Final Request

Dani had been in the market when she heard the new decree. Her favourite stall, a seaweed store run by a water mage from the same hometown as her, was empty. She stands there for a moment, confused, before one of the nearby stand waves her over with one cloven hoof. Dani ambles over, suspicious but curious about the fate of her favourite seaweed dealer.

"Didn't you hear? Miriam declared all mages must come to Namarast and stay there if they're already there," she cervine whispers. Her golden tines surrounded by vines mark her as a mage. "Some mages have already fled or been brought to the Witchfinders to help with the hunts." Her eyes flit from side to side, as if looking for to aforementioned Witchfinders. "I think he ran, there's no way he'd use his magic for a cause like that." 

Dani had recived this information, processed it, and thanked the stall owner before heading back to her apartment, not even finishing her grocery run. Miriam's victory had made her stomach twist in knots. No Archmage, now an Archon in Namarast, it felt wrong. She had heard rumors of experienced mages being kicked from councils and being replaced with non-mages, some of them fanatic. However, she wasn't expecting something so dramatic to happen so fast. She felt it so strongly that her legs ached: she needed to get out. There was no way she'd be recruited to hunt fellow mages. The idea made her sick. 

She'd have to wait until the sun was down, when her bright blue coat marking her as a mage wasn't so obvious. Even then, though, what about her eyes? As she moves about the apartment, she catches sight of her appearance in her floor-length mirror. Since the incident on the street with the Witchfinder, her eyes had been intermittently glowing red. She could recognize it as a sign of corruption and honestly, it scared her.  There was no way she was going to get past the guards, either. Was she trapped? She searches her mind for any ideas, but her allies were few in Namarast.

His face came to her head and there was a ripple of relief that rolled down her back. Kerelas. He always knew what to do when her wounds needed tending or she was struggling through a difficult week. Surely he would be able to think of something to get her out of the city. And if not, she could certainly use a cup of tea and a talk about this situation.

Dani spends the day packing. There wasn't much, but she managed to fit her important books and knick-knacks in a bag she could throw over her back. She tosses in bundles of bread and dried seaweed, foods that would fill her up while on the road to...wherever she was going. As the sun begins to set and the sky above Namarast turns shades of orange, Dani leaves her apartment for what may be the last time and makes her way to the house of the mage she thought pretty much knew everything: Kerelas Muirell.