AGELESS CAMPAIGN, Episode II, Part VI.

[Silver Moon]

"Yes, patience, understanding, compromise and altruism. Unfortunately, these aren't things you and I can bring, our guests need to, whether they do or not will color these discussion." says George grimly. "Let us begin."

Princess Amisi soon joins them. She has three servant girls waiting on her, but Colonel Hassan tells the Princess that the retainers will not be permitted to stay. With a sigh she dismisses them, but only after one pours her a glass of ice water and another fixes the Princess's hair to look perfect. Observing protocol, the men wait for her to be seated before re-seating themselves. She turns to George and in Aribic says, "My sister puts great trust in you."

 

[orchid blossom]

He says, "Mary Stuart had the harpsichord made in Italy. She was ahead of her time, as the instruments were just starting to become popular then. Bonnie Prince Charlie had it replaced with a grand piano, but when Aunt Baronese became landholder she brought Mary's original harpsichord out of storage and back here where it belonged. We still have Charles's grand piano, it is in a magic room beneath one of the mock farmhouses where we use it for Bardic magic."

"I had been wondering about bardic magic," Abby said a bit absently, her spectacles appearing from her pocket and then perched on her nose. She moved close to the harpsichord, then some of the other instruments to examine them more closely.

"Since clerical magic isn't the thing here, Bardic magic would be the only healing magic. Which means art really does heal," she said with a smile. "I wish I'd been a better music student. I can get by on a piano, and I can sing well enough, but I have no natural talent."

 

[Silver Moon]

""Since clerical magic isn't the thing here, Bardic magic would be the only healing magic. Which means art really does heal," she said with a smile. "I wish I'd been a better music student. I can get by on a piano, and I can sing well enough, but I have no natural talent."

Callum laughs, "By 'here' I assume that you mean France, not the Land of Queen Mary. Mary Stuart's dream is about ALL MAGIC, which includes clerical magic. The major forms of clerical magic that are practiced here are more druidic than priestly, as those are generally tolerated in the farming regions of France, but some priestly magic quietly occurs here too."

 

[orchid blossom]

Callum laughs, "By 'here' I assume that you mean France, not the Land of Queen Mary. Mary Stuart's dream is about ALL MAGIC, which includes clerical magic. The major forms of clerical magic that are practiced here are more druidic than priestly, as those are generally tolerated in the farming regions of France, but some priestly magic quietly occurs here too."

"Yes, I meant in France. I doubt there is any place in the Western world where the forbidden magic isn't being practiced quietly. I suspect my own skills would be quite a bit further along if I had been born in France rather than America. New Orleans is a lot more forgiving, but you still have to be careful.

After these last few days, I've been wondering if I need to focus on those talents for a while."

 

[Silver Moon]

"After these last few days, I've been wondering if I need to focus on those talents for a while."

He says, "Well, the common theme in our more recent conversations is that both your future and mne appear to have a number of possibilities."

He takes her next door to the castle's final room, the library. As with King Francis II's bedroom, this room is also twenty-five-feet square. Like the music room, it is lit with magical light but also has large elaborate windows on both exterior walls. The room itself clearly has a more masculine look to it, with dark leather on all of the chairs and the desks, while ornate, designed more for function. Bookcases line two of the four walls, the interior wall with the door and the exterior wall opposite it.

The wall to the left has a fireplace as its main feature (the chimney shared with the one opposite it in the music room). Along the walls to both the left and right of the fireplace are desks with chairs. Above the fireplace is a set of mounted animal heads of what looks like a mythical chimera, with her assuming that both the lion and goat heads are real and the dragon head a magical or artistic creation. The opposite wall has a gun cabinet and a liquor cabinet as its two main features. Both appear to be fully stocked.

 

[orchid blossom]

The wall to the left has a fireplace as its main feature (the chimney shared with the one opposite it in the music room). Along the walls to both the left and right of the fireplace are desks with chairs. Above the fireplace is a set of mounted animal heads of what looks like a mythical chimera, with her assuming that both the lion and goat heads are real and the dragon head a magical or artistic creation. The opposite wall has a gun cabinet and a liquor cabinet as its two main features. Both appear to be fully stocked.

"No offense to Queen Mary, but this is more like it." She took a deep breath in through the nose and found the familiar scents of books and wood smoke. "I'm not sure what that says about me."

She was immediately drawn to the walls with the bookcases, where her eyes moved quickly over the titles, making a quick survey of what was kept here in the more public part of the house.

"You could actually relax in this room, although I could do without the animal heads," she chuckled. "Cal, it's a gorgeous place, but I can see why you prefer the farmhouse. It's so formal."

 

[Silver Moon]

"No offense to Queen Mary, but this is more like it." She took a deep breath in through the nose and found the familiar scents of books and wood smoke. "I'm not sure what that says about me." She was immediately drawn to the walls with the bookcases, where her eyes moved quickly over the titles, making a quick survey of what was kept here in the more public part of the house.

The largest of the bookcase walls has very old volumes, many hand written. Others date from the earliest European printing presses in the sixteenth century. Almost every popular book she ever heard of that was written in the 16th and 17th centuries appears to be represented there.

The opposite wall has books from the 18th and 19th centuries categorized by topic, with a shelf of popular fiction, another of French, Italian and Spanish poetry, another with histories whose titles vary from English to French to German, there is half-a-shelf of modern books about engineering and a half-shelf about Chinese history.

"You could actually relax in this room, although I could do without the animal heads," she chuckled. "Cal, it's a gorgeous place, but I can see why you prefer the farmhouse. It's so formal."

Callum says, "Yes, the chimera head made me uncomfortable for the first few weeks until I became adjusted to it. Now I just ignore it. Megan's grandfather had it put there, he claimed to have slain it himself, but the truth is that the body had been found frozen in the Antarctic ice by a French whaling ship."

 

[orchid blossom]

Callum says, "Yes, the chimera head made me uncomfortable for the first few weeks until I became used to it. Now I just ignore it. Megan's grandfather had it put there, he claimed to have slain it himself, but the truth is that the body had been found frozen in the Antarctic ice by a French whaling ship."

"I had no idea of it being real at all," she said, then went over to have a closer look at it. "Of course, I was just spending time with a dragon. It shouldn't surprise me.

All the books relating your work are elsewhere, I assume."

 

[Silver Moon]

"I had no idea of it being real at all," she said, then went over to have a closer look at it. "Of course, I was just spending time with a dragon. It shouldn't surprise me.

He says, "Why yes, but they are extremely rare. Each continent and major ocean has always had an 'earth spirit' guardian, which take the form of mythical creatures. Each has a life-span of several centuries. The heads on that one are actually not very big, so it probably died rather young."

"All the books relating your work are elsewhere, I assume."

He says, "Yes, the Stuart collection is in the magical library. Some of those here are from my personal collection, the shelf about China. I wasn't just kidding about wanting to some day walk the great wall."

 

[orchid blossom]

He says, "Why yes, but they are extremely rare. Each continent and major ocean has always had an 'earth spirit' guardian, which take the form of mythical creatures. Each has a life-span of several centuries. The heads on that one are actually not very big, so it probably died rather young."

A lump formed in her throat. She knew nothing of these creatures, despite all her studies. But that such a thing should have died young, and she could only imagine violently, wrenched at her for some reason.

He says, "Yes, the Stuart collection is in the magical library. Some of those here are from my personal collection, the shelf about China. I wasn't just kidding about wanting to some day walk the great wall."

"Where have you learned all this, Cal? I thought I'd been educated; I know enough to realize how little I really know, but there are layers to the world that I think have been completely hidden from me. How did you find them?"