“I’m still a bit surprised you encouraged her to go,” Uriel said to Dazien as they both watched Phoenix, Saiya, and Rayna happily chatting with one another a little ways down the aisle.

  They were all idly perusing the precarious shelves of Mother’s Cupboard together. The current attendant at the counter had informed them that Madam Malik had gone out for an errand, but she was expected to return soon. Since Phoenix needed to retrieve a special order from her, they decided to wait and focused on the items they needed to restock, browsing for anything else that might seem useful for the upcoming expedition.

  “It will be good for her to make some more friends,” Dazien replied after a moment. “She already has trouble trusting people after everything with House Ruwena, and her new social position doesn’t offer any reassurance in that regard,” he pointed out while lifting an item that looked like some kind of puzzle box. “Plus, I remember what she said about never being in a retionship before. I meant it when I said she won’t know what she likes until she tries new things.”

  “Yeah, but don’t you want her to try those new things with you?” Uriel asked pointedly. He stared at his partner for a long moment. Uriel raised a challenging eyebrow and added, “I see how you look at her, Daze. I don’t understand why you keep denying the obvious.”

  Dazien gnced back towards Phoenix, carefully considering her, and tossed around the thoughts that had been circling the back of his mind since his partner had first made the suggestion to him. He gave a sigh and shook his head, “While I admit that I find her attractive, I feel that way towards a lot of people; apparently, more than most. However, I don’t think that kind of retionship is something either of us wants. I’m allowed to find people attractive without wanting to pursue something like that, you know.”

  He set the box back down as Uriel nodded in acquiescence. He began walking back down the aisle away from the women and continued saying, “As far as trying new things together, you already know that I’m always wanting to do that with everyone, but that’s not because I have some need to be their first. It’s always made me happy to see my friends happy, and all of us seem to enjoy learning new things.” He looked back towards the group of women as the bard excitedly picked up a heavy-looking helmet, attempting to fit it over her ears, and he amended, “Well, most of us do. I think Rayna just likes new loot.”

  Dazien turned to face Uriel instead and quietly added, “With Phoenix, everything is new to her. The food, the books, the people, the magic. I don’t know how she isn’t overwhelmed by it all, but I admire her for it. All that being said, she is just a friend.”

  “Nothing more?” Uriel asked him curiously with a raised brow.

  “Not for now, at least,” Dazien said firmly.

  He didn’t want to mention the weird feeling he would get that seemed to pull him toward her at times. It was likely his own curiosity just getting the better of him, anyways. He continued his walk down the aisle of towering treasures and pointed out his rger concerns about what Uriel was suggesting, “Phoenix wasn’t wrong when she said we were busy. I don’t need to make things more complicated by exploring potential retionships with anyone right now; let alone a party member I hold a position of power over.”

  “I don’t think any of those women think your position on paper means you would leverage that against them,” Uriel said with a frown, following beside him, “You’ve made it clear that they’re free to speak up about anything.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” he stated with a shake of his head, “As long as I’m leading this party, it is both inappropriate and dishonorable of me to be the one to initiate something like that. Besides, I wouldn’t want to be worried by the thought that they only said ‘yes’ because they felt like they had to. Because I’m their leader. You and I only work because our retionship was established before any position was put on paper and the fact that you initiated, not me.”

  Dazien paused as he stared up at an especially impressive obelisk of random items that actually seemed to lean over them, and he expressed another thought aloud, “When I look back on it now, I’m gd that I didn’t pursue anything with you on my own. I don’t think I could have lived with the worry that you only returned my affections because you saw me as a king giving you a command.”

  Uriel stared at him for a long moment, amethysts meeting embers, before he nodded and said, “You’re right. I’m sorry for pushing the matter. If that’s how you feel, then I don’t think I need to worry about Phoenix or you getting hurt.”

  “We are still going into monster-infested mountains tomorrow,” he pointed out with a wry smile, “There is still a very high likelihood of both of us getting hurt.”

  Uriel rolled his eyes, “I’m more worried about you than her in that case. You’re the one taking most of the hits, and she’ll just survive every—”

  Dazien grabbed his partner’s arm to halt the conversation as he interrupted with narrowed eyes, “We don’t know what she can survive… or who might be watching for her weaknesses. We don’t know who might test the social protections granted to one of the Chosen.”

  Thankfully, Uriel seemed to take the hint as Dazien gnced around the very public store and switched to speaking mentally with his partner, “We don’t know who might be watching or listening. Do not speak of Phoenix’s impossible Talent outside of our mental communication or Lord Waynd’s enchanted estate.”

  “Right. Sorry,” Uriel replied while putting on an appearance of looking at the store wares again, “My point remains, though, that she’ll just come back. If she survived exploding on an Emerald Caster, you don’t really need to worry about her so much.”

  His mood darkened at the memory, “You don’t understand, Uriel. I saw it happen. I can’t just unsee that. I don’t want to ever see it happen again.”

  Uriel leaned forward, pcing a warm hand on his shoulder, and mentally whispered, “I do understand, Daze. I’ve seen the people I love die in front of me before, remember? If anything, I understand better than you because that was the st time I ever saw them.” Uriel’s expression softened, “If it happens again to her, it’s not permanent; she’ll just return to us. You shouldn’t need to worry about that.”

  Dazien gred at his friend, “You’re okay with seeing that happen to her? Of watching her die?”

  “Of course not,” Uriel rebuked, “I almost took out a town in my anger after I thought she fell. But her talent changes everything. I don’t have to fear losing her to the Undertaker. Plus, she’s never been a fragile bird in need of a protective cage, Daze. She’s a strong Adventurer which is why you wanted her in our party in the first pce. Don’t forget that.”

  “I know,” he growled aloud, then gnced back towards the woman who had arrested his interest so thoroughly. He was fairly certain that romance was not what either of them wanted but ‘just friends’ also didn’t feel completely right.

  His tone softened as he forced himself to rex, “I know, Uriel. I need to step back for now. I need to focus on being a good friend for all of you and not let my worries affect how I lead.”

  Uriel nodded in understanding and relented, “That’s not the worst pn.” Then he gave his usual smirk, “Some of the best loves come from the strongest friendships.”

  Dazien rolled his eyes, “You’re incorrigible sometimes, you know that?”

  “I thought you liked that sometimes?” Uriel replied, still smirking as he teased him.

  Before he could retort, a raspy voice echoed down the aisle towards him, “Mister Smithson! Have you come to finally accept my offer?”

  “Madam Malik!” Phoenix excimed as she heard the older woman call out to Dazien, and she quickly made her way over, “I came to pick up that other project you wrote to me saying was ready.”

  The rge cinderen woman grinned at her and gave a beckoning gesture, “Indeed it is. It’s waitin’ in the back room for you.”

  She grabbed both Rayna and Saiya’s furred hands and dragged them along behind her, telling the men to follow as well. Saiya helped by grabbing each of their hands with a tail, causing her to ugh at the sight, which made everyone else ugh along with her.

  Once they were in the back room and calmed down, the merchant gnced at the group before asking her, “Do you want it to be a surprise from me or you?”

  Phoenix couldn’t stop smiling as she said, “You can go ahead. Use that cool Identification Orb and Knowledge Tablet you were showing me earlier.” Then she added for the others, “Turns out, the information it gives is identical to what my [Guide Book] tells me. Isn’t that awesome?”

  Dazien raised a brow and asked, “That would imply that the world is somehow providing that information to both the orb and your soul…” He trailed off and gnced down at where her Soul Mark was beneath her clothing.

  Her eyes went wide as her mind began going down that rabbit hole of theory-crafting. Did one of the gods have a direct link to her before she even arrived in this world? Maybe they messed with something while she was in transit? Or maybe it’s just her soul being a weird Wayfarer thing that was better at receiving information? Too many questions and not enough evidence or ways to test. How could she test something like that?

  The distraction was interrupted by Madam Malik setting a wide but fairly ft box on a table and stating, “This is the gift for Lady Rayna.” Then she pced another box beside it, this one more like a small brick, “And this is the tool you asked for. I managed to find a newer Crystal Artificer that offered to make it at a discount for the experience.”

  “Wait, did you say that first one was for me?” Rayna quizzically asked, as though not having heard properly.

  “Yep,” Phoenix confirmed, “I had some material burning a metaphorical hole in my collection and thought it might be useful for you. You seemed to always want to come scouting with me.”

  Rayna walked forward to look as Madam Malik opened the box to pce the orb on the item within. Then the merchant touched the orb to the tablet to make the information appear and adjusted her grip to let Rayna read.

  Item: Shade Cloak

  Made from Shadeweave and intended for increasing stealth.

  Caste: Crystal.

  Avaibility: Rare.

  Type: Apparel, cloak.

  Requirements: Crystal Caste or higher.

  Effects:

  Increased effect of Stealth abilities.Blends the wearer into the surrounding shadows making them harder to sense.For a low mana cost, or a single [Mana Bit] equal to the Caste of the wearer, the wearer can become momentarily incorporeal, incurring a long cooldown.

  “This is awesome!” Rayna excimed, then turned to crify with Phoenix, “You’re just giving this to me?”

  “Sure,” she replied with a tilt of her head, “I already have my aura and armor that helps me out. Now you can sneak around with me.”

  Rayna gave an adorable squeal and wrapped strong arms around her in a tight hug that threatened to break her with that Sapphire Caste Strength. Luckily, a gentle touch from Saiya had Rayna loosen up.

  “So, what’s the tool?” the bard asked while pulling out the shadowy cloak from the box to try on.

  Phoenix opened the other box and pulled out a short hand-held brass telescope about a half foot in length that held a rge, perfectly round crystal in the wider lens end. She held it towards the merchant who touched the Identification Orb to it in order to let everyone read the description as they came closer to see.

  Item: Crystal Spygss

  Made from the crystal eye of a Fywing.

  Caste: Crystal.

  Avaibility: Uncommon.

  Type: Tool, telescope.

  Requirements: Crystal Caste or higher.

  Effects:

  Can see a great distance away.Can detect the Caste of an item or creature.

  Uriel gave her a slight smirk, “Finally used that Crystal Eye from the Fywing quest?”

  She chuckled, “Hey, we’ve been busy, but your reminder earlier did help. Anyways, I decided to go with crafting it into an item instead of an Augment I wouldn’t be able to use after hitting Sapphire.”

  “It probably won’t st forever, though,” Dazien pointed out, “Eventually, your natural sight will be better than what any Crystal Caste item can grant.”

  “I did ask about that, actually,” Madam Malik spoke up, “The Artificer said it’d likely get outstriped at Emerald, but that’s a lot longer than losing it at the beginning of Sapphire.”

  “See? I’m not completely hopeless when making financial decisions,” Phoenix replied, nudging Dazien’s arm pyfully.

  He chuckled and shook his head, “I just meant that you shouldn’t forget about recycling it once you’ve out-leveled it. Don’t let it waste away in your collection,” then he surprised her slightly by acknowledging, “You’re right, though. It was a good choice.”

  She smiled brightly, proud of the acknowledgement, and happy at Rayna’s obvious excitement at the gift. As if on queue, the bard called out, “Can you see me now?”

  They all found themselves looking around the room full of packages and items casting shadows in the dimly lit space.

  As Phoenix met Dazien’s gaze, it felt like they both had the same realization as she asked, “Not a good choice?”

  At the same time, he said, “Not a good choice.”

  Then, they both broke out into ughter.