Ink-Stained Journal

This journal belonged to Xanthe's apprentice. She writes that the frightened girl she was — who trembled at night knowing her family would answer her gifts with fire — is gone; she now wields her power openly under the protection of her mentor, Lady Xanthe, the mother she never had.

Her Lady has shown her how much more magic holds than paltry tricks, and sent her into the wilderness to find uriashi stones, said to contain pure, primeval magic, to gauge how much of it can be harnessed. At the foot of the mountain they met two uriashi, who recognised Xanthe's crest and agreed to guide them.

The apprentice expects the brutes to turn aggressive once they see what she is really after — so she is taking four soldiers along, and should they fail to keep her safe, she will get to try out some deadlier hexes.