The Vampire & Her Witch

"Master Tiernan," Ashlynn said as her eyes and voice softened. "I never intended to ask you to help us wage war. Not this war at least. Whether you participate in the war that will follow this one or not is a different matter, but one I won’t ask you to decide for now."

"Then what is it you want from us?" Isabell asked, keeping her focus on the question at hand. "You went to so much trouble to draw us out here to the frontier. You went to even more trouble to bring us into the Vale of Mists. It can’t just be because of our friendship."

"Yes and no," Ashlynn said as she stood to pour fresh tea for each of the guild masters. "Mater Isabell, no, Isabell," Ashlynn said, trying to draw the other woman back into a conversation between friends. "You told me once that you wanted to leave the wars of the old countries across the sea, so you could build something instead of tearing things down."

"Out here, the Vale of Mists needs people who can dream of grand things to build," Ashlynn said, gesturing at the ancient fortress around them and the city under construction beyond its walls. "These wars have been a milestone, grinding away at the Vale of Mists for over a century and now there is very little left to give the people prosperity. They need industry. They need infrastructure. They need people to trade with and they need to produce things worth trading."

The more she spoke, the more animated Ashlynn became and her eyes began to glitter with a vision of a brighter future, not just for the Vale, but for the humans in Lothian March as well.

"Take a look at this garden," Ashlynn said, gesturing at the dormant garden as the rain continued to soak the soil of the garden beds and patter off the leaves of the few plants that remained green all through the winter.

"The time isn’t right yet for it to bloom," she said. "But come spring, we’ll plant new things in some places, tear out weeds from others, and in the end, it will be a beautiful garden to be enjoyed by everyone. It just needs someone to give it a little help," she said as she walked over to the climbing trumpet vine that covered one of the columns of the gazebo.

Reaching out with one hand, Ashlynn summoned the faintest trace of power, allowing a rich, woody energy to flow into the vine. Her touch was delicate as she guided the plant into forming a bud, then gently encouraged that bud as it grew larger and stronger until a brilliant orange trumpet blossom sprang forth.

Both Guild Masters had already experienced a small ’taste’ of witchcraft when Heila brought them ’potions’ to mend their hangovers but this was their first time truly seeing it unfold before their eyes. Surrounded by the climbing trumpet vines that covered the ancient gazebo, they had the brief feeling that the plant was... happy to receive Ashlynn’s attention.