Lenthan had the family’s wandering blood in his veins but was never allowed to indulge in it, having been forced to take over the affairs of the business. He also had the family gift for making money, but it didn’t seem to Lenthan as if the money he made was his money. He was, after all, simply carrying on the trade built up by his father. Lenthan had long sought a way to make his own mark in the world, but, unfortunately, there wasn’t much of the world left to explore. The humans held the lands to the norinth, the Terinthian Ocean prohibited expansion to the est and vars and the dragonwall blocked the sorinth. As far as Lenthan was concerned, he had nowhere to go but up.
Calandra entered the cellar laboratory, holding her skirts out of the dirt; the look on her face would have curdled milk. It came near curdling her father. Lenthan, seeing his daughter here in this place he knew she abhorred, blanched and moved nervously nearer another elf who was present in the laboratory. This other elf smiled and bowed officiously. The expression on Calandra’s face darkened at the sight.
“How nice-nice to see you down here, m-my dear,” stammered poor Lenthan, dropping a crock of some foul-smelling liquid onto a filthy tabletop. Calandra wrinkled her nose. The moss walls and floor gave off a pungent musky odor that blended ill with the various chemical smells-most notably sulfur-drifting about the laboratory.
“Mistress Quindiniar,” said the other elf in greeting. “I trust I find you in health?”
“You do, sir, thank you for asking. And I trust you are the same, Master Astrologer?”
“A slight touch of rheumatism, but that is to be expected at my age.”
“I wish your rheumatism would carry you off, you old charlatan!” muttered Calandra beneath her breath.
“Why is this witch down here meddling?” muttered the astrologer into the high, pointed collar that stood up from his shoulders and almost completely surrounded his face.
Lenthan stood between the two, looking forlorn and guilty, though he had no idea, as yet, what he had done.
“Father,” said Calandra in a severe voice, “I want to speak to you. Alone.”
The astrologer bowed and started to sidle off. Lenthan, seeing his prop being knocked out from beneath him, grabbed hold of the wizard’s robes.
“Now, my dear, Elixnoir is part of the family-”
“He certainly eats enough to be part of the family,” Calandra snapped, her patience giving way under the crushing blow of the terrible news of the human priest. “He eats enough to be several parts.”
The astrologer drew himself up tall and stared down his long nose that was nearly as sharply pointed as the tips of the night Hue collar through which it was seen.
“Callie, remember, he is our guest!” said Lenthan, shocked enough to rebuke his eldest child. “And a master wizard!”
“Guest, yes, I’ll give him that. He never misses a meal Or a chance to drink our wine or sleep in our spare bedroom. But master wizard I much doubt. I’ve yet to see him do anything but mumble a few words over that stinking gunk of yours, Father, and then stand back and watch it fizzle and smoke. You two will likely burn the house down around our ears someday! Wizard! Hah! Egging you on, Papa, with blasphemous stories about ancient people traveling to the stars in ships with sails of fire-”
“That is scientific fact, young woman,” struck in the astrologer, the tips of his collar quivering in indignation. “And what your father and I are doing is scientific research and has nothing at all to do with religion-”
“Oh, it doesn’t, does it?” cried Calandra, hurling her verbal spear straight for her victim’s heart. “Then why is my father importing a human priest?”
The astrologer’s eyes widened in shock. The high collar turned from Calandra to the wretched Lenthan, who found himself much disconcerted by it.
“Is this true, Lenthan Quindiniar?” demanded the incensed wizard. “You have sent for a human priest?”
“I-I-I-” was all Lenthan could manage.
“I have been deceived by you, sir,” stated the astrologer, his dignity increasing every moment and so, it seemed, the length of his collar. “You led me to believe that you shared our interest in the stars, in their cycles and their places in the heavens.”