“It’s also a possibility you’re getting so well-known thanks to Nina and her trading partners.” The wood elf hummed.

“It’s not that hard when most of the people capable of infusion enchanting are either dead or have their noses so high up that they can catch rainwater with it.”

“Pft...” Letty tried to hold in a slight chuckle which turned into a burst of laughter.

“Anyway, how was your day?”

“It was great,” she beamed with a sunny smile. “The herbs are growing at a steady pace and so is Lunet. She’s like a sponge when it comes to magic knowledge. Or any kind of knowledge for that matter.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Regis sighed. “At least one of us gets to have a proper disciple.”

“Still no luck?”

“Nope,” the dark elf shook his head. “None of the apprentices shows any talent for infusion enchanting. Salvador mentioned two of them having some talent for alchemic enchanting, but that’s not my forte, so... yeah.”

“I’m sure it will be fine,” she said while hugging him. “So, about this Lords’ Assembly. When will you head out and who’s going with you?”

“I talked with Lieutenant Ernest about it and he told me that a mage will drop by to bring troops and supplies either tomorrow or the day after that. She should be able to bring me over to White-spire Keep.”

“She?” Letty asked with her eyebrows raised.

“I know as much as you do,” the spell weaver shrugged. “Ernest didn’t give me more details other than that she’s supposed to arrive around noon. Anyway. I will only go there to synchronize my gateway talisman, then I’ll come right back home.”

“You don’t even want to look around?”

“A lord arriving unannounced can cause issues,” Regis reminded her. “It’s best to come home immediately. Once the day of the assembly arrives, I’ll take Tristan and Quentin with me. Hopefully, it won’t take longer than a few hours.”

“Good. I was getting worried that you’d have to miss the harvest festival.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I mean, it is our first Landwaker harvest after all.”

“Yeah,” the wood elf squirmed a bit as she looked flustered. “It might be a busier day than we expected.”

“What? Why?”

“My gold dew willow tree is about to finish growing as well, so I figured that I could hold the ritual on that day.”

“For real?” Regis looked at him excitedly. “Are you sure? Did you talk about it with Druig? Did he have any advice?”

“Calm down,” Letty tried to calm the excited dark elf. “I already talked about it with him, but he pretty much only said what I have already read in the books. He did say however that he believes I’m ready for it.”

“Of course you are. You’ve been training to become a druid for a long while now. So, do you need anything special for the ritual? We can talk to Nina if you’re missing something.”

“I have everything prepared, so we only have to wait for the tree to mature a bit more. You and the others will only have to guard me while I’m completing the spell and then deal with my constellations.”

“Okay. You just have to... ask,” Regis said as his stomach let out a loud growl. “It should be around dinner time, right?”

“Yes.” The young woman chuckled.

Will you stay for dinner?

“Sure,” she nodded with a slight hum in her voice. “I’m pretty sure my sister called over Osmond for dinner, so... you know. I kind of need a place to sleep for the night.”

“I think we can arrange that.” The dark elf said with a wide grin as he stood up, carrying Letty out of the study in a princess-style carry.

“Come on,” she chuckled as he used her feet to close the door. “You can put me down now.”

“Nope. I’m going to carry you into the dining room like this.”

“What? Please don't... wait!” She tried to plead her case, but the spell weaver began to run forward with a burst of maniacal laughter, not heeding her plea.

The lower floor of the manor was soon filled with laughter as the two reached the dining room, Euric and young Dana already sitting at the table when the door opened, a laughing Regis entering with a flustered wood elf in her arms.

“Good evening Miss Letty,” Euric greeted her, seemingly unfazed by the strange occurrence. “I take it you’re having dinner with us?”

“Yes.” She replied while the dark elf finally put her down.

“I see. In that case, I’ll go and ask my wife to prepare another set of plates and utensils.”

“Thank you, Euric!” Letty said as she shot a glare towards Regis.

The somewhat awkward silence lasted for a good minute or two before the butler and his wife returned to the dining room.

“Miss Letty,” the maid called out to her with a warm smile. “I’m glad you could join us for the evening. Today’s menu should be quite to your liking.”

“Come now Mrs. Dana,” the wood elf replied while accepting the plates and utensils that were brought out for her. “Pretty much everything you cook is delicious.”

“Except for that boar tongue soup?” Regis goaded, the young woman’s eyes twitching as a slight shudder ran down her spine.

“Regis,” she called out to him huffing. “It only happened once!”

“There’s no need to be upset about that accident,” Dana remarked while filling the table with the bowls and plates that contained their dinner. “No one knew that you would have such a … heavy reaction to the soup, miss. It’s a fairly common dish in Ecragurne.”

“I know,” Letty muttered. “So, what’s for today’s dinner?”

“Tonight is ‘vegetarian’ night, so I cooked some tomato bisque and ratatouille according to Sir Fabien’s recipe, as well as some fresh baguette to go with it.”

“Oh my,” the wood elf hummed after inhaling the fresh soup’s aroma. “French night, huh? They look delicious.”

“I have to admit,” Regis spoke up. “Your use of Earthen expressions and names is getting better by the day.”

“Thank you, milord. Sir Fabien was adamant about teaching me the proper names and words. He said that it would be a blasphemy not to.”

“Yeah,” the dark elf chuckled awkwardly. “He tends to be a bit on the fanatical side when it comes to cooking. Either way, bon appetit!”

“Bon appetit!” Everyone responded using the recently learned expression as the dinner began.

While eating, the younger Dana sometimes asked questions about different arcane topics from both elves, not even the delicious food being able to distract her for too long. The pleasant dinner was then followed by a hot bath and a similarly heated night. When Regis woke up the next morning he had to, as usual, sneak out of his room so that he wouldn’t wake up the still-sleeping wood elf. The silence of the early morning however didn’t last too long as a knock on the door of the study stopped him from reading the records made by Tristan after talking to Thornfell’s people.

“It’s open,” he said loudly and the unexpected visitor entered the room. “Morning, Quentin.”

“Morning,” the paladin replied. “I’ve heard from Tristan about the Lords’ Assembly.”

“I see,” the dark elf nodded as he gestured toward the nearby seat. “I wanted to talk to you about the matter later, but it seems you got to me first.”

“So, what’s this all about?”

“Didn’t Tristan explain it to you?”

“He explained it in his own words. What I’m curious about is your opinion.” The man grumbled as he sat down, his tone as sombre as it had been throughout the past weeks.

“I don’t know what to say,” the dark elf admitted. “This whole thing reeks of high-born scheming and other bullshit like that.”

“How bad is it going to be?”

“According to Tristan, at least thirty to thirty-five nobles along with their attendants. Some of them are upstarts like me. There’s likely going to be a couple of guild masters present as well. “

“That’s a lot of potential allies...”

“Or enemies.” Regis finished his companion’s train of thought.

“Who’s going with you?”

“I’ll need Tristan since he’s more experienced in these kinds of situations. I also hoped that you would come along as my knight commander.”

“I won’t...”

“I’m not asking you to bend the knee, Quentin. I never did. All I’m asking is that you come with me as a show of strength. Even the nobles have to give respect to a paladin.”

“You want me to act as your distraction?”

“More like my deterrent force. Paladins stand for something greater than most of these nobles. If you are there with me, then they’ll hopefully think twice before trying to pull something shady. Of course, it’s your choice to come or not.”

“I’ll go,” Quentin agreed with a surprisingly reassuring smile. “Valerie with chew my ears off if she found out that I turned down a chance to rub shoulders with the local nobles.”

“She would be more upset if you couldn’t bring back something shiny or tasty for her.”

“True,” the paladin chuckled. “Thanks for fixing up that kitchen for her by the way.”

“Does she like it?”

“She even asked Fabien to help her get better at cooking.”

“Nice.”

“I’m the taste tester.”

“Ouch,” The spell weaver hissed as he remembered the first time they let the infernal woman cook for the team. “You have my condolences.”

“Yeah. Anyway. When are we heading out?”

“If everything goes well, a mage will help me teleport to White-spire Keep from Rust-well Keep either today or tomorrow at noon. Once I synchronised my talisman with the local gateway, we’ll be able to travel there whenever needed.”

“Glad to hear it,” the man sighed. “Riding on a horse while wearing a full armour is a pain in the ass. So, how long is this assembly going to last.”

“A couple of hours at most, hopefully. Once it’s over we’re coming back right away.”

“No mingling?”

“Not if I can help it,” the spell weaver shook his head. “I don’t want to spend more time in that snake pit than I have to.”

“We’ll have to at least get to know the lords and ladies closest to Thorn Vale,” Quentin shared his opinion. “We already know Zola, but she’s not the only one around and the others don’t owe us for helping them rise to power.”

“Well,” the dark elf hummed. “At the very least we should try to stay on neutral terms with them.”

“And make sure that they… don’t lose their head.”

“You’re not going to let me live that down, will you?”

“You killed a man in cold blood, Regis.”

“I’ve killed a lot of things and a lot of people since we came to the Shardlands,” the spell weaver looked his companion in the eyes, his voice a tone colder than before. “But I never killed anyone innocent. Vidal wasn’t innocent either. You know it the same as I do. It might have been a rash act, but I’m not going to apologise for it.”

“I’m not…”

“It had to be done, Quentin,” Regis stated with a flat tone. “The sooner you get over it, the better. I hope that there won’t be similar situations any time soon, if ever. But if there will be, I’m going to do the same thing. End of the story.”

“You’re hopeless.” The paladin sighed in frustration as he threw his hands up in the air.

“And you’re a bloody hypocrite, yet you don’t hear me bitch about it. I asked you to be my knight commander so you could create a ‘proper’ police force in town. I asked for your experience and help to write the laws of Thornfell. You’ve admitted yourself that Vidal was a lost cause. I won’t let a threat like that live. I won’t let them come here and fuck up everything we have achieved.”

“I… you’re right,” Quentin sighed defeated as he looked at the glowing-eyed dark elf. “Just… next time if it comes to that, try to act with a bit more tact.”

“You made that rhyme on purpose.” The dark elf sighed while massaging his temples.

“I live with my right to stay silent.” The paladin responded.

“If only you could." he sighed. "Anyway, the assembly will be held on the first of the Azure Dragon, so we have almost two weeks to prepare. Hopefully, I will become a journeyman-ranked enchanter before that.

“Are you that close to advancing?” Quentin asked surprised.

“I haven’t told anyone yet,” the dark elf spoke up after a few moments of silence. “But I managed to raise both my lore and my transmutation alchemy to level fifty a few days ago, pushing them to the journeyman rank. I even got a new constellation scroll for the next tier of the loremaster and the alchemist.”

“You’re telling me that you’ve already become a...”

“No,” Regis shook his head. “I didn’t want to go through with it until I became a journeyman enchanter as well.”

“But why not,” the paladin looked at him puzzled. “The sooner you become a third-tier spellcaster, the better. Right?”

“Normally that would be the case, but I had a talk with Osmond about the loremaster path before and he told me that it has a stronger variant. That’s what I’m aiming for.”

“And that variant is connected to enchanting.” Quentin deduced.

“Yes. I’ve been enchanting items pretty much every day for the past month, not to mention the different buildings and whatnot. I’m a hair’s width away from reaching level fifty. Once that happens, I should be able to advance without any problem.”

“Son of a bitch,” the paladin cussed. “I figured you would be the first one to reach tier three among us, but I never thought you would get there so fast.”

“I guess all those sleepless nights are paying off. Either way. Once I become a journeyman enchanter, I can upgrade everyone’s equipment once again. That should give us an edge.”

“I can already imagine how the people will look at us when we walk around with blue rune-dotted equipment.”

“Our equipment is one thing,” the spell weaver sighed. “But getting to the next rank will also unlock new possibilities for us. Remember those diagrams from the arcanite obelisk? I’ll finally be able to make use of those as well.”

“At least some good came out of our scuffle with Vidal. Alright, it’s time for me to go. I’m sure you have a lot of things to do and I promised Valerie that we’d have breakfast together.”

“We’ll she be the one to cook?”

“Seven forbid,” the paladin turned a shade paler. “We’re meeting at the inn.”

“I see. Have fun then. And give Val my regards.”

“Sure thing. Just send someone for me if anything changes.”

“Okay.” Regis nodded as he watched his companion turn around and leave the study.