faustian bargain;

Nivellen stayed in the manor, alone, for a long time, until one day he spied a man in the courtyard stealing a rose from a rosebush that Nivellen's aunt had cherished. Recalling his childhood bedtime stories and desperate for a cure to his lonely state, Nivellen demanded the man to give up his daughter to him for the period of one year. This led, ultimately, to a string of young women coming to live with Nivellen for a year each, and leaving at the end of the year with gold and gemstones. Until one day, one of them decided to stay...

If you must travel through the woods, steer clear of any places where you can hear several different kinds of birds at once. That sound means you're entering a bruxa's territory and can kiss your life farewell.

No one can have everything. Nobody is being born a sorcerer. And none should be born as one! After all, all the students should decide for themselves whether they want to be sorceresses or mothers. I demand all the students to be sterilized. No exceptions.

The Lodge of Sorceresses was founded after the mutiny on Thanedd Island as a substitute for the Council of Sorcerers. The founders' aim was to bring the war between Nilfgaard and the Northern Kingdoms to a close while maintaining the mages' influence on the fate of the world. It is effectively an association of the most powerful female mages from both the northern and the southern realms. The Lodge has significant political influence, although its activities are not entirely understood by the public.

“To the sky shot up the Deep's Gledes, With fearful might the sea surged: Methinks our stems the clouds cut,- Rán's Road to the moon soared upward.”

“ I'll always be by your side.”

♥

—  It destroyed her, what they did: She was never right again. She wouldn't use magic, but she couldn't get rid of it; it turned inward and drove her mad, it exploded out of her when she couldn't control it, and at times she was strange and dangerous. But mostly she was sweet and scared and harmless.