take the deal

"And my pay?" Shiro asked coolly. Lorna raised a small but weighty sack from her sleeves and jingled it satisfactorily. "I agree then."

"Wonderful!" Lorna grinned. "Come now, my work area is a bit to the North side of town..."

Lorna had essentially rented out a small warehouse, modified to her liking on the second floor. It was done up with chalk markings, symbols, dangling crystals, dreamcatchers and the like, as well as more alchemical tools on a wide table.

"This' where I'm camped out," Lorna said with a wide motion to Shiro. "You can watch up here or wait downstairs as you like, so long as you can do your job."
"I can," Shiro said certainly. "But I'd like to know what it is I'm facing here...."
"Magic," Lorna said with a shrug like it explained it all. "If anyone disturbs me, it will be rival magi. They can be tricky, obviously. May attempt to control our minds, warp my spells to backfire, summon nasties to come and get us. Heck, maybe they'll get creative and just hire some thugs."

Shiro smiled at that a bit and looked around. "Exactly what are you doing here, anyway?"