Kiava was never one to stay angry for long, though she still remembered that kernel of hurt at their suspicions. No one but Kleid was familiar with her, sure they hadn't been together in a decade, but she had done nothing to warrant distrust. Kleid gave her some room for a while before he came to complain about being hungry.
"I want lunch!" he declared in a tone like the one he had used when they were children, "lets eat!"
"I don't feel like making anything," Kiava sighed. She had returned to the front of the shop to sort through her materials and didn't want to lose her momentum. "Can you go grab something from a food stall? Your choice."
"Sounds good. Anything I should avoid?"
"I dislike fish," Kiava confided, they had tried it the night before and she found it did not suit her. Their town had been serviced by a well, she had never seen an actual aquatic creature before.
"Ah, I thought you might not, no fish," he said grinning at her look of guilty self-consciousness. They had talked about how he had felt after first moving here, the discomfort he'd experienced in knowing that he COULD be picky. A child had an easier time overcoming that impulse, but Kiava had been living knowing that not eating something could mean not eating at all, though things had improved even at the border in the past five years or so with trains speeding up some transportation to the outlands.
"Also, can you pick up more bread and cheese?" Kiava snapped her fingers as she remembered the need for some of her shame forgotten in the memories of cheese, "and chocolate!"
Kleid laughed at the excitement that suffused her face at the mention of the brown treat, "Of course, be back soon."
"Wait! Take the Ward I made you!" Kiava called as he moved to the door, noting he wasn't wearing the item she had given him.
"Kiava, it's a bit quality to take on a shopping excursion," he argued immediately.
"I don't care, we have both been attacked within days, I am unwilling to risk our lives and you should be more cautious," she snapped back, annoyed, "Really, the last thing I want is for you to disappear just after we reunite. Besides, you work for someone who seems to have a lot of enemies."
Kleid got very quiet and went upstairs to retrieve the ward that she had made for him specially. Its not as if she didn;t understand his hesitancy, personal wards were expensive and typically used by those that had an excess of power and danger. She had even used some of the anti-entropy magic she learned from the book Archeus had loaned her, just in case, and the addition of that imbuement had nearly overwhelmed her medium. In the future she would have to make all entropy guards single imbuement wards, to ensure they wouldn't get overwhelmed too quickly.
He showed her the ward as he put it in his breast pocket and headed out to get food. Kiava returned to sorting through her order from the Alchemist that Kleid had connected her to. They were skilled whoever they were, she had not found a single defective item yet, something she had never experienced before. She had decided that the convenience of all the things was worth the exchange of dangers she now had to face.
But she was hesitant to leave her shop until she was confident her wards could keep her safe from all known dangers. They also had not caught whoever had almost killed her, from what she had gathered from Kleid they had no real idea who it even was. Kiava was not one to take things lying down, and though she was not confrontational she was vengeful.
Arificery is powerful and versatile, its weakness lay in the time and materials needed for it to be successful. However, if you can imagine it with enough research you can conceivably make it possible with Artificery. A prime example of this was Kiava's purse; a stable pocket dimension.
A mage created a pocket dimension some two hundred years ago and immediately lost control of it, unable to maintain the level of concentration needed to keep it from collapsing or expanding madly. Artificery uses complex spell language to compensate for a mages concentration and mediums to successfully hold the casters magic and intent.
It had taken her almost a year to succeed in making it, she had made as many of the components herself as she could to save money. It was safe to say it was worth a small fortune, luckily it looked like it was made by a thirteen year old and most people could not see the magic weaved into it. Kiava was not an arrogant person but she was confident that she had more power than a lot of other casters simply because they could rarely clearly read her spells. Which was why she was so impressed by Archeus being able to clearly see even if he could not understand. His reputation was not exaggerated.
Her hand scraped the bottom of the caret and Kiava looked in to find that she had finished storing the last of her materials. She stood with a sigh and a stretch just as the bell above the door jingled merrily and Kleid walked through the door.
"Wisp, I come bearing fried bread and MEAT!" he declared cheerfully, raising a sack, "as well as the requested groceries."
"You sir are a gallant gentleman and knight, thank you for so diligently completing your quest," she teased his exaggerated manners. They went to the kitchen to eat and Kiava settled down. She had been feeling adrift after almost dying, but that feeling was fading, the shock giving way to anger.
"I am thinking I will send a letter to Matron about the subjugation magic we've encountered and how she knew about it," she told him after a few bites of food.
Kleid blinked in surprise, "That's a good idea but it will take at least a month before you hear back."
"I know, but she may be our best lead, she left for the border for a reason too after all," she pointed out, "I keep thinking how strange it is for her to know about a school of magic that even an Archmage isn't too familiar with."
Kleid blinked, because she was right, it was odd that a borderland orphanage matron would be more familiar with any school of magic than a mage. He should have thought of that, but hadn't until Kiava had mentioned it.
"Why didn't I think of that?"
"The last time you saw Matron you were a child and you thought she knew everything, it's hard to forget the last memory of someone, at least that is what my Master used to say," Kiava offered as an explanation. "Has human trafficking always been a problem here?"
"As long as I have been here, slavery is still legal in many countries that we trade with, we have laws protecting our citizens and punishing those that deal in people on our soil but the fact of the matter is that with our constant issues at the border distract our forces from deterring people from doing so. Then, of course, there is the issue of our empire still being young and many of the nobility still remember when they were unquestioned rulers. Some of those used to deal in slaves, and have been slow to completely cut ties with that source of revenue. Almost all of it comes through the capital since the rail lines were laid," Kleid explained for her, "Which means we have been seen an insane increase in the last five years but it had actually increased for a few years ahead of the trains, the country was still trying to recuperate from the Corruption King and didn't have the resources to focus on it fully."
"That hasn't changed though has it? The corruption will surge again and resources will be rerouted."
Kleid hesitated but nodded, "that is true, but by then the rail system will hopefully reach all edges of the empire and that will expedite the process. The royal family is also putting more attention on the education and training of the less wealthy."
He was obviously keeping something from her, but she didn't try to press him. It was a blessing to have him back in her life, but their lives were different now, he was a noble that worked for a nephew of the Empress. She was merely a newly arrived Artificer in a big city, she would have to work hard to warrant their close relationship too.
Matron had been very clear on the distinction of classes in the city and that it could only be breached through extraordinary examples of skill or luck. Kiava had many gifts that she was thankful for, but she was pretty sure all her luck had been exhausted the day she was found as a baby, abandoned in a forest known to house monsters in an area people rarely ventured. She wasn't angry, as that one go amounted to a miracle in her estimation. So she changed the subject.
"Tomorrow I am going to start warding the property thoroughly, so I'll need the place empty. You should go and visit your family" she tried to hide the chiding tone but she wasn't sure she was successful.
Kleid sighed and shifted a bit and then sighed again, "I can't leave, the Duke was worried you'd be attacked again and I'm guarding you."
Kiava snorted, "then you will be doing a really bad job at it if it prevents me from keeping my home and business safe."
"... I'll tell my dad where I am and we can chat nearby," he compromised.
"Deal."