With Arcane Grace
Twenty Eighth Day of the Eleventh Month 293 AC
"Mother Earth..." Lord Lothar's lips part only reluctantly upon the words and he does not seem to like the taste of them. "One more lie the Lannisters's tame wizards told me told me then. They called magic a skill, like learning to play the harp or shoot a bow, or else something born of blood and bone like the color of your eyes or hair."
"My magic is in the latter category, my betrothed's in the former, but the greatest mistake one can make with regards to sorcery is to claim to know anything about all that it is. There are doubtless sorts of magic out in the wide world that would bewilder me no less than Denys' magic does you, my lord," you reply carefully. Now is not the time to speak up against the Golden Shields, but to put Lord Mallery at ease as much as you are able. You explain the Earth Mother, little as you know of her, then the gods and manner of the First Men, when first they came to Westeros and cleared forests into fields for the first time with bright bronze axes.
By the time you are done the lord is still wary but no longer so on edge his knuckles are white against the oak and amber desk. The admission of both what you know and what you do not going a long way to helping him find some context to anchor himself in this strange new world in which he has found himself adrift. Hopefully, the realization that his heir too shares the gift of magic will not shatter the fragile balance he has found.
Although Lord Mallery had initially not wished to have his eldest son involved in Denys' interview, when you bring up Dany physically and not just by name he softens slightly, particularly as your sister does her own brand of magic that has nothing to do with weaving spells upon the lord. A child of six or seven with the manner of an adult is strange and otherworldly, but nine is on the cusp of looking 'mature for her age', particularly as that is what Lothar Mallery very much wants to see. Not the marks of old battles in her gaze, nor the wisdom hard-bought, but the girl who turned her gifts to 'the good of her house and land'.
"Edric's certainly surprised me this past moonturn," the lord proclaims gruffly, pride nonetheless clear in his voice. "I'm not ashamed to admit it was he who first convinced me to sent word to Sorcerer's Deep."
Thankfully, you are quite adept by now in feigning surprise.
***
Rather than the lord's solar, the meeting is in Lady Mallory's private apartments, the better to avoid any curious looks from the staff. The lady is well known for preferring to keep her sons close after the tribulations of the last few months and lord Lothar had wisely not interfered, but chose instead to pay the occasional visit to these meetings where his lady wife would teach the boys fine penmanship, poetry, or some other skill the maester was not particularly adept at himself.
The room is airy and to your senses filled with the lingering scent of evening-blooming flowers of which she keeps quite collection. Most of the sort one would find in the glasshouses of Lys, though one or two broad-leafed plants that bring to mind the jungle plants of Sothoryos, all lovingly cared for. If Denys felt particularly at home here you can imagine why a goddess of the green and well tended things might have her eye on him. Thankfully, Lady Lorena Mallory herself shows no signs of magic as she offers a courtesy to you and a slightly smaller one to Dany who answers in kind with an air of relief. Formality is better than fearful awkwardness, after all. Alas, not all the introductions can run so smoothly.
"I... what are you?" Denys' voice practically breaks at the end as he looks at Dany wide-eyed. He cannot see the spells upon her, of course, but it seems that unlike his parents, Denys can guess at the dream-wrought blessings upon her.
Your sister gives a small laugh which sounds carefree, though you know it is anything but. "Good day to you. My name is Dany, or Daenerys, if you really want to add another syllable in there."
"Ehm... good day, m-my lady, I'm Denys," the boy stutters a little.
"Personally, I would be glad for a name with more than two syllables," Edric interjects smoothly. "There is really no way to shorten it for family without sounding rather silly."
Denys looks at his bother, first in relief, then mounting confusion... and realization. He too had used a touch of
enchantment too make his words flow true, and against the contrast of Dany's preternatural grace it's all the easier to notice. You would call it even odds if he can reign in his surprise or is about to blurt something out. It's likely best forestall him.
What do you say?
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OOC: Yes that is a second level spell, the reason this took so long to roll for was that I had to roll the background to see if he leveled. A social build like a Beguiler is something you can advance in at low levels without monsters if the stakes are high enough. That was particularly fortunate from a narrative PoV, since there are no first level buffs on the Beguiler list. Not yet edited.
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