((Alexei honestly doesn't know who is who at this point, he thought the chamber maid he sent to help Blanche might have been the one to get in a fight.))
"So how are you fairing? Is this something that you'd like to keep active upon you? Perhaps an item would be better? If it were incorporated into a Talisman, it could likely be economical and prevent Warping over long term. Do you agree?"
[color=blue]"I'm hoping that this magic will pass soon enough. And I'm not sure that my simply trying another spontaneous spell to change my looks back to what they're supposed to be is prudent, if I'm under the effects of a spontaneous spell run amok. If I'm still like this in a month, we may need to look at casting something like Winds of Mundane Silence on me to be rid of it."
Fiona continues in silence for a couple of minutes as she ponders what she said and examines her options. [color=blue]"I think it would behoove me to at least invent it as a formulaic spell. With my knowledge of Muto and Corpus, I should be able to do so in just the one season. At this size, my Talisman would be a bit unwieldy. It was a perfect size for me before, but since I grew it feels a little small. And I would have to spend a good part of my life in this form for it to Warp me."
She kicks a rock in her path, sending it tumbling up ahead. [color=blue]"I just hate feeling powerless, like I have no control over things," she grumbles.
The next morning, Fiona knocks at Alexei's door. [color=blue]"Good morning. Is your master awake?" she asks whoever answers.
Helmut answers the door, looking tired and worn out from his vigil over Alexei.
"Ah, Mistress Fiona. He is awake but he should not be."
"Helmut, who is it?" comes Alexei's voice from a chair near the hearth.
"It is Fiona Master."
"Ah Fiona, come in, come in..." his greeting trails off to a wracking cough. Alexei is wrapped in blankets with a steaming cup of tea next to him on a small table.
[color=blue]"I heard you had taken ill, and I wanted to check to see how you were, and to see if you wanted my help with anything." She pats a pouch on her belt as she speaks the last.
((Had to look her up, as the name wasn't ringing a bell. So, she may have heard the name from Moire, but can't put a face to it.))
Fiona smiles. [color=blue]"I actually wove this fabric by hand about three years ago."
[color=blue]"She seems nice enough," Fiona says a little warily, [color=blue]"and she seems to be very good at what she does."
"You ... wove this yourself?" Tranquillina repeats with a bit of wonder in her voice. She explores the linen again for quite some time. "I can't imagine doing anything by hand that's more complicated than writing a letter...."
"She's certainly quick to be friendly - sometimes a bit too quick," she confides, unconsciously putting one hand in front of her right breast. "But very forthcoming, and aye, extremely talented in her area of expertise. Very lofty ambitions, it must be said, very ... Verditius," she finishes with a sly grin.
((Don't forget that Fiona also wove the tapestry that she hung in the Council Chamber – that was in Winter of 1225, this is Autumn of 1226.))
[color=blue]"Thank you," Fiona says.
Fiona raises a brow at Tranquillina's gesture. [color=blue]"Did I miss something?"
((I'm assuming that this whole conversation is in Gaelic.))
((Yep, all in Gaelic.))
((Aha, good point. So she wouldn't be quite so surprised - still admiring though.))
Tranquillina looks around again, as if anyone else would be in the library listening (or, for that matter, could understand them); then she leans in conspiratorially. "Viscaria and I were out exploring the plateau in the regio where the Tribunal is going to be held," she discloses. "This was the day we discovered that vis source in the salamander's cave, in that little pocket regio." The two Latin words jump out of the otherwise smooth Gaelic texture. "But at this moment, I was sensing something amiss with the aura, and was very distracted. Suddenly - for no reason - she jumps forward and pinches my right nipple!" She rubs herself with the heel of her hand as if the pain were still fresh.
Alexei coughs a few more seconds and wipes his mouth with a kerchief. After breathing heavily for another moment he smiles weakly. "I am told I shall recover from this...infirmity and then merely need to perform a new ritual. Korvin had already mentioned he would like to help, and...Tr-Tr-Tria? Tranquilana's guest, said I should contact Ra'am as that is a specialty of his." he pauses and looks at the pouch. "What is in there, pray tell?"
[color=blue]"Really," Fiona says as she looks at Tranquillina curiously. ((Per 0 + Folk Ken (Magi) 2 + die roll of 8 = 10, to see if Tranquillina is repulsed, offended, curious, intrigued, aroused, whatever, by that.))
[color=blue]"Why did she do that, I wonder?"
[color=blue]"My herbalist's kit. Give me about three days, and I can brew up a potion that can help you get better, faster. Much like I did for Mufarjj a few years ago.
"By your leave, of course."
She looks at him critically. [color=blue]"Should you be up and around?" ((Int 1 + either Chirurgy (Diagnosis) 2 or Medicine 3 + die roll of 8 = 11 or 12; I'm thinking it's more likely Medicine, so 12.)) [color=blue]"Let's get you back to bed."
((I take it we're done with the Fiona/Blanche thread?))
Alexei looks at her rather sternly.
"My dear...I have been on more than three dozen campaigns. Broken seven sieges. Claimed the rival banners of fifteen who thought they were my better. I beat that fool Rotgers in the joust. After all that, do you think I wish to be in bed?" his stern expression changes and he chuckles softly. "Actually, now that I think about it, bed sounds lovely." he finally says and offers his hand so that he can be helped up. Helmut arrives to take his other arm and move his staff.
Fiona helps him up and guides him back to his bed, tucking him in and giving him a kiss on the forehead. [color=blue]"It will take me about three days to brew my potion, my friend, but I will check on you until them. Get well soon."
((Int 1 + Mythic Herbalism (potions) 4 + die roll of 3 = 8, vs. an Ease Factor of 9. I think a Confidence Point is called for, here, to jack that up to an 11.))
Fiona will check on Alexei daily, bringing him the healing potion (which adds +6 to his Healing roll) when it's done. It lasts a month, so she will bring him more every month until he's fully healed.
"To gain a place in the Folio of Terrible Etiquette, perhaps?" Tranquillina chuckles while shaking her head, in the manner of someone who with the passing of time has found humor in a genuinely shocking situation. "No - she told me she can naturally see through illusions ... apparently, I hadn't been careful with the arrangement of my actual cloak - just the visible outfit - and she spotted ... an opening." She leans back in the plush chair, summoning the footrest into position beneath her heels with a few waves of her hand. "I have a certain innate responsiveness to magic as well, but not to the point of discerning illusions without Intellego."
((By this time, is there still vis inside Fiona? Or has she used it up transforming herself?))
[color=blue]"Yes, that does seem rather rude. One should never grope someone without their consent, unless you're fairly certain that they'd be appreciative."
((So, I'm guessing Tranquillina doesn't seem to go that way, then. Viscaria, on the other hand....hmmm... 
))
[color=blue]"Some people do seem to have that Ability."
((I think we decided that Fiona was going to convert them to gain the Venus' Blessing Virtue during Alips's initial visit, in the Summer of 1225. So, yeah, by this time it's been used.))
"Viscaria had reached the plateau by climbing along the guide ropes that Theraphosa spun. Yes, she climbed the entire half-mile span! She cast a Muto Corpus spell upon her hands, turning them into the gripping limbs of a spider, to aid her climb." Tranquillina waits a beat, making sure she has Fiona's attention for the next line. "That spell was still active, when she pinched me."
Ever since Tranquillina came to Mons Electi, she had frequently engaged Fiona in conversation, seemingly excited about a fellow Gaelic speaker; however Tranquillina gave off mixed messages about whether she wanted to become close to the giantess. Over the past year or so, however, the dissonance seems to have gone away, with Tranquillina acting more fully like a person interested in cultivating a friendship.
Fiona winces in sympathetic pain as her hand goes up to her own breast. [color=blue]"Ow. Definitely not a friendly grope, then. I'm glad it wasn't severely damaged."
She harumphs. [color=blue]"I would think I would remember that I had transformed my hands before I went to pinch somebody's nipple, even in play." She looks at Tranquillina. [color=blue]"You do think she just forgot, right? And didn't mean to hurt you?"
Tranquillina shrugs helplessly. "She did display a surprising degree of scatteredness - of leaping from one idea to the next before the last one was fully finished. Maybe she just forgot. Still a strange thing to do," she grumbles. "Do you have a notable Viscaria interaction?"
((Perhaps another day in the same season....))
"This tropaea is as interesting as you said it was," she grants with a wave of her head towards the enormous tome. "At first I thought it would be too unorganized and diverse, given the several volumes contained within; but Cannophori's cross-referencing really ties the works together. I'm more interested in the second tropaea, to be honest, and its descriptions of dysfunction and malady; but these positive descriptions of a well-functioning body in the first tome are useful as well. What are you studying these days?"
Fiona purses her lips thoughtfully. [color=blue]"No, I can't say that I have," she says after a moment.
[color=blue]"The Stag, The Hound, and The Prince of the Seven Crowns," she replies. [color=blue]"The summa on the art of Rego."