“You do for checking out. But you can read this here without one.”
“I’d rather check it out.”
I can believe that. “Patronage is one hundred crescents a season, requiring presentation of residential documentation to start. Benefits include priority access to parlour hosted events, written recognition at said events, research advice from”—I stutter for a moment, unsure if Mistress Vincenza is still a ‘mistress’ when I refer to her for other people—“Mistress Vincenza, and the right to the check out books. We have no present limit on the amount of books you check out, just a thirty day limit before you must return them, with the possibility of renewal if they’re not on hold for another patron.”
“Hmm.” She grumbles, probably realizing that a hundred crescents is an obscene amount to part over such a small parlour. “What kind of events?”
And this will be how I give her a clean reason to say no.
Still, I dutifully recite, “we’re currently renting out a bar a couple days after the festival of lights—non-alcoholic. The servers will be animated by me under the training and supervision of Mistress Vincenza.” I smile, hoping that’ll overcome the slight issue of my inability to animate anything.
The woman leans forward, staring at my eyes with hers, hazel—like mine—but caught in a glowing dance. “She’s training a non-Ringborn?”
“Y-yes.”
She straightens back up, hand on her chest and face beaming. “My partner’s also a consort, and they’re just the loveliest! It’s so great to see you as apprentices. Is check okay?”
“Of course!” Now the smile’s embarrassingly real. “Would you mind if I grabbed my mistress to process this?”
“Not at all.”
I sprint into the back, knock on Mistress Vincenza’s door… and lose all my energy as I see her open it.
Her eyes are dramatically red. Common for necromancers—and I put makeup on to look similar—but her sclera has been bare of color since I met her. Not to mention how loose her hair looks, or how her posture is slightly hunched and uncomfortable, or how dead her face looks.
“What is it, Catarina?” she asks in a tone both out of it and annoyed.
“I-I needed your h-help. We have someone apply-app-applying to become a patron here. They wish to pay with check.”
“A new patron?” Her body shifts, eyes studying me like I could’ve lied.
“Are those… not common?”
“It’s been a long time.”
A long time… Like, since Nascia? I don’t have the confidence to ask, but the thought crawls uncomfortably in my gut.
Mistress Vincenza wastes no time to step past me and handle the proceedings. Her movements seem awkward; there’s a stutter sometimes, like she’s trying to remember the next step in the process.
But, I do manage to catch just that hint of a smile as she sends the woman off with her book.
I dare to stand next to Mistress Vincenza. “I think she wants to attend our event at the bar.”
“Does she?” Mistress Vincenza whispers. “Most of our interest was generated through those events.”0
“It’s good we’re having another one then, isn’t it?”
“It is good.” With a sigh, her face drops. “Call for me again if you need me.”
“Uh, M-mistress? Could I ask you for something?”
“What?”
“You asked me about which church I attended when you first interviewed me. I saw that there was one nearby. Could we go there?”
Her fingers curl. “They are Queen’s Orthodox.”
“Uh, what?”
