Eight
Asariel, 9:38 Dragon
Cassius tapped on the partially open door with his knuckles, peeking inside to see the matriarch of the family waving him in.
Junia rose from her seat as he stepped across the room and wrapped him in an embrace. As she released him, she kept her hands on his upper biceps, leaning back to look over him as she smiled. The lady of the house let him go and folded her hands over her heart, dipping her head with the warmest smile.
Since she had lost her voice, permanently, he and everyone else in the Arrentius household had learned to read her face, her body language and her gestures nearly as well as they might have once listened to her words.
"Thank you," he said, understanding her meaning.
The day before, he had stood and taken his vows, binding him in marriage to her second daughter, Andria. The ceremony had taken place in the early afternoon and the dining and dancing and revelry had extended well into the night.
This morning, Flavius had taken the men out on a hunt, while Valerie had the job of escorting the women into the city to the theater for a matinee, leaving the house mostly empty and giving the bride and groom a moment's relaxation from the whirlwind of activity that had swept over the house across the last week.
With the house mostly devoid now of visitors and relatives both near and distant along the family tree, Junia had taken the opportunity to summon first her daughter, then him, to the upstairs sitting room.
She motioned to the stool near the wall and Cassius followed. As he stepped over and prepared to sit, he took a moment again to take in the true immensity of the east wall, which normally would be nothing worth glancing at except for the fact that, over many years, Junia had painted it piece by piece, depicting an extremely deep and detailed lineage of the main line of Arrentius magisters and their families, down to where the branches extended to the present time and her own family.
It had been eight years since she had made any additions to the tree, until now, as she intended to add him in his place next to Andria.
She had painted portraits of each Arrentius, from those long dead and only remembered in other portraits hanging in the household, down to those of her own children. About once per year, sometimes longer, she would summon her daughters to the sitting room to plant themselves on a stool and allow her to update their picture on the wall.
Cassius looked down the stretching decorative vines and branches she had painted over the years to the end of the tree, where the paint was still wet on the wall from the updates she had made to Andria's portrait just this morning, to capture the glow of her daughter newly married.
Junia had sketched out the bubble where she intended to paint his visage, connected to her daughter's bubble by a golden chain link that shined as the light hit it at an angle. She took her seat next to the wall, carefully stepping over the jars of paint sitting open on the floor as she picked up the pen and pot of black ink and sat it in her lap.
But before she started, she picked up a stick of chalk and turned to the slate board sitting on a small easel next to her, scrawling out a message for him.
How are you feeling this morning?
"Very well, thank you," he answered.
She returned the chalk to slate, adding more underneath the previous statement.
Happy?
"Yes, of course. I am very humbled to become part of your family and to be so much in love with your daughter," he said.
Junia brushed away the message and added a little bit more.
Which one?
Cassius couldn't stop his eyes from darting over to the wall, where he first spotted her eldest, Valerie, before his eyes crossed to her next daughter, his wife, Andria. He glanced back to Junia, who was studying him intently.
"I…" he started to try to explain, but Junia pressed her finger over his lips to silence him. As he quieted, she pulled her hand back, touched the chalk to slate again and wrote once more.
Such is, too often, the fate of true love in Tevinter.
After he read it, she quickly wiped the slate clean with a wet rag, erasing the thought from existence.
She smiled, not a mischievous smile of a trickster who had caught her prey in a trap, but instead a smile of motherly love, of recognition, of understanding, of sympathy. From that smile, Cassius oddly felt relief, an acknowledgment.
Again, Junia folded her hands over her heart and smiled deeply, to ensure him that all was well.
"Thank you," he said, not quite sure what else he could say.
Junia reached forward and turned his body slightly, angling his head and lifting his chin. She settled back into her seat, picked up her pen and black ink and pressed the tip to the wall, preparing to sketch lightly before she lifted the paint palette and brushes to complete his portrait.
Cassius tried to sit still, watching quietly as the pen scratched quickly at the wall as she glanced back and forth between him and her work, laying down the foundation to add a new young man to her family tree.
It had been eight years since the last time she had the task of adding a male to the drawing. As she worked, he glanced along the family tree, past his portrait in progress, past Andria's younger sisters Kordelia, Servilia and Flavia, to the space after that.
It was the space where Junia had last painted the last men added to the tree, to where she had painted the portraits of her sons.
Perhaps it was why when she smiled at him, he had felt comforted.
No one in the household understood longing and love and the pain it could bring more than Junia Arrentius.
Asariel, 9:41 Dragon
Cassius returned to the house to find it unusually empty and quiet.
He had successfully delivered the chest of gold to Magister Porenni, who hadn't bothered to thank him as he corralled the chest to a slave who took it into a back room. The dour old magister had shooed him away nearly as quickly as he had come.
The Porennis had been warmongers and supremacists for generations, and, in the opinion of most magisters, were general misanthropes most would rather not have the misfortune of spending any time around. After his brief interaction with the magister himself, Cassius couldn't disagree with the public consensus.
The conversations on the ongoing conflicts on Seheron were even more dry than Magister Arrentius had promised. He had taken notes, although he hadn't heard anything that directly impacted his lord that was worthy of report. Mostly it had been bickering about supply contracts as magisters fought over where raw materials were being sourced from and why the Imperium should source more of it from them instead of the other.
Halward Pavus had offered to mediate the negotiations privately — no doubt in an effort to earn himself a bigger slice of the profit, Cassius expected — and the assembly had dismissed early. Before they had gone, Magister Pavus had sought him out personally, briefly, to thank him for the information on his son's whereabouts. He had mentioned, quite by accident, that he was planning to travel south himself, in an effort to reunite with his son and bring him home to Qarinus.
With the special session ended, Cassius had immediately packed and returned, having no other business and no real desire to remain in the capital. It had taken half a day for him to find where Fiora had gone off to. Unsurprisingly, he had found her drinking in a portside tavern, amid a gaggle of sailors. He had been forced to cover her bar tab as the money she was supposed to have she had gambled away.
She swore she had a plan on how to turn enough coin to cover the bill, but Cassius had cut her off before she had a chance to fully explain, as he had a fair idea that it involved pirates and some inappropriate entendre about seamen.
They had returned to Asariel in haste after packing their belongings and leaving Magister Arrentius' room and his new page. Cassius had buried Magister Tilani's parcel of papers deep inside his pack for the return trip home.
His first impression had been to dispose of the papers in the nearest waste bin, but he had opted against it. He hadn't opened it to look at anything inside. Maybe what Mae claimed it to be it actually wasn't, although he couldn't conjure any reason for her lying to him except to manipulate him, and it was rather apparent that the only reason she had demanded he take it in the first place was as an effort to manipulate him, so Cassius had found himself in a state of limbo as to whether he should indulge her request or ignore it completely.
He had finally settled on the reasoning that, at some point, he might glance through it if only to see whether the documents she purported to have gathered were in fact legitimate and to then determine the proper way to dispose of them so that they might not fall into the set of wrong hands, or, at least, wronger hands than those of Maevaris.
But now, arriving back onto the manor, Cassius found it odd to find the house so quiet. As he kicked the dust of the road off his boots into the entryway and a slave approached to take his riding jacket from him, he glanced down the left and right hallways, finding them empty, even of the slaves who were usually idly sweeping for lack of anything more pressing to do.
"Where is everybody?" he asked the slave, an adolescent elf boy, who had green eyes underneath his shaved head framed by pointed ears.
"Magister Arrentius and his family are at the waterfront, domine," the slave informed him. "They're entertaining the visitor who arrived just this morning."
"Visitor?" Cassius asked. He wasn't aware of anyone important coming in. Flavius had recently shunned any such visitation at his home on account of his ailing foot.
"Yes, domine," the slave said. "A young man. A mage."
"A mage, you say?" Cassius said as he ran a hand through his hair. "Marinus?"
The slave shook his head. "No, my lord. Someone older. From the north, I thought I heard them say."
"Worried you're being replaced, Terro?" Fiora snickered from behind him.
"Hardly," he said as he adjusted the collar of his shirt and his sleeves.
"If you say so," Fiora said, whistling to herself.
Cassius glanced over his shoulder and scowled. Fiora smiled, having prodded him so. "Take my things up to my quarters and then see that the horses are put away and cared for."
"Aww, what about the party?" Fiora whined.
"You'll stay far away from it," Cassius advised her.
Fiora scoffed and kicked her toe into the floor. "You're no fun."
"Go."
"Fine," Fiora said, hoisting the pack over her shoulder. "Let me know what kind of man this is and if he's staying overnight and, if he is, what room."
Cassius ignored that as she set up the central staircase, although he would be sure to inform whatever visitor was here to consider locking his door at night if he was indeed planning on staying. Cassius had heard stories about Fiora.
He considered for a moment whether he should change first, but decided against it as he strode across the entryway and around the staircase toward the back of the manor, stepping out onto the rear patio where he could hear the sounds of the Nocen as waves rolled in.
Cassius could hear voices, laughter, even before he reached the stairway down to the beach. As reached the top step, a flash of light caught his eye as a ball of magical energy twisted up into the sky, with a second rising from the ground to meet it in a collision that sent sparks flying like fireworks in the air. A cheerful shout echoed up from the beach followed by more laughter.
As he quickly descended the steps, he could see the family gathered down near the waterfront, some under a canvas pavilion that had been erected on the sand to give a bit of shelter and shade on a thankfully dry albeit slightly warm day, while the others were closer to the water line.
It was Servilia, Magister Arrentius' second-youngest, who spotted him first and came bounding over, barefoot, to greet him.
"Cassius! You're back!" she said, wrapping her arms around his hips.
As he reached down to return her embrace, he realized that her strawberry-blonde hair was filled with sand, neverminding her bare feet and wrinkled dress. Of Magister Arrentius' daughters, she was the most rough around the edges.
While Valerie had developed a bit of smart tongue and a carefree approach to life growing up in Asariel, she still possessed and displayed her courtly demeanor when it was required of her. Servilia, on the other hand, hadn't absorbed any of that noble training. Instead, it wasn't uncommon to find her covered in some type of filth and more than once she had been scolded for bringing frogs, mice or birds she had found outside back into the house.
She had a scar on her left arm from when she was once tangling with a stray cat she had wanted to bring home but who had instead introduced her to its claws as it raked deeply across her forearm. Her father had almost stroked when he saw his daughter walk back into the house with an arm dripping in blood, even though she didn't seem overall fazed by the experience.
"I'm back," he said, patting her on the back and looking at the rest of the family, who hadn't noticed him yet. He could see his wife, Andria, lounging in the shade with her younger sister Kordelia with her.. Valerie, Flavius and Junia were near the water line with the visitor, and Flavia, the youngest, was running through the water nearby shrieking in delight. "Who's the visitor?"
"Some guy," Servilia said, shrugging, not offering much in the way of help.
"Hmm," Cassius said, looking at the man chatting with the others. He was dressed in white, clearly a member of the Venatori, but he was obviously younger as the slave at the front door had suggested, so it was doubtful he was another magister. Almost all of the leading voices in the Venatori were older men like Flavius, Magister Alexius and the dour Magister Porenni. "Well, let's go meet him."
Servilia bounded off ahead of him, waving her arms and shouting "Cassius is home! Cassius is home!" until all eyes were turned on him. He waved as they spotted him, turning toward the pavilion first and his wife.
Andria was resting on a long chair with her hands folded over her growing belly, wearing a light dress to help combat the heat. Kordelia was sitting behind her, braiding her hair and glancing suspiciously at her parents, her oldest sister and the Venatori out by the water.
Cassius bent down and gave his wife a kiss without making her get up from the chair. "How are you feeling?"
Andria scowled. "I've had better days, but I'm well enough."
"She was throwing up all morning," Kordelia tattled from behind her.
Andria rolled her eyes and sighed. "Thank you, Kordelia," she said sarcastically.
"She's been having bad heartburn every night, too," Kordelia said, continuing to rat on her older sister. "You should hear the mean things she says about you for doing this to her."
"Kordelia!" Andria said more forcefully in both annoyance and embarrassment.
Cassius looked down at Kordelia who smirked devilishly and tugged her older sister's hair as she crossed the next braid over, making Andria scowl again.
At fourteen years, Kordelia was beginning to blossom. She had the reddest hair of all the sisters, even darker and richer than the mix of rich brown and red her father carried in what remained atop his head. She was developing into a young beauty, to the consternation of her father as not only did she turn the heads of the boys her age but she also seemed to be taking to any boy who would shower her with attention. Flavius had joked about locking her in a tower until she was older — something that wasn't actually unheard of in the Imperium's long and checkered history — although he had only meant it as a jest.
Kordelia had also taken to heart the fact that she was the middle child of five and paid heed to all the stereotypes people had about middle children. She had developed a somewhat devious personality because of it and had a penchant for adjusting her demeanor to fit whatever situation she might be in to get people to let their guard down. Because of it, she tended to be the most well-informed in the house, as she was constantly collecting secrets and, occasionally, sharing them, for a price.
"I forgive you," Cassius said to his wife. "Your body is doing an amazing thing, growing our child, so I harbor no ill feelings if you need to curse me from time to time."
"Thank you," Andria said with a smile.
Kordelia stuck her tongue out the side of her mouth and made a gagging noise.
"All right, Kordelia," Cassius said. "What do you know about our visitor?"
"What's in it for me?" she quickly bartered, as he expected she might.
"I'll have Fiora take you to the city tomorrow and maybe she just happens to take you on a detour past the docks to where they're unloading the boats…" he offered.
"Why would I want to see a bunch of stinking men lifting crates off of boats?" Kordelia said.
Cassius and Andria locked gazes. She rolled her eyes and shook her head slightly. Cassius smirked and shrugged slightly in apology to his wife. "Who said anything about men?"
Kordelia pursed her lips and pouted as she glared at him while continuing to braid her sister's hair without looking down at it, visibly angered that she had slipped up so easily.
"Do we have a deal?" Cassius asked.
Kordelia glared for a moment longer then returned her attention to her sister's head. "He's from Minrathous. He's related to the Ceratoris but not of the main line. Some type of distant cousin or something to the magister, Cressida. He said a bunch of overly nice things about her to father so it's pretty clear he doesn't like her."
Cressida Ceratori was newer to the Magisterium after the death of her father. She had pledged herself to the Venatori cause too. There were rumors that she had once been put forward as a possible match for Dorian Pavus years ago, but that had never taken. She had eventually married a Laetan, which had caused some measure of scandal around the Magisterium. Many viewed the Ceratori house as an Altus family in decline, not so unlike the opinions they held of Flavius and his family.
"What's he doing here?" Cassius asked. "Venatori business?"
"No," Kordelia said flatly. "Father's hoping to sell Valerie off to him like druffalo."
"Kordelia!" Andria said with hushed exasperation at her sister's choice of words. She looked up at her husband. "He's a suitor, the first one in a while to actually win over father."
"I think he's ugly," Kordelia offered. "Someone needs to cut his hair."
"If you don't watch your mouth I'll convince father to betroth him to you," Andria threatened.
"Like you could," Kordelia snorted.
"I'll have Cassius do it," Andria countered.
Cassius raised an eyebrow and tipped his head suggesting that, yes, maybe he could persuade Flavius if he really tried, and Kordelia narrowed her eyes at him again recognizing that. Perhaps she also realized that she was now of an age where her father might start seriously looking for proper matches for her, too, for her future. Andria hadn't been too much older than Kordelia was now when her father had announced their betrothal.
"Cassius, my son! Come join us!" Flavius shouted from where they were standing and waved him over.
"I'm being summoned," he said, bending over to give his wife another kiss before he ducked under the canvas of the pavilion and set out across the beach toward the others.
If it was as Kordelia said — and she was rarely ill-informed — he was perturbed by the notion that perhaps Magister Tilani was being truthful with him and that perhaps Flavius was seeking new suitors for his eldest. He wondered if her other assertions might therefore also be true, although he brushed the thought aside for now. Any magister with a daughter who was of age would be actively seeking suitable matches for his daughter, so it wouldn't be so terribly difficult to find that information out. Valerie was actually slightly over age at this point, so Flavius should have been seeking matches more vigorously than he actually was, or, at least, as much as Cassius thought him to be.
Still, it bothered him that if Flavius had been making arrangements somewhat recently, he hadn't been made aware of it.
Flavius, who was on his feet today although who appeared to be in some general discomfort because of it, corralled Cassius with an arm behind his back and brought him into the group.
"Here's the man I was telling you about, although I didn't expect him to be home so soon. I thought the stuffy old magisters would have him trapped in Minrathous for at least another week boring each other to death," Flavius chuckled.
"Cassius Terro, is it?" the visitor said, extending a hand. "A pleasure to meet you. Flavius speaks very highly of you."
"I owe it all to his mentorship and trust in me," Cassius said humbly as he took the man's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you…"
"Lysander Vespasian," he provided after Cassius' pause. "From the stories Flavius had told, I half-expected you to be ten feet tall."
Flavius guffawed and Cassius smiled at the joke as he released hands with the man. No doubt that was true, as Magister Arrentius frequently oversold his abilities and personality to others, a habit Cassius had tried unsuccessfully to reel in for years.
"Vespasian? Related to the Ceratoris?" Cassius offered, utilizing Kordelia's tip.
"Yes, that's correct," the visitor said. "You're as shrewd as Flavius said. Most people haven't heard of my family."
Cassius hadn't, in truth, until today. There were dozens of families in the Magisterium and although Cassius knew all of the Altus families and at least some passing information about each of them, the roster of Laetan representatives changed decade to decade, even year to year depending on the rising and falling fortunes of the last houses into the assembly, the brokering of new marriages, the political winds and, from time to time, the total collapse of weak bloodlines poor in magic.
His unfamiliarity with the family must mean that the Vespasians were Laetan. He assumed they family must hold a seat in the Magisterium — Flavius wouldn't be wasting time with anyone of lower status for his first-born daughter and current heir, Cassius knew — but one that must not be particularly powerful or influential. Yet, at least. Cassius had no doubt that this man was here, in part, because he expected a marriage to an Arrentius might help raise his stock.
This Vespasian was well-built, with a rugged jawline and jutting chin. He had blue eyes under a head of blonde hair. Cassius couldn't help but agree with Kordelia's assessment that he could benefit from a trim — the man's hair was nearly shoulder length and had a wave to it that made it look slightly unkempt. Still, he did had an overall light to his face, appearing to be well-adapted to social situations with a good smile and a comfortable demeanor.
"Lysander is a second cousin once removed to Magister Ceratori," Flavius explained. "His great-grandmother was the older sister of Magister Centrax, Cressida's grandfather. He was the youngest of nine, but his oldest brother was killed fighting the oxmen and his second brother succumbed to some sort of tumor, so the title fell to him."
"I feel my great-grandmother's Altus blood flowing strongly in me every day," Vespasian said, clenching his fist. "She was a wonderful woman, from what my family tells me. Strong, vibrant, and beautiful, although I must say from the portraits I've seen she pales in comparison to Valerie."
Valerie smiled politely at the bit of flattery. She was done up more today than she might have been on a normal day, Cassius noticed. Someone — no doubt Andria — had curled her dark hair more intentionally than the natural curl it normally had and she was wearing a bit of cosmetic, which she normally never did. Like her sisters, she was dressed lightly, in a short-sleeved sundress of white that extended just above knee length that was not too short but also not too heavy for a day in the outdoors. She wore a white daisy in her hair over her left ear and the light dusting of freckles across her nose and cheeks were more visible in the midday, a speckle of dark splayed like pixie dust popping off her sun-kissed visage.
"Lysander finished in the top ten percent of his class at the Circle in Minrathous. I believe he was a year or two behind you there," Flavius explained.
"Dragon 9:37," Vespasian said as he admired a golden ring with a green stone on his right hand, a memento of his time at the Circle. Cassius had not been able to afford such accessories, so he only had his documents of completion and his memories to remind him of his completion of his term two years earlier in 9:35. "The headmaster said we were one of the most talented classes to come through in many years. Several of the biggest Altus families had graduates in my class, so I was honored to be able to keep pace with many of them."
"We were having a bit of fun spot shooting just now," Flavius said. "Lysander never misses."
"Join us for a round," Lysander offered to Cassius. "I'd like to see what you're capable of."
Cassius glanced to Valerie discreetly. He suspected she wasn't terribly impressed by how accurately someone could fling magic. At least, he had gotten that impression in that she never had bothered to talk much with him about his gift or ask him to demonstrate it.
As a non-mage herself, she didn't take much interest in magic. She had come to terms with it many years ago that it had made its decision on her and, bereft of its blessing, she didn't have to worry about whether she grew or waned in power over the years. Her only concern would be whether she could pass the gift on to her children some day, even if she herself did not carry it.
"I wouldn't want to intrude," Cassius said politely, but was stopped as Flavius clapped him on the back.
"Nonsense!" the magister declared. "I've already shown our guest how out of practice I am, so hopefully you can give him a challenge, Cassius."
If his lord desired him to compete, he was bound to oblige. "Very well."
"Excellent!" Vespasian said with a quiet clap of his hands. "Well then, staff or no staff?"
"Your choice," Cassius deferred with a dip of his head, as was polite to a fellow mage of higher status.
"Without then," Lysander answered without hesitation. "I find it more challenging this way. A good staff should be tuned for accuracy, but I've always enjoyed the rawness of feeling the magic in my own hand, don't you?"
"It is an indescribable feeling," Cassius answered vaguely. Admittedly, he didn't often summon magic off the cuff, as it were. His former training at the Circle had always been with a staff as an aid and one that he had used extensively during his education for its ability to help steady and focus his spellcasting.
More talented, or at least, arrogant, mages would often discard it and cast directly out of their hands, but as a first-generation Praeteri, his understanding and grasp of magic had been, in his early years, tenuous at best. While some mages called a staff a crutch, he had needed it in his early training simply in order to achieve his lessons and maintain his position in the Circle.
He had grown in his ability and understanding of the mechanisms and study of magic over the subsequent years so that he could function if he were ever disarmed, however, he simply preferred to use the staff as a matter of comfort and ease.
"Lysander, would you prefer the first or second position?" Flavius asked, offering the guest the choice of order.
"I'll take the first shot, Flavius," he accepted with a nod. That was well enough as Cassius preferred to shoot second, which had the advantage of seeing the pattern the target might take and give a slight advantage to hitting it.
"Very well," Flavius said. "Standard rules. First hit with their opponent missing claims the victory. Spirit energy, single bolt. Five seconds to fire after release of the target, failure to shoot within that period will result in a forfeit. Are you both clear on the rules?"
They both nodded in agreement. Cassius stepped back as Lysander readied himself, before Flavius tipped his brow to his wife.
Junia smiled, glancing at the two young men, before she rubbed her palms together, pulling her right hand down to her hip as she summoned a small ball of energy, holding it for a moment before she thrust it into the sky.
The purple-white ball of magic was perhaps the size of a human head, arcing up over the water slowly. Lysander lifted his arm, raised his first two fingers with his thumb out to the side and fired his shot almost immediately, a small bolt of spirit energy that zipped out in a straight line, striking the orb of magic and causing it to burst in a shower of sparks.
"Another perfect shot!" Flavius exclaimed as he applauded.
"Very nice," Valerie agreed as she came to her father's side, nearly resting against his arm as she spectated.
Lysander rolled his fingers back into his palm as he lowered his arm and smiled, stepping back to allow Cassius to step up for his turn.
Having seen the size, speed and arc of the first shot, Cassius expected Junia would offer him up a similar target. He began running through the processes in his mind, the necessary steps it would take to open his connection to the Fade, pull the needed mana across, form and shape it into a bolt of spirit energy and fire it accurately within the time allotted.
He took his position, raising his left arm, palm flat out toward the water of the Nocen, and steadied with his right hand wrapped around his wrist, eyeing the general area where he expected the target to travel.
"Ready," he announced, as he could see Junia moving out of the corner of his eye. He tried not to glance at what she was doing, instead keeping his eyes focused across the water, waiting for the magical target.
He could see the light growing to his right side even before the ball of magic lazily floated up into the air. Cassius locked his eyes on the ball, throwing himself open to the Fade as he watched it arc, shaping the spell on his left palm, forming the ball of spirit energy tightly to keep it stable even as he slowly moved his left arm with his right tracking the target.
Three, four, he counted in his head as he let the spell go, firing his spirit bolt. The extra time had allowed Junia's sphere to go farther out over the water and start to dip off the peak of its arc, but he had fired the shot low, watching as his bolt zipped over the water, striking the heavy sphere of magic before it could touch down into the water, sending a spray of light and sparks over the tops of the waves.
He could hear Flavius applauding loudly again as he looked over his shoulder toward his mentor and his daughter, seeing Valerie's smile as she clapped softly, too.
"Not bad," Lysander said as he stepped up for his next turn. "I thought you had waited too long, but I see I was wrong."
Lysander dug his feet into the sand a little bit as he took his position to fire again. "Lady Arrentius," he said. "Let's skip the easy ones and move on to something more advanced, why don't we? Throw me a difficult one, if you please."
Junia looked to her husband, who only nodded in agreement. She smirked, Cassius noticed, as she pulled her hands down to her side and began to summon the spell. Cassius watched as she looked out over the water, the light between her palms growing and pulsing as she shaped her target, no doubt cooking up something devious, at their visitor's request.
Cassius watched as Junia let the spell go, a tiny pixie of magic that spiraled upward slowly at first, then after about a second, sparked and changed direction, shooting fast across the sky as it skittered up and down more like a small bird than a ball.
Lysander grunted and pulled his hand back after almost firing at the initial movement, but he had smartly held on perhaps expecting a trick. He tracked the bolt across the sky, waiting to see if there were any more surprises to it.
"Five!" Flavius called out, just a blink past Lysander letting his shot go, a quick-moving strike that arced up over the water, clipping Junia's target far off and setting both into an explosion of sparks.
Flavius erupted in another cheer and even Valerie applauded more enthusiastically at the tough shot. Lysander laughed to himself, wagging a finger at the lady of the house. "You almost got me with that one."
Junia smiled, put her arm across her waist and bowed slightly in recognition of his accomplishment.
As Cassius stepped up, Lysander brushed past his shoulder. "Good luck," he said. "Lady Arrentius is a tough one."
Cassius took his place, setting up again as Junia began her preparation. Unlike before, he doubted she would fire a similar shot for his own, although she'd offer up something equally as challenging. He didn't wait for her to fire, instead beginning to summon the magic to his palm now in anticipation of firing the shot.
He blinked as the light erupted from Junia's hands, watching as the shot went up into the air. But as he tracked the magic he quickly realized it was not just a shot, but instead two small bolts, circling upward in different arcs. He tried to judge their path, guessing at where they'd converge. Once they met, no doubt they'd merge and then change direction, so he figured it might be best to hit them right at the point of convergence.
Cassius lined up his shot and fired, his bolt approaching the two converging balls of spirit energy.
As his shot approached, he watched as the two balls of magic started to slow and dip, dropping a bit in elevation instead of continuing on a straight path, tracing a shape in the sky almost like the top of a heart.. He watched as the two balls of magic met, merging and shooting straight downward toward the water as his shot sailed over the top of it, into the sky until the white-purple bolt of energy dissipated into nothing.
Cassius lowered his arms and turned his head to Junia, who smiled apologetically and placed her hand over her heart. Cassius smiled and bowed his head, accepting defeat.
"And we have a winner!" Flavius announced, shaking hands with a smiling Vespasian. The guest turned and offered his hand to Cassius, who took it and shook it in gentlemanly respect.
"Magister Arrentius was correct," Cassius said, "you do never miss."
"Practice, a lot of practice," Vespasian deflected, then added, "I have to admit, for a Praeteri, that shot was a lot closer than I expected."
Cassius gave Vespasian's hand one more shake and released, smiling politely. "I just wish I could have provided more of a challenge," he said.
Before anything else could be exchanged, Flavius was stepping in. "Well, all of this excitement has my stomach rumbling. What do you all say we return to the house and see if the cooks can prepare something for us? I trust you're able to stay a bit longer with us, Lysander?"
"I'm happy to enjoy your hospitality for as long as you offer it, Flavius," the guest said politely.
Cassius turned his head as he felt fingers on his arm, meeting a gentle smile of Valerie, who said nothing beyond the light touch that he understood carried her condolences for his loss in the match.
"Lady Valerie," Lysander said, offering his hand to her, "might I escort you back to the house?"
Valerie provided her hand, which he took, linking her arm into his. "Lead on."
Cassius watched as they started up the beach back toward the house, chatting to each other as they walked. As they stepped out of earshot, Flavius stepped next to him, cursing under his breath as he leaned onto his swollen foot, no doubt suggesting a return to the house was for no other reason but to him get off his feet for a bit.
"So, Cassius, my son, what do you think? He seems like a good one, doesn't he?" Flavius asked.
Vespasian wasn't an Altus, or even from a good Laetan family, but he had skills and some charm. Whatever maneuvering he had taken to even entice Flavius into setting up a meeting and entertaining the thought of betrothal spoke to at least some skill in politicking, something any member of the noble families in Tevinter would need to survive. In the eyes of other Altus families he might be a poor match for an eldest daughter and de facto heir of the household, but for Flavius Five-Daughters, he might be the best that the Arrentius line could hope for.
Cassius watched as Lysander and Valerie continued to walk away, as the magister's oldest daughter tipped her head back slightly and laughed at something her suitor said as they walked, sharing some mirth.
If his lord planned to wed his eldest daughter to this suitor, Cassius was bound to accept it.
He was, after all, just a Praeteri.