Even through the trees, it's quite something to behold, looking less like it was built, and more like it grew this way, rising elegantly through the massive tree it calls home. As she draws nearer, she'll see that there's a garden set around the base of the tree itself, well tended, and blooming.

She's maybe a little bit too halfling-raised to be properly impressed, but it's lovely. She rubbernecks a little as the goat brings them closer, absently calling her dog up into the cart but leaving the griffons to play until she's ready to stop; they swoop down promptly to land on her shoulders when she calls, and she pets them as she goes over her script in her head and then hops down to have a closer look at the place and figure out how to get to the door.

She does not, in fact, need to figure that out. There's a tall, willowy man stood in the garden watching her approach - an elf from the looks of things, who appears to have been tending to his garden. He doesn't say anything immediately however.

Ah! "Hi! Are you taking apprentices?"

He considers her, sweeping his gaze up and down, and he doesn't seem entirely impressed. "I was not in the market, but I could be convinced."

"Mm," she nods, agreeably. "I'm-" she pauses oddly, trying to remember the word, "self-taught, fr'm books; know a few spells already and c'n do them silently. Illusions mostly. Here-" she casts; her diction is even worse, now, but she mumbles her way through the spell confidently enough and it does work, spinning off a duplicate of herself without the shoulder griffons that steps away and turns to also look at him. "I have trouble talking, but," she gestures at the duplicate, "figured it out."

He considers the duplicate for a moment, and while he doesn't look impressed, he does look considering. "Do you have a name?"

"Deka. Figment and Phantasm," she indicates the griffons.

"Hi," one of them croaks.

His eyes flicker to the griffon that speaks, and then back to Deka. "Join me for tea." It is not, precisely a request, but it isn't an order either.

"Sure."

He flickers his eyes back to her cart. "Do you need to do anything with your animals?"

"Now, no. They're trained. If I stay - place for the goat, bit of time for chores, couple days spring and fall to shear him. Rest're easy."

He nods, and then starts to lead the way up to the actual house. "I'm Rogeiros," he says, almost as an afterthought as he opens a door and beckons her inside.

The room he leads her into is well lit with natural light, and comfortably appointed enough as a reception room, although it doesn't appear it gets much use for it's intended purpose.

She looks around a bit as she goes where she's led. "What kind of magic do you do? They didn't know much in town."

"As of late, I have been considering the elements, and ways in which one can make use of the powers of an elemental with less risk to oneself."

That's slightly disappointing. "I..... skipped, evocation. And not conjuring yet. Anything interesting, though?"

"I did say 'of late'," he points out, tone somewhere between amused and offended. "There are other things I am good at, but now that you mention it." He snaps his fingers.

-For a second, there's no response, and he snaps them again, a little more impatiently.

A small creature pokes its head out from near a well-contained hearth, and skitters forward, pausing, retreating, and, at a harsh look from Rogeiros, and another snap of his fingers, and it continues into arms reach, although it keeps itself small (and it wasn't too big to begin with), almost as though it's trying to avoid notice.

"Oh! Hi, sweetie." She leans forward to offer her hand for the creature to sniff. (One of the griffons shifts to her back; the other hops up to the back of her chair.)

-It doesn't seem entirely sure how to take that, and after a moment where it freezes, it does indeed, lean forward to sniff her hand carefully. She can probably feel some heat emanating from the creature? More than you might expect from a creature this size.

"-warm," she comments, and then looks back up. "Safe to pet?"

Rogeiros regards her, and then the creature, before returning his attention to Deka. "It should be," he confirms. "Its had some trouble with controlling itself, but I think I've mostly solved that."

The creature pulls in on itself a little more.

She nods and looks back down at the little animal. "It's all right, sweetie." She moves carefully, trying not to startle him, hoping he'll let her pet his cheek.