"Well, I thought I could use my skill with Ignem for something useful." She grins wickedly.
"You'll notice I'm putting my anchor down, so to speak. Moving my ship inside the pier. I sincerely hope you come 'round more often. But surely you have some small pieces of news. You know some of your housemates talk far more than you do..."
He lays there thinking for a couple of minutes. "Well...I suppose a bit of idle gossip never hurt anybody. And as long as I don't name names..."
He smiles as he scooches a little closer. "And if you want me, I'll see what I can do about coming more often."
"I would appreciate a token, yes," Halie replies, "And curiosity, I do confess. But later we can speak about these things, with Athenus and Dalla on the wing." She pauses a moment in thought. "Wow, this is a lot harder than I thought," she mutters, as she follows Robin within.
"...Uhhh... today is really hot!" she quickly appends.
Robin extends the formal invitation to all three, but he says it slowly and carefully – almost like a child reciting a particularly difficult passage he's had to memorize.
"It is on the warm side, I do suppose. It's worse for us that choose to wear clothes. Not that we're complaining, mind you," he says as he nods up at the men on the wall. "We all appreciate the view."
"Would you care to come inside? Can I interest you in a bite to eat? What brings you here? We've done nothing wrong, I fear. We're too young to have broken the Code. Or is it a social call brings you to our abode?
"Mostly this visit is social," she replies, "Though... Uhh, nothin rhymes with social." She winces. "How do you do this all the time?"
A moment later, she winces again. "...I think I'd like some wine?"
"How do I do what?" Robin asks, then looks up at the guards on the walkway. "Stop looking at her butt! If you've nothing else to do, I'm sure you can find a loo that needs cleaning - or better yet, put your swords to the whetstone, or polish your armour, or whatever it you do when you're not at war."
He shakes his head and turns back to Halie. "A glass of wine would hit the spot. I'm certain that we've got a decent vintage in the cellar. Hey, you, young fella!" He flags down a young boy and speaks to him briefly, then shoos him away.
As he does so, Athenus lands on her shoulder and preens her ear for a moment. "Do you mind terribly, love, if I do some exploring while you dine with our host?" he whispers.
"Come with me," Robin says, "if you please, we can share some wine and some cheese in the dining hall, where we can discuss what brings you to our meager land." He leads her to a long dining hall that forms one of the walls and sits across from her at one of the trestle tables.
"Of course, dearest," Halie tells Athenus, with a kiss on the beak.
"All right Robin, lead the way... Uhh, I like my cheese... on a tray?"
While discussing the LR with Eilid, "So, I really appreciate what you're willing to do for me, what can I do in return? I recognize offers like this aren't generally given no strings attached."
The cheese does, indeed, arrive on a tray, and the wine in a carafe with two cups (all made of wood). Robin pours two glasses and allows Halie to pick her mug. He takes a quick sip, then leans forward with a stern look.
"Why do you mock the way I talk? If this is social, as you say, it seems that this is the way to best drive a wedge between two covenants. I see no reason for us not to be friends, but our future here likely depends on our getting along, even if there's no strong alliance to be forged. As a Quaesitore, surely you see no cause for hostility."
He takes another sip. "Are you concerned about Talia and Ambrosia? I assure you that you have no cause ta worry. They have given us no reason to wish you harm. A new...not alliance, but perhaps an accord is what we both can work toward.
"Even if it's merely a live and let live is something we wouldn't forget. It's so much easier to make enemies than it is a friend."
"Do you know yet if your son has the Gift?" Eilid says.
Talia seems shocked and surprised by such a question at first. "I have no idea, he's so young, he's only 5, I've never even let it cross my mind. Why?" ((This is your call, there was no way Talia would ever be his master, so this makes some sense, and is somewhat unexpected...and most importantly interesting. There were so many reasons for Talia to offload her son to a nurse as soon as she arrived. Guilt, doing what's best for him, being selfish, you name it. If I see where this is going, I'm up for playing an Apprentice.))
Halie quirks a brow, and thinks for a moment before responding.
"If my rhyming has offended, know but this and all is mended:
That I'm compelled to reply in the manner you address me by.
If you hail me in West Norse, my native tongue replies, of course.
If Scots Gaelic you would speak, a few short words my mouth would eke.
If you spoke to me in Dutch, then my replies would not be much.
And if you spoke the tongue of Gaul, I confess I'd not reply at all.
But since you speak to me in rhyme, then that is how my voice must chime;
For where I come from, it's quite rude to deign to match one's host's own mood.
I seek not to give offense, and find this challenge quite intense;
I have the utmost of respect for those who easily select
Words conveying all their feeling, which are also musically appealing.
My intentions are beyond reproach, but if my lack of skill is gauche,
Then say the word and I will cease, in the hopes of maintaining peace."
"I don't know how what, if anything, Ysebrand has told you of my situation. But I find myself at a point that can best be described as the gloaming of my life." ((Eilid looks to be in her mid-40s.))
"I've spent a lot of time the last couple of years taking stock, looking at my triumphs and tragedies. In a way, getting my affairs in order, and looking at ways to deal with my regrets.
"One of my biggest regrets is that I have no apprentice, no filius that I can call my own. I have two that I took as catuli, only to learn that their temperaments were better suited for other parentes.
"I believe you've mentioned that the boy's father was also a magus, yes? I think it's quite likely, given the fact that both his parents are gifted, that he would be so himself. I would like to examine him, and if I'm right, arrange to apprentice him when the time is right. The next Gathering of Twelve Years is in '27. I don't know yet if I will be able to go and return, but I doubt very much that I would be taking him as an apprentice before then. And I would be assured of being able to keep him until the next Gathering after that."
Talia whispers under her breath, Eilid may not even hear it unless she has excellent hearing. "So much I don't know." She then stands mute before Eilid and simply nods. Part of her leaps with the pride of a mother that her son might be special, and the other part of her thinks about the life she's led and the choices she's made and how she wasn't a very good mother to him. Wasn't a very good teacher, and that someone else would be as a mother to her son, the mother she could never be. A nurse was one thing, but a maga taking him as an apprentice cuts Talia deeply.
With eyes growing moist she says, "Of course. Whatever you wish. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go for the rest of the day, these tests that you're doing for my longevity ritual are making me feel unwell and I need to rest." Eilid can plainly see that is a convenient excuse for Talia to leave. The day has barely begun, it's not even noon, but Talia leaves and makes her way to her ship. She calls to her crew to come to her cabin and form a line and while she uses them to try and dull the pain she feels, it doesn't work. She sobs quietly into her pillow the entire time. When the night comes she falls into a dreamless sleep.
The next morning she pulls herself together, and then goes to find her son to tell him to be brave, that one of the other maga is going to talk to him soon and see if he is special like she and mommy are. At the end she says simply, "Mommy loves you very much, and wants what's best for you. Sometimes mommies can't give what's best themselves, so they find others to help, like ."
She makes her way back to the Eilean Chon common lab. "If he is Gifted, I'd rather have you than his father or one of his father's amici take him." ((I've never, ever played a Bjornaer, so I think it would be fascinating to do so.))
"I will do my best to make him a magus you can be proud of," Eilid says.
((Eilid isn't going to press the issue, but I assume Talia will want to know before the end of the season?))
Eilid accompanies Talia to the nurse's cottage, and asks Talia to translate for her (since Eilid probably doesn't speak Italian).
She kneels in front of Ezio. The first thing she does is extend her Parma over him so that he's not bothered by her Gift anymore.
"Ezio, my name is Eilid. Has your mother talked to you about what's going to happen? I would very much like you to become a magus, like your mother and I are. But before I can do anything, I need to cast a spell on you to see if you have the ability to do magic. It won't hurt a bit, and you won't even know that I did anything. May I do that?"
((Do you want to take a little time to sketch him out a little bit? I'm going to try to use the rules in Apprentices, see if I like it any better the second time around 
.))
Ezio speaks in passable Scots Gaelic, or at least the dialect common to Insula Canaria.
"A little bit, she told me some." Ezio says in response, and in response to her question about casting a spell, "I know about magic from mama. Ok." He doesn't appear to be scared, more curious. He's seen Talia cast Pilum of Fire so knows that it can sometimes be dangerous, but most of mommy's magic makes the ship run better.
Robin smiles at Halie.
"I appreciate the gesture, but there's no need to go to so much trouble. So, if you have a mind to speak as I do, then be my guest – I would welcome a new partner in conversation, one who is able to match wits with words so well. A fool might might push on, their ego stung by someone with such a gifted tongue.
"But all banter aside, I have yet to hear just what brings a Quaesitor here? I trust that you've not come because of some violation of the code committed in our humble abode?"
"Are you ready, Ezio?" Eilid asks in Gaelic. When he's ready, she places her hands on his shoulders.
After a moment, she lets go, looks up at Talia, and nods. She gets to her feet. "He does have the Gift," she says , trusting in Talia to pass what she says along to Ezio. "Tell him that in time and with the proper training, he will be able to do magic just like we can.
"It's going to be about three or four years before I will open his Arts and begin his formal training. Before then, I would like to teach him Latin and how to read and write. I also want to spend time with him and get to know him better, and get him started on things that fall outside his formal Hermetic training."
When she's done, and after she's answered any questions Ezio (and/or Talia) have, she will give the boy a hug and ask Talia if she's ready to get back to work on her Longevity Ritual.
[strike]"I've noticed that you and Halie don't often see eye to eye. Are you comfortable having her draw up the apprenticeship contract, or should we find someone else from Guernicus or from Mercere?"[/strike]
(Apprentices generally do not require contracts. That was a non-canon thing. Legally speaking, once you open his Arts, he's your apprentice, unless you die or a Bonisagus takes him from you.)
((Yeah, Talia doesn't need a contract, if he's Bjornaer, he probably won't be taken by his father and his amici. The contracts I did in Bibracte were designed to keep Ulrich at Mons Electi, and to protect Korvin's investment in Abigail.))
Talia will bend down and give Ezio a kiss on the head. "Eilid's a better teacher than I am. I'm so proud of you. You're going to get some training in the language you here do magic in sometime soon." Talia looks at the nurse and nods her head and says to Eilid, "Yes, let's get back to work."
Once back in the lab "Do you suppose Jonathan could teach him in the library while I'm reading Arguing with one's reflection?"? I could extend my Parma around them so our Gifts don't inhibit the teaching. What do you think?