"You know, this is rather unfair." - Lily-Anne asserts petulantly - "You just got back yesterday and are already about to fly off again. And what's even worse - without me!"
"Do you really want to hang around Grenwille while me, Lemand and Moon Unit cast light magic on a sick woman for a couple days? I won't be a particularly good company out there, you know." - I object reasonably, as I mentally run down the checklist again - "Have patience, Lily-Anne. The winter holidays are in two weeks. Once the semester's officially over, we can all take a good long trip on the airship together. Visit all of our respective families, see the sights, do the rich tourist thing. Besides, I do leave an instance of me in the Academy, so..."
She grumbles and stomps her foot lightly - "It's not that! I want to go on an adventure too!"
Roxolane pipes in from the side - "I somewhat share the feeling, to be honest. Though, in all fairness, I guess there's no real point in joining in on this one, with the exams so soon."
I sigh, smile and lean over, patting their heads gently - "Girls. Once the holidays start, we are going to go on a trip just for ourselves. Only us, no business, no politics. Promise."
"I'll hold you to that." - Lily-Anne retorts, pouting - "And I want to see the Grand Forge too! Father said there is a river of metal flowing there, I want to see that!"
Moon Unit comes out of her room with a sack in her hands, stretching out languidly. "I'm ready!" - she quips - "Oh. Sorry, girls. Alyssa is right, though, going on this trip would be a bit boring. Though, I suppose you could square things out with lady de Braltar, if you go..."
Lily-Anne and Roxolane exchange glances and wrinkle their noses. "I'll pass." - Lily-Anne opines - "I understand it was a huge misunderstanding, but I'm still miffed at her for saying all those nasty things to you and Roxy."
Bridgit comes in, takes Moon Unit's sack and vanishes in thin air, depositing it onto the airship. She's really taking to her new abilities like duck to water recently. Scared the bejeezus out of Sally and Louise when she popped back into our estate to say hi. I think she planned on this, too, because according to her, the reactions were hilarious.
"Well, that's it." - I say, as I lean in to kiss Lily-Anne and Roxolane before me and Moon Unit walk out. Lemand is already in the garden, sitting on top of the travel chest. I wonder where Elaine... Nevermind, here she is. And Madeleine, who still glares daggers at everyone who isn't Elaine, but wisely keeps quiet.
"Good morning, lady Gillespie." - Elaine ventures, as four burly servants troop out after her, each with a chest or sack in their hands - "I am quite ready to board."
And that's my cue. My airship crosses over the Academy wall as soon as everyone's out, and drops down to boarding height, the ladder thunking against the pavement lightly. I am much amused by Elaine's servants all taking a synchronous step back, accompanied by the quiet muttering of what passes for prayers in this world. Mainly, entreaties to Lothak and Memiri, for some reason. Then again, appealing to the god of laws and the goddess of dreams does seem to be fitting the occasion for them.
___
"...Maybe more like this?" - Moon Unit muses as me, her and Lemand circle the complicated assembly of levers, springs and fabric. This is the working prototype of Lemand's enchantment, by the way. The one that started the whole mess. As it turns out, he had developed a comprehensive neural dampening suit. The drawback is that it is most definitely not easily mobile, because it is intrinsically tied with the concept of resting, and as such needs to be applied to bed or chair in order to function properly. The benefit? Many, chief of which is that resting on the properly enchanted furniture will outright cancel most chronic pains. Not to mention that this setup will probably be fairly effective at mitigating the worst symptoms of psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia or paranoia by damping the emotional baseline to almost nil. The tradeoff is that good feelings are also very muted.
I poke at the construction, making sure it is mechanically sound, then step back, letting Moon Unit take a seat on it. The thing we ended up assembling out of metals and wood I've brought in is much like the hospital examination chairs - capable of decent articulation, from sitting to full recline, with separate rests for each leg and adjustable armrests. She smiles pensively. "I think this is it." - she offers softly - "The most comfortable chair I've ever sat in."
"I see. And what about the enchantment effect, lady Lux?" - Lemand inquires anxiously. I can understand that, it's the first time someone else tests his enchantment.
"In a word - serenity." - Moon Unit proffers, as she slips off the chair - "Why don't you try it yourself?"
Lemand promptly plops down into the chair himself. His face slackens immediately, as he leans back. "Ahh. Yes, I see what you mean." - he muses, as he stands up - "All my worries just faded away. In fact, why don't we use that name? Serenity chair, has a nice ring to it, I believe."
"Is it really THAT good?" - Elaine pops in suddenly. She, until just now, was quite taken with the view from above and did not participate in our impromptu engineering session.
Lemand shrugs. "Why not try it and judge for yourself, lady de Braltar?" - he proffers formally, gesturing towards the chair.
Somewhat taken aback, Elaine nonetheless settles down on the chair gingerly after a moment of indecision, and sighs. "...How much?" - she asks then.
"Excuse me? How much what, lady de Braltar?" - Lemand asks, scratching his head.
"How much do you want to build another one for me? In fact, I'd like to commission two of them - one for me, and one for my father." - she explains, as she wiggles on the chair, poking at the controls - "OOh, even that? Splendid."
Me and Lemand exchange glances. I jot down the material costs and the production costs for mechanical parts of it, then pass the paper over to Lemand, who thinks for a moment, then jots down the enchantment costs. I take the paper back, round it up to a nice number, then tack twenty percent on top, and pass the final figure to Lemand. He looks at it, scratches his head and nods. "Well, we're not quite ready to produce them just yet, but... Considering the costs of materials for construction and enchantments, it comes out to thirty gold per chair, lady de Braltar. Fifty, if you want to use silk lining instead of flax."
"Two Serenity chairs in silk, then." - she returns, as she reluctantly stands up - "As soon as you can construct them, please."
Lemand shakes his head again. "Not until we return from this journey, I'm afraid." - he offers - "Once I'm back to the Academy, I'll see to it and send you a note once they're ready."
She grins - "Marvelous. Father will be well pleased, I dare hazard a guess. He did complain about the lack of truly comfortable furniture for quite a while."
___
...In retrospect, Lemand should have mentioned how he's planning to arrive. Because while he did send a letter by pigeon, it simply said that he would be visiting his mother, and apparently marquis Sadoux presumed a trip by carriage after the end of semester. As in, sometime in the next month. Not the very next day after dinner. So, right now we're having a bit of a moment, while marquis recovers in the conveniently present Serenity chair. He bravely rode out at the head of his personal guard in order to fend off the huge beast descending from above. On one hand, he is very glad it's not actually a monster attack. On the other, he had a bit of a nervous breakdown from relief. His troops seem to be made of sterner stuff, and are recovering outside. Or, more correctly, they have had recovered quite promptly, once assured there is no one to fight to the death with. I've hastened the process by passing on a big bottle of knight mead, which they apparently still pass around, taking sips and making strong comments about the superlative strength of the offered drink.
"...So... this airship, yes... is an artifact?" - marquis offers faintly, as he looks around. Good grief, he really got spooked out there.
"Not quite." - I explain - "While it is indeed a large, expensive and complex construct of craftsmanship and enchantment, it is entirely feasible to construct more. Provided one has the plans, time and inclination to spend about three thousand d'ors on assorted materials and labor."
"Lady Gillespie, believe me, any kingdom would gleefully spend tenfold for a symbol of might like this." - he retorts, chuckling lightly - "Gods almighty, this... just... no words. I'm in awe. I'm struck wordless. Gobsmacked, even."
He pauses, looks around, then gingerly begins to extract himself from the chair. "...This chair." - he asks - "If I might prevail on your kindness, lady Gillespie, would you please tell me the name of genius you commissioned this marvel from? Goodness, I want one for myself."
I snort and nudge Lemand - "Hear this, Lemand? Your uncle thinks you are a genius, at least."
Marquis jerks around, staring at Lemand with wide eyes. "Nephew, this is your handiwork?" - he asks then - "Stupendous! Outstanding! I always said Balthazar is a damned fool for looking down on you, I did. That man, I swear. Nothing but swords on his mind."
"Ahh. Well, uncle, to be completely honest, it is more of a group effort." - Lemand demurs - "I have devised the enchantments, but the construction itself? That's all thanks to ladies Gillespie and Lux."
"Now, now, Lemand. Don't sell yourself short. You also put in quite a lot of thought and ideas into this." - I retort - "There are reasons why I intend to retain you as a scholar, you know."
Marquis smiles and claps his hands together. "Lemand, I am very impressed." - he then proffers - "Not even a year out of Balthazar's shadow, and you've already gained a retainment with a ducal house? Atta boy."
Lemand pinks. "In all fairness, uncle, lion's share of praise is due to lady Gillespie." - he objects - "I daresay I'd still be cribbing notes in the library if not for her insight. I'm still incredulous she sees so much potential in me as to give me a retainment before I'm even out of Academy."
I snort - "Lemand's being excessively humble. I daresay, if not for me getting to him first, he'd end up getting an invitation to be a court mage instead."
"He's always been a bright lad." - marquis agrees fondly - "And I am glad that your mind had not been dulled by the brutish nature of your father, nephew. Truly, it was a mistake to permit his engagement to dear Marisa. A mistake indeed."