Hope held me for several minutes, then she remembered where she was and let me go. “I'm s-sorry, my lord.” She said and I handed her a napkin. “Thank you.” She wiped at her face and looked at Mage Marks. “My apologies, Lady Marks. That was very uncomely of me.”

Greta gave her a knowing smile. “It's understandable. I can clearly tell that seeing a smile like that is very rare.” She looked at me. “I'm glad that you care so much about your servants.”

That statement made me remember how Helena's brother Marcus... and probably a lot of the nobles... treated their servants. The problem was that there was nothing I could do to change their attitudes about that, the same as I couldn't change their attitude towards me. The more I showed them the error of their ways, the more they despised me for it.

The kitchen helper came out and cleared away our dishes and served dessert. Hope went back to her table and seemed much happier. Mage Marks also looked quite happy as she dug into the tasty treat. We ate it fairly quickly and the kitchen helper gathered the dishes up and then disappeared to come back with fresh glasses of wine.

I accepted the glass and swirled it around, then stood. I gave the formal end of meal toast and Mage Marks looked only slightly surprised as I thanked her for attending. She sipped her wine in response and the meal was over.

“Greta, would you like to return to the parlour to finish the wine and discuss a few things?” I asked.

Mage Marks took another sip and thought about it. “I would, especially if you'll give me that paper.” She said and nodded at the folded paper on the table. “If we can manipulate things enough, it will come out in a spectacular display of idiocy by the Mages Guild.”

Now it was my turn to think about that and consider the consequences. It took me several moments to make a decision and I slid the folded paper over to her.

“Thank you, David.” Mage Marks said with a wicked smile on her face and looked at the kitchen helper. “Please bring the bottle.”

“Yes, Lady Marks.” The kitchen helper said and she followed us to the parlour. Hope didn't come with us, even though I would be telling her about it later. I was sure that Mage Marks would be more forthcoming with only the two of us there and no others, and as soon as we sat together on one of the very comfortable couches, the parlour door closed and she spilled her secrets as if she had been waiting for a long time to do so.

Mage Marks told me about her personal experiences with the guild and how at certain times, they would manipulate events and make her look less competent, as well as several other of the more competent female mages. They were intentionally held back from advancing in the hierarchy of the guild, just so they wouldn't have any prominent posts.

She was actually a very proficient potion maker and her efforts had been intentionally stymied to stop her from surpassing the male potion makers that held positions above her. Some of them hadn't invented their own potions like she had, and yet, they could order her around as if she was an assistant and not one of their peers. It irked her to no end.

“That's why you are so grateful for the teaching position.” I commented and swirled my wine glass.

“Yes, it was supposed to be my direct supervisor that was to teach the class and he panicked. He barely has more potions experience than the new graduates from the academy. He immediately singled me out to get me out of his sight.” Mage Marks smiled and took a sip of wine. “Little did he know that I wanted to get away from his incompetence as much as he wanted me to stop pointing it out.”

I raised my eyebrows as I took a sip of wine and she laughed softly.

“His family are all high ranked mages in the guild and he rode into his position on their fame and money.” Greta said. “I really hate that they can be appointed to certain positions, rather than earn them on their own merits.”

“You are unhappy with the way they handle their internal affairs.” I said and she nodded. “You are also not powerful enough...”

Greta's face turned angry.

“...politically... to make any changes.” I finished and the anger fled as if it hadn't appeared.

“Yes.” Greta said with a sigh. “I can do a few things in the background, as long as it doesn't bring too much attention to myself or to whomever I'm getting help from. If it's too prominent...”

“They've reprimanded you?” I asked and she sighed.

“I don't have a large or powerful family to support me, so there's not much that can be accomplished inside the guild.” Greta said. “My brother is quite a bit higher than me in the political structure and that's only because he's publicly disavowed his connection to me.”

I put my glass down and took her hand as a show of support.

Greta gripped my hand tightly and took a deep breath and let it out. “I asked him to, just so he had a better chance at playing their game than I ever could.”

“Even though you are the better potion maker?” I asked and she nodded. “Do you still talk privately?”

“No, he... he's right. We can't be seen cavorting about.” Greta said, her voice full of regret. “On the plus side, he hasn't had any children, so I haven't been denied seeing a potential niece or nephew.”

“Not yet.” I said and she caught her breath. “If you leave the guild, can you keep your teaching position?”

“Yes, since that's going to be my reason for leaving the guild. I love teaching.” Greta said and her face softened from the grief it had been showing. “I didn't realize how much until I thought about having to leave and go back to the guild.”

“Why would you have to leave the academy? Didn't they just hire you?” I asked.

“It was just a hypothetical question I asked myself. If a bunch of students dropped out by the end of the year, what was I going to do with myself?” Greta asked and then she smiled. “I would want to stay and teach who was left, even if it was just a handful of students that would benefit from my expertise.”

I nodded and sat there for several minutes as we sipped the wine. I let her hand go to pour out more for us and then sat back again. We exchanged looks occasionally for several more minutes, then she seemed to come to a decision.

“David, I want you to fill that cleaning potion order.” Greta said.

I didn't say anything and motioned for her to continue.

“Fill it and then give them to your future wife to sell. I'll even tell you what the guild was going to sell them for.” Greta said.

“You want us to undercut them.” I said and she nodded.

“You can make a fortune from it and rub their faces in their deception.” Greta said. “I'll get the ingredients for you and provide the containers, since you're a student at the academy. I'm sure you'll need quite some time to work on them to get them ready, so until you're ready to put them on the market, I can hold off on confronting the guild about the enchanted paper.”

I thought about it for about thirty seconds. “I don't think they would be happy if it came out that you were getting me the ingredients, so you have to connect me with who your ingredient supplier is. I'll get them to ship to me directly and hide your involvement.”

Greta looked thoughtful for several seconds. “If I set that up... and I'm very reluctant to do so... I want ten percent of the profits.”

I squinted my eyes. “I would be doing all the work.”

“Would you?” Greta asked and took a sip of wine. “This is a great wine.”

I had to examine her wording, so I took several minutes to consider them.

“Well?” Greta prompted when she couldn't take my silence an longer.

“What exactly are you offering?” I asked.

“Two things.” Greta said smugly, as if I had already accepted her offer. “I'll prepare the ingredients for storage before having them shipped to this wonderful dorm mansion.” She waved at the room. “Assuming you have a room big enough for the proper storage containers.”

“I definitely have the room upstairs.” I said. “What's the other thing?”

“I'll have you included onto the official shipping manifest for the vials and crates for the academy.” Greta said and that got my attention. “I'll provide the proper order forms and all costs will be covered by the academy, since any potion created on the academy grounds by students are automatically included into the operating costs.”

I had to smile at that. “I almost thought I was taking advantage of your generosity by taking more crates than I used inside your classroom.”

Greta laughed softly. “Honestly, you were. I'm not supposed to provide extra materials outside of classroom hours, so isn't it a good thing that you only took them while class was in session?”

I almost laughed at her mischievous grin. “Are you sure that you want ten percent of the profits and not ten percent of the sale price?”

Greta nodded. “I'm not trying to gouge you, David. We can both make money... a lot of money... and neither of us has to worry about the red tape that would normally drag down a mage trying to sell such large quantities of potions.”

There was barely a sip of wine left in our glasses. I held mine out to her and she beamed a smile at me as she clinked our glasses together. We drank that last sip and put our glasses down.

“Would you like a tour of my potions room?” I asked as I stood and offered her a hand.

Greta took my hand and stood up. “I would be honored to see your potion setup.” She said and we left the parlour with her cuddled to my arm. “I remember your words during the basic potions class and want to see how you set everything up.”

“You won't be disappointed.” I said and led her up the curved main staircase to the second floor.

“I'm not going to ask how your work crews managed to make a sweeping staircase inside a dorm building.” Greta said with a laugh. “You'll just respond with magic, correct?”

I gave her a knowing look and she laughed again. I took her down the hallway and decided to give her the full tour. I pointed out the different rooms and showed them to her. Her eyes took in everything and I could almost feel her appreciation of the ornately decorated rooms and accessories. She especially loved the large bedroom I had and then she almost drooled over the huge bathroom and the giant two person tub. I left the most important room for last and took her there.

“David!” Greta gasped when I opened the door and showed her the potions room. “You have twelve setups? I thought you only had one!” She exclaimed and gripped my arm tightly.

“I brew too much to only use one.” I said as an explanation and she took in a sniff through her nose.

“What... what is...” She leaned over the fortifying potion and took another sniff. “I know these ingredients.” She turned and looked at me. “Is this what you were making for the library?”

“Technically.” I pointed at the other three full large stew pots. “Those are the final product.”

Greta dragged me over to them and looked inside. The potion was clear and looked like boiling water. “What is it?”

“I shouldn't really say.” I teased and she gave me an angry and perturbed look. “It's a waterproofing potion.”

Greta's mouth dropped open as she took in a sharp breath. “No, this... I remember someone mentioning it...”

“I've used it quite liberally, both while in the army and out of it. No one else knows the recipe.”

Greta looked like she was in deep thought and I assumed she was going over the ingredients I had asked for. “Dammit, you didn't ask for exactly what you needed, did you?”

I gave her a wink and she sighed.

“That was smart. Even knowing the ingredients, I couldn't reproduce or recreate the recipe.” Greta said.

“I knew you'd guess correctly.” I said and waved at the leftover ingredients. My bins were only small, however.

“Show me the room you're going to convert for the ingredients.” Greta said and I took her to the next room. It was completely empty. “Yes, if... over there and up to here, you can...” She mumbled as she went over how I should set up the bins. I could hear it all, even though she wasn't speaking to me, then she nodded. “I'll contact the men that made the modifications to the bins in my classroom. They can have this made in about a week.”

“I just need the materials and clear fronts for the doors.” I said and her eyes widened. “I'll have it made in a few hours.”

Greta opened her mouth to speak and then closed it. She nodded acceptance and I led her out of the room and back down the stairs. She didn't speak as I told Hope that I was escorting Mage Marks back to her room. We left my mansion and started to stroll casually up the street.

“I didn't get to see the fountain or the gazebo.” Greta said and then she looked surprised. “Forgive me. I said that out loud.”

I pat her hand. “I doubt that you will be able to stay away if you're going to be working for me.”

“Working for!” Greta gasped and glared at me, then she saw my smile. “It's not nice to tease me.”

“I was testing your conviction.” I said and she raised her eyebrows. “We only just agreed to work together. We haven't discussed in what capacity.”

Greta took a deep breath and sighed. “No, you're right.” She said and gave me a pleading look. “It's a partnership, all right? You're not paying me for work. I'm benefiting from what we produce together.”

I nodded and she closed her eyes as she leaned heavily on my arm.

“I think we are going to do a lot of great things together. I just know it.” Greta said as she relaxed against me and we continued our slow walk back to her assigned living space.

She kept her eyes closed the entire time.