An hour later, Ravenessa stood up slow and nodded to the sorceress.

"Thanks for the coffee. If you need us, send word." She said, giving her a sincere look. 

"Of course." Then hugged her guest goodbye.

Ravenessa waved bye as she walked out the door and out of the castle. She needed to start the journey back to the Nucandu Forrest and her Stergis. 

                Amberosia let out a sigh. Things were looking up. Perhaps she'd find enough help to rescue the empress after all.  There shouldn't be any others stopping in, she thought , draining the last of the brew in the pot. Tinkering around with the spellbook, checking the supply of herbs and trying to keep her spirits up, she felt better. She was closer to finding out what happened to the empress, a little at a time. There was a little hope that the empress might get home safe. 

Hope was amazing. A powerful thing, it was the only thing keeping her sane right now. Now the only thoughts that really plauged her mind and soul- who. Who took the empress? How to find it out? She thought it over for a moment. The new born-again dark ones in the forest. Verisetti. She'd ask him. 

He usually showed up once or twice a week. She smiled brightly, like a little child for the first time since the empress had gone missing. 

                Now the hardest part, how to plan a rescue mission? She'd never gone near the underworld, let alone know her way around that Labyrinth of darkness. Taking a slow breath, she'd plan it out tomorrow, during daylight hours. For now a nice quiet evening was all she needed. She took a sip from the mug and spit it back into the mug. It had become too frigid for consumption. 

Then an idea hit her, go through Ralvania's spell-books and see  if she could find someone in it to help that knew more than she did. She knew Kadrid's mother phoebe had spent decades enslaved there. She couldn't ask the elder dragon to go back, It wasn't right or fair. 

             Amberosia  didn't want to go through her mentor's spellbooks, but to save the empress she'd break her own rules.  She hoped for no major emergencies this week.  Shaking her head, wondering how the empress did this for so long. 

Keeping up with spells, rituals, potions and then other creatures, remembering names and places on top of everything else. She had barely been able to handle it with the help of Sage.