The Sea Witch

Lavender was lounging in a copper bathtub full of steaming hot water, milky and scented from the soap that she had used to wash her body, when she was disturbed by a knock at her bedroom door. "If that's Artimus then come in, anyone else can get lost until I get out of the bath."

En heard the latch on the door click, and tensed slightly. "You can put the knife down now, it's definitely me." Lavender raised her hand with barely a splash, holding the hilt of one of the throwing knives from her boot, the blade was inserted lengthwise into a bar of soap.

Artimus blinked, "I might regret asking this, but what's with the soap?" Lavender snorted, "If anyone has enough balls to actually try to peek at me taking a bath, they deserve to be punished. But, if they've made it this far without tripping my wards, then they must be a friend rather than a foe, so I have to keep it non-lethal."

Artimus thought for a moment, "Aren't you afraid of the soap coming off the blade?" Lavender gave him the most evil looking smile that he'd ever seen on his cousin's face. "That's the point..." With a flick of her wrist, the large bar of soap was sent flying, to crash with some force into the wall, "I usually aim for the groin." Artie winced at the thought, and gave a silent prayer for anyone past or future, who was stupid enough to peek.

"Get your hair wet, and I'll shampoo it for you." Lavender slid down into the water, until her head was submerged, and her knees poked up out of the water. Her hair floated like seaweed for a moment, then she surged upward bringing the water with her, sloshing over the side of the tub, and soaking Artimus's fine boots. "Hey, careful! These boots were expensive!"

"Woops, a bit too enthusiastic, I'll have to clean that up later." Artimus sighed, "Don't forget to clean the mess the soap made on the wall too." Lavender laughed nervously, "Of course I will, I hadn't forgotten..." Artie snorted in disbelief, that was definitely a lie, for someone who excelled in stealth and illusion, En was a terrible lier to people she knew, and the better you knew her, the more obvious it became.

"Never mind," Artimus grabbed the bottle of shampoo, and started working it into Lavender's hair. "Your Mother's family have sent a message urgently requesting that you meet their representative whilst you are here."

En suddenly threw back her head, and laughed harshly, causing her hair to whip around her head like soapy snakes. Lavender spat some soap out of her mouth, or maybe she just spat in disgust, "Are they serious?! They actually think I'm gonna do anything they say... THEY CAN DAMN WELL GET STUFFED!!"

Artimus stared at the knife which was now embedded in the wall, it was exactly in the centre of the mark left by the soap earlier, and thinking how En had said she was aiming for the groin, Artie decided that healthiest thing to do would be to drop the subject. He was silent for a long while, and just massaged the shampoo into Lavender's scalp, until he felt like she had relaxed enough, and wouldn't bite his head off if he spoke.

"Your next client is going to be a long-term contract... you're basically going to be the liaison between the representative of your master's merchant clan, and the Council of Guilds, as they negotiate various official trade agreements." Lavender was silent for a minute as she thought things over. "I wondered if Father would arrange something like this when his name was put forward to be Chairman of the Council."

"Yeah, your master has officially lived in the Freedom Isles for over a decade, gaining his citizenship, and he has created the only magic school the Isles have ever had. That makes him a powerful sponsor for a new outsider guild, especially one connected to him by blood. There's even talk of him being named the Elder of a new branch of the Eloais clan, after all he is the younger brother of the current clan head."

Lavender paused for thought again, "Master is already busy with the school, he doesn't have time to run a Merchant Guild as well. Plus Master made a vow of celebasy, after the love of his life was killed just before the Centenary War, he has no heir as their union was childless, so who are they sending?"

"I'm told that it is the youngest son of the Eloais Clan Chief, your master's nephew, and also his second disciple, Edgar Eloais." En nodded her head gently, "It makes sense, he has strong ties to Master, and also to our family, as Mother is his senior, and I am his junior disciple."

Artie opened his mouth, but before he had chance to speak Lavender interrupted, "I swear Artimus Jade, if you dare to utter the word 'sandwich' in this conversation, in ANY context, I will punch you!" Artimus wisely changed the topic of conversation, "By the way, why was Master Blakestaff so huffy earlier?"

Lavender didn't answer straight away, instead she ducked back down into the water, to rinse the worst of the soap off. She re-emerged slowly, and waved her hand vaguely towards the other side of the room. "Go over there for a bit, I need to rinse off properly."

Artimus moved, sitting in the chair next to Lavender's desk, the late afternoon sun streaming through the window. Artie was now sat at an angle to the bath tub, and the screen blocked most of his view, but he could still see Lavender's head as she bent over, and poured a bucket of cool water over her hair.

En squeezed the water from her hair, like she was wringing out a rag, then wrapped her hair up in a towel turban. She grabbed another towel from the pile, and roughly dried her body with it, then dumped it on the floor to mop up some of the spilt bathwater. Getting dressed was a pain, as her clothes clung to damp skin, and Lavender had to wriggle and pull on her suede leggings to get them on.

Once she was decently dressed, Lavender finished wiping the floor with the towel, then went over to the wall. En carefully removed the knife from the wall, and rubbed the soap mark away with the damp towel. Having finished tidying up after her bath, Lavender went to sit on the end of her bed, near to where Artimus sat.

Whilst En started to dry her hair with the towel she had wrapped around it, Artie craned his neck to look at the wall. "I'm guessing that since there is no sign of any damage to the wall, that you must have set up something in here."

Lavender looked up at Artimus, "Yeah, I added a glamour to my personal ward here, it means that no matter what I do, the walls look the same as when I moved in here." En threw both of the wet towels towards the laundry basket near the door, and they both landed neatly inside. "It's easier, since throwing shit is my go to mode."

Artimus was pretty sure that wasn't the entire explanation; he still remembered the complex wards that had been painted, and even carved into Lavender's bedroom walls when she had been a kid; having a high level of clairvoyance was as much a curse, as it could be a blessing. "So, Master Blakestaff..."

Lavender grimaced, "Damnit, I was hoping you might have forgotten." Artimus snorted with laughter, "Do I look like I was born yesterday, spill the beans, or I might just tickle it out of you." Artie wriggled his fingers suggestively at her, making En almost choke with laughter, "Seriously, you look like a perverted old man when you do that!"

"As for Blakestaff... he was just being plain weird. I mean he invited me to dinner with his youngest son, with the prospect of marriage would you believe!" Artimus's eyebrows almost disappeared completely off his face he was that surprised. "I most definitely would not! Are we really talking about the same person here..."

"Blakestaff has been hiring The Sea Witch for four voyages a year, for the past twenty years, and every single voyage he has demanded sole use of the Officer's Mess. I've seen the contracts, he won't let Captain Tomas use it, he even used to refuse to eat with your Mother."

"Even if she was disowned by her family, after the happenings of the Centenary War, most people would still consider her to be of a higher caste. After all she was a pureblood elf of the Western Capital, and a powerful mage who graduated from the finest magic school in the whole of the Empire."

"Yeah well, his attitude changed right in the middle of a conversation, and the only thing that happened, was that he got a letter from his Guildmaster... I recognised his mark on the wax seal."

"The Grand Master of the Beaulea Merchant Guild suggested that Blakestaff have his son marry you?!"

"Yep, weird right... I was seriously freaked out by Blakestaff's attitude, and I kind of bailed before getting any more info, but this sort of thing is your cup of tea, so..."

Artimus grinned, and rubbed his hands together, "As the Master of Contracts, information is my bread and butter. I'll send word to all of our branch offices, gather all the gossip and rumour... I believe it's time for me to take an overland tour, to the Eastern Regional Office in Zamar."

Lavender looked horrified, "Are you cracked in the head, that will take you three months at the very least! If you go by sea, it will take three weeks at the most, to do the journey from Vanza to Zamar. Besides, who do you think you are, a Grand Spymaster?!"

"No, that would be your master's other title surely... I'm just interested in getting new business for the guild, but all the information I get is passed onto him, and I know that he receives intel from the Eloais Merchant Guild too."

En looked thoughtful, "Well I can't disagree with that entirely, as Master has his fingers in many pies, but... Shit, have you seen the time Cousin! We're supposed to be meeting Tomo and Lawrence, at the Drunken Mermaid Tavern for dinner, and we haven't even set out yet! If we don't get a shift on, they'll get there a'fore us... Quick grab yer money purse, an' let's be off!"