JUNO.

Upon her initial graduation, Juno felt pride. Her parents bought her expensive gowns and suits, brilliant jewelry made of the best materials, and luxury spell materials. She returned home for the celebrations, where her parents and family friends doted on her for her accomplishments. She graduated with so much knowledge, surely a great individual would take her as an apprentice!

She waited eagerly for her recommendation letter, pacing so much in her excitement she almost wore down the floor of her house. And then it arrived… and it was .. a complete nobody. She had never even heard of that wizard before!

In a childish fury, she tore the letter up, she stomped her feet and whined. She had worked so, so hard, and she was such an excellent student, and she was going to be sent to some nobody wizard probably living in some isolated tower with no friends! That was the fate she had worked so hard for? Was that really the fate she was worth? No, no, no! She refused for that to be the case.

She threw herself into the next scholar’s program she could, a study of more extensive magic, a thorough teaching of the most advanced techniques she could learn. Even if it would be years until she could harness the power to cast these spells, the mere knowledge would make her a cut above the rest.. Right? Right?

The words in her spellbooks hooked her, and her hunger for power, for respect and admiration, only grew. Her emotions, suppressed in a focus for higher education, bubbled inside her like a volatile cocktail.

Then, news spread through the city. A renowned wizard, perhaps the most known genius of wizarding in this generation, was coming to the city. An elven man, who spent his long lifespan studying extensively, by the name of Sartoris Sparkheel. Rumors had risen that he would be retiring soon, and surely he’d be looking for an apprentice to take his place? Desperation and hope ran through Juno, and she got high off of the feeling. The daydreams of being such a renowned wizard’s apprentice, they sent sparks of light through her fingertips.

She waited, and waited, with baited breath just as she had waited for her recommendation letter. In her fixated haze, her parents asked some old friends to invite her out, get her distracted and get her to let loose. Begrudgingly, she went with them, and when the topic of her studies came up, she refused to stop talking… and drinking. The evening was passing with several glasses of wine, energetic waving of hands as she spoke, rambling on and on. But, as she spoke, an energy in the tavern shifted, people slipping out in large numbers. A spark of anticipation crept through the tavern. In a hushed tone, she heard the name– it stood out prominently to her. That one whisper felt like a prayer as she grabbed her coat and took off into the streets in pursuit of who would be her academic savior.

She saw the crowd before she saw him. She waltzed up to him, preparing in her head what to say to leave a good impression…

And it all spilled out of her as she lunged up to shake his hand.

Juno, in a completely uncharacteristic outburst, began bawling as she rapidly shook his hand, insisting that he take her as an apprentice because she had worked so hard, and all for nothing if he wouldn’t even take her. She rambled mindlessly about her consistent studies, her desperation to no longer be a nobody only admired by her parents, and to be something greater because she had worked so damn hard. She wailed as the crowds broke them apart, reaching through them with numb fingers but eventually lost him in her stumbling.

Eventually, her friends caught up with her and coaxed her back home.

When she woke the next morning, it was with a start. The rush of memories from the night beforehand, how she had half drunkenly wailed and sobbed to the Sartoris Sparkheel. Her hangover felt worse now, and she felt even sicker at the thought.

As she spent the day wallowing in her self-pity, nursing her hangover, her parents knocked on her door. They had visited her favorite childhood bakery.. Got her some chocolate muffins.. And in her father’s hand, was a letter. The stamp, in a thick red wax, was a red panda. Him.

An invitation. In autumn, she would make the journey to his home, located several cities away. There, he would examine her as an apprentice.

This was it. This was what she had longed for. Recognition. Somebody seeing the genius within her and being willing to nurture it. Saying Juno was ecstatic was an understatement.

She spent the summer rushing to finish up her current academics, drop or finish her ongoing schedule, and when autumn came, she was already fully packed. She took off at the earliest time she could, giving her mother and father a kiss. And then, she was gone, off towards Fallholt.

But she didn’t go by foot.. Blah, of course not! She rode with caravans, departing with adventurers who were heading in that direction, for safety in numbers. For the most part, the trip was smooth, except for how annoying the adventurers were! So foolhardy and improper.

Still, she made her way to his tower in Fallholt, a bustling town that was a great powerhouse for alchemical and ritual materials. A perfect home for a wizard.

The door opened before her fist could meet the door, and there. He stood there, right in front of her! This wasn’t a dream. This was her fate, her reality. He welcomed her in, and told her to get comfy in her new home. Juno shook her head– wasn't this meant to be a mere interview? A chance at being his apprentice?

When she asked him why he had been so eager to take her, not even vet her, even after she had drunkenly wailed to him, all he said was;

“I think you’ll entertain me.”

And so, the presumably final step in Juno’s education began in full-fledge. To the humans back in her hometown, she was a respective age, being in her early 30s, but she was a mere toddler compared to Sartoris Sparkheel, who had already long breached the 500 year mark.

Despite all his intelligence and what should have been wisdom, Sartoris was an eccentric, unconventional man. His whim-following always kept her on her toes throughout her apprenticeship, with her often being dragged out halfway through a ritual for extra materials, or even sight-seeing. She could hardly understand him, and he was nothing like she had imagined. The image of the stoic, silently charismatic scholar she had thought he was was quickly whisked out of her mind only a month into her apprenticeship.

But, every moment was worth it.

Every occasional hour chasing after his unconventional whims was worth the hours they would spend in his study, practicing and practicing and practicing. He would hold onto her left arm, channeling both of their magical prowess into his casting to forward the most power he could. They summoned wild creatures, storms, doors to different planes, anything you could think of. Witnessing the capabilities of such a powerful wizard, the things she may one day be capable of, they made her feel light-headed with wonder. She was starstruck, and falling in love with magic all over again.

She worked as his apprentice and assistant for roughly a decade, the two of them an interesting duo. Except something was stirring.

But, in the west, rumors were spreading, catching like a wildfire. Something was changing in the Mire, unseen creatures were making their way closer to civilization, the environment was changing in response to society. Juno and Sartoris discussed it over their lunch, but Juno shrugged it off. Fallholt was well-protected, and problems in the west were no problem of hers. As she spoke, she noticed her teacher seemed… distracted, zoned out, but murmured along with what she said.

That night, after she showered and dressed down for bed, he came to her room. He told her he would be investigating the changes in the Mire. The mystery had called him his whole life, and while he had chased it in his youth, he had given up on his quest of finding out the truth behind the mystery. But, he couldn’t leave it behind anymore. It called to him the same way magic called to her, a branch from the same tree. In three months, he would leave for the Mire, and accompany a party of adventurers to the heart of this unexplored land. Only then could he return.

Juno struggled to sleep that night. She would be left to care for his house in his absence.. Was she not good enough to bring along? Too weak? She was his damn apprentice after all!

But, the three months passed in a hurry, and when the day came, it was an Oathmend in Rimeset. Sartoris told her to keep the house warm in his absence, gave her a soft kiss on the forehead and took off. In their time together, he was a mentor above all else, but he shared some of his best traits with Juno’s father. Their love of learning, their compassion, their eccentric and whimsical nature. A warm place once full of the excitement of wizardry, the all-nighters nursing cups of coffee while they shared notes, and the lazy mornings, gone in a blink. In Sartoris’ absence, the house felt much larger, emptier, and colder.

The winter passed, and Juno tried to keep her frustrations swallowed. Whatever. If he wanted to go and complete his life’s goal all without her, it didn’t matter to her anyway. In Thawbloom, she received her first letter from him. News from his adventures. She skimmed them on her first read, annoyance taking hold of her as she let it settle on her desk, left partially read for months. She wrote him back a meager reply, something about how she was making excellent progress in her spellcasting despite his absence, and that his house was just fine.

Only one more letter arrived in the early days of Bloomlight, and her spite had settled momentarily. She wrote back in thorough pages, the emptiness of the house only weighing on her with his prolonged absence and dwindling correspondence. And then, no more letters arrived. For the coming year, she wrote more frequently, puzzled at his lack of response. Worry, then irritation, then worry again, then spite. When Rimeset came again, her concern made her even more antsy.

She tore through his studies, piecing together as much scraps from his old journals and spellbooks, tossing together their shared notes. She gathered as much information about the Mire in his old notes that she could, although anything substantial was hard to find. He took most journals worth anything with him, and now she was left with mere bits and pieces. Still, she tried her best.

Together, she rebuilt his old spellbook, containing her own additions to pages, and adding in anything that contained the smallest mention of the Mire. Most of it made little sense to her, some of the spells far too complex for her to even attempt, but it was a start.

During her late nights in his study, she found a crystal. Small, hardly noticeable until the light caught it. It was a brilliant red color, the same red as his cloaks and as his sealing stamps. She could feel something inside it, magic that was once tightly concealed within now buzzing with her power.

With some string, she created a makeshift necklace, hooking it onto a page of her spellbook. She kept searching through his endless books and tomes.

She did find one of particular value. The cover and its bindings were that characteristic red, and on the first page were extensive doodles of runes, scrawling handwriting, and a loosely sketched portrait of a red panda. A familiar.

An easy enough spell for any wizard, and she realized what that energy from the crystal had been. The concealed energy of a familiar. Repeating the steps she had witnessed many times before, retracing runes in the flooring that she had laid long, long ago, she brought the creature back into a physical form. The form of a red panda.

…and what a silly form it was! So clumsy and childish, not at all like the stoic ravens or imps most other wizards or warlocks had.

But, it was a piece of her teacher. And so, she embraced the creature, clumsy form and all, and bestowed it with the name of Lacuna. It would fill the momentary gap her mentor had left behind, and grant her some companionship in this house.

The presence of Lacuna emboldened her, and she knew what to do now. She couldn’t sit here, twiddling her thumbs, and hoping for a response from her good-for-nothing mentor. She had to chase after him. When he saw her, a triumphant and courageous adventurer capable of saving a wizard of his status, he would see what he left behind.

And so, she sought out the best way to gain access to the Mire. She had no info on what exactly she would find there, and so her next best step was to find somebody who did. Asking around and reaching out to old contacts of Sartoris, and all fingers pointed towards the Adventurers’ Administration. So, that would be her next step.

With Lacuna stuffed in her satchel, alongside her best collection of Sartoris’ old notes, she took off towards Yalin-kua. She knew of it, and if she dug into her memory, she could maybe recall running errands with Sartoris there, but she hardly knew her way around.

The trip was not a pleasant one, but Lacuna at least gave her a sense of comfort, and she soon arrived on the town’s doorstep. All she had was one name to guide her; The Knotroot Guildhouse.