15 Chapter 15 - Conversations With Selena (2/2)

”They're a bit fancy, but they do the job far faster than we ever could by hand,” said one of the women, cheerfully.

”I've never seen anything like them before.”

”Well, I've been told that they aren't anywhere else in the world. The master makes enough clothes for all us slaves, but no more. He doesn't like to disrupt trade guilds.”

”I had some clothing designs, that I was hoping to talk to someone about, but there's no masters here.”

”No, sorry, they're at the training town, one stop back. I could look at them? I'm not sure how much good that would do you?”

After looking at his drawings, she shook her head with a laugh. ”These are all way over my head. They're beautiful designs that I'm sure some n.o.ble or prince would love, but I wouldn't even begin to know where to start to make these.”

Joseph nodded. He figured, but it was nice to talk to someone about it. Wis.h.i.+ng her a good day, he headed off to eat lunch with his dad.

”I heard you spent all day with Selena yesterday,” his dad said as he sat down.

”I really enjoyed talking to her. She had a lot of input for me about how magic works.”

”I hear you were wanting me to make her a house made of stone?”

”If she doesn't fear burning anything, she could be freer to continue her progress. I can tell that she's holding so much back because she doesn't want to hurt anyone.”

Nodding thoughtfully, his dad chewed on the bread that went with their meal.

”I also saw the tradesmen, and I have to say, the looms at the tailors and seamstresses, were amazing.”

”You saw them?” The twinkle in William's eyes promised boasting was about to commence, so, Joseph settled in to listen as his dad began to tell him about the adventures attached with the equipment. As was true of all his stories, Joseph was quickly drawn in, and several hours pa.s.sed.

”I'm afraid Selena won't be able to travel with us. With the current political situation, traveling with a fire mage, even one as crippled as her, would be seen in a bad light. So, you probably need to spend as much time learning from her as you can before we leave here.”

”She can't write notes for me like Stu, seeing as how she can't write…” agreed Joseph. Bidding his father goodbye, he hurried to go see her again. He couldn't wait to hear what her thoughts were on their last conversation, now that she'd had a chance to think on it.

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