The mage does not make his Will save; it's unclear if he's trying to, or knows that's a thing. He seems a little startled but mostly curious and delighted, as he floats a few inches in the air - and then more impressed, and a bit nervous, when he can't seem to push against it at all with his own magic. 

The display also has a few heads whipping around; an old grizzled man hunched over a drink at the bar, and a young man, his head shaved and shiny, both spin around and stare, in an unfocused way that suggests they're not quite looking with their ordinary eyes. 

Presumably they're using Detect Magic or something like it. This mage should be able to dispel her levitation fine but maybe he's not that powerful, or not used to this style - she has her own Detect Magic up to watch him try -

The complex structure of her spell is visible, trapping him in the air in a way that would be nearly impossible to fight without magic. His own counter-attempts are much less structured; at first he just seems to be trying to shove her magic away, with a burst of energy shaped just enough to manifest as physical force.

He stops quickly when this proves ineffective, looks up and grins at her - an expression simultaneously impressed and very slightly scared - and then moves on to trying to snip at the cords of magic making up the spell-structure. It doesn't look like Dispel Magic. Or like he's casting a prepared spell at all, really. It takes him a while to find the right leverage point, but eventually he does manage to destabilize something. Her spell comes apart in a burst of energy, dropping him back into his seat and eliciting startled gasps from the people using Detect Magic or something like it. 

"Huh! That's not how we'd counter it, either." They're not prepared casters at all, which fits with what she saw earlier, but she doesn't think any Golarion sorcerers have that much finesse - though she's only seen a couple, and not at close range.

"That - sure is a very different approach," the man says, blinking at her. "It's so - precise - almost looks like wards, the way you do it, except twenty times more powerful..." 

    The old man from the bar is sidling over to them. He thumps his drink down on the table and smiles crookedly at her, showing a mouthful of missing teeth; it's otherwise a friendly enough smile. "Hey there, young lady. Listen, I'll buy you a drink if you tell me how you did that - I've been halfway around the world by now and I never saw anything like that." 

"Then perhaps I should be charging more than a drink!" But she beckons him over. "I'm from Cheliax, where we learn a technique called spell stabilization - you do most of the work in advance, and then have the spell sitting there ready to go if you need it. It's mostly useful in combat, no one'll be entertained if you spend ten minutes weaving before you do anything, but learning it is supposed to help with artifact-making, too, which is my main specialty."

"Fascinating! I never learned much artifact work myself, wasn't my strength, but - hmm, so it's as though everything you cast in combat is a trap-spell you prepped earlier? You must need something to stabilize it to - your focus-stone...?" He's peering at her. "You got any more of those on you?" 

Oh, so they stabilize spells sometimes for specific purposes, that makes sense as a thing for sorcerers to come up with even if they never came up with all of wizardry.

"I don't." And she has a bonded amulet but some wizards don't. "But yes, you've got the idea. This also means that most of the magic expenditure is earlier, I can only stabilize so much at once and that's tiring but I won't be tired from casting it."

"Goodness, you must be quite something in a fight, if you can throw that kind of power around and not even be tired! ...Is Cheliax anywhere near Tantara, by chance? Sounds like the sort of thing the Mage of Silence might've gotten his inspiration from."

Maude, the mercenary captain, has now also shifted a table closer and is listening in on their conversation while trying not to be obvious about it. 

"I've heard of Tantara but haven't been there, Cheliax is quite far from everything and truth be told I couldn't even point Tantara out on a map. Maybe someday I'll have the chance to ask him, I left so I could get exposure to other styles of magic..."

"Oh, if that's what you're after, miss, then you absolutely should. They say he's the best mage-teacher in the world." 

     The mercenary captain slides her chair closer. "Maybe not this year," she says darkly. "Given the war and all. If you're looking for work, though, I'm taking my company up near there, the governor's worried about the war spilling over into the Ceej. Hells, I've heard whispers the Emperor is worried, given it looks like Predain's building their own little empire up there. If he wins, though - and really, best mage in the world, by rights he ought to - you'd be right nearby." 

"Huh. You'd have to be pretty foolish to pick a fight with the best mage in the world. What's the pay like?"

"Five gold a week plus all travel expense covered. Ten gold hazard pay if we see action - keep in mind, only counts if we end up engaging a larger force than our company, a dozen bandits on the road doesn't do it. Twenty gold signing bonus for Adepts." A narrow-eyed look. "Though I might consider going higher, if you sell me on it, sounds like you're no ordinary Adept." 

"And no one else'll be expecting what I can do. This is by the leave of the local governor? Action, if we see it, will be - Tantara's forces? Predain's forces? Some other involved group?"

"Local governor's the one paying us, yes. Think he's mostly worried about Predain's forces deciding it'd be to their advantage to bite off some of his province and then march on Tantara from that side. Tantara signed a treaty with us years back and he doesn't reckon they'd break the terms even in wartime." Shrug. "I don't think it's that likely, probably our job will be to show up and look threatening, and prevent any fleeing refugees from causing trouble." 

"Mmmhmm. Who's in charge in Predain these days?"

"Uh, can't recall the King's name. Think he took the throne, hmm, fifteen years back? He's a real reformer, though I've heard it said that some advisor of his is behind most of it." 

"And the Mage of Silence is running things in Tantara?"

"Last I heard he'd landed in charge, yes. Something happened to the king and most of the nobility." Shiver. "We only heard rumours, ones that don't even match up at that, but - nasty stuff, sounds like. Whoever's in command of Predain's army has a real twisted mind." 

"How long has the war been going on?"

"Little under a year - nine, ten months, maybe? Tantara was gaining ground until Predain took their capital a couple months ago, since then it's been a real mess." 

"Who started it?"

"- Tantara, officially, the King gave us a notice since we share a border. But Predain was gobbling up territory left and right, it was only a matter of time before they went for Tantara too, I'd say they were just choosing the timing themselves." 

She nods. "All right. I might be in - when do you leave? I want to take some time to think on it."

"Three days from now, with the next barge."