"So are you saying that transformation magic is a form of alchemy or are you saying that it's a disguise and the specimen isn't actually altered? Or if they are altered and it isn't alchemy, what is it then?"
The questions rattled off faster than Izuku could stop himself from asking them. It was a persistent problem he had of vocalizing his thoughts without them being asked for and too quickly for them to be answered before the next one followed. His weary teacher, Master Shota Aizawa groaned on the chattering that followed him, but Izuku was not so easily deterred.
His notebook was open in one hand, scrawled with illegible notes, while three tomes sat tucked under his other arm. Izuku was assigned as an apprentice to the masterful mage and the regret of the half-breed was evident in his every step. Master Shota's patience was a short thing and Izuku had a tendency to test it at every turn.
Izuku was more than well aware that he had little chance of rising into the high ranks of the Synod without persistence and he believed that he absolutely had the tenacity to do it, but mages didn't tend to like bright personalities and cheery attitudes. There was a solemnity to their studies and their work and it caught their eyes negatively to see a smile. Which was all the more wonder why the Synod had chosen Izuku to stay on at the Center Magesterium to study with the Synod, to be apprentice to Master Shota. He wasn't their type at all. But he wasn't going to turn away his good luck. There was something about him that they wanted to cultivate and he was ready and willing to be that tool.
"This subject is not relevant to your studies," Shota said blandly, "Have you studied the new power form I showed you?"
Izuku snapped closed the notebook and shoved it with the other transcripts before flicking out his wrist and pulling out a glyph. With a swift motion he pulled down and a glowing green energy crackled along his arm. Another quick motion and the force of his hand pushing air sent a gusting force across the hall, knocking a passing mage's book clean from his hand.
They kept walking as the man griped and the glyph disappeared.
"Of course, I did," Izuku held his head high, "I did all I could with it last night and I started diving into these tomes instead. There's a lot of books on shapeshifting, but no Synod mage practices it, so I figured I'd try to figure out why. It's not a banned magic so its user aren't Fallen Mages, so why isn't it a part of Magesterium studies?"
Master Shota came to a full stop and Izuku stumbled at the swiftness of it, looking green eyes up at his Master. The man was tall and lanky; lightly pointed ears pushed through long, messy black hair, but little else said he was elf-kind. He lacked the regality that most had. The tired stance, the dark circles below his eyes, and the tightly set mouth all spoke of humanity and years in the mage lifestyle.
He looked at Izuku with a disdainful glare, harshness in his tone. "Bog Magic is irrelevant to a Synod mage, I've told you this before and I won't say it again. If you want to be a part of our rank and file then you will stop studying outside of your realm and practice what we tell you. Is that understood?"
Izuku's head fell and he huffed out air through his nostrils. "Yes."
"Now stop interrupting me so I can tell you where you're going," Shota grumbled, continuing their walk.
Izuku rushed to keep up, suddenly awake to something he'd missed before. "I'm going somewhere?"
"It's what I was trying to tell you when you started babbling about shapeshifters," Master Shota said, shortly, "The Synod needs every man in action these days. Even the untested. Our experienced mages are being sent to the battlefields to suppress demon infestation and plights to the lands that don't have an army prepared to defend them. Our healers are stretched thin across the kingdom and we have to provide protection to the royal houses as well. There are few left to handle the more menial tasks, which means that our younger mages are being tested with assignments sooner than is normal."
Pride flushed up from Izuku's chest and into his face. He was a brand new apprentice, fresh from the Magesterium, barely two months into his training under Master Shota and already he was being sent out into the kingdom on official Synod business. This was huge.
"What am I doing?" Izuku was smiling wide, "Where am I being sent? Am I going alone?"
Another frown from Shota stifled the rest of his questions as they approached the small meeting chamber. It really stuck at that moment that this was both real and serious. He'd never entered this room, let alone been allowed a place in the conversations had here. This was for Masters and experienced mages and yet here he was, passing through these doors.
When he entered he was at first awed by the very professional outlay, strategic map set in the center of the room, very little seating, no windows for prying eyes to peer through and lit blue-flamed lanterns circling the middle. Around the table stood Master Shinji Nishiya and an older apprentice named Yo Shindo.
"Thank you for joining us," Master Shinji nodded to them both as the door closed behind them.
Master Shota gave a short greeting and directed Izuku to stand beside him at the table. The younger mage was in awe and simply stood with an open mouthed stare at the Master across from him, the man called Kamui Woods for his incredible control of nature magic. He wanted to gush and tell him how incredible he thought he was, but the looks around the table said that this was serious and no time could be wasted on such frivolities.
"Izuku Midoriya," Master Shinji addressed him directly, "It's not normal to pull an apprentice from their studies like this, but we are short handed and you are talented and diligent so we are sending you with Yo on this assignment."
"I'm honored!" Izuku bowed his head and struggled to hold himself still.
There was a distant, breathy laugh from Yo, who crossed his arms at the mage. "That'll wear off quickly," Yo rolled his eyes.
"Abide your tongue," Master Shinji calmly chided Yo, "You would benefit to still find excitement in your services. You are too young to be so soured."
Yo gave another roll of his eyes and Shinji moved on, seeming used to it.
"The task is simple, though it may come with complications," Master Shinji placed his finger on the map against a village deep inland, "We have been informed by our agents that a renegade mage has been seen in Landsleave Village. The townspeople claim she has lived there her entire life, which means she has never been Magesterium trained or counseled."
"A potential Fallen," Yo filled in the space that wasn't outright said by his master.
Izuku's eyes widened.
Master Shinji continued. "It's not grave enough to send our more valuable mages, as she has not posed an immediate threat, but in times like these especially we cannot have renegade mages running uncontrolled through the land. Just the fear and panic it will cause is enough to make this an important task. I need you and Yo to go to Landsleave and retrieve this mage by whatever means necessary."
That last bit seemed rather open ended and Izuku was prepared to delve deeper into what 'by whatever means necessary' meant, but Yo stepped in before he could.
"We'll bring her here kicking and screaming if we have to," Yo turned to plant his hands on the table, a wry grin on his face.
Thrill and anxiousness swirled in Izuku's head. Such a high stakes, risky assignment was everything he could have wanted, but at the same time he was stifled by the thought that this was the first time in a long time that he will have been out in the world outside of the Magesterium. Especially as a full fledged mage. The mages were given opportunities to spend time in the nearby village once a week while growing up in the Magesterium, but those times were limited and closely scrupulized. This time he would not be watched by hawkeyed masters and he was not just going to the little marketplace by the town center. It was Landsleave, a city he had read to be quaint and farm heavy, but on the edges of the overpowering might of Tarlson, the greatest military power in the kingdom. This was a real journey, a possible adventure.
"We won't let you down," Izuku bounced, already mentally flipping through the list of techniques he wanted to review before they took to the road.
Master Shota seemed not to care one way or another if Izuku and Yo let them down, but Master Shinji gave a professional nod to the young mage.
"And who exactly is this person we're detaining?" Izuku thought to ask before the meeting could be concluded.
Master Shinji straightened and grabbed a scroll, marked with the seal of the Synod Agency, the sect that oversaw the communications between the Synod and the mages within the lordships across the kingdom. It was an official document, their assignment.
He placed it in Yo's hand and said to Izuku, "A girl name Ururaka Ochako."
"I don't fucking like this!"
Lord Kan sighed into his hands and wiped at the dark circles beneath his eyes. Shoto felt especially uncomfortable to be standing here at a time like this. There had been only a mere day of quiet outside of the barricade and the survivors had barely begun to mourn the heavy losses. But there was very little time for such comforts as grieving in the midst of this war and the soldiers had diligently taken to the commands of their lieutenants, tending to the wounded, refortifying the encampment, and disposing of the bodies within the barricade. The fallen soldiers outside were simply left. There were too many and it was too dangerous to be outside of the walls, so the drained husks that remained after Nana's attack remained, rotting and turning to the land. The entire landscape smelled sickly with the stench and the soldier's wretched themselves regularly.
This had not been a victory, it had been survival. And it was apparent on the Lord Commander's face that the last thing he wanted to deal with right now was a blood mage in his prison or even the issue of the mage standing in front of him right now. It seemed Katsuki agreed with the Commander on that, his attitude towards Shoto, persistently terrible and harsh. But Shoto couldn't blame him, couldn't be upset at it. He didn't like the position he'd been thrust into either.
By midday Shoto had awoken feeling stronger and able to move around without hobbling. He had the wherewithal to dress, to cinch his robes and clean the blood and grime from his staff. So when he was called to Lord Kan's tent he was able to come presentably. He was the Synod representative until further notice, after all, he had to try and look like it.
"So you keep telling me," Lord Kan grumbled, "Sit down, Katsuki, you'll wear a hole into the earth."
He looked at his captain wearily as he shot back and forth in a frustrated pace in front of the tent's entrance, hand hovering over sword, eyeing Shoto suspiciously.
"I don't like the situation either, My Lord," Shoto said calmly, far more composed than he had been that morning. He really hadn't been himself in that moment, but to do what he did, he couldn't have been.
"Welcome to a real war," Lord Kan sighed, sitting back at his desk. Maps and correspondences laid out in front of him in piles and none looked positive. "We make do with what we have and if we can't we hope for an honorable death."
Katsuki scoffed. "Fuck dying honorably. There's no honor in death, you're just fucking dead and it means shit-nothing."
That statement unnerved Shoto more than he liked to admit. "So the thousands dead beyond the barricade meant nothing?"
"You heard me," Katsuki sounded venomous, but the look Lord Kan was directing towards him was far more poisonous.
"Talk philosophy on your own time," Lord Kan huffed, "We have bigger issues. We need reinforcements, supplies, medicine for the wounded. The ether armies could reemerge any moment. And in the middle of it all is a damned blood mage sitting in my prison, untouchable."
There was spite on Lord Kan's tongue and Shoto fought his ingrained instinct to shrink under it. His frustration reminded Shoto of the Masters and his body told him to expect a rebuke, verbal or otherwise. It didn't come though. The Lord Commander's anger was not directed to the mage and he did not lash out irrationally like Shoto was used to. It bolstered a confidence in the mage, posed the question of what power Lord Kan had really just given him by stating he was the Synod representative.
"I wish to speak with her," Shoto stated coolly, "I think we should know more about what happened. I can't get what I saw out there out of my mind."
"Which is all the more terrifying," Lord Kan grimaced, "What she must be capable of...what that could do if turned on us… Blood Mages are part of The Fallen for a reason. That magic is particularly tainting. It reeks of the ether, of death, and corruption. A blood mage cannot be pure hearted. We cannot trust her no matter what she says her intentions are. But since I doubt you are equipped to dispose of her, we have no choice but to hold her until the Synod sends reinforcements."
"Why?" Katsuki growled and finally stormed past Shoto to slam his fist on the desk, "I can take this sword and decapitate her right now! She's powerful, but she's still flesh and blood."
Shoto's hand went up and Katsuki threw him a menacing look.
"Captain, it's not that simple," Shoto was hesitant, unsure if he should explain, unsure if he had the right to decide what this non-mage should know. He looked to Lord Kan, as if asking what he should do. The Commander just grit his teeth and shook his head.
"What's not simple about it?" Katsuki barked at Shoto.
"It doesn't matter," Lord Kan drew them both back, "We will not kill her. The Synod will handle her fate. What matters right now is that Shoto can ensure that she won't use her magic against us or escape in the meantime. We have plenty to worry about in preparing for the next onslaught without looking over our shoulders for blood magic every moment. Can you do that, Shoto?"
Assuring that a blood mage wouldn't use blood magic would require wards that Shoto didn't know. It was the same reason he could not carry out her execution. At most he could use certain healing spells to keep her docile, which weren't even particularly subduing. But he didn't have to tell Lord Kan that. He needed this opportunity and he would say what he had to to get close to the prisoner.
"I can," Shoto nodded, "I will look after the blood mage until the Synod sends reinforcements and the new Master can deal with her."
Shoto's swiftness to answer got a raised eyebrow from Lord Kan, but he didn't say anything further about it. He just tilted his head and grabbed the stack of new letters.
"Good, then see to it," The Lord Commander said, "You may leave. The Captain and I need to discuss our strategy."
Shoto was more than happy to be dismissed. The last thing he wanted was to listen to the day's reports. It would be dismal and disheartening and they had already taken such heavy casualties. The last thing he wanted to hear on top of it all was that the other Lords wouldn't send reinforcements or bandits had held up supply routes or the myriad of other issues that were likely on their way. The world outside of the Lord Commander's tent was far more welcoming, despite the disdain that permeated the very air.
Since that morning the encampment had turned a harsh eye to Shoto. No one liked a man who would stand in defense for a Fallen Mage. Many looks were accusing...some fearful. Some were simply spiteful. And he knew why. Out of the entire cohort the Synod has sent, Shoto, of all of them, was the only one left standing.
And he was no one's favorite. Shoto had made no friends since arriving at the encampment. He stayed to himself and studied his tomes and practiced his magic. The other mages could hardly get him to engage with them, let alone the soldiers.
At the time, his bad attitude was anger driven. He was never supposed to be here.
Battle mages were useful, but they were fodder in this war. Shoto was powerful, strong. He deserved better than this shit station. He should have been in the Synod like Izuku...
Shoto's chest tightened as he walked to the prison area, his mind pulled to that last night at the Magesterium...that horrible fight. He'd never been good at making friends, but Izuku had forced his way in and demanded that friendship despite Shoto's best efforts. It took time, but Shoto eventually accepted the friendship and until that last day they had supported each other in reaching their goals. But Shoto had been unnecessarily cruel to him after they were told their assignments. It wasn't Izuku's fault that the Synod had damned Shoto to the front lines instead of taking him into their upper ranks. And now, on a day after certain death had barely passed him by, all Shoto could think about was that the only friend he had in this entire, harsh world, probably hated him. That his last words to him would be biting forever, with no chance to make that right.
Just one more cruel trick of this unfair world.
The prison was makeshift at best, stakes in the ground forming a small cage, with its prisoner chained in the center to a post, half soaking in the mud beneath her. She didn't show that it affected her. She was still smiling.
The guardsmen stopped Shoto as he approached, their own suspicion matching that of the other soldiers in the camp. He stated his business, told them of Lord Kan's orders for him to secure the prisoner with magic and dismissed them. They didn't like it, but Lord Kan had publicly given him the authority to make such a demand and they had no choice but to listen.
When they were out of earshot, Nana twinkled a beautiful grin towards the young man and shifted in the mud as if she could get more comfortable somehow.
"You said your name was Shoto?" she looked him up and down, assessing him, "I should probably thank you for saving me this morning. Are you here to execute me now? Did your Commander change his mind?"
Shoto watched the ground closely. "I'm not here to kill you...the Synod will decide that when the reinforcements arrive."
"Ah!" she chuckled, "Then what is it?"
There was hesitance as Shoto tried to gather his question into words. It was hard to say exactly why he was here, he just knew that there was more he had to know about the blood mage and what she had done.
"I...don't understand what happened last night and I'm trying to. The Lord Commander instructed me to make sure you weren't a danger to the encampment, but I'm really here because...I guess I don't really know."
"I think you do," she tilted her head, "You're the first Synod mage that's ever seen me perform blood magic and not immediately tried to bring me to justice. I think you want me to resolve the conflict you're feeling about defending me. That can't have been easy for someone of your upbringing to do."
Shoto frowned, because it was true. He wanted to be validated in saving her life...but he also wanted to be reassured that blood mages were truly as awful as he'd always heard. She would be executed when the new Master arrived and he needed to be okay with her being killed despite what he saw during the battle. Despite knowing that she was the only reason he was alive. The only reason he had not met the horror of death by the hands of a Shrike Demon.
"I have very little to lose," Nana laughed, "I'm more than willing to answer any questions you have. I owe you that much, don't I?"
Shoto nodded, refocusing. "You aren't like any mage I've ever seen...not because of the blood magic. I've seen Fallen Mages before and I grew up in the Magesterium surrounded by the greatest of our kind and none were ever like you. Except for maybe one..."
Izuku's obnoxious, persistent smile stuck in his mind at how similar it was to hers and he grew freshly annoyed at the memory. Somehow, while the grin of his once friend still struck a sensitive chord in him, Nana's was strangely warming and it felt wrong to be somewhat enchanted by it. By a blood mage.
"You mean my incredible personality?" she winked and shrugged, "I didn't grow up in a Magesterium like most mages. That's all the explanation you should need."
Shoto frowned. "Then how did you learn your magic? How were you able to control it? Without the Magesterium-"
"Without the Magesterium I grew up like any other kid, with a happy childhood and a fruitful adulthood," Nana rolled her eyes, "I know it's been ingrained in you since infancy, but the Magesterium is not the end all for every child born with the touch of magic. Believe it or not there are others who understand magic besides the Synod. And there is more than just the Dark Arts that they keep from students like yourself."
Shoto searched his memory of the many different magic subjects they had studied in the Magesterium over the years and looked up at her with interest. "Like the Bog Mages?"
She shrugged, "I suppose, but I can at least agree with the Synod that they are primitive in their use of magic. I learned from the Solstice Elves. I'm sure that surprises your young, indoctrinated mind to know that I'm not some bloodlusting abomination, clawing at power with a meat cleaver. I grew up learning nature magic. Bending the wood of a tree, lifting the ground beneath my feet, filtering rejuvenating essence into crops to yield fruitful harvests."
The clamor of the encampment became a distant thrum as Shoto drew very close to the cell, curiosity flecking his dull expression.
"How does a nature mage become a blood mage?" He looked at her closely, trying to pull apart the cause and reason of what she said. She had a strong body and a firm chin beneath her vivacious eyes and messed black hair. The physique of a laborer, but the spirit of a forest dwelling elf.
"I returned to Dawnfell when I became an adult, thrilled to bring useful magic back to my family," she mused, a distant smile on her lips, "To build up my cousins crops, to expand the Dawnsend forest, to protect my home. But then the Synod came for me."
Darkness filled her eyes and her smile turned to grit teeth. "A man came for me. The man the Synod now calls, the Magestrate."
Air slipped clean from Shoto's lungs. It didn't sound real, what she was telling him. The Magestrate's identity was lost when he accepted the mantle and for a mage Shoto's age, no older than twenty, that lost identity was an unknowable thing. His name was redacted from scrolls, books, and tomes. His identity lost to time and the memory of those who knew him before.
"You...knew the Magestrate?"
"Knew him?" Nana scoffed and shook her head, "My dear Shoto, I escaped him. Barely. The last thing I ever want is to know that man. I lost every person I ever cared about to him. When he came for me I resisted and when a mage is sent to retrieve a renegade they are given leave to use any means necessary to get the job done. He burned my family home before my eyes with my family still inside of it. My mother, my brothers, my son…still just a boy."
The pained look she bore passed to something fond. "He was talented too. His father was an elven mage and he had an incredible gift for creation. He once held a seed in his hand and willed it to sprout and bloom as we watched."
There was a lump in Shoto's throat, watching how her mind lingered in some far away place and time. More because she did not show sorrow over it, even as she reminisced of her dead child.
But when Nana drew back in she became serious again, though the light tone had never left her. "I realized my magic was not strong enough to truly defend those I cared about so I set on a new journey, to learn everything. It took me across the kingdom, through the elven nations, and even the bogs. I found my purpose in defending the innocent. Doing what mages are supposed to do."
Nana pushed her foot through the mud and circled her heel in the muck, making sloppy, useless glyphs.
"Then the first demon emerged and I almost failed again," Nana said.
"Wait...if what you're saying is true then you've barely been a blood mage for even a year," Shoto assessed the timeline, seeing that she hadn't mentioned learning it yet and if she was speaking of the demons arriving that brought her story to this past year.
"No," Nana shook her head, "The Synod tells everyone that the first demon emerged last winter, but they have been plaguing the outskirts for nearly three years. The threats remained small enough to subdue without alarming the entire kingdom until the attack on Windstone. Then they had no choice but to call the nation to arms. But long before that came to be, I witnessed something that changed me."
The blood mage leaned forward, lip quirked up in a smirk that had Shoto on his tiptoes with anticipation.
"I saw a blood mage fight an Inferno Demon to dust," she said, "With a single ounce of blood and without breaking a sweat."
Thoughts of Nana defeating the Shrike the night before filtered through his memory and a certain awe returned to him. No matter how much of horror that night had been or how dangerous this mage was, that action was still the most incredible thing he had ever seen.
"When the battle had ended I went to him and asked him to explain," Nana said, "Like most I was told that blood magic was corruption incarnate, but what I had seen had saved thousands of lives, using only his own blood. He was not as charming or friendly as me, but he didn't turn me away either. After persistently pestering him for answers, he finally gave in and explained to me what he had done, much like I am doing for you, though I'm taking up much more of your time and sprinkling in my life story with it. You'll forgive me for getting a head start on the wise old spinster act, I may not live long enough to get there naturally."
Shoto felt his cheek tug just a little, but stayed his expression into nothing. There really was something charming about the way she spoke and it warmed his gut in a way he was not familiar with.
"Just tell me what the man said," Shoto forced out a glare to make her move on to her point.
"He told me of how blood magic affects creatures of the ether," Nana spoke with a thrill that Shoto found was very like Izuku when he caught onto the trick of a new spell, "It tears far deeper than any normal attack spell. It can destroy an Inferno or a Shrike in moments...and with enough power behind it, it can kill an Archdemon."
Shoto's eyes fell as he considered what that meant. Killing an Archdemon? Even the Magestrate backed by every mage in the Synod would not be able to accomplish that. In the past the resolution was always to banish the creature back to the ether. To find the summoner and use them as a conduit to return the demon. But to kill one?
"Impossible," Shoto said softly to himself.
"Not impossible," Nana snatched back his attention, eyes hopeful on him, "It can be done. I could have killed the Shrike using just my own blood, but I drew in the blood of the entire battlefield for the power to face the Archdemon. I came here to end this war. And I came so close...I could feel it...I had him at his brink...but then…"
Shoto grabbed the bars, searching her eyes. "Then what?"
"The summoner," Nana said in a hushed voice, "I saw him just beyond the battlefield. The Archdemon was almost finished, but the summoner breathed new life into it, undid my every attack. The Archdemon was weakened enough to retreat, but it will be back and only blood magic can stop it."
"You saw the summoner?" Shoto could hardly believe what he was hearing.
"Only his silhouette," Nana shook her head, "But I felt his presence like no other and I saw his magic. He felt like death…"
"Then blood magic isn't the answer," Shoto washed over in relief, "If we can find the summoner then the Archdemon can be banished just like it's always been done."
"No, Shoto," Nana sighed, "Not this time. Through blood magic a demon can be banished in the same way that the Magestrate uses the summoner as a conduit. The basis of this magic type allows it to affect the demons in such a way that it also has a controlling connection over them. A blood mage can banish a demon, just as he can destroy it. But this army...these demons, they can't be banished. We tried. Even the least of their ranks cannot be exercised out of this realm. They are grounded here and we don't know how. They can't be sent back...they can only be destroyed."
Shoto's lips parted as his glare tore into the ground, trying to understand what she was saying to him.
"Shoto you must listen to me," Nana was leaning as far as she could against her shackles, eyes pleading for him to heed her words, "There is no other way to end this, you have to trust me. I thought all I had to do was face the Archdemon and we would win, but we have to stop the summoner first. I came here yesterday expecting that I would die in my attempt, but me and the Archdemon still live and I believe it's for a reason. I believe there's a reason you survived too. Because there is more I can do...because I have another chance to kill it!"
The two, unmatched colors of his eyes lifted, meeting her dark gaze. He didn't know what to think...what to believe. How could he believe that magic of a Fallen Mage was the only hope left? How could she ask him to believe that the Magestrate was not powerful enough to banish the Archdemon or to stop the Summoner?
The first act on the emergence of demons was to send out mages in search of the Summoner. Demons cannot enter the mortal realm without one. The hope in everyone's hearts was that they would simply need to hold the line at Dawnfell until the Summoner was found and subdued. But if what Nana said was at all true...then finding the Summoner wouldn't end this. Wouldn't stop the Archdemon. But strand it here, free to consume the earth.
"I...can't believe that," Shoto said softly, finally, "If I believe it, then I have to believe that everything in this world will die. That there's no hope. That the strength of the Synod is false and my entire, miserable life is a heinous lie...it's already a tragic fucking disappointment...don't make it that too."
Shoto shoved away from the cell and turned his back to her. He marched away, twisting and internally writhing with a horrible fear, a denial of what he had heard, but a lingering doubt in his judgment that she was wrong. Her voice followed him as he left, though, strong and more alive than he'd ever felt as it called his doom after him.
"There is hope, Shoto!" she said, "I can show you if you let me! Allow me to save the world!"
He grit his teeth and threw out a spell behind him, green light touching the air as a sleep enchantment filtered through the bars, taking the prisoner in its grasp. Her voice slipped away and her head fell against her chest, unconscious instantly.
Unable to hear more of this blasphemy, this Synod defying rhetoric, he obeyed his original order from Lord Kan to keep her subdued. He would need to return every few hours to reapply the spell, but she wouldn't be casting any curses in her sleep at least.
And she wouldn't be making him question everything with her grating falsehoods either.
