Celeste took the time to look over the charter, but it didn't seem too far off the standard.
So she signed it with a flourish.
"I know I mentioned it earlier, but I want to stress it again. My magic is focused on ghosts, and on Mentem in general. If there's anything I can do to help any issues that revolve around those, let me know. Unless I am busy with my finding my mother's killer, I will be more than happy to assist." She turns to Clusius directly "I know you've replied that there's no mirror in the covenant, at the time, but I would be very happy if we can secure one, as I would like to install one in my lab, as soon as possible."
"..." - apparently, Regulus wasn't going to give the apple to Simon at that moment. Perhaps accompanying them was some kind of very important welcoming ceremony that he couldn't miss... Regulus' presence was welcome, of course, but Alba couldn't help feeling sorry for the poor young boy.
Seeing that she was not going to be able to do anything about it, she decided to say nothing more and follow the group for the rest of the tour.
Alba sat back down and Stella jumped onto her lap. The maga hugged her for a moment before the large cat curled up on her lap.
"This is Stella." - she said as introduction to Clusius. Stella didn't said anything, with the eyes closed already and purring calmly.
Alba took a moment stroking Stella as Celeste signed the charter, already feeling calmer again.
"Now that we've signed, there are some things I'd like to do... Like visit the sanctums." - she looked at Regulus and Clusius - "Yours too, at least to know their location and where we should go to look for you in case of necessity." - she clarified - **"Also I would like to comment on the construction of my final sanctum.*"" - this time, Alba looked at Clusius - "As I mentioned in my letter, I'm willing to wait and I have some money which I hope will at least cover most of the costs... then the current lab could serve to provide a laboratory visitors." - and she finally turned to Regulus - "And finally to be able to talk in more detail about your proposals for apprentices."
She finally fell silent and looked at the group, still stroking Stella.
"We can do it in the order you prefer... or in other moment if you want." - she added, fearing that she had thrown too many ideas on the table once again.
"Certainly!" replies Clusius with a smile. "We've done our best to find areas within the covenant that would meet the requirement you sent us. That has not been easy, I must admit. And," he adds a bit less ebuliently, "considering the overall state of the buildings, there were some compremises we've had to make. So you sancta may not be perfect, but I'm sure we will be able to improve on them as time goes by."
"Could you remind me again what you asked for? I must admit I delegated much of that work to Julius, so I'm not sure I remember all the details."
"Since I had very specific needs, I just asked for a temporary laboratory with just the materials for Herbam and to develop spells and texts. That would be good enough for me until I'm able to build my own place." - explained Alba, not showing upset at all that Clusius had forgotten about the requested details even though he himself replied to the letter - "Celeste on the other hand had some specifics." - Alba looked towards Celeste, waiting for her to answer to her part.
Celeste nods "While I was hopping my list would be available to just move in, I understand that it was perhaps a bit much, but there was no harm in asking. I will find the time to upgrade it, and shape it to my own taste and needs."
The final result should be:
Size +1, Dedicated Building, Basic (0), Haunted (-1).
"If you have any need need for me you can find me in my tower."
Regulus describes roughly where the tower stands, knowing fully well that describing too precisely how to arrive there is useless, and finishes by inviting Celeste and Alba to make a quick visit afterwards.
"And as soon as you are both rested, I'd be glad to discuss my ideas on apprenticeship." Regulus adds to Alba.
(OOC: Regulus initial proposals are these. I think we can assume he will get to discuss them with Alba and Celeste offscreen. If you have any comments on them, I think it's suitable to make them either on the charter discussion topic or in my character creation topic, as it relates to Regulus' personal goals? ^^)
"Yes, yes, I remember now," says Clusius. "Lady Celeste, you asked for an elevated location in a dedicated building. One of the problems we had was that Regulus," he nods toward the one-armed Quaesitor, "has already claimed the top floors of the highest habitable tower. This left us just another one tower which was both high enough and sufficiently large for a sanctum. It is a bit drafty, I'm afraid. As for the mirror, I have sent inquiries through the redcaps to see how we could purchase a large one. We can visit the tower after this meeting. Julius assembled the tools and materials for it, but unfortunately we lacked the time to completely set it up."
"Lady Alba, what did you have in mind for your laboratory? You were quite vague in your letter, which I admit makes me curious. As you mentioned you preferred to create your own, there wasn't much we could do except assemble the basic supplies and equipment. We had much to do and very few people to do it, so things got delyaed for your lab. We have a space cleared out that could be used, but I have no idea if you will find it suitable."
"Don't worry, as I said I will only need a very basic laboratory for the moment... I wouldn't even want to have many of the tools, to avoid wear and tear those tools and thus save a bit." - Alba commented to Clusius.
"About my laboratory..." - Alba became thoughtful when she had to talk about what she had in mind.
She hadn't stopped talking about it with Celeste whenever she had the chance since she'd had the idea, and yet, when push came to shove, she found it much more difficult to express in front of strangers. And if they said no?
She gently petted Stella to collect her thoughts, even when her expression didn't show her internal struggle.
"W-well...t-the idea came to me from the neighbor's house... I-I mean, the ones that I had when I was a child... basically it would be a low building that would be covered with earth instead of using a roof. I talked to some masons in Irencillia who confirmed that it is possible to do it, since it is not very different from a burial mound with windows... " - as she spoke, she calmed down again, beginning to comment on unnecessary details - "The soil would also help keep the inside cool in the summer and warm in the winter, as well as insulate from sound. Also, when the soil settled, I could have my own garden... and maybe an orchard too." - at this point, Alba didn't even look at the others, lost in her thoughts - "Upon entering there would be a small common area, outside the sanctum in case I have visitors and they want to have a drink. There I would also have a room, so in the future my apprentice can have a good place to be." - even without showing any change in her tone or expression, it was obvious that she was excited about the topic - "After the guest area would be the entrance to the sanctum proper... then just entering there would be a gallery from where you could see the lower floor, the laboratory itself, and a side door leading to my quarters. With a stairway on each side to the floor below... the laboratory would be to the south, so the wall would have many windows to allow light from the sun throughout the day... very necessary since in the center, taking advantage of the height of the two floors and the extra space granted by the dome on the roof, there would be a hawthorn tree..." - Alba stopped and looked at the group around her, as if she had woken up - "I'm going into too much detail?" - he asked, fearing that he was bothering them - "I can make a sketch if necessary..."
When Alba has completed the description of her dream sanctum, Clusius rubs the back is his head, pondering the question.
"That is a most fascniating project. I'm not certain how we will be able to build it, but you are right that we don't have anything like that. The closest we have is a solarium, I think, somewhere in the southwest wing. We will have to talk with our stonemason and our carpenter to see what they think of this. I think that Franscesca -- that is our stonemason's name -- may see this as a challenge. I'm less sure about Herbert, our carpenter."
"But if it can be built, we will build it. It may just take longer. Both Francesca and Herbert are kept busy maintaining the covenant, and with the arrival of so many people at the same time, we have a lot of repairs, building and enhancements that need to be done so that our covenant can host so many."
"R-really?" - Alba felt really happy that Clusius would describe her project as "fascinating" - "From what the masons at Irencillia told me, it would depend a lot of the soil... I don't really know a lot about it, but with some luck it will be no problems. I also understand that it will take time... but I prefer that they can work at their pace and they do a good job at the end. I prefer to wait now, that end with humidity problems later." - she added while nodding - "Thats why I also want to go without any unneded tools and materials in my temporary lab, so all the savings can go into the building."
Just the fact that her idea wasn't outright denied was already a dream come true for Alba.
Clusius nods, "As I said, we will need to talk to Francesca and Herbert to be sure, but it should take no more than ten years to build it with the resources we have, I hope." He says the number of years as if that is a perfectly reasonable delay for such a project. Maybe it is.
"I have heard Alba describe her dream Lab, but have never seen her draw it, and it does look more fantastical than I imagined. Now, if you say the ground is mostly stone, and it will slow down work, I do hope the covenant has a Terram Summa. I have a decent Rego, and I am sure I can come up with a spell that will at least speed thing up, and do some of the heavy lifting, so Francesca doesn't need to work too hard to get it to be complete."
Clusius scratches an eyebrow, trying yo remember. "We do... but I think summa is overstating it a bit. We have an old root in Terram." He looks a bit embarassed, "Our library is still quite limited."
"While I won't claim to be an expert, I have a modest comprehension on both Rego and Terram, which may also prove useful."
"Also, I have recently added a copy of a lab text for an ingenious item to our library, a glove to help transporting large blocks of stone. The Enchanted Porter, it's called." (OOC: as the item from Covenants, p.25)
"You will also find lab texts for a few Terram spells, but... aham... I have been living in Thebes recently, so I'm afraid most lab texts are written in Classical Greek. But the text for The Enchanted Porter is in Latin."
When Clusius mentioned ten years Alba felt a little sad inside. She was expecting something around three or five years...
Of course Francesca still needed to give her opinion... maybe it could be less time... or maybe there it could arise an issue that made impossible to built her dreamed laboratory...
Still, she felt like her own lab, no, her own place into the world, was a very important step into her life between humans... and before she felt like she could go to confront her mother again. So she didn't want to give up for now. She would find the way even if it meant to do a completely different sanctum...
Then she opened her mouth to answer to Clusius when Celeste and Regulus offered to study and develop Terram spells to help her.
For a moment, Alba remained silent, not sure about what to answer and overwhelmed by happiness. At the end, she lowered her gaze while got slightly red while the others talked.
"T-thank you all..." - she said in a low voice before she looked again to Clusius - "Thank you for being willing to invest the scarce resources that you can in my lab without even hesitation." - then she looked to Celeste and Regulus, specially the second one, since he really didn't knew her and still acted like a friend with her - "And thanks to both too, for being willing to dedicate your time and effort to me. I... I feel very grateful."
She sighed slightly and looked down again.
"I know that my face doesn't show any emotions, so sometimes seems like I'm mocking or not talking from my heart. But I really meant it when I tell you that I'm grateful and I'm very happy right now to be here with all of you." - she looked to them again - "I will do everything on my hand to be helpful and to make Tugurium a great covenant." - she added with decision.
Clusius nods in recognition of Alba's emotions. After a moment, he smiles, "I am first and foremost an artist. In my House, beauty is valued, and the sanctum you want to built seems like a thing of beauty to me. Even more than a great covenant, I would like Tugurium to be a beautiful place to live -- a refuge against the frequent ugliness of the world."
He shakes himself, "Now, you mentioned a desire to visit the laboratories. But before we do that, I would like to raise an important subject for the future of our covenant. As you know, we are located on the border of three Tribunals -- the Rhine, Normandy and the Greater Alps. Regulus and I have discussed it and we think it would be better if we joined the Rhine, because of its Peripheral Code regarding new covenants. But this is a decision we should take together."
(OOC Since the roster of players have changed since that decision was taken, I feel like we should revisit it. It may not take long, but I am opening that discussion now.)
Celeste nods at Clusius' words. "Considering that I have come from Irencillia, and have spent much of my time since my Gauntlet traveling across the Rhine, and that my knowledge of the differences between the peripheral codes of the Normandy and Greater Alps Tribunals are somewhat lacking, I would prefer to join the Rhine, if we can find the sponsors to do so."
Having spent half of his apprenticeship on Normandy Regulus is happy to elaborate on a few key differences between the peripheral codes, and upon realizing he is digressing he quickly summarizes it as:
We already meet the requirements to join Normandy (onwership of a vis source within 1/2 day travel of the council room); we would need to gather support from sponsors to join Rhine;
We will probably lose some, but not all, vis sources, if we join Normandy. The ones we lose would become common property and we would need to fight for them (Normandy protects everything within 1/2 day travel, everything else must be fought for and conquered at Tribunal)
Normandy is more dinamic, Rhine is slow, bound by it's old customs (Regulus' personal opinion, which might or not be true).
The quesitor does not comment on the Alps ("I'm sorry, but I know too little of them to give an unbiased evaluation"), nor pushes for any of the three Tribunals in particular.
"Thanks for thinking that about my idea for the sanctum... I would also like to make this covenant into a beautiful place where people can feel safe, welcomed and calm. Yet I don't think that the world it's so ugly... To me, there is always some beauty hidden everywhere, just awaiting to be discovered... Oh, sorry. I mean, I don't really know nothing about art, but to me the beauty is everything that makes you feel good." - she corrected herself, trying to explain her feelings better - "That being said, I would love to see your art and learn more."
Alba got silent while the others commented about that, she didnt even though about in which tribunal was Tugurium when she came... So she just didn't know what to tell.
When everybody looked at her awaiting her answer, she got slightly red, but understood that she had to say something.
"I don't have idea about that... I don't really understand the differences between the tribunals." - she answered with soft voice - "On one hand, it seems that joining the Normandy Tribunal would be the most convenient and easy, but the fact that Regulus commented about having to fight for the vis sources sound unfair. On the other hand, Rhine sound much more fair, but I don't really know how I could be of use to gather some support..." - she was sure that was clear why she wasn't ideal for that job, so she didn't clarified more that point - "Regulus... what would be the consecuences of not being able to join a Tribunal before the next Meeting?"
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