A Beginning

Cael breathed the cool morning air. His blue cape flaring out behind him in the stiff breeze, straining against the knots of rank on his shoulder. A frown flashed across his face, these representatives from the Magical Kingdom were arrogance personified. He was told that in total 21 of them had come to the newly peaceful Almoth-Mardeo, though only 7 accepted the invitation to stay within the Citadel, the others had split equally between the city of Sharbain and the King's palace in Almoth. Why they would stay in Sharbain he did not know, the place was a cesspool of criminality and vice. He frowned for a moment, he had heard from his elders that before the last unifying war (not the Mardean Insurgence that had only ended some odd three years ago but rather the previous war, the country had descended into after the king of the time was assassinated) Sharbain had been a quiet, isolated fishing town, specializing in cliff fishing, famous only for their curious port which resided in a natural cave at the base of the cliffs, with a tunnel dug down to it. It's now famous University had been little more than the Royal Tutors summer home, the royalties joke, providing education no one could get to, for as he recalled the roads there had been terrible, a man on foot could make it, a man on horse back with difficulty, but never a wagon or a cart, strange then that the wickedness had not infected the city until the roads were made good, the University had grown and trade had sprung up over sea, rather than the months long grueling journey through the mountains to the north, or the as-yet unsettled lands to the east. The only explanation was that the wickedness of the outside had begun to corrupt this land. He sighed, turning back to the simple balcony that had afforded him a view of the rising sun, he walked back within his chambers, and calmly poured himself a small cup of plum wine. The problem was the outside lands. He knew that, why could the other captains, or indeed their lord commander not see it? They knew as he did that the moral decline had begun when free access to and from these lands had finally opened up. It was clearly a foreign infection, so why did they laugh when he spoke of sending the Cara out to bring order, peace and justice to the rest of the world? They laughed and told him he was a fine dreamer, fools that they were, they could not see that if they were to ever bring peace and justice to all the world they had to start somewhere, if they just sat within this country, maintaining what was slowly slipping away then they too would become lax and corrupt. To save both the world and the Cara they must go. But the others only laughed. He sighed, for the world he had done this, but sometimes the price was heavy. He turned to the mage sitting in his quarters.
"You are sure about this...Sazil Clee? He will aid someone such as me in my quest?"
The mage smiled "He is a great man, for a quest so noble as yours he will surely aid you to your hearts content. However you are not the only one to seek him, he remains elusive to preserve his privacy, and to further his work. Without my help you will never find him, and without a letter of note from the Magical Kingdom, never approach him"
The mage then took out two envelopes, and laid them on the small table before him. One a letter of note, the other a way to make contact.
Cael sighed, this hurt to do, it really did.
He reached into his vest pocked and withdrew an envelope of his own. He laid it on the table, across from the mage. "The spells the Cara-men really learn, at what strengths and at what ranks. Do not bother trying to catch them in action, we are under strict orders to cast no magics for the duration of your stay."
The mage smiled, he reached for the envelope, sliding forward the envelope of his own containing the directions.
Cael looked at the remaining envelope. Perhaps he could gain an audience on his own. Perhaps he didn't need that last one. Then he thought of what the mage had said, the mage who he had seen do things he suspected only a graduate of the University could begin to comprehend, and he had done them as if they were of no consequence. The mage had said his talent was as dust beside that of Sazil's. No, if he wanted an audience he would have to use official channels, all his physical might, his little magic would avail him to naught. There were the powers granted to him by the gods, not even the other Cara knew of those, save that they knew he was very lucky, but luck had it's limits and violence would not impress such a man. No, it had to be through official channels. With great reluctance he drew out another envelope, what he had given the man before was just side-stepping the rule, there was nothing to say they could not tell them directly, there were just to be no castings but this...this was treason.
He set it down carefully.
"The location of the Royal Library and orders that will have the Cara-men assigned there to allow you to pass, I do not know what it contains or how it is magically guarded, if indeed it is, only where it is and that access is strictly reserved to the royal family."
Now with an eager light in his eyes the mage practically snatched up the letter, dropping the letter of note as if it were trash. In a moment they each had their respective letters, and had re-built their composure, with meaningless gestures, pointless small talk and empty rituals they very politely saw each other off.
Cael took out the envelopes and looked at them, examined their unbroken seals, then returned them to his pocket.
He pulled a rope in a corner of the room and was rewarded with a squire panting at his door within five minutes.
"Saddle my horse and prepare my things for a long journey" he said, already brushing past the page. He couldn't go alone, he needed to seem to be seeking aid but not desperately in need of it. But who could he trust? Who would believe in him above any of the other captains? He paused for a moment before adding a command to the pages list. To fetch those soldiers that had rode with him after the Grayeye.
He looked one last time at his room before he left. He suspected this was the last he would ever see of it.

A few hours later a small group of Cara-men rode north-northeast, a close listener might have heard a small argument about whether to brave the mountain passes north or to take a boat.

Many more hours later it would not have taken a close listener at all to hear the reactions of the other captains on hearing the newest to their ranks had gone on an unapproved of journey, to gods only knew where, with a company that were the object of half the hero worship of the fortress, doing the light alone knew what.