[Notice]

Congratulations!

You have completed the second part of your Quest [Make Divine Communication Potion]. Further rewards will be calculated after you complete the entire Quest.

Rose wasn't lying when she said the potion would be finished quickly. The resins melted in no time at all, then we added several drops of benzoin, bergamot, orange, and cinnamon oil. She cast some spell to help the reduction process but did it too quickly for me to make more sense of it than that. She made me carry the entire cauldron up to the kitchen.

"I said I needed more hands," she said on the way. "What did you think those hands would be for exactly, Gerry?"

The full-body cringe I had to suppress at hearing that nickname was some next-level shit. My second brother loved calling me that precisely because I'd shown how much I hated it once. It'd been a few years since I'd heard it.

"Wow," Rose quipped, "you don't like that nickname do you? I was expecting a laugh since it's so terrible. I know you're not a beggar though so just tell me if you don't like it and I won't use it. Cauldron here." She patted the kitchen counter next to the steeping tea.

I did as she said. "You can call me whatever you want," I said with a smile. Had never been so glad I'd practiced this skill before. "You're a princess, and I'm only the third son of a foreign duke. Besides, I'm not sure how much we'll be seeing each other for you to use it that much."

"Yeah, you don't like it. Okay, won't use it." She smelled the tea and made a face. She started removing the mugwort. "That's about right. So we're going to do this the easy way. I'm going to hold the teapots under the cauldron's spout and you're going to open and close it when I say. Got it?"

I nodded and prepared for her instruction as she grabbed one of the teapots and aligned it under the spout. Maybe she had needed the extra hands. When she said to open, I did so.

"What do you mean we won't be seeing much of each other?" she asked. "You'll join Tespana."

"What makes you think I'll want to join Tespana? Or that Tespana would want me? My skills are not in adventuring..."

"They don't have to be," she said. "We're a jack-of-all-trades type of house. We're good at a lot of things, and we get to leave the academy to explore a dungeon every other week. You won't get as much real life experience in any other house, and I took you for the type that valued that over everything else. Was I wrong?"

Was she wrong?

[Notice]

Congratulations!

You have completed your Quest [Find Out More about Tespana House]. Mastery of [Silver Tongue] has increased by .10%.

These Notices were getting incredibly annoying, but Rose laughing drew my attention away from my System.

Rose smiled up at him from her crouch. "I'm not wrong, I know these things. It's a Skill of mine. Like Assess, but it's not about your Stats or Skills or anything like that. More about who you are as a person. And how I got this Skill is a secret, but I might tell you if we see more of each other."

Irritation crept up the back of my neck, but I laughed. "I don't need to be bribed, Princess."

"I won't call you Gerry if you don't call me Princess. Time for the other teapot."

I shut off the spout. "For you, fine, I'll accept your deal." When she returned with the second teapot, I turned it on again. "I'll think about Tespana. My roommate wants to join Jascar, and I think it'd be entertaining to watch that."

"Jascar can't do anything we can't do. Join Tespana. You have to since I'm here."

She was almost as pushy as the System, but I just offered her another laugh. "Okay."

[Notice]

Congratulations!

You have completed your Quest [Make Divine Communication Potion]. Your Perception has increased by 5.

By five? My Perception had been highest in my life as an assassin, and it'd taken me years of missions, situations where I had to improve or die, circumstances where I'd actually put in my own effort for the increase. The System was telling on itself now. How desperate was it to get me to participate in this séance? If I was smart, I'd probably find a way to leave, but leaving would stifle my relationship with Rose. I needed her more than I hated the system.

"Looks good," Rose said as I shut off the spout again. "Let's get this séance started."

She set the teapot on the counter and gestured to some servants to get busy preparing for what was happening next. Then she waltzed into the middle of the busiest room, looked around until she'd caught the attention of most of the people who weren't too wasted or who weren't smashing their faces together.

"It's time," she said.

Everyone cheered. Something out of a legendary Super Bowl football game win. The whole house seemed to transform in the manner of minutes. The candlelight dimmed. The whole place started to smell like sage and patchouli. Everyone gathered into the largest room in the house around an oversized standing mirror that'd been pushed into the center. Not just any mirror, either.

This mirror was intricately designed. The frame was wrought iron, twisted and turned into something almost eldritch in design, with little translucent pieces sticking out like leaves made of butterfly wings. The mirror itself was flat black, reflecting absolutely nothing around them, but it had the sheen of a mirror. It was as if there just was nothing in front of it at all. As if it were standing in front of a void.

We circled around the mirror and then we all took a seat. I was next to Rose and someone else, a human by the looks of it. There were a few minutes of tense whispering as the servants went around to provide us with a teacup and saucer with a sugar cube. After I took a sip, I could see the appeal of the sugar, but the tea wasn't meant to be enjoyed.

"Drink up, lovelies," Rose said. "Quickly, though. Let's get to the good part already, am I right?"

There was quiet laughter. I finished the tea quickly without much fanfare, though a lot of people made a scene out of gagging and coughing and massaging their throats. Rose didn't seem to have much trouble either.

"So let me tell you what's going to happen," Rose whispered to me while we waited for the others to finish. She leaned against me and dropped her voice even more. "I'm going to cast a spell that will connect this void mirror with the Plane of Shevira. We'll take turns calling out to our patrons. I'll go first and you'll go last. Good to start and end in the same place."

That seemed simple enough. "And what's supposed to happen when we call out to Ket'ha?"

"Ket'ha visits me in my dreams, but it's different for everyone. A friend of mine has passed out and like her mind was pulled to another realm. Another time I think someone just disappeared for a few days. This is why we don't usually have first years do this."

Well, this would certainly be something new and magical. Maybe my System would be happy with me and it'd leave me alone for a while.

"Though," Rose continued, "sometimes nothing happens. Or it seems like nothing happened but you'll realize later something did change. Something subtle that only you'd notice. Just don't be surprised if you leave this party thinking this was all just a trick."

"Is it a trick?"

"Not at all," she said.

Not too much later, the servants were coming around to take the teacups. Once there was complete quiet in the room, Rose started.

"Mirror of void," she said, setting her gaze on it. She sat across from it, and it wasn't double sided, so it seemed as if she were speaking to it. Or through it. "Please reveal to us profound truth. Show us the Plane of Shevirat. Allow our voices to be heard by our patron Shevira and all other Shevira who will listen."

Everyone repeated after her, which I hadn't expected. If she'd needed me to do the same, she would've told me, so I kept my attention focused on the mirror. Would there be any perceptible change?

I closed my eyes for a second, drawing on my Perception before opening them again and training my eyes on the mirror again.

"Mirror of void," Rose repeated. "Please reveal to us the inner wisdom from all that seems mysterious, shrouded in velvet veils. Help our patron Shevira contact us in our dreams, in our imagination, in the liminal space between wakefulness and slumber"

Again, everyone repeated her. A few people were breathing hard. One person moaned softly. Another was softly crying.

"Mirror of void," Rose continued. "Thank you for your help. May our tributes be enough to repay you for your generous help tonight. So mote it be."

[Notice]

Congratulations!

You have completed your Quest [Open a Channel to Communicate with the Divine]. Mastery of [Lucky Number 7] has increased by 5%.