Chapter 87: Seeking Advice
It wasn't easy but Heron managed to make it so he could leave Amriel for a bit. In order to do so, he had to name someone to be in charge of emergencies for a few days. Usually this would be a relative, however his father wasn't up to it, and his sister wasn't there and he wasn't married yet.
So he just put Elswyth in charge. He was a tiny bit worried about doing this, but she seemed fired up to do so, so he decided it should be alright. He wasn't going to be gone that long. Only a few days, no more than a week and a half.
For he had decided to go to Carendlus to seek advice from the king of that very magic oriented land. It only took a few days by horseback to get to the capital. A carriage would have been comfier, but slower. He was willing to sacrifice comfort for speed.
Though Elswyth worried about him going alone. However, since it was within fairly safe territory, she didn't actually try to stop him.
The King of Carendlus was obviously startled to see him. But he rallied almost immediately and gave a warm smile. "So, what is it you wanted, Heron?"
For a second Heron was a bit caught off guard by the more intimate manner of speaking than what was usual for a first meeting. Not that he disliked it. But King Jayesh and him weren't acquainted except by reputation before today so it was a bit disconcerting.
But he answered the other king almost instantly, deciding to follow the flow and be informal himself, "Advice. I can't really ask my father for this. You probably have more experience on the subject."
There was a hint of a puzzled frown on Jayesh's face. "What kind of advice do I have that your father would not?"
It was a fair question. Jayesh had only been a king for a relatively short period of time. He was not even a full decade older than Heron was. But in this case, Jayesh was a very good person to ask this from. Kur wouldn't be quite suitable for it, despite his vast knowledge – he wasn't used to having to think along lines that a king had to. "The kind anyone but someone from Amriel might have. Laws on magic. I want to loosen them up, but I don't want a panic."
If King Jayesh had been shocked to see him in the first place, he looked positively stunned now. After a few moments, he said "You want to legalize magic in Amriel."
"More so than it is." A lot more, but Heron recognized small steps would have to be taken. "Of course there would be rules and regulations. I hardly want a mob on my hands." He said the last sentence with a wry smile.
Slowly Jayesh asked, still with a puzzled air, "Why? What brought this on?"
Heron did not think it most prudent to go into his personal feelings, so with a sigh spoke from a political point of view, "I got to thinking…After that attack on my father's life, well it made me think. It would have been a lot easier to deal with if we had some trained spell casters or something." It had been fairly easy on his end to deal with them after all. "And what if something comes up that absolutely requires a magic touch? Cause the best thing to fight magic is more magic."
He knew as he spoke that he was probably coming across as incredibly open minded. And he saw the effect it had on the other king. Jayesh smiled, a glint of almost comradeship in his eyes. "Alright then. What exactly did you want me to advise you on?"
"Lots of things. How do you keep people from abusing magic? How do you tell the difference?" He paused and then said, "I think I will aim for a Varenduil level of tolerance, at least to start with."
"Hmm. Those are some tough questions. Well, you can't completely keep people from abusing magic, just as you can't completely make sure someone won't take a sword and stab someone. You can more or less keep dark magic books from circulating which does keep it down. Also having it legal you could set a group of magic users who are in charge of making sure such abusive uses don't happen."
He paused and continued, "As for telling the difference that is easier. If its full on dark magic any spell caster should be able to tell fairly easily. For less obvious abuses, their other actions will clue you in. Spell casters can't abuse their powers for long without it leaving some mark. It can change a man's personality."
"Really?"
"Especially for sorcerers. Wizards are a bit more estranged from their powers, so it affects their familiar first from what I've been told."
They talked a bit more, and Heron was thankful for the advice.
After a while Jayesh wrapped up, "Well I think that is about it. Anything else you need, Heron?"
Heron shook his head as he stood up, "Thank you for your advice. I am sure it will be very useful. Since I am here, I would like to say hi to my sister." He paused, then said with much feeling "I miss her."
"Of course."
Heron walked out and headed to go look for his sister. He wouldn't stay long of course, but he really wanted to see her. It had been so long!
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