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The Last Daughter -- Dragon-Blooded Sorcery School Quest

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[X] Something mysterious and arcane: A novelty, but one that emphasises your fledgling status as a sorcerer.
 
I feel like as a half-Prasadi sorcerer we're going to be othered enough without deliberately playing it up
 
mothematics said:
I feel like as a half-Prasadi sorcerer we're going to be othered enough without deliberately playing it up
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It's about what House Vneef values, and what Ambraea already has. Her snake familiar she wears everywhere is enough of a statement we are a sorceress.

stability and tradition are not favorable to a rising house seeking to supplant older more established ones.

Just because we have a foreign father does not demonstrate how much how much we value our foreign roots and relations.

As a Merchant house in control of the empire trade, positive foreign connections are the backbone of Vneef's Power. Demonstrating that we also value such connection thru our gift should generate a positive response.
 
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Gazetteer said:
A thin, solemn looking young woman, hair and eyes a seafoam blue that betrays Western heritage, despite her otherwise unremarkable servant's dress.You don't bother to suppress a very small smile at the sight of her
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Missing space between the sentences.

[x] Something mysterious and arcane: A novelty, but one that emphasises your fledgling status as a sorcerer
 
Changing my mind. When (if?) The empress disappears, I want to be right of as a sorceress first, a foreigner second in the aftermath.

[X] Something mysterious and arcane: A novelty, but one that emphasises your fledgling status as a sorcerer.

Also, we should give peony something protective. Show her we are still on her side and looking out for her, even if we are scary now
 
I think that this should not be an effort to stand out. There is value to that, but I do not think that it is as important (especially if we are going to stand out already...) as other considerations. I think that it is important that we not portray ourselves as something that will be oppressive to maintain.

We could make this political, try to curry value with V'Neef, but... . I feel that we have some knowledge about one single region and are the daughter of a diplomat who is both a but too busy/aloof to raise a child and is also only a diplomat to the one place. He no doubt travelled somewhat, but... cracking into a single market is valuable, but we can only do so much on that front, and it is not as though there are not other methods to do so... . Politics is like:V lying: If you do it for every little thing then you will either be drowned under having to track and manage every little detail, or be caught out by conflicts and have your manipulations and lack of integrity revealed... . Maybe save it for bigger things?

I want to give a gift that represents what we want to do or be. If V'Neef is going to base their expectations of us off of this, in however minor a way, let what others expect of us be something that we are comfortable displaying! It is not the sort of masterful social-climbing attitude that will make us great, but it does, hopefully, build us a reputation-home that we want to live in and can safely recover at...

[X] Something mysterious and arcane: A novelty, but one that emphasises your fledgling status as a sorcerer.
 
[x] Something exotic: A gift that emphasises the foreign side of Ambraea's parentage
 
[X] Something mysterious and arcane: A novelty, but one that emphasises your fledgling status as a sorcerer.
 
Glau said:
Changing my mind. When (if?) The empress disappears, I want to be right of as a sorceress first, a foreigner second in the aftermath.
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Honestly, if the aftermath of the Empress disappearing is Ambraea going to live in Prasad because that's what she most identifies with when the rest of the world turns upside down I would unironically see that as an absolute win. Prasad is dope. Though I love the standard Exalted setting too of course, I'm just saying. It could also be noted that Prasad would be possibly the one place in the world least disrupted by the Empress of the Realm suddenly vanishing.
 
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Vote closed, Interlude 1 01
  • Voting
    • Scheduled vote count started by Gazetteer on Jan 29, 2022 at 8:48 PM, finished with 29 posts and 21 votes.
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  • Voting
    • Assuming we're gonna get in bed with V'neef and play up our foreigness, should we be considering trying to establish closer connections to our father and Prasad?
     
    Brainbow said:
    Assuming we're gonna get in bed with V'neef and play up our foreigness, should we be considering trying to establish closer connections to our father and Prasad?
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    There will definitely be an opportunity to interact with Ambraea's father, as well as his side of the family.

    Dragging some of her friends with her on a trip to Prasad would be a pretty reasonable possibility for what Ambraea could do during the traditional gap years young Dynasts engage in after graduation before settling down into more serious responsibilities, if her mother weren't going to vanish ahead of that.
     
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    Interlude 1: Favoured Daughter 02
  • Threadmarks
    • Something Exotic: 12

    Something mysterious and arcane: 9

    You don't go all the way to the Prefectoral capital of Eagle's Launch. Instead, your destination is a coastal estate on the Prefecture's easternmost extreme. As the flower ship is lashed to a private pier, the setting sun is warm on your face, and the sea air fresh and bracing. Due to the vagaries of currents and Dragon Lines and distant proximity to the Elemental Poles, the Northwest coast of the Blessed Isle is considerably milder and less gloomy than Chanos had been, and you're all already enjoying the change of weather.

    The rocky shore here gives way to a rolling green dotted with farms and vineyards, and you can already see the manor house that is your destination. L'nessa describes it as 'just part of the lands given over to the house when mother was ascended." It's not a manse in its own right, but still apparently a very nice place to spend a few weeks nonetheless. You assume a benefit is that it's not so distant that the matriarch won't be able to maintain important correspondence during her stay here, and could even rush back to the city at need. She's presumably still very integral to day to day goings on, for such a young house.

    "How is your stomach?" Your voice is pitched for Peony's ears only as you prepare to disembark.

    "Better now I think, my lady," she says, not allowing herself even the smallest frown. Sea voyages normally don't trouble her unduly, but the accelerated speed of the flower ship caused particular difficulties for her. You don't miss being mortal. After a moment's quiet, she adds: "I will be able to carry out my duties tonight as expected." As if that's the only reason why you're asking.

    "... Good," you say. Verdigris tightens ever so slightly where she's wound around your arm beneath your sleeve. You've already grown used to that sort of thing as a comforting gesture from the snake, and you appreciate it. With a tiny sigh, you walk down the gangplank.

    At the end of the pier, your host is waiting along with a number of servants, and a carriage to bring you up to the house itself. As you approach along with L'nessa and Darting Fish, she addresses you first, as her guest. She smiles, inclining her head in greeting: "Ambraea, I'm so pleased you could make the journey! It's lovely to see you again." Matriarch V'neef has all the radiant youth of a Dragon-Blooded nearing her sixties, the gentle approachability of her countenance casting the features she shares with your mother into a wholly different light. Now that you see them standing near to each other, her hair is a deeper shade of autumnal red than L'nessa's burnt orange, her impossibly green eyes making for a very pretty contrast.

    You bow your head precisely the correct amount to address the matriarch and founder of a Great House. "I was honoured to receive the invitation, Matriarch V'neef."

    "Oh, please," she says, "we don't need to stand on quite so much ceremony — my L'nessa has told so much about you in her letters, after all. 'Elder sister' would be fine." As she says this, her smile is deeply affecting, exuding genuine welcome and a touch of tentative warmth.

    Exercising one's right to dispense with formalities is another way to emphasise power, though, and something about it all gives you a strange, tangled sort of feeling deep within your chest. You can sort that out later. "As you wish, elder sister," you agree. Without you even needing to say a word, Peony is suddenly there at hand, head bowed, holding out the treasure she's guarded all the long way from Chanos. "A gift, to show my gratitude for your hospitality," you say.

    It's a teabox of carved ivory, intricately adorned with a pattern that is almost, but not quite floral — enough plausible deniability to still be considered aniconic art. That alone would be a fine work of craftsmanship, but as V'neef examines it, you see the moment when she spots the true beauty of the piece — when viewed from above at just the right angle, the lid of the box is somehow revealed to have a scene of a family of elephants. Distinctly less than aniconic, but respectable enough, obscured as it is, and gifted from one Dragon-Blood to another. It's not something that you would have chosen to give to a more fervently devout or old-fashioned matriarch, but from V'neef's reaction, you think that this was right on the mark.

    "Tea from the shores of the Dreaming Sea," you say, as Peony carefully opens the box to show her. You all know that the box is the better part of the gift, but it's good to keep up the pretense, and the tea alone would make an acceptable gift.

    "However did you find this in Chanos?" V'neef asks, but it's not a question she expects to have answered. "This is beautiful, sister — thank you, it's more than generous." The box is closed again, and wrapped back up, as Peony passes it to one of V'neef's servants, her head still bowed. She's really outdone herself, frankly, but Peony always has tremendous luck when it comes to ferreting out improbably well-chosen gifts. She'd found the Prasadi-carved box at an insultingly low price from a trader who apparently didn't know what he'd had, and she'd haggled him down even further, despite recognising the style from a similar piece your father owns.

    Only with your greetings exchanged and the gift formally received does V'neef move on to L'nessa, reaching out to take both her hands in her own. "It looks as though the Chanos climate hasn't done you too much harm, daughter." You've heard the rumours about V'neef's overly familiar parenting style, but it still takes you a little by surprise.

    "I'm not entirely sure myself yet," L'nessa says, smiling back.

    "It's good to have you back with us, regardless," V'neef says. She holds the look for a lingering moment longer, before breaking it off and releasing L'nessa in order to look at the third Dynast in your group. "Darting Fish," she says, voice pleasant, but a great deal less warm. "You have my thanks for going so far out of your way to attend me here."

    "It is my honour, matriarch," he says, bowing considerably lower than you had.

    She doesn't correct Fish on his formality. Instead she turns to the three of you, and says, "you must all be tired and hungry. A meal should be ready soon, and rooms have already been made ready for you." This is your cue to all follow her to the waiting carriage, leaving the servants to manage your belongings. You don't immediately follow it.

    "Apologies," you say, "but if you would excuse me for a brief moment?"

    You think you register a barely noticeable blink of surprise, before V'neef smiles again, and says "Of course."

    "Thank you." You bow again, and then purposefully stride a few paces away, kneeling down on the hillside, well aware of all the stares you're getting. You hold a hand over the grassy earth, willing it to follow your directions. With a modest effort, it opens up a hole as wide as your fist, and as deep as your forearm. Reaching into the inside pocket of your jacket, you produce a silver coin, and slowly, reverently place it in the hole, before covering it back over with the same earth you'd shifted out of the way.

    As you return to the group, you feel Verdigris slithering up out of your sleeve, her green head peeking up from beneath your collar to reoccupy her ordinary place around your neck, now in full view of the entire group. You get the distinct impression that L'nessa is trying not to grin behind her hand.


    Despite your fatigue, dinner is a particular treat after the uninspired culinary year you've had. It's full of seafood, and exotic western spices, and the truly excellent wine that Eagle Prefecture has always been famous for.

    You're seated beside V'neef, as her guest, and she keeps you effortlessly engaged throughout the whole of the dinner, showing no awkwardness at all in the differences in your age and status, or in the strangeness inherent to your own side of the conversation concerning your recent year. She doesn't even blink as Verdigris makes her way down from your shoulder to coil herself up in your lap.

    "... and by the time he turned back around, gloating over how she'd missed the start of class for the third day running, she was somehow in her seat already," V'neef says, smiling at the old memory. "It quite took the wind out of his sails, I think."

    "What did she say?" you ask.

    V'neef laughs. "She insisted she'd been there the whole time 'I know your eyesight isn't what it used to be, sir'. No one had actually seen her come in, so he couldn't actually prove that she hadn't been."

    You can't help but crack a smile at that. You catch sight of L'nessa, deep in much more subdued conversation with her father, Tepet Igan. A tall, imposing Air Aspect from an entirely different branch of his family than Sola — there's not much in the way of family resemblance between him and his young daughter. The rest of the dinner party is filled out with a smattering of cousins and local hangers on. Not a large crowd by the standards of Great House matriarchs' tables, but enough to make the dining hall not feel too empty. The large, glass windows give you a spectacular view of the setting sun reflected on the sea, even as servants efficiently light lamps in the background.

    Despite your best attempts to remain impartial and level-headed, you can't deny being charmed by it all, and flattered by the attention of your host. You know she's doing this for reasons of her own, but that's true of absolutely everyone in your life. Still, though, something nags at the edge of your mind.

    "What did she do after graduation?" you ask.

    "Oh, Alona? She's satrap for a nation in the far West," V'neef says. "We all expected her to find success, of course. You can tell who's going to go places fairly early on, sometimes."

    There's a veiled compliment in there that you're sure you're supposed to recognise. "There hasn't been so much time to think of such things, this past year," you say. "I'm told the second year tends to give more room to breathe."

    "And I'm sure you had more pressure on you than most, even by your school's standards," V'neef says. She leans in closer, dropping her voice to keep her words from carrying. "I hope that our honoured mother's well wishes found you before you had to set sail," she says. "It is her habit to send them, after one of her children excels so early in their studies." You realise then, what's been bothering you about V'neef — half of what's been bothering you, at least. She's speaking to you with an air of sisterly confidence. Even if it's for the purposes of winning you over to secure you as a contact in the future, it's not a way you've ever been addressed in your life.

    You're not sure you like it.

    "I received a letter," you agree. It had been a thing of coolly impersonal formality, but, Dragons help you, you had drunk up every bit of the praise as though it were the very ambrosia of heaven. Beneath it all had been the only message that really mattered: you have not disappointed her, so far.

    V'neef nods, her face taking on a sympathetic cast. "You must have been relieved to receive it. For me, I was nearly sick with worry until I heard her say that she was pleased with my progress."

    You pause infinitesimally. Your tone is carefully guarded as you ask: "She told you so in person?"

    "Yes," V'neef admits, "but the Spiral Academy being in the Imperial City made it easy enough for her to have me attend her, at need." There's a note of humble self effacement in her voice as she says this, casting it as a matter only of practicality.

    For one precarious instant, the savage envy trying to claw its way out of your chest is too great for you to trust yourself to reply. It's only then that you truly understand why, perhaps through no fault of her own, more than one of your other half-siblings loathe this woman. You idly stroke Verdigris's head before she can start hissing. "That would have been convenient, elder sister," you say.

    Then the next course arrives, and rescues you from having to continue this line of conversation.


    Despite your physical exhaustion and your voicing your intent to do so, you're too troubled to immediately go to bed after dinner. So you find yourself in the guest chambers that have been provided for you, sitting in a comfortable chair, a warm cup of green tea held in one hand, Verdigris on the floor, peeking out from beneath the chair with a lazy, watchful air.

    "I think she was pleased," you say. "Genuinely, not just for the sake of ritual niceties. Well done."

    "Thank you, my lady," Peony says. Her back is currently to you, as she finishes carefully organising your clothes in the wardrobe. V'neef's servants had already hung them up serviceably enough, but she's taking the liberty of arranging them to your preference without needing to be asked. The rooms that have been set aside for you here are technically larger than the ones you had back in Chanos, although they're not half as large as the ones kept for you in the Imperial Palace.

    There's a moment's hesitation, before Peony adds: "I... had heard she had a fondness for elephants."

    That genuinely surprises you. "Where did you hear that?"

    Peony looks over to you, an expression going over her face like she's regretting having broached the subject. Still, she answers. "From some of the older servants at the Imperial palace, who knew the matriarch when she was young."

    "Did you talk to other servants about Matriarch V'neef often?" you ask, a little taken aback.

    "Well, no!" Peony says, wincing. "It's just the sort of harmless gossip that tends to go around the servants' quarters, my lady. Nothing mean-spirited, or of any real consequence! Many of the palace servants love her very dearly -- she was always good to them."

    This, at least, fits what you've heard yourself -- out of all your half-siblings, V'neef is famously good at winning the hearts of common people. The question that burns on the tip of your tongue isn't about V'neef though. From the minute tightness coming into Peony's shoulders, you can tell that she's waiting for you to ask it: had anyone ever spoken about you that way?

    You settle back into your seat, take a long sip of tea, and with deliberate effort, let the question go. All you say instead is "Still, very well done, Peony. Where would I be, without your singular grace and dedication?"

    It's a question you've asked before -- an old joke, as much as a genuine compliment. And you can't help but feel a stab of disappointment when she simply says "My lady is kind to say so." But then, after so long a pause that you've given up on anything further, she adds the expected reply in a very quiet voice: "And... I'm sure you would be somewhere."

    It is not, you know, everything being back to normal. There's still that strange distance between you that you don't know how to cross anymore. For that one instant, though, things are right again.


    As her guest, you spend a great deal of time in V'neef's company in the coming days and weeks. She is unfailingly polite, witty in a disarming way, generous in her largesse. It's insidiously easy to forget that she's as powerful a woman as she is, and you think that you'd like her, despite all your wariness. At least, if it weren't for that image of your mother personally praising a sixteen year old V'neef for her efforts, burned irrevocably into your mind.

    You hope that you're doing as good a job as you think you are at hiding this from her.

    On more than a few days, however, your host is effectively L'nessa — it's perfectly acceptable for V'neef's family to entertain you in her place, as long as this doesn't stray into an insulting dereliction of duty, but you're quite certain this was part of the plan all along. Even while ostensibly taking a few weeks' leisure out in the countryside, the matriarch clearly has business that she's attending to when time allows. That you and L'nessa are already more or less close friends only makes this more seamless.

    "Mother's a little displeased with me," L'nessa confides, enough good humour in her voice that you don't think it's an active source of dread. The way it would be if you'd been the one to say those words. Then she punctuates this announcement by taking one of your tigers.

    "What did you do to earn that?" you ask, moving an elephant out of danger. You're both seated at a stone table in a lush garden, protected from the noonday sun by an awning, a supply of delicate snacks and cold drinks on hand as you pass the time with a game of Gateway. Neither of you are spectacularly good, which at least makes for an interesting match — you're each intelligent enough to spot one another's mistakes, but not so good as to avoid making them entirely. Verdigris is taking up her usual place across your neck and shoulders, but she's not bothering you too terribly while you play.

    "Well, I finally got around to telling her about Maia's little secret," L'nessa admits, hand hovering thoughtfully over a carved emerald fox as she speaks. Your own pieces are polished amethyst, the three-tiered board itself made from clear, crystalline glass — it's the kind of incredible extravagance that you have been surrounded by your entire life, and merely accept as a matter of course.

    You frown. "What secret?"

    L'nessa laughs, and moves an eagle instead, neatly walking right into the trap you've been putting together for the last three turns. You're too distracted to be immediately pleased by this. "Why am I surprised? Of course you didn't notice, with the kind of year you led."

    "I was busy," you say, before your elephant drops down from a higher level in order to take one of her tigers, left exposed by her too-eager advance.

    "Yes, you were," L'essa says, pouting at the state of the board. "So busy, apparently, that you didn't even stop to consider what house is fostering our roommate?"

    You look back on your interactions with Maia — somehow, it had failed to seem significant that at no point during the academic year had she mentioned which Great House her family had struck a bargain with to secure her place at the Heptagram. Part of this simply speaks of skillful evasion on Maia's part, of course. There's probably some truth to L'nessa's jab, however. "Why would she keep that a secret?" you ask.

    "Oh, I'm quite certain it's Peleps, and she's worried about making things awkward with me," L'nessa says. "Mnemon's out — you just know Keric wouldn't be able to not be smug about that, otherwise. And besides that, the Erona have quite a good reputation for producing Water Aspects, especially for patricians. I imagine there was a marriage contract or two involved to shore up a failing household at a bargain." She's trying to salvage the game at this point, but you've decidedly put her on the backfoot.

    "Your mother is displeased that you didn't mention this earlier?" you guess, moving in for the kill. Most of your thoughts are tied up in trying to consider how you feel about this revelation, though. Trying to avoid conflict with L'nessa over this does feel a lot like Maia. Such an arrangement would mean a few years of service to House Peleps, at minimum, and very likely her own family's interests being aligned with the Great House's for at least a generation... and decidedly against House V'neef's. You can't help but feel a little unfairly stung at the thought that she'd been lying to you by omission as well, though.

    "Mildly," L'nessa says. "It's not a huge factor, but she wants to know about the interests I've got at play around me." Her voice drops into a conspiratorial whisper as she adds: "I think she feels a little out of her depth with the actual sorcery aspect of it all, so she's fixating on this sort of thing."

    "I'm sure she'd love to hear you say so," you say.

    L'nessa laughs. "Oh, she'd hate it. It rather undermines the tact she's taking with you, I think. Ugh, you've won, haven't you?"

    "So it would seem." You can't hang onto worries about Maia or bitterness toward your half-sister, just then. L'nessa's good mood is infectious, and the air is pleasantly warm, filled with the scent of flowers and the sea. The cry of gulls is far enough off in the distance to be scenic, along with the faint sound of crashing waves. You take a long sip of chilled wine and just enjoy the moment.

    "Gateway, or have you found another game to lose at, L'nessa?" a voice asks, making you both start. A young woman is sitting on the edge of a nearby wall that had decidedly been unoccupied a moment before. Your hand shoots out to steady the arm of the servant who'd been refilling your glass — the stranger's sudden appearance had startled him rather worse than it had you, and you don't fancy having cold white wine spilled all over your dress. You ignore his profuse apologies and obvious fear at the scrutiny Verdigris is giving him, in order to give the newcomer a hard, searching look.

    "Oh, hello, sister," L'nessa says, an annoyed sort of calm setting over her features. "Yes, it is Gateway. Must you do this?"

    "At least until I stop catching you off guard," the woman says. "I'd have thought you'd have learned a spell that stops me from sneaking up on you, by now." She doesn't look a great deal like L'nessa or V'neef, but now that you look, she does bear a striking enough resemblance to Tepet Igan that you assume this is one of L'nessa's handful of blood siblings. The woman is tall, leanly muscled and dressed for riding. More eye-catching are the Wood aspect markings in the form of flowers twining through her dark hair, and the sheathed daiklave laid out on the wall beside her, as though she'd been carrying it when she stopped. It's not hard to see why she'd need to ask what game you're playing: she wears a cloth embroidered with a pattern based on the mon of House V'neef tied around her eyes. Matriarch V'neef's blind swordmaster daughter is not exactly unknown to you, by reputation.

    With a small sigh, L'nessa gets to her feet. "Ambraea, this is my elder sister, V'neef S'thera. Sister, this is Ambraea, our guest, and my classmate."

    You get to your feet as well. "Pleased to meet you," you say, despite your annoyance at the sort of introduction S'thera thinks is suitable.

    "Oh, you did sound like an Earth Aspect," S'thera says. "They mentioned you were here — you really do have a magical snake with you, don't you?"

    "I do," you say, putting a protective hand on Verdigris's cool, metallic head. "And, I didn't realise Earth Aspects sounded like anything in particular."

    "The breathing," S'thera says, without further explanation.

    "Sister, what are you doing here?" L'nessa asks, dropping any pretense of ceremony. "I thought you were back in Eagle's Launch."

    S'thera laughs. "I'm on a hunt, actually. We were passing by, so it seemed like a good opportunity to water the horses, and pay my respects to mother."

    "What are you hunting?" you ask.

    "Hellboar!" S'thera says, with an eager sort of grin. As if a hunt for the Blessed Isle's largest and fiercest land predator is her idea of fun. "A huge male's been terrorising the countryside. I was showing Kedus the Prefecture when we heard — Tepet Kedus, my fiancé," she adds this last for your benefit.

    "You're not going after it just the two of you, are you?" L'nessa asks, slightly appalled.

    "Of course not," S'thera says, waving the thought away. "We have a whole hunt with us, hounds and all. And V'neef Argan — Dancing Boar's youngest, she just graduated from the House of Bells. Wasn't back a day before this came up."

    "I'm sure mother will be thrilled to hear all about this," L'nessa says, sounding skeptical.

    "Oh, yes, I fully intend to give her a chance to fuss a little, it's why I'm here," S'thera says. "But it's important work — the monster's ruining perfectly good grape plants, and it's starting to get a taste for fieldworker. And who can they look for for protection, if not their betters along the Perfected Hierarchy? We'll be gone with her blessing within the day. Where is she, by the way?"

    "She went to inspect some property to the north," L'nessa says. "She should be back inside the hour."

    "Well, I suppose you'll be graced by my presence a little longer," S'thera says. "Ambraea — Burano Nazat is your father, yes?"

    "Burano Maharan Nazat," you say, trying to make the correction gentle. Your father would not be pleased at the omission of his jati name. "Yes, he's my father."

    "I've heard his swordsmanship is part of what caught the Empress's eye," S'thera says.

    "He is a very accomplished swordsman," you acknowledge.

    "Have you learned anything from him, or have you been too focused on learning to cavort with demons?" she asks.

    Your eyes narrow, not liking that characterisation at all. "He has instructed me in Prasadi saber fighting," you say.

    "Fantastic," S'thera says. "I'm sure there's a more interesting way to pass the time until mother arrives than this, then."

    "Sister..." L'nessa says, voice a little anxious.

    "Oh, I'm not going to hurt her," S'thera says. "I'm just proposing a nice, friendly spar. If that doesn't sound too strenuous, Lady Ambraea? After all this Gateway and feasting and being casually introduced to various young, eligible V'neef men."

    Verdigris lets out a low, unfriendly hiss. "It does not sound too strenuous," you say, keeping your voice as calm as possible, aware that this matters a great deal more than your expression does in this situation.

    "Excellent!" S'thera says. "There's a nice courtyard just over there. I'll wait for you to be ready."


    A short time later, you're dressed for swordplay, Peony walking along behind you with a practice sword held uncertainly in her arms. "Are you quite certain about this, my lady?" she asks you, with what sounds like genuine concern.

    "Is there some reason I shouldn't be?" you ask.

    "Well, lady S'thera has quite a fearsome reputation, doesn't she? And you haven't exactly..." she cuts herself off abruptly. "Apologies, my lady. Forgive me for speaking out of turn."

    "The worst thing she can bruise is my pride, Peony," you say, giving a slight sigh.

    "Also your body," L'nessa says, tone critical as she falls in beside you, leaving the main building and heading back to the garden courtyard. "She is quite good at that."

    "I'm hard to bruise," you promise her, which is true enough.

    "Particularly your head," L'nessa says.

    V'neef S'thera is waiting for you, leaning against the stone arch that serves as an entrance to the courtyard. With her are two unfamiliar Dragon-Blooded, Fire Aspects both. "Here you are!" S'thera says, straightening up from the arch as the three of you enter into easy speaking range. You assume she heard the sound of your footsteps. "These are my companions: Tepet Kedus and V'neef Argan."

    "A pleasure to meet you, Lady Ambraea" Kedus says, giving you a respectful half bow. He's a thin, pleasant-faced young man, his hair and complexion both distinctly red-tinged. Argan follows his lead with the gesture, but stays silent — she's a stocky, powerfully-built woman, her features partially obscured by a mild heat shimmer.

    "Likewise," you say. You shift Verdigris into your arms, and glance over to Peony, who very valiantly does not shrink back in horror, but you can tell she very badly wants to, from the way her tanned complexion has gone ever so slightly paler. Taking pity on her, you look to L'nessa. "Would you hold onto Verdigris for me?" you ask. "She won't hurt you."

    L'nessa herself does not seem particularly eager, but she's at least not actively afraid of Verdigris. She holds out her hands, and at your urging, Verdigris slithers off of your shoulders, down your arm, and then up L'nessa's to hang around her neck. "Stay here," you tell the snake, voice a little stern.

    "Your pet is protective, I take it?" S'thera asks.

    "Yes," you say, accepting the training sword from Peony, who seems a little sick with relief.

    "I'd appreciate not getting bitten in the ankle, although Wood Aspects aren't particularly easy to poison," S'thera says.

    "Verdigris is well behaved," you say. "And... if it's all the same, I don't think you'd enjoy this poison very much." You very much doubt that Verdigris's bite would outright kill an Exalt, but you're not joking when you suggest it would be unpleasant — you've seen the petrified statues she makes of her prey, before she swallows them whole.

    S'thera laughs, leading you into the courtyard. It's a place of shaded stone benches and charming water features — it feels more like a place to relax while writing poetry than one where you'd stage a fight. Arrayed against each other on opposite sides of the courtyard, your misgivings come decidedly home to roost. Blind or not, she moves with the easy grace of one utterly comfortable with a sword in her hand, her posture speaking of an easy confidence that you very much don't feel. It's not the first time you've sparred with an older Exalt, though, and you've already agreed to this. So you follow her lead, taking a position at your own side of the makeshift arena.

    The moment you start, you know two things — you're entirely too rusty, and you'd be severely outmatched regardless. Perhaps predictably, S'thera seems to have no trouble at all knowing precisely where you and your weapon are. She wins the first bout in four moves, bending out of the way of a slash like a willow in a storm before somehow getting her blade up under your guard and levering the weapon out of your hands.

    "Again?" S'thera asks.

    You nod grimly, accepting your retrieved sword from Tepet Kedus, who actually gives you an encouraging smile. "Again."

    You last a little longer on the second and third bouts, even though the third does finally end with you on your back, staring dazedly up at the sky above. For the first time since you left Chanos, you feel a familiar, cold presence stirring in the back of your head, their attention caught by your pain or exertion or both.

    "Are you having a good time on your trip, my lady?" Diamond-Cut Perfection asks, voice sly in your head. Your only reply is a powerful sense of annoyance you shoot back, and of course that only makes them laugh.

    "You have a solid foundation — excellent instruction, I think," S'thera says, offering you a hand. You're not too proud to accept it. "You're letting it go to seed, though. What's the point of being a snake witch or whatever you're going for, if you can't keep your head on your shoulders in a fight?"

    Now she just sounds like a less polite version of Sola. "There hasn't been a lot of room for other pursuits, this first year," you say.

    "Well, something to think about," S'thera says. "Very interesting style, by the way — I would love to have a go against your father."

    "He isn't exactly hard to find," you point out, and Sthera laughs.

    "No, I suppose not!" She says. "Thank you for the match, Aunt. I should really prepare to greet my honoured mother. Take care." And with that, she departs.

    "Delighted to meet you, lady Ambraea. And to see you again, L'nessa," says Kedus, bowing politely before he follows his fiancée.

    "I think I like it better when you call me that," you say to L'nessa, accepting a somewhat agitated Verdigris back from her. She laughs — for all their differences, you can't help but notice it's the same as S'thera's.


    In the end, it's a fairly enjoyable several weeks, and you make some real inroads at building ties to a wealthy and growing Great House, one you'd be able to really leave a mark on. While you can't quite bring yourself to like V'neef as a woman, she has been a perfectly able host, and you think that she at least finds you interesting.

    You have plenty of time to consider the possible future where you put yourself into this family's orbit — marriage to a nice V'neef boy, your household bearing your name, but your children growing up intertwined with their father's house. Men do not hold a great deal of interest for you romantically, but you're perfectly prepared to find a tractable husband to produce heirs with, whatever else might be in your love life on the side.

    It's still six years before graduation, though, and you have a long time to consider your options before your mother starts pressing you to make choices you can't take back. In the more immediate future, there's another year of studies to consider.

    Now that you're a sorcerer proper, you're far from done. But as you continue to branch out in your studies, a goal starts to form in your mind — the kind of sorcerer you're building toward, and the kind of woman you hope to present to the Dynasty at the far end of school. There will be room for course correction, of course, but that will come later.

    Article:
    Ambraea's sorcery will always be tied to Earth and spirits of Earth. What is her immediate area of focus as she hones it? Choose a long-term goal. You may vote for as many as you like, but only the top vote will be picked:

    [ ] [Goal] Eyes of Black Diamond, Smile of White Fangs

    Ambraea has not inherited her mother's legendary charm and charisma, but she is beginning to demonstrate some of the Empress's commanding presence. She can hone this to her advantage, with sorcery intended to beguile and misdirect, becoming a quiet social predator at the edge of high society. This is a skillset that any house or major faction on the Blessed Isle will be able to appreciate, although some more than others.

    Focus: Subterfuge, misdirection, social intimidation, inscrutability

    [ ] [Goal] The Serpent Witch

    Sorcerers are unavoidably social outcasts within the Dynasty, figures of dread and fascination both. One can find a way to work around this, or to use it to their advantage. Ambraea can lean into the uncanny and esoteric aspects of her craft, honing the unique strengths of her sorcerous initiation to become the kind of sorcerer that every Great House both fears and considers indispensable, capable of protecting her allies and bringing woe down upon her enemies.

    Focus: Curses and afflictions, spirits, 🐍snakes 🐍, dread mystery

    [ ] [Goal] Stone Towering Toward the Sky

    The motto of your father's faraway clan is aspirational — one can build for a hundred years and never touch the sky, but even the process of reaching for it is ever worthwhile. Ambraea can build on her natural toughness and stoicism to craft herself into a remote and irreproachable edifice, untouchable on and off the battlefield. Invaluable for any house with even modest military ambitions — which is all of them, although some more than others.

    Focus: Battlefield sorcery, earthen defence, tactics, stoic virtue


    What storyline would you like to follow in your year two? The character named as central will appear very prominently within this storyline, but this doesn't mean you won't see other characters as well. This list will get longer in subsequent years, meaning you may not have time for all options. You may vote for as many as you like, but only the top vote will be picked. This vote is separate from the first:

    [ ] [Storyline] Endings and Different Colours

    You made tentative friends with Sesus Amiti in your first year. A strange girl, morbid and friendly in equal measure, is she really as talentless as she seems? And who is the strange guest instructor who seems to be paying her particular attention?

    Availability: Year two
    Central character: Sesus Amiti

    [ ] [Storyline] Metal Honing Stone

    You have so far not had a great deal of contact with Simendor Deiza, but the cadet house scion has not made a good impression so far. Tensions only increase with further contact, and rivalry cuts both ways. Just what are Deiza's motivations for acting the way she does toward her social betters?

    Availability: Years two or three
    Central character: Simendor Deiza

    [ ] [Storyline] Swords and Legacy

    You and Tepet Usala Sola are both driven to live up to the high standards of powerful and capable mothers. You can forge this into a deeper bond through dangerous misadventure, both growing in the process and finding someone you can rely on.

    Availability: Years two to five
    Central character: Tepet Usala Sola
     
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    • Candesce said:
    I suspect V'neef is a little more likely to remember the Iselsi than her daughter is.

    And that's not something you want to be ambushed with.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Prior to their destruction, Iselsi was just a normal Great House with, maybe, more influence on the Thousand Scales than the contemporary Great Houses have. The biggest concern the majority of Dynasts would have with their daughter associating with a descendant of House Iselsi is just that it's still kind of black mark.

    V'neef has also not been given cause to believe that Erano Maia is a descendant of House Iselsi by anything L'nessa has told her.
     
    I'm holding out hope that Maia is an Iselsi, but right now only House Sesus' higher ranks, and Big Red would know the House's true status and operations. There's no way for people to consider this an option unless they involve themselves in either sphere of influence, though I do like though that V'neef and family are speculating that Maia is hiding her Dynastic lineage. It helps to remember that many Iselsi in hiding take up Patrician names and positions across the Realm Bureaucracy, and while they make sure to appear as normal as possible in public, pass down their secret history, trades, and Vendetta. I don't know if they're eyeing Maia up as a prospect for House V'neef or if it's just idle curiosity, but this could get messy if any V'neef Dynast finds themselves on Big Red's hit list or on the Iselsi's own hit list.

    I don't know about what goals I want, but the idea of trying to invoke Big Red as a Goal doesn't sit well with me. We'd be sized up by Mnemon as another Mom imitator and she's had enough with the one other in V'neef.
     
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