Search for traps and treasure

[aestrix]

There is a library.

It is actually an excellent example of one: it has books on history and philosophy and astronomy and science and languages and even a little modest section for storybooks, tucked in a corner against the wall. These books are all easy to pick up off the shelves and read, like ordinary libraries.

The books on magic, on the other hand, are behind locked and spelled glass, with their position signatures scrambled and constantly shifting so they can't be teleported away, each one built to set off a silent alarm that'll alert the owner if touched, and to turn completely blank if opened without permission. And then burst into flames if someone tries to force it to show what it's hiding or tampered with in the wrong sort of way.

Just another day in Kystle. Stealing peeks from books in a mage's library is not recommended for the casual reader.

Comments

[pythbox]

Orion picks up a cookie, and Serin looks at it, and there is a half-second Triplet Conference, and then Orion nibbles his cookie and grins and the other two each try one. They are all very impressed by the cookies.

"These are really good!" Tierval says enthusiastically.

[aestrix]

"Thank you. Life is too short to waste time on terrible cookies."

[pythbox]

All three boys nod agreement with these wise words.

[aestrix]

She smiles a bit. The tea proves to be good, too.

"So," observes Lady Larivias, "I happened to notice that all of the estate's defenses look to be completely untouched." Tea sip.

[pythbox]

"Of course they are," says Serin. "If I hadn't been able to get us in quietly we would've picked an easier house."

Tierval snorts slightly.

[aestrix]

She seems to find this funny, and smiles a bit.

"Do you have tips for making this a more difficult house?"

[pythbox]

"Your defenses are actually really good," says Tierval. "Serin had to invent a whole new teleportation spell to get past them, it took an hour."

"It took two," Serin corrects, but he looks slightly pleased.

"You could've kept us out if you'd had an air displacement alarm, but those are a total beast to cast and a huge pain to fine-tune so they don't go off when you breathe in your sleep but still catch teleporters okay," says Tierval. "And you have to turn them on and off every day or put up with them yelling at you for walking through your own house, because if they do an identity check he can just spoof it and if they have enough leeway to let you walk around he can just mimic the right air movement patterns. You might actually be better off just being happy that most people who want to break into your house aren't Serin."

"The situation may not be quite that hopeless," says Serin, amused.

[aestrix]

"You invented a new teleportation spell that would get you past the defenses in two hours?" She sounds impressed. "Well. Yes, I'd kept away from the air displacement alarm because this is an estate with a decent number of people in it. Sometimes my son teleports home at strange hours. I could possibly make it work but it sounds like a pain. Any other suggestions?"

[pythbox]

Serin has a few, and Tierval has more after those. The conversation quickly gets extremely technical. Their vocabulary is impressive, and their detailed understanding of her estate's wards and alarms is much more so.

Orion, meanwhile, eats cookies and drinks tea and listens. It's hard to tell whether he's following along. Actually, it's a little hard to remember he's even there, with both of his brothers going on like that.

[aestrix]

She listens intently, and makes suggestions, and occasionally asks insightful questions. By the end of it, the lady has also fetched a sheet of paper and has taken notes.

(When Orion runs out of cookies she fetches more. Looks like she hasn't forgotten him, even with his brothers going on like that.)




Eventually, when they are out of suggestions, she looks over her notes and nods. "Thank you, this will be very helpful."

[pythbox]

"You're welcome!" Tierval says cheerfully. Serin smiles and nods. Orion grins and takes another cookie.

[aestrix]

She smiles back.

"Time to talk to your parents?"

[pythbox]

Three small triplet nods.

"Do you want us to teleport you there, since you don't know where it is?" offers Tierval.

[aestrix]

Lady Larivias is not going to question the safety of being teleported by ten year olds after they just ripped her defense system into itty bitty pieces. She sends an explanatory message to her husband, and then nods.

"If you wouldn't mind."

[pythbox]

Tierval smiles at her. The triplets glance at each other for a brief Triplet Conference.

Then they all neatly vanish, Lady Larivias included, and appear on the wide porch of a charming little house tucked into a small grassy valley. It's all very picturesque.

Tierval opens the door. (If Lady Larivias is paying very close attention indeed, she will notice Serin tagging her with a 24-hour guest pass in their extremely impressive security system. If she is paying even closer attention, she will notice Tierval deliberately triggering a very specific alarm as he steps inside.)

"Come in," Orion invites. "Our parents will be awake in a minute."

It's much darker here than it was in her house, and when Orion looks up at her his eyes shine a brilliant silver, like tiny blazing moons.

[aestrix]

She is paying enough attention to notice the guest pass, but misses the deliberately triggered alarm.

But she does notice the eyes. No bloodline she knows of, even the third, could account for shining silver eyes. If it's not a cosmetic choice added by magic, that answers a few questions, and raises a lot more. If it's true. If.

"Thank you." Inside she goes. She considers the triplets, and does not violate their consent by checking to see if they're either halfbloods or not. Even if she dearly wants to and has her suspicions. "Interesting cosmetic choice for your eyes. You have good taste."

[pythbox]

"Silver's my second favourite colour," Tierval says cheerfully, grinning at her. He has the same eyes. When the lights come on, the shine is much less obvious, but they're still beautifully, strikingly bright.

"Mother's coming," observes Serin.

[greatcomposure]

Moments later, a woman walks into the entrance hall. It's fairly obvious that she was asleep a minute ago, but that doesn't detract from her poise.

"Good morning, boys," she says. "Hello, stranger."

"Hello, Mother," the triplets chorus.

"This is Lady Teheli Larivias," Serin adds.

"We broke into her library," Tierval says contritely.

"But we're sorry and we promised not to do it again," says Orion.

Their mother becomes progressively more amused over the course of this explanation. She looks at Lady Larivias for comment.

[aestrix]

"They had a lovely conversation with my daughter, and then I fed them tea and cookies while they helped me patch the holes in my home's defenses," says Lady Larivias, also looking faintly amused.

[greatcomposure]

"That's... somehow unsurprising," she says.

"They were really good cookies!" says Orion.

"Her daughter is cool and I wanna be her friend," says Tierval.

"Well, far be it from me to stand in your way," she says. "Assuming Lady Larivias has no objections...?"

[aestrix]

"None," she agrees. "Though I'd like if they let me know before teleporting over next time."

[greatcomposure]

"I'm sure they will," she says, raising an eyebrow at her children.

"Yes, Mother," Tierval and Orion respond in unison.

Serin's mind seems to have wandered; he just says, "Mm."

[aestrix]

"Thank you," says Teheli, sounding amused again.

[greatcomposure]

She doesn't try to extract a firmer promise from Serin; she just smiles. "Perhaps we'll contact you to arrange something. Sometime when it's a little less... the middle of the night."

Tierval and Orion both look very contrite. Serin continues to be off in his own little world.

[aestrix]

"Yes," she agrees. "Do you have a good way to get in touch with me?" Pause. "Besides teleporting in to say hello. I have a mailbox, for example."