Magical Threads

[Vluharqih]

CREDIT

Date: Arc 716, 10th trial of Zi'da
Time: 14th Break
Location: Padraig's House

Alex looked around the decently sized, but very spartan, house. It was simple, but obviously well used and cared for.

It hadn't been too difficult to get both Faith and Padraig together, Faith asking her boss for time off before darting out the door after Alex.

Perhaps dart was the wrong work, Alex thought with a smile, as she had never seen the woman move faster than a speedy walk. She was one of the most calm people Alex had ever met, at peace with herself and where she was. The idea that she had just been freed was an odd one given her behaviour- she walked proud and tall, was obviously well educated and had a male friend of some sort?

She put the thought out of her mind and focused back on the room. With Alex's help, Faith had lugged over several bolts of cloth, and Padraig had already summoned up a lot of gear. Some of it, Alex recognized from her work in the Gardener's Grace, but some of it was odd and foreign looking.

She turned to Padraig, "So how does this work exactly? I have some experience with medicine and surgery, so I recognize some of this, but other parts...well it looks like something from a play or a book."

She planned on being as helpful as she could. The more she could learn, the better. This was interesting, and something she could, theoretically, do herself, should she find a tutor.

[Faith Augustin]

Faith walked with Alex and she considered that the young woman seemed to need to rush everywhere. Now, Faith was all for expediency, but there was a difference between expediency and rushing. She had not needed to ask for time off, she had simply informed her employer that the very good customer who just bought a number of full bolts of cloth needed help carrying them and wanted Faith to help her carry them. Faith's shift was more or less done anyhow, but she was happy to help out. She was a little surprised, to be entirely honest, that Padraig had decided to work at home and to invite a complete stranger there, but she did not let that surprise show.

When they arrived, Faith opened the door and walked in like she lived there, not knocking or any such. Her "Come in", certainly sounded like it too and she smiled in delight as she saw Padraig there, already starting to work. "I'll put the kettle on.", she announced, after she had kicked off her boots and pulled on a pair of red slippers. Coats were hung up, as were scarves and gloves and then, she moved to make the tea. As she did, she smiled at him once she had moved past Alex so that only he could see her.

Coming back with three steaming mugs of tea, she frowned in thought, considering carefully. "Before any of that conversation happens, I need to go back a step", she said, once Alex had asked how this all worked. "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage. I assume that Padraig can do what you wanted in terms of the colour changing clothing, but how many pieces are you wanting me to make for that purpose and how many just normal pieces?" Her attention turned to Padraig then and she asked, earnest silver eyes trying to think through how to do this best, "At what point in the process do you need to be involved?" And why on Idalos are we doing this at home, she wondered, but did not say. There was, though, just that slight tinge of confusion in her eyes.

"I've brought all the measurements and the requirements I took previously, and the sketches I've done for the garments, if they would help?" She had them ready to go, depending on what he said.

[Padraig]

To say that Padraig was expecting Faith to bring company home with her, would have been a lie. He'd left the apothecary at the usual time, bringing with him a number of ingredients that he'd need for his private work, which ultimately the young woman who'd hired him would pay for. Included in the agreed price of the enchantments, that was. He'd lit the fire in the hearth, to chase away the cold that had settled into the place during the trial, and he'd spent some time setting up his equipment. Alchemy, chemistry, they were so similar in ways that what he had in his chemist's kit was all he needed.

The process reminded him though that it might be useful to purchase a small workbench or extra table, so that he could leave his equipment, including the burners, set up when he wasn't actively working. He'd brought home mirror dust, careful measured and handled with as much care considering the value and supply of the stuff, and a number of other more mundane ingredients such as potassium. The burner was on by the time Faith opened the door to their small home. There were a number of powders already prepared and few vials filled with clear concoctions.

He'd expected that Alex would inform Faith of what he'd told her, that the project would need be done together and since it was a private commission at least on his part, at home. What he hadn't expected was that the young woman would come with her, so he was naturally surprised, the expression was plain to see when they came in together. He grinned a little and shook his head. Again, he thought, he really ought learn to communicate more clearly. But he smiled and nodded a welcome to their guest. Besides, maybe it was Faith who'd made the arrangements?

Putting down the chunk of charcoal he had in his hand, he wiped them both on a rag from his pocket. "It's a complicated process," he said to both of them. "Or at least one of many steps." Layers, was probably more accurate a term. To Faith he added, "Just a single garment for my part." It was what they'd agreed on, after all, one item, one enchantment or two layered on to the same garment. As for how many more garments were to be made, that was between the two women.

"But I've got my materials prepared for the most part, and I'll need to be involved from the very beginning of creating the receiving item. The mirror dust for the chameleon effect, for instance...must be melted into the weave of the cloth, and the seams, as the garment takes shape. The same for the rock and coal dust, should I choose to layer both enchantments together," he explained.

[Vluharqih]

CREDIT

The longer Alex watched the two of them, the more sure she was that there was more going on than either had let on. The lack of knocking by Faith meant she spent a lot of time here, and the implications ran through Alex's mind on a loop. As Faith grabbed a pair of red slippers from inside, Alex couldn't hide her grin.

They live together!

As Faith moved confidently through the house, offering to make tea, her suspicion solidified. She slowly forced her smile down, though a hint of a grin still fought with the corner of her mouth.

She gratefully took the mug of tea, blowing carefully to cool it off.

"Yes, he said he could do that one. There was a couple of other, more complicated, enchantments that I wanted put onto them, and that might be a problem. Padraig wasn't sure if he could do it, and as I told him, I wasn't sure how good his work was. As such, we agreed on one item, which was to be paid in full prior to any future work. I do have some other things I want enchanted, but we both have to figure out how much work has to go into it," she said to Faith, her attention returning to the task as she spoke.

As Padraig explained, Alex listened attentively. This was good information to remember, and she tried to make sense of it. Multiple steps, set one atop the other.

Dimly, a small part of her brain gushed over how the two looked together, acting formal and professional. But she caught the looks, the way their gaze lingered, the light brush of fingers as Faith handed him his cup. She snorted and shook her head, pushing that weird part of her mind down.

Focus

"So can you set as many layers as you want atop? Is there a limit? How do they bind together? I have some experience with...reagents, so I can handle the correct terms," she paused, not wanting to reveal her experience with poisons. "I don't have much experience with chemistry, but I recognize some of your tools," Alex gestured, "So I can help out with some of the simpler steps."

[Faith Augustin]

Padraig looked surprised as Alex walked in with her and Faith turned her gaze to him with an incredulous expression. His smile quickly replaced his shock, but it was there and she saw it. He wasn't expecting Alex? Or he wasn't expecting her? Some trials, Faith despaired of Padraig and this might just be one of them. The shake of his head was rueful, though and her own grin told him that all was well. Although, should he suggest laster that it was her who'd made the arrangement, she might just revert to caustic. Maybe he'd only been expecting her, or maybe only Alex, but certainly one of them was a surprise.

Alex watched the two of them and took the cup of tea from Faith with a smile. Then, as Faith handed Padraig his cup of tea, their fingers just brushing each other for a moment and, yes, she had to admit that there was the familiar and utterly tormenting feeling that the slightest feather light touch of his hand gave her, Alex snorted. Faith looked at her with a raised eyebrow, wondering if she was aware of just how often she did that, and how it gave away that she was thinking something which she considered amusing. It did not offend the former slave, not in the slightest, but it did not offend her because she did not care if Alex was mocking or friendly in her snorting. Many people might assume the former, and it certainly sounded like it, but Faith was more than prepared to assume the latter and would always be so.

But then, of all things, Alex suggested that she was going to help Padraig? Faith looked up in some surprise and then turned back to him with an expression of confusion on her face. Was that why he'd asked her here? That Alex had experience at such made sense, and he would need an assistant if she was working on the clothing, after all. Still, though, Faith experienced something, in that moment, which she had never, not for a trill in her life, experienced before.

Jealousy.

She recognised it for what it was, but she really did not like it. It was a complex job, she understood that and Padraig had apparently asked Alex back here because she could help. It was her job to make the clothing, which made her want to stamp her foot and shout about snorting women being in their space and doing things which she did. She knew, though, that what she was feeling was unbecoming and unnecessary and very much not her place to think. So, she mentally tried her hardest to push it away. When she was completely unsuccessful in that, Faith fell into what she knew. "Just let me know which garment, and I'll get the pattern ready." She smiled, her face careful and neutral, professional and calm. It really would help if one of them told her just what they were working on. She clasped her hand together in front of her, realised that she was doing it and picked up her cup of tea, instead. "How long will it take you to be ready? Can I cut the basic shape, maybe a few inches outside of what will be the final garment, past the seam?" If so, she could get ready, she informed them. If not, then she could spend the time marking out the cloth instead, whilst they worked.

[Padraig]

He was beginning to take it a little personally, truth told, this questioning of his ability as an alchemist. After all, the young woman had come to him, not him to her with hat in hand. Still, Padraig wore a bland expression and responded, "Two enchantments, one garment. Any prospective others will need to be considered at another time. It's time consuming, quite a lot of work, just this one." Too much really, to do comfortably in one evening without working into the night, had he not had such ready access to the ingredients he'd needed.

But then a strange sort of atmosphere had begun to develop that in spite of being a learned man of science, he was hard pressed to put a finger on. Whatever it was, seemed between the two women. Like an unseen, weird energy that tended to develop when two or more women were gathered together, closely in one place. There was spontaneous snickering. Or was it snorting? Shuffling of feet, Faith wasn't her usual self or didn't seem to be. And him? He felt a little at the center of it, and at the periphery at the same time.

He tried to ignore it, so long as he could. "Only two to a single garment...In a sense," he said when Alex asked. "It would be more accurate to describe it as two magical effects, created by using two different reagents. In this case, both naturally occurring reagents. The enchantments aren't layered or bound so much as they are blended and then applied in layers, or more specifically steps, so that they combine to produce a single enchantment, but two effects. Two effects, one garment," he added, as a way of simplifying.

To Faith, he smiled and added, "I'll have my part ready in half a break I think. But yes, that would work." Cutting the pattern shape he meant. "I'll be prepared to work beside you by then." To Alex he added, "If you've got a good arm on you, I've got some stone fragments in that mortar and pestle there that need grinding much finer. Alike to dust," he added. But he'd need to do the rest himself. It was an exacting process that took a great deal of care and concentration if it was to work as intended, and he needed his focus for that.

Still, it had come to feel as if they weren't quite on the same page. As if Faith wasn't sure what the plan was exactly. But wouldn't they be? Wasn't it them that had arranged this meeting of three at once? Why wasn't the garment decided in advance? He frowned a little, scratching idly behind one ear. A mannerism, when he felt at a bit of a loss.

There was nothing for it but to ask. Better to sort it out to stop it acting as a distraction. "I'm a little confused however," he said to Alex first. "I was under the impression that the sort of garment I'd be enchanting was already decided." And then he looked to Faith, his confusion plain to see, and he lowered his voice so that only she could hear him. "Hence, this evening, and why you've come together?" By this, he meant all of them here together, with Alex a part of the process. Unexpected for him, but wasn't it them who'd arranged it?

[Vluharqih]

CREDIT

She listened carefully as the two discussed the logistics of working together. The limit of two enchantments per garment was interesting, and something she hadn't known. Mentally she adjusted her list, pressing her lips into a thin line.

She didn't notice the change come over Faith's face, the careful neutrality, so focused was Alex on her own thoughts.

Ah well, no matter. He talks as if that's not due to a lack of talent or skill on his part, but some natural law or limitation.

Alex paused a moment, narrowing her eyes as she realized she had, at some point, decided that she was going to get all the garments from him. That wasn't what she had meant to do, and even as she thought about it her gut didn't waver.

Maybe it was the way they worked together. Maybe it was the fact that she didn't want to deal with the awkwardness of having Faith know she didn't like Padraig's work. Or maybe it was the fact that Padraig was attractive and seemed to be good at what he did.

Alex belatedly realized that Faith had asked her a question, and a blush stole across her cheeks. She didn't know what was the matter with her- since she had arrived in this damned country she had been out of sorts. Stuck in her own thoughts so as to miss a direct question? Pathetic.

"Um, I was thinking one of the simpler dresses- perhaps the brown one?" Alex faced Faith and let a small smile creep across her face as she realized that whatever colour it was originally didn't matter.

When he told Alex what to do, she instantly moved to get started on the grinding. It didn't matter what she was doing- it was something that needed doing, and she was ready to help. Plus it meant she'd get new clothes sooner rather than later, and that was a bonus.

She was at a loss when Padraig stopped her- surely the two of them had done this sort of thing before? Faith hadn't questioned Alex accompanying her, and Padraig had simply told her to get Faith. Could-

Alex's mouth dropped open as she realized what had happened.

Oh for f-

Alex remained silent as Padraig whispered something to Faith, her face aflame. How did she manage to get herself into this situation?

"I- I had assumed. I mean, we had talked and-" She gestured to Padraig, her words failing her."And then you-" She stammered at Faith, clasping her hands in front of her.

"Aelig's balls," she whispered as she waited for the floor to swallow her up.

[Faith Augustin]

As it played out, it became obvious just what had happened here, to Faith's mind at least. Alex was watching Padraig and then, when Faith spoke to her, the woman blushed and seemed to come back into the room, or her awareness of it. Faith considered that her eyebrow must be near to her hairline by now as she recognised what was going on. It was like some bizarre comedy of errors and, as Faith saw it, Padraig was irritated by Alex's comments about whether he was good enough, Alex was besotted with Padraig and so was trying to help him in order to be near him. Somewhere along the line, Alex had been given the impression, or had taken it, that she was going to be helping Padraig. And since it was him that she believed she was helping, Faith was clear where the miscommunication must have happend.

But he, of course, was oblivious. So oblivious that he thought that whispering in a small room was going to not get noticed, even if it didn't get heard. But as soon as she realised that it hadn't been his idea and he hadn't decided that there was someone who was going to be helping him who he invited to their home on purpose, Faith was fine. She looked between the two of them and as Alex gave first one, then another half sentence before sighing and looking like she wanted the world to swallow her up, Faith shook her head.

"I'd say that we have nothing to worry about. We are all on the same page, just... slightly different paragraphs." She glanced at Padraig and if he was able to read the message in her expression, well it was clear. This is your fault. Plain as the trial. But it was accusation and amusement, at least, and amusement largely won out. "I think there has been a miscommunication of some kind, yes. But it is probably due to all three of us in equal measure". Yes, she thought, equal measure; which meant that it was Padraig's fault, entirely, Alex's fault for being besotted with him and Faith's fault for going along with it. However, there was no point to saying that, so she sought to just be calm and clear.

"It was my understanding that you and I were going to be working together, Padraig, to create an item of clothing with some alchemical enhancement which allows it to change colour. When Alex came back to the shop and said that we were doing that at home." Right now, right now, like a puppy. Of course, Faith thought. Alex hadn't realised that she and Padraig were together and so she had been excited to go to the home of her potential new boyfriend. Faith felt no concern about that, just felt rather sorry for the woman who was, to her eyes, so obviously besotted. As long as he wasn't, Alex could carry on. "I assumed that, since you need to do your alchemy during the garment creation, and towards the latter stage of that, I will need Alex, we would all be here so that you can do alchemy as I do final fitting. Is that not correct?" She looked at Padraig with a gentle smile. I'm giving you an out here, I hope you realise. Then, she turned to Alex and smiled "So, whilst Padraig and I do what we need to do on the dress, I'm afraid there will be times when there won't be a lot for you to do. But an extra pair of hands will be helpful in stages of my process and, I'm sure, his. My apologies to you both, I was confused about how many garments, but that's all cleared now."

Never, she determined, if she lived to be 500 arcs old, would she understand men. She grinned at Alex "Come on, get grinding, and when you're done, we can check that you're happy with the designs for this dress. With you being here, we won't have to 'best guess' if a question arises and we can, to an extent, amend as we go. Thankfully, he's excellent at this, and I can make dressses quite well too. It will be good. Also, we can discuss these other garments, if you are wanting enchantments on them and if Padraig is willing to do the work" She didn't say whether he was able because that was not in question. "That will require a timeframe, though, and one that we need to discuss. We have a few major projects coming up. Once you're done with that grinding, I should have time to make any last minute adjustments to this pattern. I've got half a break, that does it for me." She looked at Padraig and smiled. For all that there was someone else in the room, that smile was just for him and told every word that she did not say. Then, she turned and solemnly handed Alex the pattern she had drawn. "What do you think? I'm happy to make any adjustments you like now, if you want it more fitted, less fitted, anything."

At some point, she determined, she and Padraig were going to sit down and have a talk about communication. Especially communication with beautiful women.

[Padraig]

If Faith believed she knew what was going on, not so Padraig. He was more confused than ever. Not about the science of the thing, the alchemy, the process. Those he was completely comfortable with. It was the atmosphere, and now their guest was turning red about the cheeks. Was the fire too warm for the small room?

On the other hand, Faith seemed suddenly more relaxed, and he resolved that he'd never truly understand the shifting moods of women. He'd be more comfortable with his beakers, his powders, his potions and pots, and so moved back to his equipment to test one of the concoctions simmering there. A miscommunication? No question about it.

Ah. So it was Faith and Alex who'd arranged it, just like he thought. But he'd been slow to catch on. "Half a break is plenty for me," he said, checking the grind of the stone, "while you two work out the clothing details." But then just as he was getting back to it, a knock came at the door. He looked up curiously and frowned. He wasn't expecting a student, not now, and not this trial at all. But he left his work a trill in order to answer the door.

He cracked it open just a little, no more, and murmuring could be heard on the other side. "Just a moment. Wait here," he said, still frowning as he shut the door, left the man outside, and looked Alex's way. "There's a man outside with a message for you." It was as much a question as a statement. Someone arriving at the door, looking for a woman that hadn't planned to be here more than a break or so ago. How had he known she'd be here then? How had he found her? It was curious at the least, as much of this trial had turned out to be.

[Vluharqih]

CREDIT

Alex felt a sense of relief as Faith spoke. The woman had an odd, half smile on her face as she spoke, and suddenly confidence oozed from her pores. Alex didn't know what had changed, but the tension had broken, and Faith was back to how she had acted the first time Alex had met her.

Alex nodded her thanks to Faith and headed over to grind up the stones. It was going to be slow work, but she was used to the motion and soon had begun to hit a rhythm.

Just as Alex had started to make some progress, a knock sounded at the door. She ignored it at first, but when Padraig told her it was for her, she couldn't keep a frown off her face.

"For me?"

She walked away from the mortar and pestle, opening the door and stepping outside. The cold wind bit at her, but she ignored it, and looked at the man. It was impossible to tell what he looked like. He was bundled from head to toe in cloth, only a thin slit for his eyes and mouth were showing. He wordlessly held out a plain envelope, darting off as soon as Alex had taken it.

Her frown deepened when she opened it, all expression draining as she caught sight of the seal on the bottom.

The Cauldron

She quickly scanned the note, the information seeming scarce on the page.

All it gave her was a name, a meeting place, a time and two words scrawled across the bottom: Dress Nice.

Her good mood had disappeared, a rough reminder of her true reason for being here. She wasn't here to make friends. She was here to kill a woman and leave. That was it.

Her face felt cold when she pushed the door back open, and despite her best attempts at acting like nothing had changed, she couldn't pull it off.

"I... I need to leave. I'm sorry for the short notice, but I'll leave the address of where I'm staying, in case I can't return to pick this up at your shop, Padraig, by tomorrow." Her voice had changed too, but she didn't have the energy to give it more effort- her mind was already abuzz with what she needed to do.

"Have a good night, and thank you for helping me today," she said, distracted.

She quickly gathered her things, bundling up and leaving the house, hurrying over to the market before it closed.