Session 4 covered the evening of 25 Coldrise, 1714 PSF, in Argentum. The party delivered Miles Quickstep to the Order of the Lantern, then spent the night at the Sterling Sovereign explaining themselves to Temerity, and ended it arranging to get Iva’s mother out of the city.

Synopsis

Turning Miles In

The party brought Miles Quickstep to the Order of the Lantern barracks and handed him to Julia Valerius, who struck most of them as distracted and harried. Julia gave Temerity a note to carry to Cassia Brightshield, and the others followed her to Brightshield’s office. Brightshield commended Temerity and offered to arrange a meeting with Rhea Larnas about a future with the Dragoons of Bahamut. Luma went off on her own.

The Sterling Sovereign

Iva asked Rhysaene and Hazel out for a drink, and they settled on the Sterling Sovereign, where they found Luma already sketching the building. Kessel, a server, took them to a private dining room. Hazel ordered whiskey and got a bottle of dwarven make a hundred and sixty-nine years old.

The talk turned to writing. Luma mentioned Mathas Drace and Erhadell, and said the trouble with those who came before is that they did not like to write things down. She kept pressing Iva to learn to write until Iva gave up and told her outright that she is a shapeshifter, then changed her face to Luma’s and back to prove it. Luma immediately started taking notes towards copying it, which Iva liked rather less.

That turned into an argument about what counts as magic, which Hazel settled with the observation that if it would earn you a one-way trip to purification, it is magic. She checked the room carefully for anyone listening, then said what was worrying her: that Temerity might turn them all in, Iva included, for dealing with the Tarnar Syndicate.

Temerity’s Interview

Temerity was at the barracks waiting on Rhea Larnas, who asked her why she should be a Dragoon. Temerity answered with her resurrection. Rhea mentioned that she is from Erhadell, warned Temerity to tell nobody else, and said she would get her in.

The Elephant in the Room

Temerity made her way to the Sterling Sovereign, guided there by Luma’s maps without knowing it, and the maps came out into the open not long after. She put it to them plainly: she believed they were good people, but she did not understand why they used magic, and she would not carry it on her conscience if what they were doing invited the Sorrow in.

Hazel slammed a hand on the table and caught herself. Luma pointed out that Hazel had got angry without exploding, and that the dangerous one in the room was not among them. Hazel told Temerity that the spell she means to cast will hold the Sorrow back, that it calls on ancient wards invoked in the name of the one who saved every life in the Silver Vale when the star fell, and that Temerity talking to her about the dangers of magic rang hollow, because she saw a child playing with fire. She reminded her that she had used magic at the festival to save lives, knowing what discovery would cost her.

Luma offered a demonstration instead of an argument. She asked Temerity for a word that encouraged her. Temerity said “Pa”. Luma wrote it on the back of her hand, and it turned silver and faded, leaving her steadier. It did not look or feel like what Temerity had imagined magic to be. It looked and felt like the Silver Flame.

Rhysaene explained that her magic is not really hers: a close friend died and left her a piece of who she was. She had no grand spell, she said, but she thought people needed something to wake up for, and not only the fight against the Sorrow. Temerity came round to it. She would not report them, as long as they did nothing that put Argentum or the Vale in harm’s way.

Iva’s Mistake

Over her food, Iva worked out why the name Valerius had been nagging at her. She had written Marcus Valerius, Julia’s brother, onto the forged transfer papers, and he had left the Order of the Lantern months before. She told Temerity she is a shapeshifter, in tears, and laid out what she stood to lose: she had meant to frame only Light Wardens who deserved it, the Tarnar Syndicate now knew her, the Order knew someone had been framed, and if they investigated her they would investigate her mother.

Asked whether her mother was involved or magical, Iva lied, and Temerity caught it. Hazel told her she was lucky in one respect: she could make her mistakes as Iva and learn from them as somebody else. Then she offered Anthusa Toguri the room she grew up in, on the understanding that she would not put her life on the line like that twice.

Splitting Up

On the way out, Rhysaene apologized to Luma for being crass, and talked her into taking a couple of days off to help. Iva and Temerity went to Anthusa Toguri’s house to warn her that Iva’s cover might be blown and that she might have to leave the city, and Iva showed Temerity her shapechanging for the first time.

Hazel went back to Calypso, who told her she was talented but needed to learn wisdom, that Hecate had been in touch, that the Sorrow was getting worse, and that the reagents were needed as soon as possible. The session ended at about eleven at night.

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