C6 "The Court..."

"The Court Of Calugress"
(WC 3603)

It was not a long trip from the heart of Dour Gujhest to Calugress, but the diplomatic caravan took their time in getting there. Once Mesyth had spoken with Viligau to accept her release only a few days were available for readying her for her first experiences with the Jaltikij. The White Council seemed especially concerned, not really knowing what to expect from the Jaltikij. A few of the White seemed to know more about the affairs of the Jaltikij because they had been directly involved in making advisements on the political affairs of the Sinzakij, whose relationship with the Jaltikij was open and friendly. King Esric Sinzakij highly valued the assistance of the mages and kept several close to his throne. Still, none of the mages had ever dealt with a Jaltikij noble directly or been allowed to do so.
It seemed that many in the White Council wanted to use the few days they had to fill Mesyth's head with all sorts of information and carefully planned responses, but Viligau stood in the gap for the young mage in all of these matters, reassuring her time and again that she need only be honest about what she knew and everything would be alright. The whole process went by in a blur, but Delyth stayed by her side and kept her calm until the day they departed.
It was hardest for Mesyth to say goodbye to her mother. It seemed unfair to finally get to see Delyth again after all of these years only to be whisked away on an errand of such great importance. She did not know when she would be able to see her mother again or how long she would be expected to stay with the Jaltikij. The gravity of her mission had not yet overtaken her mind either, allowing her to focus on one sadness at a time. Finally, she departed from the White Council in the heart of Dour Gujhest and traveled to the southernmost tip of the rim of Dour Gujhest. There her mage entourage connected her with the diplomatic caravan and said their goodbyes. It was not until this moment that Mesyth realized she would be the only mage making this journey.
She was surrounded by rough men, soldiers mostly, who protected the traveling diplomats. Thankfully there was no call for her to be social. The diplomats and soldiers showed little interest in the mage under their charge, offering her a carriage of her own to ride in, separate from the others. They brought her food and drink regularly, but otherwise ignored her presence altogether. This did not seem strange to Mesyth, who rather preferred the solitude of this arrangement. She was not in the mood to familiarize herself with a group of strangers and felt far more comfortable confining herself to the protection of her carriage walls. Being cut off from all that was familiar to her was difficult enough.
Mesyth decided with firmness, as they plodded across the countryside, that she would work hard and perform all the tasks required of her. She began to take comfort in the importance of her position. The levity of it all made her wonder why the Jaltikij were suddenly so interested in getting to know more about the mages. What had changed? Were they in need of assistance? Did they wish to establish a magic school of their own? What had prompted their desire to build new relationships with Dour Gujhest?

-[ ]-

“Mages aren't allowed into the Jaltikij kingdom. How does that make you feel?” The questioning had started almost immediately after Mesyth arrived. She was given a small chamber not far from the meeting hall where she would discover most of her work was to take place. The caravan had arrived late at night and Mesyth was allowed only as much rest as she could steal before dawn.
The Jaltikij treated her in a gruff manner, sending a stoic guardsman to knock on her door first thing in the morning and escort her directly to the meeting hall. She had yet to see much of the famed city of Calugress. Having heard stories of its beauty, she was hoping to have an opportunity to explore the city, but she was locked away within the castle walls. Her window was a thin slit through the stone that overlooked nothing more spectacular than another castle wall; blank, cold and hard.
There wasn't much time to be disappointed about this, though, because the Court of Calugress required almost constant attention. The Court itself was nothing impressive, just a semicircular table governed by five noblemen. Mesyth could barely remember their names, but after a couple days she had started to get the hang of it. One of the five was obviously compassionate toward her and often rephrased questions in a more comforting way to help her through the process. She remembered his name first and most easily, because Jorit actually seemed to care about her.
There was another who was very loud, but generally happy, and Mesyth found him very amusing. His name was Tomal, but he rarely asked any questions of substance. He seemed mostly interested in what the food and quarters were like in Dour Gujhest. He asked repeatedly about the availability of ale, a question which struck Mesyth as immediately odd, but she was so well humored by his apparent seriousness that she laughingly responded that there was no ale to be had in Dour Gujhest except under special circumstances.
Her giggling was cut short, though, by the harshest of the five. His name was Calte and he quite obviously did not like Mesyth or trust her in any way. He did most of the questioning throughout, repeating many of the inquiries multiple times every day she sat before them.
The other two were harder to remember. One was Kurshid. He seemed largely disinterested in the whole affair. Oftentimes he would arrive very late, walking in casually after Calte had already been hammering away at the same questions for several hours. Kurshid always looked bored, but he did occasionally ask a bizarre question or two, mostly his inquiries frightened Mesyth, but she tried to stay calm and honest. The fifth had been called Intath, but Mesyth often forgot his name. He simply sat in silence, staring at her all day long without saying a word. Truthfully, Intath was the one she feared the most, because of his silence. There he sat, day after day, just looking at her with no expression on his face.
The entire day was not consumed with only questioning Mesyth. Occasionally, the Court would have her sit aside and watch silently as they brought in one of the Sinzakij diplomats and asked them some questions about affairs of state. The noblemen of the Court took some pains to be kinder and more compassionate to the diplomats, setting a stark contrast to their treatment of Mesyth. They would often ask baited questions about the relationship between the Sinzakij politics and Dour Gujhest, but Mesyth was comforted by the shrewd answers that were always offered by the diplomats. Apparently they were very familiar with the Jaltikij mistrust of the mages and well versed in quieting these fears.
“It makes me feel a little sad, but I have always been taught it is my duty and responsibility to respect the wishes of others.” Mesyth answered. They had asked this question over and over again. In some ways it was becoming routine for her, she knew the answers she would give before they even finished asking the question.
“What are you capable of?” This question came from Kurshid, surprisingly, and it was one she had not heard before. Mesyth took a moment to compose her thoughts.
“Sir, I am only a young student in Dour Gujhest so my abilities are not yet completely developed.” She began, hoping as she always hoped when answering a new and unfamiliar question that she was not revealing anything which might be deemed inappropriate or offensive to the Jaltikij. Viligau had assured her simple honest would win the day, so she tried to always rely on his advice. “I study what is called “lesser elemental magic” and this means that I am learning to manipulate the four basic elements of life: earth, water, wind and fire. I must confess that my knowledge of earth, wind and fire is very limited, but I do enjoy working with the water element.”
“You have not told me what you are capable of.” Kurshid retorted with an air of annoyance.
“What he means is,” Jorit spoke up, “What are some of the things specifically that you can do?”
Mesyth thought about this for another moment. It was a strange question, one which was outside of the focus of her training. When studying magic, students were not encouraged to define their progress by a list of things they could or could not do. There were simply too many options available. Magical manipulation of water meant the student was opened to using water in whatever way seemed best to them at the time. All of the attributes of the element lay open before them and were only limited to the student's creativity and needs. Using water was an adaptive process, something that depended entirely upon what the situation might call for. Defining specific abilities was a foreign exercise to Mesyth and it required her to sit and think about some of the things she might do if she needed to. “I suppose I could freeze things, or I could possibly cause it to rain. But sometimes the conditions are not ideal so it takes more ability than I might have to do things like that. But I could turn water into air or make it burn or I could freeze it solid. I might be able to throw a solid block of ice at something. Or maybe if I needed to break through a wall I could freeze the water inside the wall and cause it to expand rapidly so it would break the structure of the wall from the inside out.” Mesyth tried to be as creative as she could. “I could use water to catch someone who was falling, or maybe to make a slide for them. Or I could use it to make a slide just for fun. I could make a wall to protect myself maybe, but that would also depend on the conditions. Oh, I can make water dance. We have fountains at Dour Gujhest and sometimes I just make the water dance. It is so beautiful.”
Mesyth stopped, a little breathless from getting carried away with her ideas. It was a look from Kurshid that made her stop, though, for he was obviously not amused by her speculations.
“Are all of the mages only able to play with water?” He growled once she had fallen silent.
“No, sir.” Mesyth replied respectfully. “Elemental magic is only the beginning of magical training. There are many more abilities to be learned.”
“With so many different abilities to choose from,” Calte began, “What exactly is the mage agenda? What do the mages want? How do they intend to use their power in the world?”
Back to the familiar again, Mesyth took a deep breath and tried to remember her answer. “Mages are charged with the responsibility to help anyone they can in any way they can.”
“Aren't you trained to tell people what to do and to force them to do what you think is best?”
“No sir. Forcing someone to do anything against their will is strictly forbidden. We are taught to obey the laws of our land.” Mesyth responded.
“Do you feel you are better than everyone else because you use magic?” It was another new question.
“No sir.”
“You said you were taught to obey the laws of your land,” Calte leaned forward, “Do you think our laws do not apply to you?”
“No sir. I believe it is my responsibility to respect and uphold your laws while I am present in your land.” Mesyth could muster no better response, but wondered if they were setting some kind of trap.
Jorit sighed and interjected “Can you accept the authority and leadership of those who are not mages?”
Before Mesyth could answer, Kurshid interrupted asking, “If we decided you were dangerous and were to execute you, what would you do?”
“We are taught to respect and obey the leaders of the land.” Mesyth replied cautiously, feeling very threatened by the mention of execution. “However, we are ultimately subject to the rule of our leaders at Dour Gujhest. If you deemed me dangerous and were to execute me, I would attempt to return to Dour Gujhest.”
Calte looked meaningfully at Jorit, as though he had won an argument. Jorit, however, appeared unphased.
“Thank you for your honesty, Mesyth,” He said, “We are going to release you to your quarters today. There are some matters we wish to discuss before we continue.”
Mesyth was a little confused by this turn of events. She couldn't help but wonder how serious Kurshid was in asking her about what she would do if they tried to execute her. She was not sure what to do with herself now that she had been released from the Court in the middle of the day. She did not know if she would be allowed to exit the castle walls and see the city or if she would be expected to sit and do nothing in her quarters.
This question was soon answered though, for the guard returned and escorted her directly back to her room. Feeling somewhat imprisoned, especially after what had just been said, Mesyth fretted for a few hours, pacing and trying to calm herself. Finally, she decided that the best thing she could do with the circumstance was try to get some much-needed sleep. There was little else for her to do anyway.

-[ ]-

“Hey!” A sharp nudge to her shoulder woke Mesyth up suddenly. It was dark in her room, she must have slept away the rest of the day. Someone was standing next to her in the dark, but she was usually woken by the sound of the guard knocking on her door. The door was closed.
“Ah!” Mesyth let out a short, sharp scream and pulled away from the figure next to her bed.
The next thing she heard was the crisp and clear sound of metal on metal and as her eyes adjusted she saw the figure stumble back a step and draw a sword.
Mesyth jumped backward into the corner, throwing her hands up.
“What do you want?” She asked, frightened.
The person with the sword stood still for a moment, then relaxed and stood upright again, re-sheathing the weapon.
“Aren't you the mage the Court is questioning?” It was a female voice and it calmed Mesyth down a little.
“Yes.” She replied timidly.
The strange girl burst into laughter suddenly. “I thought you were going to use some kind of magic on me, I am sorry. I didn't mean to scare you.”
Mesyth hedged a step forward. “Who are you?”
“What do you mean who am I?” The girl retorted with pomp. “Don't you recognize me? I am the Grand Magistrate of... of... Outside Kingdom Affairs.”
“What is that?” Mesyth asked, wondering why an official would sneak up on her in the dark.
“Nevermind that,” The girl snapped, “I am here for questioning. Please sit.”
“I... I would like to ask the guard about this.” Mesyth stammered, edging closer to the door. This girl seemed nice, but mischievous. Besides, she was armed and Mesyth did not trust her.
“No don't!” The girl waved Mesyth away from the door. “Please.”
Mesyth stopped hesitantly. The girl sat down on one of the stools in the room. “I am not a Grand Magistrate.”
“Who are you?” Mesyth asked again.
“Princess Tiala Tulase Fra Jaltikij at your service.” She stood and curtsied abruptly and then sat down again. Mesyth edged closer to the door again.
“Wait!” The girl insisted. “I am telling the truth. My father would be very upset if he knew I was here. Please don't tell the guard.
“You're a Jaltikij princess?” Mesyth asked dubiously.
“I am the Jaltikij princess.” Tiala said importantly. “And since I am the reason you are here, I think I deserve to be able to ask you some questions myself.”
The reason? Mesyth herself did not even know why she had been brought here. The White Council did not know why the Jaltikij were suddenly so interested in the mages. Was it all because a girl was curious? That hardly explained the inquisition Mesyth had endured these past few days.
“What do you mean you're 'the reason' I am here?” Mesyth managed.
“You really don't know?” Tiala raised an eyebrow. “Haven't you heard about the treaty between the Jaltikij and Sinzakij?”
Mesyth thought about this for a moment. Wasn't there already a treaty between the Jaltikij and Sinzakij? She thought there must have been, they were such friendly neighbors. But she shook her head “no.”
“I thought the mages were supposed to know everything.” Tiala looked incredulous. “Don't you guys keep tabs on all our dealing so you can meddle and make sure everything works out the way you want it to?”
Mesyth had not heard this before. She was aware that the White Council had dealings with the Sinzakij and Ortakij kings, but the idea they were meddling or trying to manipulate the turn of political events seemed wholly preposterous to her. She felt a little like she was back in the chamber of the Court, being asked divisive and ridiculous questions by the Jaltikij nobles. Mesyth decided this must be the Jaltikij princess and the whole of the Jatikij nobility must be under some kind of delusion that the mages were evil, conniving dictators.
“No.” It was the only reply Mesyth could muster. She was still struggling with disbelief over how acidic the Jaltikij were toward Dour Gujhest or anything relating to it. No wonder they had closed their borders to the mages. With so much distrust in their kingdom it was amazing they would ever talk to a mage.
“What is this treaty and why am I here?” Mesyth sunk into a stool, now very curious about what this girl had to tell her.
“Well,” Tiala leaned forward, “I am the youngest child of King Solonom. He always hoped to have a son, but it's been a long time since I was born and the kingdom has lost hope that the King will produce an heir. It's just a delicious circumstance, you see, because I was a disappointment to my father when I was born, but now I am the hope of the Jaltikij.” Tiala winked mischievously. “When I was still very young, the King – distressed that he was only able to have daughters – was scared for the future of his kingdom. So he got together in secret with the Sinzakij King and they made a pact. They agreed that if King Solonom did not produce an heir by the time I was ten, then a marriage would be arranged between the Sinzakij Prince and the Jaltikij Princess. That's me. So there you have it, the marriage was arranged and now, with the wedding getting so close, the Jaltikij kingdom is in an uproar. They are all worried about what it means to be joined together with the Sinzakij kingdom and they want to know every detail. So the King brought a mage here – you – to get all the dirty details about what it means to be joined together with the kingdom where the mages live.”
“You're getting married?” Mesyth looked at Tiala, who appeared to be several years younger than she. How could this girl be getting married? Mesyth hadn't even considered the possibility of marriage yet. It seemed so far off to her.
“Well, yeah.” Tiala snorted. “It's part of the treaty.” She shook her head incredulously. “I don't even call it a marriage. I call it the treaty. Although the Sinzakij Prince is... well, most people would say I am a very lucky girl.”
It was a brash way of putting it. But Tiala did not seem concerned about the marriage. She spoke so flippantly, yet something in her demeanor was comforting to Mesyth allowing her to relax around Tiala. They continued talking for a few more hours, Tiala taking in as many details about life in Dour Gujhest as she could manage. Mesyth wondered if the young princess secretly wanted to become a mage. It was certainly obvious that Tiala longed to at least visit the cities of magic.
For her part, Mesyth tried to pry as much information about the Jaltikij out of Tiala as she could manage. It was greatly comforting to her to hear about the nobles in the kingdom from a female's perspective. Tiala openly mocked Kurshid and Calte, assuring Mesyth that the King thought very little of those two nobles and only allowed them in the Court because of their birthright. Something about this revelation made Mesyth feel better. Perhaps the Jaltikij were not all bad. Tiala was certainly very friendly and forthright.
Getting to know her put a new face on Mesyth's visit to the Jaltikij Court. It filled her with assurance and reminded her that she had an opportunity to bridge the gap between the Jaltikij and Dour Gujhest. And her efforts in doing so would be for the betterment of both kingdoms.