The Vampire & Her Witch

”So Madame Zedya is really going to take Captain Lennart as her first progeny?” Heila said, grinning from ear to ear when Ashlynn finished recounting the story.

Once Heila had a chance to clean up after several days in bed, it was her turn to experience one of the giant meals the staff had learned to prepare for whenever Nyrielle fed on Ashlynn. Though the magical exhaustion she felt wasn’t the same as the anemia that plagued Ashlynn after Nyrielle fed on her, the simple act of sleeping for several days while Ashlynn gave her thin broth was enough to leave her ravenous.

Now, after nearly an hour of eating and stretching as Ashlynn relied on the techniques she’d learned from the Ancient Clan to help work the aches and stiffness out of her diminutive friend’s body, the two women sat comfortably in Heila’s sitting room while nibbling on the sweet pastries the staff served after their meal.

”Probably,” Ashlynn said. ”I’ve only gotten the details second hand when Captain Lennart discussed it with Virve. Evidently, the two of them were out till nearly dawn, taking a boat ride through the canals to admire the city lights and strolling through the shops. They’ve been spending their idle time together ever since, and I understand that Captain Lennart spent several hours during the day looking for unique yarns for her.”

”But Zedya is holding firm on her rule that he takes the time to think about it,” Ashlynn added. ”It’s a big decision and we’re not home yet. From what I’ve heard, if Captain Lennart is still willing when we return to the Vale of Mists, then Zedya will take him as her progeny.”

”We should think about a gift for them,” Heila said, already running through a list of possibilities in her mind. ”It’s probably going to be a really big deal when it happens. The whole Vale might turn up to join the celebration.”

”Why do you say that?” Ashlyn asked, surprised that it would be something that attracted the attention of the entire Vale of Mists. ”There weren’t any big celebrations when I became Mistress Nyrielle’s Seneschal. Was there a big celebration for Nyrielle’s other progeny?”

”I don’t know,” Heila said, frowning slightly as she tried to recall what she’d heard about the year that Marcell, the youngest of Nyrielle’s progeny, had become a vampire, but even that had occurred years before she was born. ”But Captain Lennart would be the first vampire from the Clan of the Great Claw in the Vale of Mists since High Lord Torbin fell. It will mean the world to all of them.”

”Ah,” Ashlynn said as the pieces fit together. ”I’m still struggling with the overlap between the pride of a clan and the pride of a nation,” she admitted. ”It feels like the latter is more important most of the time, and I forget that a person’s sense of belonging to their clan doesn’t just escape the borders of their nation and tie them to the rest of their clan, it also echoes within their nation as a different form of pride.”

”For someone who couldn’t even speak the language a year ago, I think you’re doing really well keeping it all straight,” Heila praised. In truth, when she thought of everything Ashlynn had been through and how far she had come in such a short time, it made her own accomplishments look much smaller, even though she knew that she’d done more than anyone would ever have imagined she could.

”I had really good help,” Ashlynn said as she wrapped an arm around her diminutive friend and pulled her into a brief embrace. ”I imagine that your parents are going to be very proud of you when you get home. Have you written to them since we reached the High Fen?”

”No,” Heila said, shaking her head. ”I want to make it a surprise. Besides, the letter would only arrive a week or two before we do, and hiring someone to carry anything across the mountains is still too expensive. But maybe it won’t be that way for much longer. Is there any news from the merchants? Did Lady Nyrielle agree to their terms?”

”There are some matters we still need to settle, but for the most part, yes,” Ashlynn said with a wide smile. ”Also, I have a surprise for you,” she said, standing from her seat and walking across the room to retrieve a long, slender, cloth-wrapped bundle from its place near the hearth.

”Well, two surprises really,” Ashlynn said once she’d set the bundle on the table in front of Heila. ”I didn’t want the other one kept in your room though. Of the seven surviving staves used by Ropati’s men, you hurled six into the crowd, but one fell to the ground when he attacked his men. I declared it your trophy rather than returning it to the man who owned it. Even if he could use it again, High Lady Erna is in agreement that we shouldn’t let those men return to their cult unless the cult is prepared to pay reparations for the insult and the injuries they caused.”

”I don’t think I’d want that staff in my room,” Heila said, pulling her hand back from the cloth bundle on the table. It was long and slender and for a moment, she worried that it held one of the broken staves but given what Ashlynn had said, that didn’t seem right. ”The staff can be broken or disposed of. I don’t need it.”

”You might want to rethink that,” Ashlynn cautioned. ”You don’t have to keep it near you, but it might be useful when displayed on the right wall among other trophies. You may not value the achievement, but there may come a time when you need to impress others with your strength, and displaying the trophies of your defeated foes seems to be a tradition that both humans and Eldritch clans have in common.”

”Then I’ll give it to you,” Heila said resolutely. ”And you can decide what to do with it.”

”That’s fair enough,” Ashlynn said with a smile, rubbing her hands together in anticipation as she looked at the gift waiting on the table for Heila. They’d brought very little with them from the Briar, mostly focusing on practical matters like their cauldrons, books, and other tools. Many of the things they had made in practice, or the momentos they gathered in the Briar remained there, waiting in their huts should they ever visit their ’second home’ under Amahle’s thorny protection.

”Now, open that,” Ashlynn said eagerly. ”And let me explain why it’s here.”