if summer was a sound | Glowfic Constellation

from-the-land

"Which are entirely separate categories, I'm sure."

of-the-ice-and-snow

"Well, not entirely... and also training to improve the specificity and clarity of your Sight that I normally do with my Storm Maidens. It would be difficult to rotate you around like my witches, so I'd expect I'd usually put you on investigations in the major cities, where you can be moved between incidents more quickly if they need unusual eyes to confirm or refute suspicions. Maybe Praag - witches and southern wizards find the place intolerable to live, have ever since the Great War, but equally they need some sharp witch-eyes because they have no end of magical problems."

from-the-land

"Intolerable why?"

of-the-ice-and-snow

"Dhar, dark magic, has lingered there ever since the Za burned it down. If you've heard the rumors about the dead walking in Praag? They're true, and that's why. It's not as bad now as the century afterwards, the last significant incursion didn't leave nearly as much taint, but it never goes away. To those with magic it feels like living in a poisonous pit of tar; we don't go there unless called, and neither do the hags, though they're called much more often. It might be that anyone with the Sight will feel it as keenly as a witch, but it might not be, so I'll at least send you there for a month to see how you cope."

from-the-land

"Don't go telling me what I'm going to do, I haven't decided yet."

of-the-ice-and-snow

"Yes you have, dear cousin, you just haven't decided how much I'm going to have to promise you to get you off the fence. But that's fine, I don't get to haggle often enough anyway."

from-the-land

"So I can name my price, can I? Dangerous words."

of-the-ice-and-snow

"Not quite what I said, but not quite wrong either. You know perfectly well you're a unique talent, I won't pretend you don't have leverage. Tell you what, give it the afternoon to think what you want to demand, and we can do the haggling by my fire tonight."

from-the-land

"...I'll do that. Until tonight, then."

from-the-land

He sits down next to her at her small fire, in front of her (remarkably large) tent. It's chilly, but then it's autumn in Kislev.

He starts without preamble, "I don't want to get involved in politics. Outright traitors, that's probably fine, but struggles between the boyars and the druzhina and the crown, no. She's been a good tzarina, a worthy successor to her father, but I don't want to be involved in the maneuvering over who has power inside Kislev. And if we're maneuvering against the imperinyi, that's not what I signed up to do either."

"I'm not a kossar, I'm not leaving my life behind. I get significant stretches to go home to Kyrnoka, at least every year. Not enough to lead the rota, I don't want to try, but enough I'm still known as a local son. And paid enough that I can help them with dengas where I can't with labor."

"And I want a way out. If it gets ugly in some way I don't see today, if working in the underworld and interrogating like a chekist aren't something I can live with, I can stop working for you. By the end of that investigation, if immediately is too fast to replace. And go south, or do something innocuous in the capital, or something else."

of-the-ice-and-snow

"Oh, you'll be able to help in ducats, don't worry about that," she says absently while she considers the rest.

"I can give you a fast option to leave or refuse a task that gets purely political - your job is cults and magic, Chaos and the dead, not whether guildmasters and boyars are scheming to force the tzarina to give them power. And a slower one to leave entirely. I don't think, after working with Ice Witches for years, the Court will ever let you entirely out of our sight, so not south, but I could argue them down to only spending a day being looked you over just before and after winter and unexpected checks once a season would be enough. Possibly you'd help train Maidens in weapons and Sight, but if not we'd find something, there's plenty of work to be found for a trusted, literate druzhina, especially a clever one."

"Does that seem enough?"

from-the-land

"...Yes, I suppose it does. I expected to have to haggle more."

of-the-ice-and-snow

"Your expectations were a little too low, you didn't ask for that much, and the biggest thing is one that kept you a lot of your leverage if you really hate the deal. We might haggle again in the future, but for now? Welcome to my team."

from-the-land

"Alright, then. Can I ask you slightly personal questions, new boss?"

of-the-ice-and-snow

"Go right ahead."

from-the-land

"First one, I'd always heard Ice Witches hate fire - so why do you three still have campfires?"

of-the-ice-and-snow

"Oh, that one is mostly Frost Witches. We all stop needing heat, but experienced Frost Witches find fire painful - like a headache. And for Storm Witches, well, we still need the light. Especially if we want someone to come find us in the evening. Though we have our own vulnerabilities."

from-the-land

"I see. Well, I suppose I should know what those are, too."

of-the-ice-and-snow