The only reaction she gave to the name of his former student was a mildly amused raised eyebrow. "You never speak of him, sir. What you have mentioned, leads me to believe that he is no better than a common womanizer with fewer morals than a thief, the difference only being that he has magic that could make firecrackers dance if he got into a temper." She spoke the words with the ease of familiarity; obviously, Kastadel had mentioned this former student of his more than once, though not in the most glowing of terms. Still, even Reira could see that he cared about Varien - if only in a roundabout, gruff way.<br/><br/>The mention of<em>ginsum</em>, however, wiped the amusement from her lips. "Ginsum?" It was a precious herb - valued by healers for its strong medicinal properties, but equally valued by those who served darker interests for the powerful poisons and toxins. Kastadel had only ever mentioned the name of the herb once, but the occasion had stuck fast in Reira's memory, because he had been scared a ghostly white by her curiosity of an unlabeled bottle in one of his private workrooms almost a dozen years past. She'd been only six at the time, unable to discern why this bottle among others had no label, and had taken pains to pull over a stool and open the jar to sniff at the contents, and see if she could not figure it out.<br/><br/>After a thorough, angry scolding driven half by fear, she'd taken care never to wander into his workrooms without his approval.<br/><br/>Reira looked ahead. If this involved ginsum, it had to be serious... especially if the alchemists believed Kastadel to be involved, so much so that they poisoned him (nothing they said would convince her otherwise) with their concoctions and watched him in his own home. The King would not distrust Kastadel - but it was not too difficult to believe that some of his courtiers, eager to find a traitor among his most trusted, might stoop so low to frame the old man...<br/><br/>"I will go on the morrow. Sleep easy, Master Kastadel," Reira murmured, kissing him affectionately on the cheek before making her way upstairs, each footstep uncommonly loud in the silent tower. She could hear the echoes of her progress up the stairs - as well as the soft, ghostly shuffle of footsteps behind, as someone followed her to her room.