Truly, Hector's speech was pregnant with dire warnings and dark implications, none of which Imogen Ward was ever going to notice.
"Leather's not ideal, no," she told Vergil candidly, "But I could probably use it. The bigger issue is that the totem's power comes from the creature as it was when it was taken; which is to say, if that leather's from a hydra which is a hundred years older now, there would be a pronounced disparity in size. No, much better to take something afresh. You get us there and leave that to me; I can harvest an appropriate totem without alerting the beast."
Luis was much more interested in the implication of Hector's claims, clearly trying to imagine exactly what manner of Rune the youth was referring to. It was rather bizarre, frankly; the average witch possessed one cardinal rune, and the high-profile members of the Covens seldom boasted of more than two. Imogen had confessed to three so far--Reaving by implication alone, but all Sunsingers were Reavers--and Hector was alluding to powers he didn't even recognize.
"Exotic practices indeed." the man murmured, mind racing.
To be fair to Imogen (which should always be a high priority), she was not really stupid, not in a comprehensive sense. Perhaps a more important reason for her silence was something like professional courtesy- she did not dig into the business of clients any further than she needed to, and she did not try to snipe secrets from coworkers. Still, it was obvious to her that Luis was finding the strange developments in Vergil and Hector's stories hard to take, and she decided to step in.
"Best to leave it alone, Luis. Start treating magic like a science and you'll end up like the Circle mages; blinkered by your own theories, unable to do anything but rote theory."
It wasn't really animosity which led her to slander the Circle, though she could count the number of Kalzasern mages she'd liked working with on the fingers of one hand. No, it really did seem to her that they over-stratified and over-analyzed the applications of runes to the detriment of their students. To classify a thing was to impose your understanding on the world, and so to blind yourself to any possibilities you had not conceived of. The Zaichaeri traditions might be more secretive and, honestly, more prone to flights of fancy masquerading as lore, but at least the covens understood on a deep level that their runes were meant as personal roads to travel to unique destinations.
"Anyway, it's not my place to tell you how to use your spirits, but were I you, I would keep them at the ready to respond to any problems. It seems as though the three of us should have little difficulty, but with a monster like that you only need one surprise to get everyone killed."
The Ork shook her head at Vergil's final comment. "You may be ready, but I'm afraid I must beg off for the night to pack and prepare. What say you we reconvene at the crack of dawn tomorrow, on the road to the high passes? I assure you that we'll travel fast enough to beat any competition for the sorceress' prize."
"Leather's not ideal, no," she told Vergil candidly, "But I could probably use it. The bigger issue is that the totem's power comes from the creature as it was when it was taken; which is to say, if that leather's from a hydra which is a hundred years older now, there would be a pronounced disparity in size. No, much better to take something afresh. You get us there and leave that to me; I can harvest an appropriate totem without alerting the beast."
Luis was much more interested in the implication of Hector's claims, clearly trying to imagine exactly what manner of Rune the youth was referring to. It was rather bizarre, frankly; the average witch possessed one cardinal rune, and the high-profile members of the Covens seldom boasted of more than two. Imogen had confessed to three so far--Reaving by implication alone, but all Sunsingers were Reavers--and Hector was alluding to powers he didn't even recognize.
"Exotic practices indeed." the man murmured, mind racing.
To be fair to Imogen (which should always be a high priority), she was not really stupid, not in a comprehensive sense. Perhaps a more important reason for her silence was something like professional courtesy- she did not dig into the business of clients any further than she needed to, and she did not try to snipe secrets from coworkers. Still, it was obvious to her that Luis was finding the strange developments in Vergil and Hector's stories hard to take, and she decided to step in.
"Best to leave it alone, Luis. Start treating magic like a science and you'll end up like the Circle mages; blinkered by your own theories, unable to do anything but rote theory."
It wasn't really animosity which led her to slander the Circle, though she could count the number of Kalzasern mages she'd liked working with on the fingers of one hand. No, it really did seem to her that they over-stratified and over-analyzed the applications of runes to the detriment of their students. To classify a thing was to impose your understanding on the world, and so to blind yourself to any possibilities you had not conceived of. The Zaichaeri traditions might be more secretive and, honestly, more prone to flights of fancy masquerading as lore, but at least the covens understood on a deep level that their runes were meant as personal roads to travel to unique destinations.
"Anyway, it's not my place to tell you how to use your spirits, but were I you, I would keep them at the ready to respond to any problems. It seems as though the three of us should have little difficulty, but with a monster like that you only need one surprise to get everyone killed."
The Ork shook her head at Vergil's final comment. "You may be ready, but I'm afraid I must beg off for the night to pack and prepare. What say you we reconvene at the crack of dawn tomorrow, on the road to the high passes? I assure you that we'll travel fast enough to beat any competition for the sorceress' prize."
