Alyx led them to a simple two-story building with an enclosed front yard.

  “Tabith, I hope you're—” she stopped mid-sentence as they entered.

  Inside was a homey shop, made of warm-toned stone, proudly displaying numerous examples of swords and axes. Two doors stood on the opposite wall. By the entrance stood a long trough of water. Was there ice in it?

  A tall, scaled person stood behind the stone-topped counter, inspecting a short sword’s handle with a jeweler’s loop. Their face was largely human, except it was covered in tawny scales and their forehead rippled into a crest of scaled ridges. Behind the ridges, a mane of blond hair was corralled in a tight plait down their back.

  Xerenth Engraver

  Lvl 24

  [The xerenth are a race of lizard people far more common to the Archforn Deserts than the Sea of Spires. They are well known for their tolerance to extreme heat and extreme distaste for humidity.

  As an engraver, this one has spent much of her life studying how runes may be applied to commonplace objects and materials to make them more than the sum of their parts.]

  The xerenth’s eyes flicked up from her loop and shot a scowl at Alyx. “Oh, it’s you.”

  “Good to see you too, Xri,” Alyx said with far more mirth. “Where’s Tabith?”

  “Killing herself in the heat back there as usual,” Xri said. “Go back there at your own risk or wait patiently for her to come out. It won’t be long.”

  The words had barely left her mouth when a blur of white bolted from the back room.

  Larktem Smith

  Lvl 26

  [The larktem are a beast people reminiscent of rabbits. They are known for their affinity for sensing ambient mana and their intolerance to heat.

  Despite this, this one appears to have dedicated a significant portion of her life to the study of smithing and weapons crafting.]

  The larktem stopped in front of the trough and dunked her head in the icy water, splashing Cass and Alyx, who were still in the doorway beside it.

  “You doing okay, Tabith?” Alyx asked the smith.

  The larktem, Tabith, pulled her head out of the trough with a satisfied sigh. “Oh, I’m just fine. Much better now that I’ve cooled off.”

  The larktem was a short woman with slender shoulders but wide hips. Soaked as she was, her white hair stuck to her head, much like a wet cat’s. Her ears were long like a rabbit’s, drooping down an inch or so above her shoulders. They were decorated with countless piercings, mostly gold studs, but also shimmering loops and delicate, dangling chains.

  Tabith ran a hand through her wet hair and smiled up at Alyx. “Congratulations, by the way, little sprout. I heard about your Blessing. Your mother would be so excited!”

  Alyx grinned back. “Thanks.”

  “But who’s your friend?”

  “This is Cass,” Alyx said. “She’s the new party member I was telling you about.”

  Cass waved. “Hi.”

  “Oh, you finally found yourself a proper peer?” Tabith squealed, running up and grabbing Cass’s hands and inspecting Cass’s face.

  Cass was too surprised to pull away. The woman had bounced back to Alyx before her thoughts had caught up with the shock.

  “Not that there’s anything wrong with Mr. Koris or Ms. Telis, of course,” Tabith continued. “But you shouldn’t spend all your time with us old-timers!”

  “Tabith,” Xri warned from the counter. “We aren’t that old.”

  “I’m a craftsman at level 26. I must be ancient.” Tabith pretended to faint, dramatically pressing the back of her hand to her forehead and leaning back.

  “You have combat experience. You’re only 43.”

  “Ancient!” Tabith repeated, leaning even further back, even more dramatically.

  Alyx snorted. “Do you have my package ready?”

  Tabith pouted, making a show of slouching. “You’re here on business? But it’s the Festival! It should be social calls today!”

  “Tab,” Xri warned.

  Tabith shot a forlorn look over her shoulder at the scowling xerenth.

  “I’m sure Lady Alyx is very busy.”

  Tabith sighed. “I suppose. Alright, let me go get it.”

  Xri shook her head as Tabith disappeared into the backroom. “Sorry about her. You know how she gets.” Her eyes skipped to Cass. She put a hand out to Cass. “Cass, was it? The name is Xri Revlan. That was my wife, Tabith. Tabith was the weapons smith for Alyx’s mother’s party. There have been altogether too many Veldors in Tabith’s shop as long as I’ve known her.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Cass said. The place didn’t really look like the kind of place that got much noble patronage, but there was no disputing there was a noble in the lobby as she spoke.

  “I know you are too old for festival candies,” Xri said. “But as the hosts, we should have some snack for you.”

  “It might be a holiday, but it wasn’t meant to be a social call,” Alyx said. “Don’t break anything out on my account.”

  “That was more of a warning that Tabith is almost certainly going to come down with festival snacks in addition to your package.”

  “Ah.” Alyx sighed. “She’s going to be a few minutes then, isn’t she?”

  “Definitely.” Xri nodded.

  Alyx shrugged. To Cass, she said, “You should look around at the weapons they have on display and start thinking about what you want.”

  “You’re in the market for a new weapon?” Xri asked.

  Cass shrugged. She had grown rather attached to her staff, even if it wasn’t anything in particular. It was her first possession in this world and had helped save her life on multiple occasions.

  “Any idea what you want next? You are a mage? So, you’ll be looking for a spell focus?”

  Cass nodded.

  “Most of those are on that wall.” Xri pointed to the right.

  Cass drifted along the wall, looking over the pieces. It was a varied collection, ranging from slender wands to staffs taller than she was, to dull blades. A circlet hung next to a pair of bracelets. A crystal orb encased in metal wiring hung amid the more obvious weapons.

  “Those are some of the more common form factors and, admittedly, the ones we’re more comfortable making,” Xri said. “If you want something more esoteric, you’d be better off at a specialty workshop, though I’d be happy to fine-tune the runes for you.”

  Cass shook her head. She needed a weapon to activate her primary skill, Tempest Blade. She couldn’t fire it off from just any magic focus, though it was a little fun imagining herself decked out in glittering jewelry and casting spells from them.

  “Can I touch them?” Cass asked, pointing to the wall.

  “Sure, just take them outside if you want to fire off any skills or spells. I don’t need you breaking anything in here.”

  Cass looked over the wall again. Was there something she wanted to try? She had only picked up the staff because it had been a stick on the ground or literally nothing. Given the choice, the stick had been a clear winner.

  But now, she was spoiled for choices.

  She started with a wand.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Sample Wand

  Class: Magic Focus (Wand)

  [Crafted from merwood and inlaid with sagegold and engraved by a craftsman approaching the Gate. A mana crystal embedded in the pommel can contain one spell form.]

  It was weightless in her hands. It would be easy to flick about, but she didn’t think she could build much of a Tempest Blade along its length. She also doubted it would be much use in close combat, and as much as Cass would rather not be in close combat, she sure found herself there a lot.

  She set it back and took down one of the dull blades next.

  Sample Ritual Blade

  Class: Magic Focus (Rapier)

  [Crafted from moonsilver and rose iron, the blade allows two spells to be simultaneously twinned down the length of the blade. The guard is embedded with a mana reservoir, allowing 40 Mana to be stored for later use. The edge may be sharpened to allow for physical attacks or further rounded to facilitate the flow of Focus.]

  It was lighter than Cass had expected, about the same weight as her staff. For a moment, she imagined herself dressed as a knight with a sword held high. A smile flickered across her face as she shook away the image.

  She didn’t know the first thing about fighting with a sword. Maybe she should learn? Right after she had properly mastered the staff, you know, the weapon she actually had bonuses in.

  She put it back up on the wall.

  “Are there advantages to different forms?” Cass asked.

  Xri raised an eyebrow. “You’re the mage, aren’t you? I would have thought you would know better than the rest of us.”

  Cass shrugged. “I’m not exactly formally trained.” Or trained at all.

  “Well, this is what I’ve heard from our clients. I don’t know how much this is true. But you know there are three general methods of magecraft? Chant, Gesture, and Inscription?”

  Cass was pretty sure Pellen had mentioned something about that, but they hadn’t gotten into the details. She nodded anyway. The names seemed descriptive enough.

  “Wands, gloves, and ritual blades are common choices among gestural mages because they are easily moved through the intricate positions required of the form. Staffs are more common among Chant mages, as they can augment them with more bonuses than smaller wands or blades and the user rarely needs to do more than point with them. Incriptionists rarely bother with casting equipment, but when they do, they usually pick smaller, worn objects to be out of the way. It’s all about what kind of focus will best facilitate your chosen spells.”

  Or skills, in Cass’s case.

  “I’ve got snacks!” Tabith said, interrupting the conversation. She had a tray of fried disks arranged around a bowl of dipping sauce.

  “Thank you, Miss Relven,” Cass said.

  “My package, Tabith?” Alyx asked.

  “OH!” Tabith placed the plate on the counter and bolted into the back room.

  Xri and Alyx both sighed.

  “Well, help yourselves,” Xri said. “She’ll be right back this time. Probably.”

  Fried Vineroot and Dip

  [A common fried snack made from thinly sliced vineroots drenched in a fena flour batter and fried to perfection. Served with a cream-based dip.]

  Cass hesitated. She remembered the many vineroots she’d eaten in Uvana. She wasn’t in a hurry to eat more of them, no matter how golden brown and delicious they might look here.

  Alyx helped herself, though, dipping them in the dip in the middle and chowing down without complaint. Alyx didn’t even make a face. Maybe it was fine?

  Hesitantly, Cass took one too. She followed Alyx’s lead and dipped it, then took a bite.

  It was nothing like the raw version. This was soft and sweet, the sauce creamy and savory. Cass quickly grabbed a second and third fried coin.

  As promised, the smith was right back, this time with a bulging package. She plopped it on the counter and looked expectantly at Cass.

  Cass shot Alyx a raised eyebrow.

  “Well, open it.” Alyx nudged her toward the package.

  “Me?” Cass asked.

  “I ordered it before we left. Before I knew you were coming with me. If I had just agreed with you earlier, I would have made it a rush job, and you might have had it in time for the Catacombs, but, well.” Alyx shrugged.

  Cass pulled aside the fabric wrapping to find a cuirass of blue-tinted metal. Cass picked it up to find it shockingly light. Beneath it were additional pieces for her shoulders, arms, and legs, as well as a mesh of fine chain.

  “This is for me?” Cass asked.

  Alyx nodded. “Go try it on. It may need fine-tuning.”

  The smith helped her carry all the pieces into the other room.

  Tabith walked Cass through the different pieces in detail before walking out the backroom’s door, saying, “Holler if you need help with any of it.”

  It wasn’t difficult to put on. The inner fabric layer fit well. The chain draped over her without difficulty and was belted into place without fuss. The cuirass folded open and then closed again around her, the buckles securing it shut simple enough. The leg pieces went on much like soccer shin guards but with leather straps and buckles rather than elastic and velcro. She needed help with the straps on the pauldrons; they weren’t quite symmetrical, and she wasn’t sure which went where or how to get them to sit right on her shoulders.

  But with a little help, she had it on.

  Bluesteel Armor

  Class: Light armor (Armor)

  [Crafted from bluesteel and inscribed with protective runes by an engraver approaching the Gate, this is a set of lightweight armor designed for a low Fortitude wearer.

  + 2 Effective Fortitude to covered areas.

  + 3 additional Effective Fortitude to areas covered by both mail and plate.]

  “Well, how does it look?” Cass asked as she stepped back into the main room.

  Alyx nodded. “Much better. How does it feel?”

  Cass swung her arms and flexed her body. “It’s not as heavy as I expected.”

  “The weight is being distributed over your whole body,” Tabith said. “You had a set before, didn’t you?”

  Cass nodded. They had gotten her a leather set in Hervet.

  “Off-the-shelf armor will never fit well. And leather armor is just as heavy or heavier as good metal equipment for a fraction of the defensive capabilities. And it is abysmal for holding enchantments.” Tabith shook her head. “No, if you can afford it, a good, well-inscribed set of a steel variant is the way to go. Now, hold still. I can see a few adjustments still need to be done.” Tabith fussed over the straps and buckles.

  A few minutes later, Tabith stepped back with a nod. “That’ll do it.”

  Cass pinned her aura cloak’s broach to the inside of the cuirass and felt the aura fabric fall around her.

  Aura Cloak

  Class: Accessory

  [A broach which manifests the wearer’s aura in a defensive cloak. This is an artifact from another age, knowledge of its construction has long been lost.

  Increases Effective Frt by 20% in areas covered by the Aura.

  Increases Effective Frt by 5% over rest of contiguous body.

  Increases the effect of Aura, Movement, and Defensive skills.]

  Cass had a Fortitude of 20 these days, so if someone tried to stab her in the back through the cloak and the plate metal of the backplate, she’d get a bonus of 5 from the new armor and another 5 from the percent bonus from her cloak, bringing her up to 30 Frt. That was a 50% increase. Not bad at all.

  “No more getting impaled,” Alyx said, prodding Cass’s shoulder.

  “Okay,” Cass said dutifully. Shockingly, she also had no plans to be impaled. Or injured in any other way. It wasn’t entirely her fault it kept happening. “I’ll do my best.”

  “It should be slender enough to wear under your robes, though an observant eye will probably be able to tell you’re wearing it,” Tabith said. “Alternatively, if you plan on wearing it on top, we could add some decorative engraving. I’m sure Xri would love to have at it.”

  Cass ran a hand over the surface of the plate. There were already small engravings around the edges. They thrummed with power to her Mana Sight. There were more on the inside. It made sense to put as much of that out of sight of potential opponents.

  Did she want it decorated? What would she put on it? “What is popular?”

  “Among the nobility, picking things related to your house’s symbol is common,” Xri said.

  That didn’t help. She didn’t have a family symbol and wasn’t about to invent one without Kaye and Robin’s input.

  That said… “Are there robins here?”

  “Yes?” the xerenth said.

  Is that what she wanted? “Could you put a robin holding a key on it?”

  “An interesting choice.” Xri tapped her chin. “Not the most fierce design. Are you sure?”

  Cass turned the design over in her mind, tracing her vision over the metal plates with her eyes. Did her armor need to be fierce? She wasn’t. Would it help if she was?

  What else would she pick?

  Fioreya and her swordswoman’s armor sprang to mind. Fioreya’s had been decorated with a dragon, while her swordswoman’s had snakes curling up the plates.

  Were animal designs common? What animal would she pick? Her hand drifted up over her chest.

  “Would a cat be better?” Cass asked.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Alyx said entirely too quickly. Her hand twisted around the pommel of her sword.

  Cass cocked her head at her. Why was this a bad idea? Oh. “Salos would think it’s dumb, huh.”

  Putting Kaye and Robin on her armor was one thing when they weren’t around. But he’d be embarrassed by such a show of affection. Would he warm up to it eventually, or would he cringe whenever he saw it?

  “No, I mean, maybe. Just,” Alyx sputtered, “Are you sure you want to put him on your armor?”

  Cass frowned. Was there a reason Cass wouldn’t want him drawn on her armor? “Are cats an unusual choice?”

  Xri shrugged. “A house cat? A little. That is not any fiercer than your first idea. Big cats, on the other hand? Very common.”

  Was that Alyx’s concern? But she hadn’t protested the first idea which had the same problem.

  “Would it be possible for you to incorporate both ideas into one?” Cass asked the engraver.

  Xri tapped her lips in thought. “Depends on your goals. I think I could come up with something appropriately elegant if that’s satisfactory.”

  Cass nodded. Elegant sounded much more her speed.

  “Cass,” Alyx sighed. “Don’t make any rash—”

  “What’s rash about this?” Cass snapped. “I don’t think I need to look fierce. I think even if I tried, I’d look rather silly. I’m not exactly a big scary martial. I know that. You know that.”

  Alyx looked away. “You shouldn’t—”

  “What is your real concern?” Cass glared at her.

  Alyx froze. She glanced between Cass’s chest and the craftsmen.

  Ah.

  It was like that.

  The others stared at them. She could feel their eyes. She could feel the questions.

  Cass shook her head. To the smith and engraver, Cass said, “I think I’ll take it as is today, thank you.”

  Tabith nodded, her pursed lips clearly holding back questions.

  “I think we’re done here, Alyx?” Cass asked.

  Alyx nodded without looking at Cass. To the smith, she said, “Thank you for everything, Tabith.”

  “Of course, sprout,” the larktem nodded, her eyes big and questioning. “Anything you need. We’ll be here.”

  Alyx nodded again. “We’ll be back soon.”

  The two left the shop, stepping out into the yard. They stood silently, the tension between them only rising.

  “I think we need to talk,” Cass said.