here.
"You've learned the basics for keeping a shop such as mine. You can evaluate the typical used goods that are sold to us, you can handle the daily ledgers, you do well with customers, and you are sensible when it comes to thieves and other disruptive people in the shop. You know enough now that you could run your own shop.
"If that is what you wish, then the rest is building the gold reserves, determining what kind of shop, advanced bookkeeping, and then finding ways to build stock until you find a venue.
"If you would go deeper into trade, then to continue on this path I would have you learn more of stock trades and hedging your reserves as you consider future profits or losses and market trends, the risks of long-distance trading, unless, of course, you have no interest beyond immediate, day-to-day sales and purchases. In any case, there are still matters of taxation and keeping abreast of current tax laws, learning to set up books from scratch, learning to deal with money lenders, and which commerce laws to look at depending on what type of shop you wish to run.
"Am I correct in thinking that you would like to learn those business aspects which would help make successful your mother's and your aunt's ambition for a grand restaurant? Well, there's a great deal of the food business that I cannot help with, but taxation never changes, nor does knowing how to keep good financial records or how to sift through laws or deal with suppliers. Ah, and the marketing aspect is far more demanding when you have so many competitors. Customer service is so much more challenging. So many picky eaters and tastes that change on a whim."
He had been studying her as he'd talked. She maintained a mask of alert attention, but he did detect the occasions drift of her eyes and the faintest strain in the twitch of her eyebrows.
"I do hope you know you can tell me if I've assumed too much. We both know you became my apprentice out of necessity for survival. I promised to help you find your family and the threads of the Webspinner has made that possible much sooner than either of us expected. You are still young enough to begin training in some other profession. You truly don't owe me anything beyond the years you've already served me. You have stepped up to do more than an apprentice is expected to do many times and without being asked. Your quick wits have even saved my life.
"So, my dear child, have you ever thought of what else you might do with your life? As you know, I've invested in your mother's venture and I'll see to it she has competent business assistant and advisers. You have time and room to learn more or to explore other possibilities. You're 16. Nevermind how the nords judge age, you are still a young child by mer reckoning. I have also discussed this with your mother and she agrees that you should have a chance to play a little."
"Play, master? I'm not sure..."
"Perhaps you'd like to spend a season in Winterhold with Tirenea and take some classes at Winterhold and learn more magic? Or would you like summer at Solitude at Proudspire, attend some music classes, explore the restaurants there and sample foods and fashions brought in from the Empire? And then there's Tel Windstad across the bay. You can stay in my tower and meet the more ordinary Telvanni folk, a different type of people from our local bunch of mixed Houses or non-affiliates. Would you like to explore more of the Rift, staying again with your uncle or even at Goldenglow Estate?"
"For how long?"
"Ideally, I'd like to see you take a year off for yourself." He was pleased to see her expression shift from trepidation to dawning excitement.
"Can my mother come along?"
"If she wishes. But again, this is for you to discover what is your own passion and dream separate from your family. Although, if your only ambition is to spend more time with your mother free of your current work and schooling obligations, that's fine, too. You have time.
"In any case, you pay no rent if you decide to stay at any of the places I've mentioned, nor will you have to worry about transportation to and from those places. Anything else, well, I know you are a prudent saver and spender. Mind you, also, that if you do decide to vacation without your mother at any of those distant properties, the housecarl at those properties will stand as chaperone. Their degree of oversight will depend largely on the dangers or local political conditions of the time."
He stood up and held his hands out to her. "Now I do have another appointment I must get to. Think it over for the rest of this week and then tell me what you want."
+—+—+—+—+—+
Yannig Blackwing, his new apprentice, was tall for a female nord. A lot of her attraction was in her black rimmed amber eyes and the readiness of her smile. Unsmiling, she was rather like a fierce, watching raptor. Her thick hair of mahogany had whimsical purple highlights and fell in gently curling waves around her face and neck, softening the angular features. Subtle and deft use of cosmetics played up her eyes and enhanced the smoothness and health of her skin. She wore a long, fur-lined vest over her Breton-style dress. Her luxurious hair had braids and ornaments reflecting High-Rock fashion.
He watched her handling a pair of young nord noblemen. Hard to tell if the goal of the young men was to buy swords or to get Yannig to go out with one of them. She eventually sweet-talked one into purchasing a fancy poniard and the other, a chitin shield with magic deflection. The blade buyer managed to pat her ass as she turned away to lead them to the sales counter. The nords left, congratulating themselves.
Revyn followed her into a back room where she went to Coram's inventory window and marked down which magic shield was sold. Coram saw her, came up to read her note, and told her to come back in an hour and he'd have another she could replace on the wall.
"That was a ten percent markup, Yannig dear," purred Revyn.
She grinned at him. "Was it? Oh, my. Should I chase after them and refund them the amount?"
"No. But don't make it a habit."
"Righty-o, master. But as my ma says, nord men only understand a shield-bash to the head to get their attention and a swift kick under the belt to make them listen."
"Your mother is not a shopkeeper," he said repressively, "and that is a very limiting view. In any case, please refrain from shield-bashing and ball-kicking the customers."
He observed her for the rest of the afternoon. She had all th.e potential to be an exemplary sales clerk, but that wasn't what she was here for. This was something she had been given to do while he had been in Whiterun.
Elani, who handled social programs, had been pushing him to accept more apprentices. She needed more warriors on the political front to carry through some of her ideas and she wanted these warriors to also have a good sense of economical sense, not just ideas they'd have no idea how to pay for.
As she envisioned it, Revyn would teach economics and trade, she would handle social justice issues and social politics, and Ambarys handled law enforcement and its politics. Apprentices would officially be Revyn's because of his higher social rank and prestige.
Revyn agreed to this because he trusted Elani's greater social consciousness. She and Ambarys were the actual brains and drive in the changes being done in the Gray Quarter while he was like a Telvanni Mouth, in front and drawing attention on himself so they could work. He had been doing this already for his wife and then had taken on this extra social duty even as they had voluntarily aided him in keeping his wife's Dragonborn identity a secret and helping him manage affairs between his wife's properties and attached communities.
So. Two more apprentices would be coming. One was another nord, Olaf Galloglass, young male, distant cousin of the Cruel-Seas. The other was the youngest son of Sadras Venros Dareano, Khan of Clan Dareano of the Sadras, or, House Sadras.
This khan had originally sent his niece to spy on Revyn whom he'd determined to be among the most successful and influential of the exiled House of the Hlaalu. Ruveyana had been her name, and she'd been needlessly killed by enemies intent on capturing Revyn.
Both Elani and Magistrate Sorayn Girith believed it a good idea to make alliance with the Dareanos.
So be it; he would take on apprentices but on the condition that no apprentices would be living in his house and Elani would see to their lodging. Even Yannig would be moving out soon. That left only Dana, his secretary, as his semi-permanent guest. She had originally meant to be short-term, but that changed when she found out her line-founder, a nord mage of the Ebonheart Pact 800 years ago, was chief of the guardian ghosts here. Between her ancestor and his ancestors, the house was quite full.
+—+—+—+—+—+
"So what have you decided, my dear?"
"I'm thinking alchemy, master." She looked shyly at him, looking for his reaction. Revyn merely smiled and asked her reasoning. "I first thought alchemy, yet when I thought of trying to apprentice myself to Master Quentin or even Sera Avrusa Sarethi, it didn't feel right. I kept thinking of Raven Rock and Sera Garyn. I eventually remembered his saying that good cookery was a special alchemy in itself. And then I remember all those wreaths you had me making when I started working for you. A lot of the herbs on the health wreath had instructions on making teas and clear soups or as ground herbs on certain foods. I don't want to study alchemy for alchemy's sake; I want to explore this idea of food as alchemy."
"Interesting. And where would you like to explore this idea?"
"I was thinking Winterhold even though studying in the Rift under Sera Avrusa would be so much nicer and I could help the orphans at Ivarstead. Then Tirenea writes to me and tells me their new master of dwemer studies has such strange ideas and I began to wonder if he has ideas about food alchemy. I am hoping that if I write you him, he may have suggestions. I've drafted a letter I hope you will read and tell me if am being clear in my questions?"
Revyn took the letter from her but didn't immediately open it. "When did you last communicate with Tirenea?"
"Two weeks ago. I got her return letter four days ago with the regular courier service between here and Winterhold. She tells me she and Master Edd are coming here and she'll be staying with you while her grandfather travels onto Whiterun to assist the Archimage. I'm thinking to ask Master Edd about my idea, get his advice and if he thinks the dwemer master will have useful ideas."
Revyn nodded then opened her letter to read it. "A little confusing but only because the words only hint at your goal. I see that you are trying to be brief in your shyness to write to a stranger and impose on his time. Now is not the time to be shy. Master Curtis, I am told, does not appear to understand the concept of shyness. I suggest rewriting it as a story of your ideas; tell him what you told me. Tell him why you think food, an everyday necessity, is a valid field of study for an alchemist.
"Clarify your ideas so when you do meet Sera Curtis Johnson — who is coming here on the next run from Winterhold — you have something written to fall back on when he goes off on a tangent as Master Urag tells me Sera Curtis often does."
"He is coming here?" she asked excitedly.
"Yes. I summoned him here because I need to discuss several matters with him. He is traveling with Master Edd and Tirenea and they should be arriving in two days. Master Urag's advice is to take copious notes because he's one who makes the most sense in hindsight."
Revyn uncovered a tray of goodies Dana had placed on the table in the kitchen for office personnel to snack on. He picked up a jazbay tart and Savela chose a cookie topped with snowberry jam. "A fascinating aspect I've never seriously considered before," he mused aloud. "I know jazbay is a valuable alchemy component, but what does make is so essential to potions beneficial to magicka or to poisons? Why do preparation methods affect these mystery qualities? 'It just does,' but that answer doesn't satisfy you, does it, Savela? Are you interested in the component itself, or in how food affects the one consuming it? Rather like how Dana breaks out in spots if she eats anything with shellfish or that has been prepared by instruments that have even touched shellfish. Is it the creature itself? Is it something the creature eats?" He smiled whimsically. "Now that I do think on it, there are so many things to study.
Hm. Too much honey in this tart. Ambarys's new baker has too much of a sweet tooth."