Gwaffalyn seems the perfect person to consult for the fashion makeover that the elves need to convince Sleidr that Heppa is a wealthy human mage from Alduin. And Tric figures Gwaffalyn owes him a favor. After all, the morning of the duel he did point her out to a rich-looking human as someone to keep an eye on. In the press of the crowds, the lady was beside him, talking about various stylish fighters, and Tric, never one to contain himself, told her about Gwaffalyn. “She’s got style. She’ll be one to watch in the competition up ahead. Anyone can hold a crossbow: that’s the point, you can just sit there with it and you don’t have to do anything. But look at how the cape is tossed across her shoulder as she does so.” His words had particular weight, coming as they did from a timeless elf. The woman did indeed take a shine to Gwaffalyn, and when Tric ran into the fencer later that day, he saw her in the company of the noble, a certain Lady Glynnis who definitely has the wardrobe to carry off this job.
And so, after acquiring the fortification against cuttlefish venom from Damal, Tric takes Heppa across South Tower to the most impressive human dwelling they have yet experienced. Along the way, Mate swoops down to rejoin them. He does not have Terwaen with him, but he does have one of her favors in his beak, so clearly he encountered her. She must not have understood the message Tric intended Mate to deliver, but perhaps this is an acknowledgement that it is all right Heppa has missed her sparring session.
Once at the house, a servant admits them to the manor and leaves them in the sitting room while he fetches Gwaffalyn. Although Heppa’s house also has such a room for greeting, and servants as well, elvish architecture is more sinuous and subdued than this. Definitely Uncle Thrandolil’s home has less square footage.
Gwaffalyn enters the room and gives the elves a deep bow, practically sweeping the floor with her hat flourish. “How wonderful it is to see you both again!”
“It is nice to see you doing so well,” Tric tells her. “Bummer you didn’t win the competition, but it looks like you won in life,” he says, continuing to admire the place.
Gwaffalyn informs him that she placed further in the duels than she did in the hand crossbow, doing her patron proud. That is the end of competitions for her this time around, though. The grand melee is not really her style, being more for people with hefty weapons and heavy armor who like to get muddy. “There is no pressure from my patron to participate in the grand melee. Her husband is a knight and is worse for the wear.”
“One too many melees to the head?” Tric asks.
“I do not know the whole tragic story, but you will meet him soon enough. Come in, come into the house proper!” As the fencer escorts them down the hall, Hepalonia compliments the home’s loveliness. Gwaffalyn asks after the reason for their visit.
“We’re really enjoying this city and seeing everything,” Tric tells her, “but we are the only elves in town. Sometimes we feel a bit conspicuous. We’d like to not draw as much attention.” Gwaffalyn understands. Given the way they first met, this makes complete sense to her. “For just a day, we’d like to experience the authenticity of the city, but we have limited options for making that work.”
“Ah, just the woodland look.”
Heppa hides her ears with her hands to highlight her particularly elvish face. “Yes.”
“So I was thinking, maybe we could borrow some clothes. Do you have anything that’s in the style of, say, Alduin? Or does your lady?”
Lady Glynnis is no red mage, but she certainly has fancy outfits, some of which are red or gray. Gwaffalyn thinks one of those might work for their needs. Heppa reflects that a ruby probably would go excellent with such an outfit. Gwaffalyn takes them to the drawing room and introduces them to Lady Glynnis. Her husband, Sir Marthynec, is also here, but he keeps to himself in his chair in the corner. Something seems a bit off about him to Heppa, but she is whisked away to the dressing room by Gwaffalyn before she can explore that idea further. Once there, Gwaffalyn chooses several dresses and helps Heppa into each of them.
Tric Manu takes up a position on a cushioned bench alongside Lady Glynnis in the drawing room, and the two of them offer opinions each time Heppa parades through in another gown. While Hepalonia listens to their input, she also continues to make observations on Sir Marthynec. He sits quietly with a blanket across his lap and a glazed-over expression in his eyes. He might be sleeping, or he might be only vaguely aware of what is happening in the room. On a small table next to him is a bottle of milky liquid which Heppa is incredibly curious to learn about, as it seems to be some sort of medicine.
Once Heppa’s outfit is chosen, Gwaffalyn takes Tric Manu to consider some of the servant attire. Hepalonia takes her turn on the bench in the drawing room and watches Lady Glynnis administer some of the murky solution to Sir Marthynec. “You must take your medicine, my dear, so you don’t get upset,” the older woman tells him. “We can’t have any more outbursts.” This is the first time Heppa has ever witnessed someone being medicated to keep their behavior under control rather than to treat some physical injury.
Tric has fewer sets of clothes to try on than Heppa did, but the process is a bit hampered by Mate swiping a fancy hat and making off with it. Tric chases the magpie down and order is restored. He settles on somber colors with puffed out pants that compliment Heppa’s gray gown with red piping. She also has a huge and floppy stylish hat that drapes down over her ears. Their tips are actually tucked within the snug band of the hat for further concealment. Tric merely runs his fingers through his unbound hair, frizzing it out in all directions.
As she stands with Tric Manu in their disguises, Hepalonia fidgets some, thinking of what Alric said about her “otherworldly grace.” Her cousin suggests that maybe a staff or a cane would help disguise her fluid movement, as then she would have something to lean on. Lady Glynnis volunteers one of her husband’s many canes. A walking stick is not so different from a staff, so it matches the story that she is a mage.
In further conversation with Lady Glynnis, Heppa learns that Sir Marthynec served with Earl Gweddry during the war with Mal-Ravanal. Gweddry’s forces actually liberated him from the lich lord’s clutches. Marthynec had spent his time in captivity confined to a small cage and guarded by revenants and other unnatural horrors. “While he sometimes does well, he sometimes does not,” Glynnis shares. She admits a bit reluctantly that he is prone to outbursts, suffering from delusions related to his experience and reliving some of the trauma of that time. “It has unfortunately gotten worse as he has gotten older.”
Hepalonia does not know of anyone in her village that suffers from this sort of malady. However, it makes sense to her that someone who experienced such horrific things might have a sort of mental breakdown. After all, she was just around a walking corpse and a ghost briefly and her response was to scream. She wonders whether this sort of trauma is something the House of Light could address, or even if human healing magic could not, maybe elvish could.
“We are fortunate enough,” Lady Glynnis goes on, “to live in a city that has a House of Light. Thus I am able to get treatments for him and medicine to keep his symptoms under control.” She sighs and admits that unfortunately it does sort of muffle the outside world to him. “Mage Rhaessa herself, not one of her acolytes, prepares his medicine personally, but she has not yet been able to work out the perfect dosage so that he can be not upset anymore and go back to his old self. When he is medicated, he often does not respond very much. He doesn’t take pleasure in his food, and though he sleeps better, he does not sleep very well.”
In response to Heppa’s questions about the medicine, Lady Glynnis provides her with a vial containing a small sample of the elixir for study. “It is quite expensive,” she comments, “but only the best for my husband!” Although Rhaessa is very knowledgeable, Heppa wonders whether Damal would know anything else that could help this patient.
Tric has been listening to this sad situation and now raises a question of his own, asking whether Sir Marthynec still has a horse. Lady Glynnis tells him they board it at the local livery, and sometimes it is good for Marthynec to visit the creature on his calmer days. A magpie sitting on his own shoulder, Tric suggests that it might help the knight to have an animal companion, maybe a calm older dog, one who can sit at his feet and always be right there with him. Lady Glynnis brightens at that idea. She thanks both the elves for their interest and concern in her husband’s well-being. “Anyone who fought Mal-Ravanal is worth saving,” Tric tells her. “He made quite a mess.”
“Ah, yes, well, I’m sure you’ve seen worse in your long years in these lands,” the older human woman replies, unaware of just how young the elves before her are.