Thadeus nods at Thom’s words, adding when the Merenita magus has concluded, “It is indeed a contradiction, but one that led Janus to leave this covenant in anger. Though I did spend some time thinking about denying him ownership of the books, it is something easily resolved for us through copies. That’s my first point. The second is that the deal he is offering us, Vim vis in exchange for copies of lab texts, is a good one for us.”
After this, Thadeus shrugs, “Finally, even though he departed with some anger, he is not our enemy. I’d rather maintain this state. And who here would be willing to make an enemy of Janus?”
Elric was loath to have good books taken by Janus, but if they could be copied beforehand, that’s good. He knew he needed to balance his time at the lab, and time reading books, and in addition, after two years here, he felt a stirring of something within him, to head south, and attend his duties to the sea serpents.
But then, he cleared his head to the discussion in the here and now “Speaking of lab texts, I have spent some of my free time to sort through the boxes of lab texts we’ve recovered. There’s a veritable treasure, mostly of spells, and of some enchantments, that could be useful.” From his folder, he takes out sheets, and hands one to each Magus. “On these, you’ll find a list of all enchantments and spells as i have sorted through them. I estimate that with two seasons of time, I can learn the shorthand for all of them, and then I estimate that it would take about 10-12 seasons of work to translate all of them for general use. It’s a high toll for any one Magi to engage in, and so, if you all agree, once I have cracked the shorthand, we can distribute the lab texts between us, and each of us can take a season to translate those assigned to him or her, and that way, we can get most of them done with only a single season’s work from each Magus.”
Thom brightens immediately as Elric speaks, the ease between them unmistakable. He nods along, fingers drumming once in quiet approval.
“That is a wonderful idea,” Thom says without hesitation. “It suits you perfectly, Elric, and it suits us as well. One season each is a small price to pay to bring so much buried knowledge back into the light. I am very much in favor of sharing the work, and I would be glad to take my portion when the time comes.”
Thom leans forward slightly, enthusiasm returning, though tempered now by the rhythm of council.
“And speaking of useful lab texts, I should mention something I developed at the Oak Circle this autumn. I call it The Shepherd’s Gentle Command. It lets me lay a single, simple instruction upon a whole group of animals at once. Nothing cruel, nothing forced, just a clear direction that they follow until it is done or the day passes. I have used it already with goats and poultry, and I believe it will serve us just as well with pigs, ducks, even hives of bees. It has made tending herds calmer, safer, and far less exhausting for everyone involved. I will happily add the lab text to the pile once it is written up properly.”
Elric smiles at Thom’s praise and enthusiasm, but he raises a hand at Thom’s suggestion to add his new spell. “While more spells are welcome, especially new ones. I would suggest we only do that once we have enough spells to actually spend an entire season to transcribe them, or close to it. Otherwise, it’s a bit of a waste of a season’s work." But not wanting to diminish his friend’s enthusiasm too much, he adds “Of course, if another Magus wishes to learn that spell, I can see us setting up a season of tutoring, and probably teaching more than one spell in one season. Though it’s might be useful to codify the exchange. After all, the Magus being taught should offer a payment for the time, and I can offer some options for that, if the council wishes to do so.”
Thom blinks, then smiles, a quick, sheepish thing, and nods.
“Ah. Yes, that makes sense. I am still thinking in terms of what helps today, not how seasons are best spent. Hiding in the regio of an old Roman fort does not teach one much about libraries.”
Thom chuckles softly and lifts a hand in easy agreement.
“Then I am content to let it wait until it has proper company. I only wished to share that the work at the Oak Circle is bearing fruit, and that the spell exists should it be useful later. I trust your judgment on when and how such things are best folded into the covenant’s work.”
“Honestly, I don’t want a war with Janus. If the council thinks that an agreement could be good for us, it is good for me… as long as that do not deprivate us.”
Hearing about progress, payement and other discussions, she smiles to Thom :
“I am agree with Thom. I do not think about payement and who works better and lesser. I think that, now, we just need to put all our efforts to build our foundation. There are time to work for ourself and time to work for our covenant. In few years we will certainly able to return to our studies, our researches. But I think that, now, we just must use our time at what is the best for all, for our covenants.”
Thadeus looks at those who haven’t spoken yet, to see whether they are in agreement with what he proposed regarding Janus. “Am I correct in thinking that none object to giving back the originals to Janus after completing the copies, as well as the trade of lab text copies in exchange for vis? If we are in agreement, I will rearrange our scribes’ copying schedule accordingly.”
“I would also like to propose that the transcription of lab text be considered covenant service. Since it is beneficial to all, I would propose a small recompense in vis to those who spend one or more seasons on this task. Would you agree, sodales?”
“If I may be so bold as to speak as a mere guest but may I suggest that both translation and transcription should be covenant service Praetor” interjects Angus
“Certainly,” nods Thadeus. “Provided that the work adds new texts to the library, I consider both of these the same.”
“I would exclude from covenant service seasons of tutoring, which Elric just mentioned, since this is only to the benefit of the magi being tutored rather than for the covenant as a whole. Private arrangements should be made between the magi involved in those.”
Thom nods along as the last points are settled, the last traces of mischief giving way to a thoughtful calm. He shifts in his chair, cloak settling, clearly content to let the careful work of consensus take shape.
“That all sounds right to me,” he says simply. “Returning the originals after copies are made, treating the work as covenant service, and keeping private tutelage just that. It feels fair, and it feels like the sort of structure that lets us grow without fraying at the edges.”
“If I may ask, Praetor, how do our vis reserves stand at present, particularly with an eye toward the next Aegis renewal? Are we comfortably positioned, or should we be thinking now about how to shore that up?”
“About Janus, I’m in agreement with what you propose. I’m not in favor of doing to him what he proposed to do to us, and that you turned this into a sale of additional works which brings vis to the covenant is a positive result in my view. I agree that I prefer him to vent his anger on the Diedne than on us too.”
“I concur that a season of copying, writing or translating lab text can be considered service to the covenant.”
"What would you consider a decent recompense for such service?" Thadeus looks out at all the magi, "I'm thinking that for each ten magnitudes of new spells either written or translated would warrant a pawn, considering that such service is performed without risk and does not require any specialized expertise. I'd suggest three pawns to Elric for his season of decoding, considering that he is providing us with key that we can now use for most of the lab texts we recovered from Wicker Hill."
"Straight up copying is something we can leave to our scribes."
Elric’s eyes widen, but he tries to regain composure. “Three pawns might be too much, in all honesty, after all, it would take me about two seasons to decode all of them, and that might be too much vis given over to one Magi, isn’t it?” He was eager to get vis, as he had great plans, but he didn’t want to appear too greedy. He knew that the covenfolk already considered him a lab ra, and while he knew that he was built more for lab work than field work, it did weight on him.
"You are providing valuable work to the covenant, which will help us expand our library," countaers Thadeus. "Time that you could have spent on your own pursuits, including extracting raw vis from the aura."
The Praetor smiles, "Also consider that surplus vis from the covenant is to be distributed between the members, not matter what. So I'd rather some of the vis went first to those who contribute something to the covenant, rather than simply spending their time on their own personal projects."
"Personally, I will try to work in a season of translating some of the lab texts in my plans for the coming year."
“I am hoping the decoding can be finished in time for Winter 1016. In my time down south, I made a commitment to some sea serpents, that I need to help them every year, and I have spent two years away, and it’s weighting heavily on me, so in spring I will go down south to perform my service to them, and I hope to be back for summer to begin decoding.”
"Since we seem to be moving on to vis and our plans for the coming year," says Thadeus after a nod to Elric, "I was thinking about another visit to the island of the Council of the Eight, to see if the vis sources there can be harvested regularly. I'd prefer doing it in the summer, but am open to a different time if anyone is interested in coming along. I would first try to enter the regio from where we exited it, but if that proves impractical we can pay the ferryman to get us there."
"The advantage of going for the summer is that I'll be able to stop in Carlisle along the way to collect our vis source there."
Thom listens with his chin propped briefly on his knuckles, eyes wandering toward the rafters as if imagining roots and beams instead of ledgers. When he speaks, there is a spark of good humor in it, the tone of someone who takes the work seriously but refuses to make it heavy.
“I am quite content with this,” Thom says. “The exchange with Janus feels fair, and more importantly, finished. We take what helps us grow, we give back what was only ever borrowed, and we do not tug at old threads just to see if they still fray. That seems a sensible way to leave things, especially while he is busy raising something new of his own.”
Thom smiles then, quick and unguarded, and gives a small shrug.
“And I am very much with Sionag on the rest. We are still planting, not harvesting. If that means worrying less about who is owed what and more about making sure the walls stand and the shelves are filled, I am happy to live that way for a while. Translation and transcription feel like gifts laid on the common table, not coins passed hand to hand. There will be time enough later to count carefully. For now, I would rather see us well-rooted.”
Thom tilts his head, as if a new thought has just alighted.
“And if there is to be a journey to the island of the Council of Eight, I would love to go. I have always found that being out in the field, trodding the ways, brightens the mind and understanding. Besides,” he adds lightly, “someone should make sure the island knows we come as friends, not just scavengers.”
"If anyone else is interested in joining the trip, let me know," says Thadeus.
"Which brings me to another subject we aught to discuss, namely communications. As you may have noticed, we had pretty much no communication since last spring, which could have proven problematic had we encountered a problem requiring the assistance of magi at the other site. Do you have any suggestion on how to better exchange information between Ungulus and the oak Circle?"
Elric muses aloud “There’s several ways we can tackle that. One is a device to facilitate communication, but those generally need to be outside the Aegis to work with no interference. The other is a device to instantly teleport from one location to the other, but that has the downside of Warping. Another might be to create a cloak that allows one to assume a flying animals’ shape, and have a grog travel between the locations delivering messages. I don’t know everyone’s capabilities, but I, for one, isn’t capable of delivering on any of them, at the moment.”
"Yes," nods Thadeus, "we recovered such a transformation device when we travelled north. A cloak that turns the wearer into a crow. But like an instant transportation device, it does warp the user, so we are keeping it for emergency uses."
"Couldn't we also enchant a device that could physically carry or instanly tranport a note from one place to the other? If such a device was to be taken to each location so that it is inside the Aegis when it is cast, wouldn't it be unimpeded bit our Aegises?"
"Personally, I plan on learning a spell that allows me to fly this season. I brought the lab text along when a arrived here, but I am just at the point where I can learn it. Couldn't we enchant the same effect into a device as well? Although a flying person is more conspicuous than a crow, it might be of sufficient low level so as not to warp its user."