A letter from the Arcane Academy wasn’t out of the ordinary, as they piled up at her doorstep only to quickly find their way to her fireplace. Lectures that might be of her interest, upcoming events she might enjoy, galas, astronomy news, requests to be a part of the teaching staff....

But never before a letter from Sor'Adien himself. The Dean of the Arcane Academy was THE most prestigious and influential mage of their era, and Kamille wouldn’t waste any opportunity to have a one-on-one with him - thus, his handwritting imediatelly caught her attention. Their meetings have been scarcely spread throughout time, but the Witch always left them with renewed admiration by his will and cunning. She gave it a couple days, just to be fashionably late, and headed for the Academy.

This time, Sor'Adien was beeing unusually mysterious, a knowing smile betraying his otherwise cool exterior as they chatted - she would imediatelly notice his office to be much more luxurious than the one he kept at the Mage's Guild headquarters...

"Truth be told, Hektor is not an exemplar student, no. Not everyone is suited for the formal education."

The Witch squinted her eyes at the Dean. This meeting has gone from unexpected to confusing, as Sor'Adien laid out the information he got for her. Benethuil - the name now caused a chill to crawl up her spine - had taken an interest in a young boy for the first time a couple years ago, leaving few years worth of gold to sponsor his studies. With the initial investment running low - and Benethuil gone missing - the Academy had reached out to see if Kamille wanted to sponsor the kid on her father's stead. A young, shy mage, who felt like a promising scholar, only to fall short and not deliver what was expected of him. Not everyone is suited for the formal education, Sor'Adien had said, knowing full well the Witch had been an example of that.

"Do you want to see him?"

She should've known the Dean was fishing for a reaction, and still looked surprised when she was finally introduced to the boy. Nothing could've prepared her.

Eyes of deep blue, if only too angry to belong to a little boy.

The next couple days were foggy, but if there was one person that didn’t look surprised with the developments it was the Dean. Kamille felt predictable when she suggested taking the boy under her wings, and he merely pulled out the paperwork with a satisfied grin.

Huh. She wondered if Sor'Adien had just won a bet...

---

Sol City.

The bitterness the city brought due to the memories of her youth didn’t assault her anymore, since many more sweet memories had been made there. Some shenanigans with Fish as they snooped the tower of an old man; a stroll around town with Astrid, which led to some bullying of a tiny capitalist and her girlfriend...

A dance under the moonlight...

Bittersweet, perhaps.

But the present required her attention right now, as they exited the boutique they spent the most part of the morning. Hektor looked like a small, shaking ball of anxiety, going through the motions of the fittings, but mostly paralyzed by a situation he wasn’t familiar with. The boy had excitedly agreed to be her apprentice, but that didn’t hold the fear from shinning through: fear of the unknown, of the new life, of the expectations, of the-

"How do you feel about it? Are you comfortable?"

She probably meant his new outfit - something she considered simple, but tailored to himself. And what she considered simple wasn’t at all devoid of a dramatic flair. Standing by her side had been much more intimidating than he had anticipated - she feathery cloak covered a sleak sillhouette, wrapped in leather and lace of the finest kind. The black feathers had become her trademark, making her easy to recognize among the crowd - the Witch of Moonglade in all of her glory.

"U-uhm... I... am. It's... it's just... I never wore something so... So expensive...."

At least her smile was kind and warm, just like they said, reaching her starry dark blue eyes.

Even if the hand she extended had black claws stiched to her gloves.

"You'll get used to it. Now, let's go to the Brass Dragon to have something to eat."

Yet another one of these dreadful days had come along, in which Videl had been separated from his beloved companion. One would think that he would be used to this by now, the days in which Sylvari had chosen to operate on her own or to collect his mental bearings while sending him away, but the truth was that it hurt each and every time. She had been one of the very few people that he could call a friend of his own, on top of having been his first actual friend, so this was likely something that he wouldn't come to accept for years on end. Especially if one were to add in the fact that he had feelings of a romantical nature for her..

Regardless of how long things would take in this particular matter, the fact had remained that he was effectively on his lonesome today. Videl might have fallen prey to dark and upsetting thoughts, his loneliness devouring him, if it wasn't for the fact that his Frigid Steed had been with him. Lumi, his fantastical mount, had been one of the few constants within his life, since he had met her several months back, and since then he had found himself bringing her along with him just about everywhere. The only exception to this was when he had found himself in places where she quite simply wouldn't fit. An example of such a location would be precisely where he was now.

At the moment, Videl had currently found himself standing within an elaborate tavern and inn of Sol City. It stood as tall as three stories and went by the majestic name of the Brass Dragon. Compared to the Winter's Howl of his homeland, this had been a far more refined location. One that had demanded the attention of its patrons and those that lingered about its outsides. As for the reason that Videl was currently standing within this tavern? Well it was simple really. After having been denied access to Maazeric Island, given his ties to the Fighter's Guild of Lilac Bay, Videl had figured that he might as well continue his search back in the city. If anyone had heard of this Kamille woman, otherwise known as the Witch of Moonglade, than it had to be the people that resided around the Mages Guilds prime location.

While he initially had been granted knowledge of her existence by a fellblood companion, known as Dante, he hadn't really come to learn much else about her other than a few things. Those things being that she is a supremely powerful mage and that she could likely assist him in his endeavor to discover whether or not his glacial magics had been a curse or a blessing. Dante had been more than willing to introduce the pair to once another through one of his parties but quite frankly, the date for such a thing was too far off. Presented with the opportunity to track her down with his free time, Videl didn't hold back in his efforts to try and find her. Hence how he ultimately ended up where he was now.

Thankfully there were those here that had indeed known about Kamille and how she had looked at the very least. She was known to be an exceedingly beautiful woman almond shaped dark blue eyes, smooth fair skin, and long black hair. And perhaps the most important piece of information of all.. Her signature feathery cloak. Armed with this information, Videl had thanked a few of the taverns patrons before turning about to head off in search of a higher vantage point within the city to locate her. Just as he had turned about however, he would come to find the exact woman that he was looking for making her entrance to the tavern.

The moment in which Videl had laid his eyes upon Kamille, his heart would leap directly into his throat. The description that he had been given of her appearance truly hadn't upheld the beauty that she had contained. It was enough to leave the T'saya's cheeks tinged with the softest red hue for a moment but this would thankfully come to pass. Even if Sylvari hadn't held the same feelings for him that he had held for her, his heart would remain un-swayed in the face of another. No matter how much of a beauty this Kamille had been, his heart would remain strong for his beloved!

Unfortunately, now that he had finally found the woman that he had been searching for, Videl had found himself feeling a smidge conflicted. Should he openly approach her and request that she assist him..? Or should he wait for her to settle down a bit before jumping into things? He honestly hadn't thought that he would track her down so fast.. Otherwise he would have formulated a plan by now. Effectively caught by surprise in this interaction, Videl could do no more than watch her from afar, that soft red hue on his cheeks starting to die down as he does so.

Thankfully for the T'saya, Fate had really a way to bring people together - and in that regard the raven was as much an agent of Fate as he was an agent of Chaos. 

The T'saya would feel something hit him in the head, and a coin roll over to his feet. But before he could snatch it, a black raven jumped forward to take the golden coin in his beak, his beetle eyes as happy as they were greedy. It would seem the raven had been perched on the beams of the roof a moment earlier, dropping the coin on his head. Maybe by accident. Most likely on purpose.

But his weren’t the only greedy eyes around. 

"U-uhm... Excuse me, sir! That bird is mine!"

There was nothing remarkable or noteworthy about the man that approached, most likely a beggar or thief, a ruffian looking, disheveled gentleman. Most of it was evident by the way his eyes shone when they caught a glimpse of the coin on the raven's beak. Certainly it wasn’t the bird that he wanted.

"CAAWW! MY SHINNY!"

As if one greedy gremlin recognized the other, the raven was quick to understand what the man wanted, hoping over to Videl's shoulder. If the bird expected the man to protect him, it was unclear.

"Come, birdie... I have some good crackers for you..."

"CAAAW! GO AWAY! CAW!"

Kamille had been too busy to notice where her trouble child was at the moment, leading the small boy over to the counter and getting him seated in a high stool. His indignant caws couldn’t be ignored, though, and she whipped her head around, alarmed. It wouldn't be the first, nor the last time the mischievous raven set her on the path of a tavern brawl. Right now, with a child under her wings, she would definitely want to avoid it.

Despite what the man before him would claim, as the Witch's eyes would meet the T'saya's and wander off to the raven on his shoulder, it was clear the bird was with her. Some would go as far as claim the raven was her familiar. 

Even at the distance, they would notice the deep, tired sigh she let out. Defeated, as if such situation was commonplace, she whispered something to the child before turning to approach and save her idiot feathery child from becoming a roast.