The next week went by quickly. Violet took Osvif's advice and asked Johanne about renting a room at the Harpers' Hall. To her surprise, Tamirell heartedly endorsed the idea and she found herself swiftly installed in a room on the second floor. Larger than her room at the Inn and the one at the Leaves of Learning in Highmoon, in addition to a large bed it had a table with two chairs, a vanity, a narrow set of shelves, a roomy wardrobe, and a trunk. One wall was hung with an assortment of hooks and brackets that Johanne explained were for hanging weapons and armor.
Nori took the move with all the aplomb one would expect of a cat-fae, promptly claiming a sunny spot on a stuffed chair in the main hall.
When Violet asked Johanne about selling some of the gems, jewelry, and other items she had collected during her time in the underdark, he told her not to bother with any of the shops in Shadowdale.
"They only have enough coin for minor purchases, plus you won't get but a fraction of their value."
"If I can't sell it here, where can I sell it?" she asked, frustrated.
"Most of the trading cities in the Dalelands are either far to the south or on the coast to the east," he shrugged. "You could sell some to the fighters coming from and going to Myth Drannor, but make sure you have someone with you that knows the worth of what you're selling," he winked. "If you have any enchanted items, they're in high demand."
"What am I supposed to do about money if I can't sell any of it?"
"How much do you have right now?" he asked.
She shrugged, "I counted it and I know how the coins relate to each other, but I don't know what that equates to as far as buying power. I could have a fortune, or I could be broke."
"Well, if you don't mind," he said carefully, "tell me what you have, and I can give you some idea."
"I don't mind. In fact," she spun and dug through her bag until she found the pouch with the coins, "I can show you." Without waiting for his reply, she dumped the contents out on the table. "There's 200 gold, 95 platinum, and 25 silver, give or take."
She turned and saw him shaking his head with a smile.
"I'm worrying for no reason, aren't I?" she asked sheepishly.
"No," he said earnestly, "it's a good thing to want to know where you're at money-wise. You have nothing to worry about, though. You could live comfortably for a year with what you have right there."
She gaped at his declaration, "a year?"
"Probably longer, if you're frugal."
Violet blew out a breath in relief, "that's good to hear."
He cleared his throat, "I'm curious, how many gems do you have?"
With a smile, she found the pouch and dumped it out on the table beside the pile of coins. Johanne's eyes bulged out.
"Where did you come by all these?"
"In the underdark."
Johanne looked at her speculatively, "I may have underestimated you."
She shook her head, "no, you probably didn't. I got lucky and I had good people with me." She swallowed the lump in her throat at the thought of Reed.
"Uh-huh," he hummed, unconvinced. "Not that you need it, but if you would like, I could check around and see if anyone is interested in any of them. Especially the cut gems."
Violet considered the pile. The witch in her wanted to keep all of it, jumping up and down at the thought of having quality gems to use as spell components. The practical part of her said to sell it all. After all, she had failed at every attempt she had every made at enchanting crystals.
Seeing her hesitation, Johanne patted her on the shoulder, "you don't have to decide right now. I'm not going anywhere. And, like I said, you don't need the money right now."
Nodding, she agreed with him, "thanks. I need to sort through them and decide which ones I want to keep."
"No worries. Though, I would invest in a good, sturdy lockbox if I were you. Most folks coming through are good people, but there's always a bad apple here and there. You should keep your valuables locked up in your room."
"Thank you, Johanne. I'll do that today."
Violet sat at a table in the main hall, making notes in her grimoire from her last attempt to identify some of the enchanted jewelry she had taken from Aseiohiamenti. So far, she had successfully identified almost half of the items, but this morning she had been distracted and every attempt she made had failed. Sighing, she laid her quill down, careful not to drip any ink on her page. Nori lay on the table within arm's reach, in case Violet wanted to rub her belly, lazily watching her through half-closed eyes.
She had been at the hall for three weeks and, while it had been nice at first to have a place where she could practice her magic in peace, she was starting to feel restless. She missed being able to roam the woods around her home back on earth, gathering plants and spell components or just enjoying being outside. After the attack by the hag, she was hesitant to venture out into the dale. In fact, she had only made two trips into Shadowdale since she moved into the hall, one to pick up the rest of her wardrobe from Shay and the other to pick up the lockbox recommended by Johanne.
Harpers and their allies came and went through the hall as they traveled to and from Myth Drannor. From what she gathered, the fighting there had turned in their favor and they had pushed the invading monsters back within the border of the ruined city itself. Still, no matter how many they slay, more were ready to take their place. One weary warrior had told her that until they discovered where the monsters were coming from, they were at a stalemate.
She had heard no word from Tamirell and Tamival, who had left with Vorn and Milya shortly after she had moved into the hall, and she fretted about their safety. Storm had yet to return either.
The only relief she got from inactivity was her lessons with Johanne. Every other day or so he collected her for training. The first day, he had examined her daggers and the little spear Reed had found for her and declared the daggers to be acceptable. The spear he had tossed aside, much to her dismay.
"This little toothpick will only anger whatever you poke with it," he pronounced. "Your best distance weapon needs to be your magic. If you have this, you'll be tempted to use it and get yourself into a load of trouble for it. Better not to even have it."
"How are the daggers any better?" she asked, confused.
"Self-defense, girl," he said as if it was the most logical thing in the world. Before she could say anything else, he went on to explain, "you're a mage, right?"
"Sorcerer," she corrected.
"Sorcerer, then," he nodded. "And you're a wee little bit of a thing on top of that."
"What is your point?" she huffed, crossing her arms defensively across her chest.
"My point is, I'm never going to be able to train you to be a fighter. It would be a waste of both our time. What I am going to do is train you to stay out of trouble and to defend yourself if you can't. That's where the daggers come in."
Violet had to concede that he had a point and for the last three weeks, Johanne had taught her how to read body language in order to predict movement, what to watch for during a fight, what to assess when first entering a room, and the best places to be during a fight so that she could keep an eye on the action and not have someone or something sneak up behind her. He enlisted various fighters as they passed through the hall, exposing her to multiple techniques and weapons. One of the most valuable skills he sought to teach was the ability to stay out of the way while still being in a position to help with out with a spell when needed.
"Here's the thing about having magic users in a group," he explained during the first week. "They are handy to have around, but they're also a huge liability. While a single spell can change the course of a battle, there are only so many spells you can cast before you've exhausted your magic. At that point, you become someone that needs to be protected instead of an asset to the group. The key is to make sure you have the right kind of spells up your sleave, so to speak, and to make yourself less of a target when you aren't casting."
What he said reinforced what Storm had told her about memorizing specific spells for each occasion, so she listened and learned.
During the last week, he had changed up the training, declaring that she was ready for the next challenge. She started learning the correct way to hold and use her daggers. Her lessons included the most vulnerable locations on the body and where the gaps in armor were located. She learned how to slip her daggers through joints where parts of the armor met. She learned that disabling and escaping an attacker was just as good as killing it. Most importantly, she learned how to control her breathing and stay calm and in control during an attack.
When she wasn't training with Johanne, she worked on the few spells she knew, writing detailed descriptions of them in her grimoire and honing them. The very first one she had learned while she lived with the vile Ima in Hobbs Dale was the cleaning spell. While it seemed simple enough, she had to focus on what she wanted to be cleaned and what "clean" meant at that moment. Through trial and error, she learned that the spell work great if "clean" meant the removal of anything that wasn't part of the original. Dirt on her hand, a stain on her pants, gravy on a dish, dust on a tabletop were all easily removed by the spell. Picking up clutter or putting things in away, not so much. Then there the size of the area to be cleaned. Thus far, she had been able to clear a space roughly a two meters across of debris on the ground, but no larger.
One by one, she worked her way through her repertoire. Untie, the spell that blasted Ima away from her, and the shield she had conjured to protect herself from the skeleton. Even the spell Storm taught her to release the sorceress Sabah. Carefully, she experimented with them until she understood them completely, documenting everything in her grimoire.
The only spell that eluded her was the one she had cast four times each with a different outcome: fire, lightning, a wall of force, and what appeared to be an acid attack. The invocation "fiadhaich ionnsaigh" meant "wild attack" in Gaelic and she had just blurted it out at the time, but Storm had taught her that the words didn't shape the spell, intent did. Thinking back on each time, Violet realized that she had cast the spell each time in blind panic, with no thought of intent to give it form. The magic had reacted to her panic and protected her, but in random ways. She made a note of this and to ask Storm more about it the next time she saw her.
She decided to break the spell into three separate spells instead: one each for fire, lightning, and force. She didn't bother with the acid form of the spell. There was no way she would willingly use that one ever again!
"Greetings, fair maiden," a familiar voice broke into her musings.
"Osvif," she smiled, patting the chair beside her that Nori had vacated just a moment before. "When did you get back?"
"Just now. I was on my way to see Johanne, but I saw your long face and thought I'd coax a smile from you," he said as he sat.
"You succeeded."
"What has you so gloomy? It's a beautiful day. The birds are singing. The wind is blowing. The air outside is sweet with the smells of upcoming harvest. It is too fine a day to be glum." He fixed his twinkling dark eyes on her.
"That's the problem," she sighed. "I'm stuck in here, or around here, or in town. I don't dare go out in the dale. What if Allaysie is out there waiting for me?"
He frowned at the name of the Hag briefly, then grinned, "then it's a good thing I'm here, isn't it? Let me find Johanne and get my things stored away in my room and we'll go out a traipsing through yon dale and glade."
"Oh, no," you don't need to do that," Violet protested. "You just got here."
"Aye, and I spent the last two days a horse. I'm needing to stretch my legs a bit. Do me some good."
She was still uncertain, "but…,"
Osvif slapped the table with the flat of his hand. "No arguing. Just meet me back here in about an hour, eh?"
"Okay," she agreed.
With that, he slipped out of the chair and went in search of Johanne. Violet watched him go with a bemused look, then she brightened. She was getting to go out.
The warm summer wind rustled through the golden tops of the tall grass. As she and Osvif walked through the rolling field, Violet's outstretched fingers brushed against the stalks. Their progress through the grass, stirred up insects and tiny fae alike in a rolling wave of movement that spread out around them like ripples in a calm pool. In the distance, a herd of black and white cattle cropped off the tops, chewing their way through the field and lowing contentedly.
Their destination was a good-sized stand of trees that followed a narrow dip in the dalelands stretching for a few kilometers. Osvif had promised her wild grapes in abundance within the shade of the trees. Already, they had discovered a cluster of persimmon trees with the lower limbs stripped of the ripe fruit. Trampled, rotting fruit on the ground under the trees lent a cloying, sweet scent to the warm air.
On impulse, Violet had scrambled up the sturdiest of the trees to collect several of the dusty orange fruit that hung out of the reach of cows and deer. Osvif watched her with an amused smile on his face.
She spied a cluster of fruit close enough to reach if she moved a little farther out on the branch she was perched on. Shifting her weight, she edged out on the branch, one hand gripping another branch close to her head as she leaned out to pluck the fruit. Just as her fingers closed around the persimmon, she felt a sharp pinch and release it with a short yelp.
Examining her throbbing finger, Violet saw blood pooled near the tip. An angry buzz and drew her gaze back to the fruit where a tiny pixie sat atop it, no taller than her hand. Its pale androgenous body was covered with garments sewn from leaves and grass. Its unusually large eyes glinted red in the sunlight as it grinned viciously at her, its sharp teeth stained with her blood.
"Ouch, you little jerk!" she snapped at it, wiping the blood from the small wound.
More angry buzzing answered her as a dozen or so of the pixies joined the first, all glaring at her with bared teeth.
Violet considered the situation. This was obviously their tree, and she was the interloper. The best solution would be for her to retreat gracefully and leave it to them. She started to apologize for her intrusion, when Osvif spoke up from below.
"Hey! Leave her alone!" he sternly ordered, his voice carrying easily up to Violet and the pixies though he didn't yell.
As one, the flight of pixies looked down at him. A ripple of alarm spread through the group then they disappeared as they sought refuge in their home realm. Violet stayed still on the branch for a moment, marveling at the swift reaction.
"Go on, grab what you want," Osvif said calmly. "They won't be back for a while."
No longer as interested in the fruit as before, Violet plucked the ripe persimmons from the group, dropping them into her bag that hung over her neck and shoulder, then retreating and climbing down. Once back on the ground, she smoothed down her rumpled clothes before turning to face her companion.
"How did you do that? Pixies are notoriously difficult the drive away once they claim a place as their own," she asked.
He just gave her a smile, "I'm the beast master."
"What does that mean exactly?"
"Different things, depending on the situation," he answered unhelpfully.
"Like what?" she pressed, unwilling to let it go.
Osvif looked down at her intently, making her squirm under the weight of his stare.
"Now is not the time," he finally said, then strode off towards the woods.
"Are you kidding me?" Violet called after him. "What kind of answer is that?"
"The only one you'll be getting for now," he called back over his shoulder. "Are you coming or not?"
She glowered at his back in frustration before hurrying to catch up with him.
The rest of the afternoon went without incident, though Violet occasionally caught Osvif staring at her thoughtfully.
True to his promise, the stretch of woods was abundant with wild grapes, their thick, woody vines wrapped around the trunks of the trees. Violet filled her bag halfway with them before deciding she had enough. Scattered through the trees, she found familiar medicinal plants to collect and Osvif pointed out some that were alien to her.
At the lowest point in the forest, a small creek wound its way through on its way to the river. Violet and Osvif found a patch of sunny ground next to it and sat down to relax. Being out in the woods had been just what Violet needed. She felt energized and renewed by the short trip and vowed not to let it go that long before she repeated it.
Osvif pulled half a crusty loaf from his satchel along with some cheese and cured meat. Together with the sweet water from the creek and the tart grapes, they made a lovely feast. Laying back on the soft moss afterwards, Violet half dozed, trusting Osvif to keep an eye out for danger. All around, insects buzzed and crawled. From the creek, frogs peeped and croaked. In the trees and brush, birds twittered and chirped. Combined with the soft babbling of water and the rustling of leaves in the wind, it all combined into a natural symphony that soothed her soul.
To stay awake, she asked, "tell me about your home in the Beastlands."
Beside her, Osvif chuckled. "It's a lot like this, only more so. These lands are tame and sleepy. The Beastlands are wild and eager. The forests are thick with ancient trees that remember the times before. Every manner of beast roam in their shadows. The ground is rich and fertile, giving life in abundance."
"It sounds beautiful," she sighed.
"It's dangerous as well," he told her. The unwary quickly find themselves prey to the strong."
"That's the way of nature, though," she pointed out.
"More so in some places."
Silently, they soaked up the natural energy that surrounded them before Osvif stood and declared it was time to head back to the hall.
"If we stay much longer, Johanne might just send a search party out looking for you. He wasn't happy about this outing," he told Violet.
"Why?"
"He didn't say, but if I were to guess I would say that your elf brothers made it abundantly clear that your wellbeing was tied to his keeping his head upon his shoulders."
She snorted, "that's ridiculous."
"Is it?"
She didn't have a good answer, so she picked up her bag and followed him away from the creek.
Despite Johanne's obvious misgivings, Violet went out often with Osvif. While they were out, he taught her about the flora and fauna of the area. He also taught her woodcraft, such as how to start a fire without flint or magic, how to read game signs, and how to build simple, but effective shelters.
After their encounter with the pixies at the persimmon trees, the fae chose to leave them alone. She occasionally caught a fleeting glimpse of one as it fled their approach, but otherwise they avoided her and Osvif. It made her a little sad. She missed their presence. It was also odd. As far as she knew, Osvif was human, so he shouldn't even be able to see them, much less influence them. She kept meaning to ask him about it but kept forgetting.
Between practicing her magic, Johanne's instruction, and Osvif's efforts, Violet begin to feel more and more capable. However, she still chaffed at the limited number of spells she had mastered. She found herself wishing Storm would make an appearance so she could ask the sorceress about learning new spells.
Two weeks after her first trip out with Osvif, news reached the hall from Myth Drannor. The tide of monsters had been turned and the fighting was almost over. Soon, everyone fighting there would be able to return home. The news meant that she would soon get to see her friends again. But it also meant that she would have to make a decision about how to proceed with her quest to return to earth.
She found the idea no longer as appealing as it had months ago.