books – Page 2 – Longest Night Midwinter Masque

A Visit to Gentian House

Within Gentian is a place of mystery, sensuality, and peace. Our adepts will sooth your worries and bring rest to a troubled mind. The scent of incense wafts through our halls, and at the center of our house lies a pool for bathing, warm and perfumed. Entering Gentian is to step into a place between dreams and waking, where anything may happen, and where hidden things may be revealed.

Incense is usually burning, filling the rooms with sweet, earthy smells. Our house is full of corners for quiet reflection, but in the open areas low, soft melodies can be heard. Our motto, “Truth and Vision” is present in the many books that line our walls, the divination practiced as a sacred art, and the visions we encourage.

Gentian unites the spiritual and the sexual. gentian flower Sexual ecstasy is a magic all its own, and patrons of Gentian house will find themselves enchanted. Gentian adepts provide non-judgmental guidance, mystical experiences, and connection with the parts of ourselves revealed only by dreams. If your sleep is disrupted by insomnia, if fears and anxieties plague your waking hours, you may find solace within our rooms.

Betting on Love at Bryony House

bryony flower When you enter Bryony House, you leave behind the monotony of a normal life and enter a world of chance and pleasure. Our patrons are varied across all types; we turn none away who can afford a seat at our table. We recognize that all pleasure has a cost. At Bryony, we want to make the most of this, by striking a good deal and providing amazing pleasure.

Our motto states that Wealth Seeks Company. This speaks to our values on many different levels. It’s true that Bryony adepts are good with coin. They are good at earning coin, at spotting the best investment for their coin, at negotiating beneficial loans to share their coin, and also at spending their coin. Despite what it might appear on the surface though, Bryony does not adhere to the blind accumulation of wealth. Wealth alone does not satisfy; company is required to experience true pleasure. That is why Bryony adepts might drive a hard bargain but their true goal is always to share their pleasure with their patrons.

The Bryony Hall of Games is the focal point of our Night Court experience. If you have been a guest of the Royal Palace, you will likely notice some similarities. At Bryony, our patrons are treated like royalty; we serve only the finest foods, sleep on the finest bedding and offer the most interesting of adepts. That’s not to say that we cater to your every whim; we are not the house of blind subservience. Favours from a Bryony adept must be negotiated first and they may be won or lost. We are the only house who will happily gamble for our pleasure.

Many Houses in the Court of Night-Blooming Flowers treat their patrons with the utmost secrecy. This is a valued service of the Night Court but you will find that Bryony has a different atmosphere. In the Hall of Games, our patrons gather together openly. They play at card games and dice games, games of chance and games of skill. Many partnerships and business deals have been made in the history of Bryony House, not only in matters of pleasure.

Often the servants of Naamah in the Night Court feel that Naamah’s fulfillment of pleasure lies solely in the bedchamber. While the pleasures of the bedchamber are often wondrous, Bryony adepts value the pleasure that comes before as well; the pleasure of making a great deal. Likewise, many of our patrons find the most pleasure in the unknown, in taking the chance of the gamble. Games of chance have always invigorated the pleasure centers of the brain. At Bryony, we aim to provide pleasure to all aspects of the body… if you can negotiate the right price.

The roll of a dice can change your fortune. A lucky hand could make all your desires come to life. If you are up for a challenge, visit Bryony House for all your pleasure.

~ Arietta de Millazza nó Bryony

Dowayne

Raising Funds for the Libraries

Libraries are valuable resources in our communities and it’s important that we support them. After all, without libraries, how would Phédre ever have solved the mystery of the Master of the Straits and saved her dearest friend? Plus, isn’t this event based on a series of nine books (if you follow Phédre, Imriel, and Moirin – which you should – through all of their adventures)?

So, it is in this spirit that the 2020 Masque will be raising funds for the Fairfax County Public Library system. The FCPL consists of 23 branches – 8 regional branches, 14 community branches, and a branch dedicated to serving customers who have special accessibility requirements – serving the over 1 million residents of Fairfax County “through programming, community spaces, technologies, and collections of educational and recreational resources.”

Proceeds from ticket sales will go directly to the libraries and, in the coming weeks and months, you will be hearing from the Dowayne of Bryony House about some exciting fundraisers.

If you would like to make a personal donation to the libraries, you can do so by clicking the Donate Now button on the Fairfax Library Foundation homepage. You can add “Longest Night Midwinter Masque” in the notes if you wish. Select “FCPL” as your home library.