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While Ashlynn and Heila worked diligently on their studies, Amahle summoned Talauia and Jacques to her own abode for a serious discussion.

"So, it’s true den?" Jacques asked between sips of cold, refreshing lemonade. "Lady Nyrielle, she really trapped de High Lord of de Tangled Wood in a pine box atop his own tower?"

"It is," Amahle said as she examined the letter in her hands for what felt like the dozenth time since it arrived early in the morning.

"Though Lady Nyrielle’s letter is short on details, she made it clear High Lord Hamdi is suffering greatly for the offense of failing to recognize her authority over vampires as the Harbinger of Death. "

"Even then, even then," Talauia said. "A green pine box will twist and warp in the summer sun. Even if it kept all the daylight out when they made the box for him, after a few days, every seem will let a little bit of light in all day long. Won’t it eventually kill High Lord Hamdi like dying from a thousand small cuts? "

"According to Lady Nyrielle’s letter, she allowed his progeny to wrap him in a beggar’s cloak before sealing him in the box and placing it atop his tower.

Further, she’s allowing his progeny to hunt for him so long as they spill the blood of their prey over the box.

What little seeps through is enough to allow Hamdi to slowly heal his wounds, though the sunlight during the day may undo most of that. "

"Dis woman of Auntie Ashlynn’s is fiercer and crueler den I thought," Jacques said, shuddering slightly at the thought of how much he’d offended her when they first met.

Looking back at the way Ashlynn had resolved their dispute, he offered a silent thanks to the Mother of Trees for saving him from a fate so dark that he wasn’t able to imagine it.

"The important thing isn’t what she did to High Lord Hamdi," Amahle said, bringing the conversation back on track. "The question is whether or not one of you should go to represent me at the gathering she’s called. Every Eldritch Lord for three hundred leagues has been invited and she’s extended us the same courtesy. "

"Shouldn’t Auntie Ashlynn go wit us den?" Jacques asked. "I’m sure she must be missing Lady Nyrielle, non? Dis is a chance for her to pay her lover a visit."

"That’s what makes this difficult," Amahle said. "We’re invited, but I have to admire Lady Nyrielle for her determination to do what’s best for Ashlynn.

She doesn’t want to disrupt Ashlynn’s training.

Besides, if we went, our attendance would amount to little more than a show of support.

We’ve already aligned ourselves with Ashlynn and through her, with the Vale of Mists.

This assembly of Nyrielle’s doesn’t offer us much. "

"But if we go, if we go, then it tells the other Eldritch Lords that Lady Nyrielle has our support," Talauia said, fidgeting with the ends of the laces on her tunic as she spoke. "But if we go, it means we can’t help Auntie Ashlynn with her studies anymore..." she added, her voice trailing off.

Of everyone who could go, Amahle would send the strongest message of support.

Having the Mother of Thorns appear in person would do much to convince other Eldritch Lords that they should throw their support behind the Vale of Mists in the upcoming conflict with the humans.

It would also deprive Ashlynn of the best learning opportunities.

"I won’t send you, sugar," Amahle told Talauia directly. While the Thistle Witch had once been something of a princess within her own clan, those days were long over, and the winged woman had never once shown signs that she wanted to return to the kind of life she’d lived as the daughter of a High Lord.

Talauia’s wings quivered slightly as a wave of relief washed through her. If Amahle told her to go, then she would have gone, but among so many powerful lords, the odds that she might encounter someone who still bore a grudge for what happened all those years ago were far, far too high.

Recently, she’d begun coaching Jacques on how to attend more formal gatherings in a way that reflected his station as a powerful witch, but from what they’d heard of his visit to the High Fen, he still needed many, many more years of practice.

"And I won’t go myself either," Amahle added. She couldn’t deny that part of her wished she could go.

After getting to know Ashlynn better, she wanted a chance to see how the Harbinger of Death had changed in the years since the powerful vampire had offered up a captured human Inquisitor as a ’research subject’ for her.

The way Ashlynn spoke of her lover was so different from the raw and hurting vampire she’d met in the past that she was tempted to attend Lady Nyrielle’s gathering just to see for herself what her little sister’s lover was really like.

Unfortunately, the cost of neglecting Ashlynn’s training was just too high and it was unlikely that Nyrielle would appreciate the visit when doing so came at her Seneschal’s expense.

"So really," Amahle concluded. "It’s up to Jacques if he thinks he should go."

"I ain’t one for de delicate dance of words wit’ lords," Jacques said helplessly. "What about Saini or Mamao," he said, mentioning the missing Rose and Blackberry Witches. "Are either of dem close enough to make de gathering?"

"I don’t want to disturb Saini’s work, even if she could make it," Amahle said with a shake of her head. The Rose Witch had been born of a tenacious wild rose and the task she’d taken on required an amount of stubborn refusal to yield that even Jacques couldn’t match.

Interrupting her would spoil months of painstaking work and Amahle wasn’t about to throw that away for a simple political gesture.

"Mamao is too far, too, too far," Talauia added. "It took her last letter four months just to get here. There’s no way she’s coming home without telling us she’s coming, so, so there’s no way she could help."

"I’ve already sent a letter to her asking that she return as soon as she can," Amahle said as she stretched across the table to pour another glass of lemonade for Jacques. "But by the time my letter finds her and she returns, it will almost be summer next year."

"I hope she brings lots and lots of new seeds when she comes home," Talauia said with a wide smile. "Sister Mamao always brings the best gifts home when she’s been out for a long time."

"Either way," Amahle said, putting the folded letter away in one of the many pouches on her belt. "Since none of us will be attending Lady Nyrielle’s gathering, then put it out of your minds," she said as she moved on to the next topic she’d brought them here to discuss.

"Jacques, darling, since you aren’t going to Lady Nyrielle’s gathering, I’d like you to take Ashlynn and Heila on a small trip to Crystal Lake City. They’re working too hard and while I understand their reasons, I think it’s time for a small vacation for both of them."

"Before they go, Tala, sugar, spend a day or two with them to concoct potions for trade," Amahle added. "I know they’re both carrying whatever pocket money Lady Nyrielle gave them, but my little sister hasn’t had much that was truly hers since she escaped that wretched excuse for a man she was forced to marry. "

"Yes, yes, I can help them!" Talauia said excitedly. "The moonflowers in the garden are blooming now and there’s enough that we could make several bottles of..."

"No, not like that," Amahle interrupted.

"Take the two of them foraging deep in the Briar. I want the two of them to reap the benefits of their own labor from start to finish. If we give them things from the garden to use to make their potions, it’s little different from when Lady Nyrielle hands them pocket money. "

"This is a test for them as much as it’s a vacation," Amahle explained. "They can only use what they forage for themselves. You can give them advice and show them where things can be found, but they have to do the work themselves."

"After all," she said, sitting back on a comfortable cushion and taking a long drink of chilled lemonade. "The fruits of your own harvest are always the sweetest."