The Mystic, The Mages tavern of Daroon

[Avylina]

Avy left the brush laying on the table. The idea of it being a gateway was odd. She was given the brush when she was very little by her grandmother. She always claimed to feel the magic from it, but that was just her speaking of its importance to her family. It never actually seemed to be a magical artifact. Avylina had also been the first magic user in her family so it was unlikely that it had been enchanted by someone else. Perhaps what Segu was saying was that she enchanted it. It could be possible, she thought. She did feel she had the skills to be brilliant mage, she just needed to learn to focus them. Perhaps focusing on the fire of Segu's robes and presence channeled her abilities into the brush.

"Well it felt like I was channeling your colors and outright aura of fire into the brush and onto the painting. The brush felt like it was simply trying to literally paint fire. I can say that I have used my paintbrushes as pseudo wands to concentrate my spells, but I was not attempting to cast nor have I actually learned any fire spells. Perhaps you are right. It may be best not to trifle with gateways."

Avy reached for her cup of tea she had been letting cool since before Segu arrived. She sipped it and gazed at her unfinished painting. She'd finish in due time but staring at it seemed to reveal that perhaps there was something more then just your everyday mage in Segu. "How is it you've ignored a 100 years? It is not an everyday feat to do that."

[Segu Baezar]

"I wouldn't say I ignored them," said Segu carefully. "They just went by very quickly. I think what happened was that time was slowed for me. I could see time passing, but it happened very fast." He thought back to what it had been like to be held floating in space while the world zipped around in front of him, and shrugged. "The magic that caused it threw me into the sky and held me there while the world spun beneath my feet. As I watched the world move, I saw that it happened very rapidly. I think it probably only took twenty minutes or so for myself, but when I descended to Vola once more, a hundred years had passed. That's how I came to lose the time. I haven't aged because for me it hasn't been that long."

He tapped his finger. "I wasn't the only one this happened to though," he added. "Agmir Dumas the Wizard and Deris the Alchemist were also thrown into the sky. We were split up, unfortunately. You haven't heard of either of them by any chance, have you? Or perhaps a man named Danov Kethbar?"

[Avylina]

"None of those names are familar to me. But if they were caught in a time lapse like you they are probably scattered about. There aren't many free kingdoms left though so searching for them could be rough. As magic users there is really no place to go but here in Daroon. So you should stay around because they will likely show up here. Your non magic friends will probably find their way south to Cosvel. Beautiful city, but a little on the fantical side with the inquistion."
Avylina grabbed hold of one of her brushes and continued to paint. She dipped her brush into the red pigments and applied them delicatly to the painting. As she spattered the colors she was whispering to herself. "Needs to be more intense. Needs to burn the eyes as does the real." As she mumbled to her self her hand lit up in flames. She once again dropped the brush, but this time her hand was completely engulfed. But once she dropped the brush there was no pain and her hand felt normal. She quickly shook her hand to extinguish it, but the flames seemed to just dance about. "Go out, go out, go out." Avylina was getting nervous not because she was partly on fire, but because she knew she did not yet have her license and she could get in serious trouble. Finally she knocked over the painting trying to grab a tea cup to douse the flame. As the painting tumbled down to the floor the flame began to flicker and fade. She sat back down with her heart racing and smiled to Segu.

"So I think I may be channeling your abilities. At least that's my first guess. Any ideas?"

[Segu Baezar]

"Yes," he said, "be careful, and try not to burn your clothing off. I've found that that can happen. Also, sometimes hair isn't immune even if flesh is, and you can end up burning your hair off. It will grow back, but that takes a while, and why wait if you can simply avoid it?"

Segu wondered what it was she was channeling. He had fire spells, and then there was the fire elemental trapped inside of him. Or was it really trapped? Maybe he was just hosting it. He hoped it was trapped. He found it hard to imagine the amount of damage a little Efrette could do if it were unleashed in a city.

"If you're connecting with something inside of me, then I advise caution. Efrette are notoriously chaotic, and highly temperamental. There's no telling what they might do or how them may react. The one I harbor may mean more mischief than good. They are playful spirits, but they know little of the frailty of mortals."

[Avylina]

"Excuse my ignorance, but I am not an academy student. What is an Efrette? Is it something powerful?" Avylina pondered what it could be. Perhaps some sort of magical entity. She also wondered if she wanted to have one if they were what she thought they were.

She also thought about that she may soon need a liciense, but she did not want to spend years at the academy. "Mr. Segu is there anyhope that you are a high ranking Mage and can go about procuring a magic liciense through apprentice rather then academy? Enrollment would require my parents and I don't think they would approve of me attending."

[Segu Baezar]

Up until this point Segu had been sort of ignoring this "licnese" thing she was talking about, but then it dawned on him that she was talking about the right to use magic. Had the academy sunk so far? Had Daroon dropped that low? They now required a license to use magic?

"An Efrette is a spirit of air and fire. It's another word for fire elemental - or rather a specific type of fire elemental. They can't exist in the mortal realm for very long, unless they have a host. But, tell me, what is this license you speak of? Cannot a mage cast any spell he or she wishes? Who is to stop you? What will they do? Who keeps track of such things?" And who, wondered Segu, was responsible for instituting such a regulation? This was a reprehensible act intended to do nothing more than cripple the learning of students.

[Avylina]

"A license is your commitment to the proper use of magic to reduce water consumption. That is what they deem it for anyway. It is really just a way to make money since there is a lack of trade. If you do not have a license and use magic within Daroon you can receive a tax. It also promotes people to study under the academy so not to have rogue mages out there. I personally support the idea, but like I said I can not get one without my parents since I am under 16 and have not attended the academy."

"Ohh, It also gives you access to the academy library, which would be nice since there are a few locked books there I'd like to read. And you also get discounts around town on magical wares. Its really a good thing to have."

There were other perks to the license but Avylina was not sure of all of them. There were also levels of license, but she was unaware of them.

[Segu Baezar]

"By the Gods," swore Segu, "that is the strangest thing I've ever heard of." He leaned back and shook his head. "What does it look like?" he asked. "This license, I mean. Is it a sheet of heffis that you carry around with your, or is it a gold coin that you wear around your neck like a collar, or is it skin scribed onto your flesh in an obvious place?" That was probably it, he figured. After all, a coin or a piece of heffis could be stolen, but it would be pretty difficult to steal skin scribing. Not that hard to copy it though.

A waitress approached the table. She was wearing a dirty white shirt and a clean white apron. Her blond hair was tied back from her face by a leather strap. Her feet were shod with leather slippers that looked like they'd seen better days quite a few days ago. With an expression that combined boredom with contempt, she asked them what they'd like.

"Are you two gonna sit here takin up a table all day, or is you gunna spend some coin?"

Segu returned a horrified expression, then quickly smiled and shrugged. "Would you, um... trade an ale for a magic trick?" he asked.

The waitress gave him an even more contemptuous look, even though that didn't seem possible. She stuck out her hip, leaning on it with her free hand, and sighed loudly. "This here's a mage's bar," she explained. "If'n I were to give away ales for magic tricks, I'd soon be out of ale."

"Thought not," mumbled Segu. "Nothing for me then!"

[Avylina]

"Theres two parts to a license. There is an enchanted piece of heffus and there's also a trinket called a tew. It's a drop of your blood mixed with some other things that is put into a stone. Supposedly it will keep a record of your magic usage. I don't know how it works though."

When the waiter girl came up it suprised Avylina. She must have been a evening waitress because she did not seem to know that this table was always occupied by Avy. Well at least in the morning it was. Avylina usually left before any of the evening guest arrived. Afterall she was very underage for the tavern. Avylina looked out the window to realized it was starting to get late. "Excuse me, but this table is well payed for. You can get this man whatever he wants. I'm Avylina Jophan so you can just put it on my tab or whatever you call it."

Avy started to pack her things into her quiver. She had to leave soon anyway. "Well Mister Segu, it is becoming that time when kids my age are not aloud in the taverns any more. I like to follow the rules. You should get yourself something to eat and drink here. If you want a place to stay head over to the theater district. There's an Inn there called the Jade Fan." Avy grabbed a small green token from her belongings. "This token gets you very nice room for a night. I'll be at the theater tomorrow morning if you wish to discuss more matters."

[Segu Baezar]

Segu took the token and thanked Avylina, but now he was curious as to why his vision had shown him this place and this woman. Why was he here? She didn't know anyone he was looking for. But then it occurred to him that since he was a hundred years out of sync, she might be useful in another way.

"Before you leave, let me ask you another question," he said. "I need to speak with the Wizard's Council, or whatever is passing for that these days. It used to be a collection of the leading mages from each of the orders. Normally, I'd consult with my own master on this issue, but he's long since deceased, and I've been operating on my own for an extended time anyway. I'd approach them myself, but I'm not a Wizard either. You see, I was orphaned as a child, and then I was kidnapped by Drow who did... questionable things to me. After I was rescued by the Wizard Charnek and a man known as Corby Riddle, I gained an interest in magic. With the assistance of Charnek the Wizard, I was sent here, to Daroon, where I was apprenticed to the Wizard Oldoban Lachesis. When Oldoban died, I returned to Forwell, and put myself in the service of the Governor of Forwell. That was how I ended up in combat with the Dark Lord.

"Since my return, and subsequent defeat by the Dark Lord - I suppose you would call it that since I failed to destroy him and was sent a hundred years into the future - I have been, um... unemployed and left to my own devices. But since I'm probably one of the only people to have faced the Dark Lord and survived, I would still like to speak with the council and let them know what I have learned. You see, there is a way to destroy the Evil that lies in Dwalkin. One way only, according the the Wizard Agmir Dumas. And though I would rather Agmir himself approach the council on this issue, he isn't here and I have no idea where he is. Therefore, I see it as my duty to alert the council to what I have seen and what Agmir has told me.

"To make a long story short, I wonder if it might be possible for your master to help me arrange a meeting with the council?"