He seems startled and embarrassed, but relents. "I am very sorry. It is my son, Shmuel. He has been taken from us."
In a long tumble of words, broken up by sobbing and a little blubbering, Josef relays that a Bonisagus named Aulus Germanicus showed up, asked Samuel how long it'd been since he'd received any actual teaching, and promptly whisked their son away to Duos Flumen.
"I... I'm sorry. I'll see if anything can be done about this. And if it can, I will do it." Attravere offers in a lame attempt to console a man who has lost his son.
Once he's done speaking with Josef and doing what he can to make things as comfortable as possible he will ask this first member of his house he sees about who present might know about Duos Flumen and its members.
"Thank you, friend. As to your request-- Stefan will see to it." (Gimme time to come up with some answers for the suggestions box.)
Little William will tell you that Cygna did her apprenticeship at Duos Flumen.
FYI the Vis was never entered into covenant stores. I never took that action. She brought 15 pawns of Intellego, among other types with her. So the covenant stores appear to go up.
Attravere will thank Little William, seeming a bit abashed for not having known that. Hanging his head he says, "I'd best spend more time getting to know the other magi of this covenant. Thank you, my friend."
He'll then wait near the kitchen to see Cygna so that he can ask her about this Aulus fellow from Duos Flumen, as well as where it is located so that he might pay a visit.
If she's left it in the Mercer House this whole time, remember they take 2% interest per year or fraction thereof. I had added the vis to the covenant store post long ago, as it sounded like you intended to do so during council but the actual council meeting got handwaved.
Sometime in 1221, preferably early spring, she'll approach Cygna about her work on the covenant charter. If Cygna is in the kitchens she'll help wash dishes with Cygna, or whatever. "Are you making any progress with the Charter?"
Cygna sighs as she brushes a stray wisp of hair out of her eye. [color=red]"No, I'm afraid not. Whoever wrote this was obviously a magister at law, and wrote it for his peers. I'm going to have to learn a lot more about lex hermiticum to even begin to understand the half of it." She sounds very dejected as she speaks. [color=red]"And I don't think we have any books on the Code for me to study from, either. I was really hoping that it would be a good service, too."
[color=red]"I'm still trying to figure out what to do for my covenant service. I could scribe the spells that I know. That would take close to a year, depending on how many of my spells are already in there." ((Cygna has 285 levels of spells, none of which are in the Library. She can write 80 levels a season, so that would take about 3.5 seasons.))
"That would be my master. As I said in the council meeting before I was dismissed, his punishment was assigned reading of the charter." Her eyes seem to twinkle with an uncharacteristic mirth, "I was punished rather often."
"I have to perform some service in the coming year. I'd like to go ahead and do what you're having trouble with. At some point in the years to come, I'd be happy to teach you what I can. Would you be willing to let me have the charter and take up your task?"
The covenant's flock of sheep is completely exhausted by winter of 1222. The fishermen will request, via Stefan, that Attravere have his familiar fish outside the estuary, so that they can pick up the extra slack for feeding the covenant.
The covenant has lost an income source and will have to buy its own vellum and wool, and there may be a hit to the happiness of the covenfolk because no one wants to eat fish exclusively.
[color=red]"I would be delighted. On both parts. I'm certain that I would be of more use if I were more familiar with Hermetic Law and how it's applied. I only know the basics, and that was more from my involvement with Adorjan's being Marched than anything else."
Cygna is outraged. Not so much for herself, as she doesn't eat much meat (although having vellum would be nice), but for her covenmates who do enjoy meat. [color=red]"How can this happen? What's been happening to all our sheep? Who was supposed to ensure that we were having enough lambs to keep up?"
I think Sinmore just found herself a job... snort
The now-unemployed shepherdhess informs Cygna, "There is a great beast that savages the flock for three nights, around the 15th of every month. The maga Sophia said she would look into it, but the attacks never stopped, and then when magus Iapetus showed up with that big lizard, that finished them off. I still have two lambs I keep as pets, but they don't graze anymore, it's too dangerous."
Is the shepherdess Christian or Jewish? (Cygna recalls, from her time at Phoenix, that the Jews, and Muslims for that matter, have a different calendar than Christians). If she's Jewish, Cygna asks if that's the 15th on the Jewish or Christian calendar. She also asks if anyone's seen this "great beast" or knows anything about it.
She also tracks down Iapetus and Sophronea and asks if she might have a word with them.
Attravere proposes over breakfast that the next time in the cycle that the beast is meant to show up that the Magi help keep watch to deal with it.
"Sanno is helping the fishermen to pick up the slack due to this loss. We should do what we can do remove this problem as well. I'm sure we can acquire some chickens to help with the meat loss, but the wool and vellum was something we can't as easily replace."
How much goop is left, exactly? And does the goop cause warping?
I'm having a hard time reconciling how she doesn't have a buttload of warping already, unless Justinius disabled the darkness during the apprenticeship...
Cygna catches up with Sophronia out and about, even though it's been a dreadful winter. She seems to be avoiding spending time in her sanctum for some reason. "Ahh, well, I had done what I could with that matter. My hands are tied, to a certain extent. If you can riddle it out we can discuss it more in depth." She looks over towards the lighthouse.
The shepherdess is named Sarit bat Tamir, so Cygna's pretty sure she's Jewish 
"The Jewish calendar is the only accurate calendar, ma'am. Meaning no disrespect, but the Christian calendar loses days." If asked to clarify, she will tell you (and Chayyim will confirm) that it is a lunisolar calendar, with months beginning on the new moon. Which puts the full moon squarely on the 15th.
We'll say a season's worth. It is a natural herbal tincture and does not cause warping.