"Sure you will. Your curiosity won't let the matter rest."

"This is not a glowing recommendation of him, if the best you have to say to entice me is that I'll want to satisfy my curiosity."

"I've only met the lad today, I don't have a very good recommendation. All I can say is that the situation is interesting."

Enthir keeps his gaze on Nelacar for a few seconds before turning to Ruby once again. "Show me what you can do."

Well he doesn't have a list handy in his brain but there are the three spells he found the muscle memory for, so he can show them: one cast gets the sheen of Oakflesh on his skin, another creates a small barrier in front of his left hand, and the final one summons a flame floating above his right palm.

"Not bad. And your casting was pretty efficient, you've clearly studied these." Back to Nelacar. "Very well, old man, I'll return in the morning and take him with me."

"Splendid! Oh, and he does not seem to have Bask or Foxskin or even Soothe."

"...is that so? This story gets more interesting by the moment."

A waitress gets to their table. "What can I do ye for?"

"I'll have the usual."

"Same for me."

"And you, darlin'?" she asks Ruby. She is clearly not entirely unfazed by all the nudity she's surrounded with, but she's still the kind of unfazed of someone used to dealing with mages' strange ways.

Nelacar isn't saying anything so he'll probably cover this too. "I'm not too picky, anything to eat is fine." But he certainly is hungry, as he notices as soon as the question comes up. "And some water, too, please."

"Gotcha," she says, and goes to fetch the orders.

After she leaves: "What are those? Spells, I assume? Bask and so on, I mean."

"Spells, indeed," says Nelacar. "The 'skin' family of spells is a more narrow and specific version of basic fire which warms you. Soothe, Bask, Revel, and so on, are spells and enchantments that protect you from the elements. But you arrived here nearly dead and with frostbite I had to heal so..."

"Oh. I don't... think I know these. By any name."

"They're very useful in general, but life-saving up here in the north."

"And they render such gear as furs and cloaks and coats used by the commoners unnecessary," adds Enthir. The way he says the word "commoners" suggests he's not exactly talking about people who aren't nobility.

"Is that why the two of you are naked?"

"These are enchanted fabrics to hold magical effects and improve spellcasting," says Enthir, with a growing note of irritation in his voice and eyebrows. "This specific set is the garb of members of the College, in spite of this man."

"I was a member of the College," says Nelacar cheerfully. "And the decision to remove me from it was not mine."

"You violated the College's rules for research and were expelled, as was part of the agreement you signed when you joined." The note of irritation is now a whole melody. "And you and I both know that you wear these to trick commoners into thinking you represent the College."

"No comment," he says, still cheerful.

...yeah this Nelacar figure is not exactly a good person. Not that he ever claimed so, but Ruby did wonder at all the excuses he seemed to have to help him.

"So... these fabrics are expensive or hard to make?" he guesses. "So you keep the total amount of them low?"