The Other Witch: The Gardens

The Gardens were, in all actuality, the oldest gardens in all of history.  They had been planted in the late years of the Junlaerd's reign, and had stood for more than twelve thousand years.  Some of the plants had stood since before the Frostbourne war, the family tree of the Spielgan clan, the bane vine, and the pond lilies were most prominent on the list, but hardly the only flora to reside within the gardens for so long.
The family tree, Curt explained, had been planted by Alfred Spielgan, Captain of the Guard during the reign of the usurper Zink, in honor of his father, who had given his life to defend the palace.  The tree always bore a flower for each member of the family born, and the flower persisted until that same family member died.  It had ensured that the clan always knew whether one of their kin was alive, no matter how dead they might seem.  Of course, only members of the family knew which flower was which kinsman, so it was useless to others.
The bane vine, he continued as they edged past it carefully, was originally given as a gift to the Junlaerd by one of his vassals.  To the best of anyone's knowledge, it was the only one in existence.  The poison it produced had two properties, the first being that it affected anyone, no matter their state or nature.  Lycans, vampires, and immortals alike had their normal immunities to death and pain pierced as though they were mere mortals, and it was said but never confirmed that it would work upon demons and the undead as well.  The second was that the poison was never lethal, not directly.  It did not damage flesh or bone, stone or steel, far worse, it stripped a mage of their access to magic until the proper antidote was administered.  However, Curt pointed out, while a file existed on the net for the antidote, and could be seen with a simple keyword search, access was restricted to only the highest admin, an entity known only as the_witch. As such, it was best to stay clear of the plant and have machines handle it, since they couldn't be affected by its effects.
"And here we come to my personal favorite, the pond lilies."  Prince Curt stopped and turned to Salvia.
"And what makes them special?  To they eat people, or predict the future using a careful positioning system?"
"No, they're just ordinary, non-magical lilies that happen to have survived twelve thousand years dwelling in an increasingly magical environment without mutating, adapting, manifesting magical tendencies, or simply dying outright."  A frog jumped off the side of the little pool and disappeared under the beautiful white flowers.  "Marvelous, aren't they?  To survive, prosper even, in circumstance that should have changed them a very long time ago.  There aren't many that can say as much."
"No magic at all?  You sure?"  Salvia had been to a lot of gardens over the years, they were very popular back on Gasca, but she'd never seen one where residual magic hadn't been permeating the fabric of localized reality.  Places where great feats of magic took place, where sprites had been known to live or to have died, anywhere battles had been fought, and a wide radius around the dwelling places of magic users tended to have a level of residual magic that affected the plant and animal life in them.  At several thousand years of Nieldic residence, there wasn't a spot in the Empire that wasn't saturated with magic by now.  The Homeworld, and the palace especially, were nearly as bad as Anatolia when it came to magic levels.  Things like the bane vine and the family tree didn't survive in non magical places, but something like an average pond lily shouldn't have been able to survive in the same garden.
"How does it do it?"
A chill breeze came in from behind them.
"They weren't always normal.  There was a powerful mage, who called herself Kate, that came here when I was young.  She set she was looking to give something back to all the places she'd been when she was younger.  I think she was trying to purge the old wounds of battle from the world, and herself I suspect.  She sat," He glanced around, then indicated a stone bench, green with moss.  "There, for quite some time.  Then she touched the pond and said 'Accept my small token, and my apologies.'  Then she left, right through the wards.  Didn't break them mind you, just stepped right out as easily as if she were moving through a curtain."
Salvia thought for a moment.  It was obvious he knew who she was, but he, like herself, was waiting to see what she knew before saying anything.
"I met Katherine on Stormguarde, in private, alone.  I would say she feels honestly bad about what she did and is genuinely repentant."
"She was there when my Grandmother died, my father and several of the guards confirmed this.  But I know she did not kill her, that was the work of others, ones who I believe had good reasons to do so.  Do you know if she is involved in Old Cloak's plans?"
"You know that she is his daughter, right?  And the lost princess of Gravaga also?"
"The second part yes, but not the first.  Doesn't surprise me though, if either he or Thalia had ever really wanted the other dead they had ample opportunities.  I always did feel like their encounters were far too scripted."
"She is involved in his plans, more so than I think any of the rest of us are.  I overheard her...arguing with someone."
"The Guards and I have been tracking her activities for some time now.  Did she mention some sort of ritual, or rite?"
Salvia thought back to the stairs in the little cottage on Stormguarde.  "I'm not sure, she was going to try and work a very difficult piece of magic, that much I'm certain of.  Something that was only accomplished once before, twelve thousand years ago by someone she called Rea, and it was at great cost."
Curt sat down,  brushing his cloak to the side to keep it out from under him.  "The records get foggy at that point.  There are a few works of fiction, and scattered reports; but the early years of the Empire, before the net, are hard to track.  Perhaps the Witches have some resources that would be helpful?"
"So you'd like me to help you find out what Old Cloak's doing, while offering him troops and your own sword in the same day?"  There was something fun about this whole conspiracy thing, much better than adventuring was.  Or maybe it was just working with him that she liked; unlike Hack and his closed doors and old friends, Curt seemed willing to tell her what he was up to and had this dashing way about him.
"Think of it as, when things go down I want to be there to prevent the worst of it.  I have a correspondence with one of the chief members of the Gravagan Military Command, and she tells me that there are going to be some political upheavals soon.  As a prince, it's in my best interest to be on the winning side; as a Nielda, it's my responsibility to see to it that things work out for the best."
"The spell was called 'Re-installation', Katherine's companion, whoever he was, thinks Hack's lost it, I think he's right."
"I agree with you.  But for now, we should go along with him until we know his plan.  Where will you go next?"
"Seclora, then to the Alpha, and finally the Harakai.  He's building an army."
"Have fun with Seclora; I'll send word ahead to the Alpha.  He's a wise and strong leader, and will probably know much of this already.  But I'll be certain of it.  Try to slip him whatever you can learn of the spell and the plan, and he'll forward it to me."  He stood up and looked back towards the palace.  "They'll be wondering where we are by now."
Salvia had a wild thought, something from one of Krell's stories about espionage and secrecy.  She leaned in and kissed the prince, briefly, he tasted a bit of peaches, probably from dessert, then broke off and whispered, "Then tell them the truth."
He blushed.