Brigid’s Days (and Nights)

1:00 PM

Brigid was in her study, writing up her research. Several months ago, a passing reference had caught her eye, a description of a legendary practice of Gypsy dancers, and she had been busily researching the subject ever since. This practice was reputed to have the power to mesmerize an audience through some form of sorcery known only to the Gypsies, and, immediately, she wanted to add it to her repertoire of enchantments.

She began the first phase of her research almost immediately, by conducting a search of existing documentation in the diverse resources of the Castle library. She also contracted further research from several confidential researchers throughout Shadow, instructing them to collect legends and stories of such and similar practices for her review. She soon discovered that there were many reputable stories of such occurrences in the reports of agents of the Crown and in the journals of other reputable travelers in the Castle library. These stories and the tales of such and similar practices collected from the folklore of hundreds of Shadows were added to her personal library, adding yet another facet to its more specialized and detailed resources. At the same time, she instructed her agents to locate and track any Gypsy clans who were reputed to have dancers trained in this practice.

Her research discovered that only certain Gypsy clans were supposed to possess this power, but it was not known which clans. Her research also said that only women were reported to have this power, and that it appeared to work in a variety of Shadows, of differing levels of sorcery and enchantment. All of these factors only served to whet her interest.

She began her field research phase just a month ago. Her agents located a number of Gypsy clans who appeared to have dancers trained in this practice, a few close by in Emerald or adjacent Shadows. After she had armed herself with as much research and defenses as possible, she traveled to several of these Gypsy encampments. There, she covertly observed several instances where the Gypsy dancers entranced all or part of the audience, excepting herself, of course. She watched the affected members of the audience grow quiet and still during the performances, and then the entranced men (and sometimes the women) would be summoned to walk, blank-eyed, into the arms and quarters of the dancers. She closely interrogated some of those dancers, who were unable to lie to her or deceive her under the spell of her entrancing eyes. She even commanded the dancers to teach her the moves of the dances through the power of her eyes and mind.

Now she was ready for the final phase of her research. Armed with the fruits of her investigations, she returned to her private library for further investigation. When she was finished, she was finally ready to collect her documentation and to document her conclusions for her library.

Her conclusion was that the legends of Gypsy sorcery were vastly exaggerated. The practice had very little to do with sorcery and very much to do with psychology. It depended mostly upon a number of known (and some not very widely known or understood) physiological and psychological principles related to trance induction, of which the most powerful was the power of suggestion. However, as far as Brigid could tell, no one had ever combined these principles in quite this manner. Since there no sorcery involved, and since it also depended on a number of other existing conditions, it was unlikely that she would ever deliberately use the practice, but still she wanted to have it available, just in case.

She carefully noted her conclusions, writing in a neat, tight script in black ink on the white parchment, then placed the parchment into the waiting binder, with the rest of her research and notes. The binder was then placed on a bookshelf, beside several others that she had produced over the years.

Finally satisfied, Brigid looked at the clock over the mantel. It was after 6:00, and formal dinner with Fiona and family was precisely at 7:00. She had just enough time to change into more formal garb before dinner.

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