Seekers of the Stone Maker
Dining Negotiations

Across the room, Myla sat at the desk. On one side, her poisoner’s kit was displayed, and she worked on various tinctures and concoctions from her notes and the items she had foraged before arriving at Stillmight Campground only a few days ago. Ana watched, but her mind raced, and her hands shook slightly. She was nervous, and there were dozens of reasons why. She traveled across the continent for this moment but never imagined it would get this problematic at the very end.

Most of the places she had met were friendly, the bars and inns filled with people who wanted to share food, drinks, and stories. This was the first time hatred filled the cold. Further, she and most of her friends had arcane abilities. While they had been lucky, any slip could lead to catastrophic consequences. She wouldn’t just fail her family. She and her friends could die.

Lost in thought and worry, Myla turned around in her seat, making Ana jump at the quickness. Her eyes were wide, her mouth open as she tried to pull her thoughts out.

“Did you get a gift for the Valdimars?”

“No? Should I have?”

“Well, at VerdantKnoll, they taught that it was important to bring at least something.”

“Like what?”

“Something that matches what’s happening, or something the person would like, I’d assume.”

“I don’t really know them, though.”

“Yeah… What about food? During some of the events I attended, people brought food and walked around with it.”

“I think you’re talking about the catering and serving staff, Myla.”

“Oh, that makes sense. Still, you like cooking, wouldn’t that work?”

“Umm…”

Ana rummaged through her things, trying to see what she had available. She pulled out the last bottle of her mother’s wine.

“I was going to save this for a more special occasion, but maybe this is the time for it. It’s a twenty-six-year-old wine. I know they have grapes here and could make white wines, but I imagine they don’t receive red often.”

“That’s a great idea, Ana!”

“I guess we should start getting ready.”

“You’re right.”

Myla put a cork into the bottle she held out in front of her. She nodded approvingly at it, content with her creation, then placed it on a small bottle holster on her belt. Standing up, she looked over at Ana and smiled.

“Let’s get fancy.”

By the next hour, Ana and her friends stood in the hallway, dressed nicely, and did nothing to hide their nervousness or disdain for having a dinner party with the lord and lady of Karthmere Keep. They put their coats on, walked through the snow-covered paths, and made it to the castle grounds’ exterior walls within just a few minutes. Ana was still trying to figure out what to do. Knock? Yell out? She didn’t have time to decide, though, as the large wooden gates opened inward, allowing them inside. The castle grounds were bare, except for a few single trees that held no foliage, and Ana wondered if they ever would again, as the snow seemed to never end in the Northern parts of the continent. It had been only a couple of days in the torrent of white, but she missed the sunlight.

Karthmere Keep was the most unassuming building she had ever come across. While most castles were adorned with color, the dark gray stone held no such intricacies. From what she could see, there were no windows on the first floor, and the ones above, while tall, did not have any designs or symmetry. It looked like it was made strictly for function rather than showing off the wealth of those inside. It was tall, maybe three or four stories in different spaces, but it contained no defenses. She assumed this was because no one would come here for such a simple-seeming castle.

The door opened as they stepped within ten feet of the metal doors at the front of the building. Inside, light erupted, and warmth hit them immediately. At the front, Casey stood in the foyer, smiling wide in her white robes. She gestured them inside, and as they approached her, four guards stepped up and closed the doors behind them.

“It is good to see you all have rested and are doing well from the attack,” Casey said.

“Seems we got lucky that no one was too hurt to attend,” Ana replied.

“I’m glad to hear that. Basilisks are dangerous creatures, and you fought two of them,” A woman’s voice echoed through the open space.

Ana looked around, trying to gauge where the voice came from. To the immediate left were two rooms the guards had moved back into. Two more identical spaces just beyond the stairs flanked them on the left and right. Further back, the symmetry stopped, as the left side turned into a small hallway with a door on the left, while the right closed off the next area with a single entry. The lord and lady were in front of that last door that she glimpsed.

“I apologize in advance, but safety is paramount,” Count Godfrey called out.

Casey moved to a table at the center of the room and removed the cloth from over it. On the table, now visible, was a large bowl full of blue, sand-like phosphorus. In front of it, laid carefully, were silk gloves, with golden embroidery placed on the backs of the hands with each person’s name. Casey gestured to the pair on the left to Ana. As she walked forward, she saw her name in beautiful script, but the inside of the gloves worried her. The entirety of the interior was coated with blue granules.

“I thought we were eating? Gloves wouldn’t help much with that,” Lyla countered.

“You can choose to wear them or not. If not, you will be asked to leave,” Lady Cecille stated plainly.

“It seems we’ve got no choice then,” Mr. Muffins said under his breath before looking at the gloves. “I am worried that you have only made gloves for those without my anatomy.”

“They’re just to the right, dear. They’ve been fitted even to let your claws out if needed,” Cecille shot back immediately.

Ana could hear the politeness in their voices, but she knew they were growing impatient.

“How… thoughtful,” She answered.

Without a plan, she placed her hands inside and prayed that they wouldn’t need magic.

It’s just a simple negotiation. We can make it through this, right?

When she looked up, Cecille and Godfrey had already entered the room behind them. Casey led them across the foyer and into a waiting room. While lovely, the lack of windows made it feel like a prison.

“It shouldn’t be long. They’re just getting everything ready. Relax here, and someone will come for you,” Casey stated quickly before leaving the room through the door they came in and closing it behind her.

The waiting room was mostly empty. The walls were bare, and the only things filling the space were a large bookcase that took up one wall and a metal table with a glass top in the middle of the room. As she waited, she felt something brush through her mind.

I’m opening up this so we can all communicate. Lyla and my abilities don’t seem to be activating the blue phosphorus, so it’s an advantage if we need it.

Good thinking, Myla. Leaf’s thought came through the hive-mind-like ability.

Ten minutes later, the door opposite the one they entered opened. A tall human stepped in, with white skin and hair. They were androgynous in feature, young, with black eyes and a kind smile.

“I’m here to welcome you into the dining room,” they said quietly while stepping out of the way to gesture them in.

Ana could feel her hands grow more clammy. She nodded, looked at her friends, then took the first step as they followed behind her. The dining room was the first area that felt like it showed their wealth. Four large tapestries covered the walls, and armored statues sat in each corner of the room. Above the figures, fastened to the wall, were large transparent crystals about the size of one’s head. She assumed the table could seat more people but only had enough chairs for eight. Lord Godfrey stood on one end, with Lady Cecille on the other. She wanted to present herself as confident, so she moved to the seat next to Godfrey and sat down.

Once everyone had seated themselves, Lord Godfrey clapped his hands twice, and the changeling man returned with a cart of plates. Each plate looked like it was made of silver and was topped by a domed lid to keep everything warm. While Ana appreciated food more than almost anyone she knew, the fluttering in her stomach told her that eating would be difficult tonight.

“Will eating with these gloves cause a problem?” Mr. Muffins asked.

“No, the material keeps the phosphorus inside the gloves. Eating is completely safe,” Lord Godfrey answered.

To prove his word, he took a piece of the diced potatoes from his plate, rolled it in his hands, and then placed it into his mouth.

“It’s one of many safety precautions we had to implement,” Lady Cecille stated plainly. “It’s not the cleanest way to eat, but the butler made each glove, who had a wonderful job making clothing before coming to Aramore.”

“Honestly, I’m glad to meet you finally, Ana,” Godfrey exclaimed.

“It’s good to meet you too. You knew my father well?”

“Yes! We met decades ago before your father was married. We were both students at Westford Academy. Granted, he cared little for artifice, moving his talents to food, but he was a joy to have as a companion during those years.”

“I didn’t know that’s where you met him,” Ana mentioned.

“It was so long ago, it’s hard to remember it all. I met Cecille around the same time, and young love sometimes makes it hard to remember the details,” Godfrey said with a smirk. “I wasn’t the most studious then, but Cecille was an excellent tutor.”

“It didn’t take long for him to ask for my hand either, being the impatient one that he is.” Cecille chimed in playfully.

“I knew your father had a vision and wanted to help however I could. My father was growing sick, so we married and moved here to take care of him, but I left Zenzion with all the money I had to my name at that time in hopes that his dreams could come true one day.”

“The restaurant has been great. He mentioned that he still sends you money yearly?”

“Yes. While I have more than enough money now, I needed all the help I could when I arrived in Aramore and took over as Lord of Karthmere Keep. He offered to pay me back for my original donation, and I shamelessly took it as a sign of our friendship and business venture goodwill.”

“That’s why I’ve come. He wants to pay you to be sole owner of the Weary Hearts Respite.”

“I imagined as such. When I received your letter earlier today, I had to immediately set aside other plans because I was excited to meet you and take care of this.”

Lord Godfrey grew quiet, his gaze focused on Ana’s features. Ana was accustomed to being looked at while on a stage or just while playing her flute, but it made her uncomfortable in a quiet place like this.

“I’m sorry for staring. It’s just that you do look a lot like your mother. You even have some similarities to your father, even though he isn’t yours.”

“What?”

“When he married your mother, I wasn’t exactly excited to replace that she brought a daughter home that wasn’t his, but I’m sure they handled that all those years ago.”

“Ana’s adopted?” Lyla spat out.

Godfrey looked over, shock appearing on his face.

“Wait, you didn’t know? I’m sorry, Ana. I assumed they would have told you.”

“They… They hadn’t.”

“Well, let me fill in some of those blanks at least. A few years after Zenzion and Dara married, they had their firstborn. Dara traveled to the Fey Realm for a small bit of time. Some business deal for the vineyard, she had told him. I remember your father writing regularly during that time. I imagine he was worried about her, but he might have just been bored and lonely, needing a friend to reach out to. She came home six months later with you. While the timing would have been fine, she told Zenzion you were not his.”

Ana’s mind reeled at the new information. Her stomach felt as if it was filled with stones.

“Then, who’s my father?” She asked him, her voice just barely over a whisper.

“I’m sorry, Ana. That I do not know.”

She wasn’t sure what to make of this. She left Calimshan sure of herself, but things became increasingly complicated with every stop since Moonbright. She thought back on the Hag Countess just a couple of days prior.

Eladrin… Fey blood… courses… through your veins. I’ll… help you.

The mother of hags knew already. It made so much more sense. She held her arm carefully as if nursing a wound, feeling the new markings through her sleeve.

“I apologize for my manners, Ana. I truly believed that you would have known. Let’s set aside the uncomfortableness of this situation by dealing first with what you came here to do.”

Lord Godfrey snapped his finger. The butler returned from the kitchen door with a piece of parchment in one hand and an ink and quill in the other.

“I had this drawn up this afternoon, and I’m ready to relinquish my ownership of Weary Hearts Respite.”

The butler handed the quill over to Godfrey and uncorked the ink bottle. He quickly dipped the quill into the ink with less flourish and signed the paper. Mr. Muffins stood, his chair scraping across the stone floor, causing everyone to turn towards him.

“As a fellow alumni of Westford Academy, I hope you don’t mind that I look it over first?”

“Of course!”

In Ana’s mind, she heard Mr. Muffins speak as he walked closer.

Something is wrong with that quill. It looked like the butler palmed the one, and one appeared in Godfrey’s hand.

What? Rhokhishi asked.

Keep him busy while I look.

“Lord Godfrey,” Myla quickly took charge by jumping in. “You mentioned that your father was sick before he passed. I’m interested in medicines, and if it’s not too much on your heart to ask, what made him ill?”

“Age and a broken heart,” Lady Cecille answered.

“Putting it simply, yes,” Godfrey replied.

“How so?” Leaf asked.

“He was an older man, trying his best to care for the village. As you can guess from the cold and snow, we do not grow crops easily here. Before I came, we didn’t even have the lighting and heat we do now, using only fire as the main source of life. His first wife, my mother, had passed when I was younger, and I don’t think he ever forgave himself for taking her here. He did remarry, though, to a woman who ended up deceiving us all.”

Lord Godfrey stopped with a look of pain on his face from the memories he tried to bring to the surface. Lady Cecille stepped in to help.

“It wasn’t long after we arrived we noticed that most people here were starved. We could have told them to move away, to replace a place that better held sustenance, but they didn’t want to leave. These were their homes. It wasn’t until Godfrey received a vision that our luck would change forever.”

“A dragon, of all things!” Godfrey exclaimed. “Zidingris was kind and offered a way for us to stay here and not starve.”

“He asked for us to simply do what needed to be done. We cast magic aside, and he gave us a harvest unlike anything we had seen before.”

“It wasn’t easy to convince the people, but when my stepmother revealed her truths, we knew that the Great Icewing was correct in his beliefs.”

“Your stepmother?” Rhokhishi questioned further.

“She was a mage. Zidingris had deduced that something she did caused my father’s time of death to accelerate. We took her to him, and she was interrogated.”

Mr. Muffins shuffled his feet, and in one quick movement, his hand came down and pushed the ink bottle off the table and onto the floor.

“Shit. Claws get in the way of everything.”

The ink is dry. Something is wrong. He told them.

I’ve got a dumb idea. Lyla replied.

Ana turned to Lyla, who was in the middle of stabbing a small portion of her steak. She opened her mouth as if to talk, then swung the fork around forcefully, causing the food to fly off and soar through the air. Ana watched in horror as it crossed the table and smacked against Lord Godfrey’s chest.

Except… It didn’t. The piece of meat went through his body, the section aimed at blurring for a moment before returning to focus. She gasped, and Cecille sighed.

“It seems as if you have figured it out,” She smiled as she talked, throwing her hands up into the air.

“It does,” Godfrey added.

Ana watched in shock as the lord and lady vanished. In the corners of the room, the crystals above the statues dimmed. From somewhere outside the room, Cecille’s voice echoed in.

“It seems you have figured out the ruse, but it doesn’t matter. Zidingris commanded us to kill you all!”