“...What about my wings?” Ezme asked in a concerned voice.

“They are beautiful of course. The most beautiful I know.” Amara responded with a wry smile.

Oh dear. I may have made a mistake.

“But you liked Sophelia’s wings too.” Ezme accused.

Possessive aren’t you, Fluffles.

“Yes, but yours are much more beautiful. I like them more.” Amara smiled.

Ezme’s face broke into a small smile and blushed before she spoke dejectedly. “But you like them bigger…” 

Ahem. This wasn’t how I planned this to go down.

“Nonsense. That was just to tease you.” Amara said with a smile as she ran her fingers through Ezme’s feathers. 

“To tease...Y-YOU!” Ezme howled in anger at the realization. “Shameless! Impudent!” 

“It’s too late to mind that now, Fluffles. We got to talk about our feelings, didn’t we?” Amara winked.

“We never spoke about our feelings! What feelings! There are none! And stop calling me names!” Ezme scowled.

“I was the only one? You break my heart, Fluffles.” Amara said sadly.

[Ding!]

“I think I must go and find Sophelia to heal my aching heart.” (Amara)

“Y-you...I’m not falling for that again!” Ezme pouted and crossed her arms as she looked away.

Damn, she learns too fast.

Amara sighed and stroked the back of Ezme’s wing until the angel realized what was happening, who then stood up with a flushed face while shouting at Amara. 

“Hands off, Amara! Tsk. Shameless pervert!” (Ezme)

“Why? Was it uncomfortable?” Amara smiled wryly.

“Shut up!” Ezme howled with a red face. “Insufferable!”

I suppose it’s not a complete victory yet. But slow and steady progress wins the race. Two steps forward and one step back will eventually bring you to the finishing line.

 

________________

Let’s see...which one could it be? 

Amara was walking down the corridors with Ezme, looking for Morpheus’s workshop. 

“Where are we going exactly?” Ezme asked.

“Morpheus’s workshop. I think he had a title that called him the Artifactor?” Amara looked to Ezme. “Do you know him?”

“Well I know of him, but I’ve only seen him during councils or when I went to get my weapon and armor.” Ezme considered. “We angels are pretty busy types, and I suppose we would have little reason to interact with each other. Morpheus is the reclusive type as well, interacting with almost no one.”

“He seems pretty nice for an angel in my opinion. Leagues above Alarice anyway.” Amara snorted.

“You...get along with him?” Ezme asked in surprise.

“Yeah. I mean he even called me by name, which even Sophelia doesn’t do. What reason could there be not to think he’s nice?” Amara said.

Ezme didn’t answer however, sunk in thought.

Maybe she’s jealous again. 

Suddenly Ezme spoke. “If you’re looking for Morpheus’ workshop, we already went past it.”

Amara halted. Well, darn it. Everything looks the same. Thankfully I brought Fluffles along to guide me.

 

After turning back and getting the door pointed out to her, Amara opened it.

Open Sesame.

[Ding!]

Easy peasy. Disregarding the detour.

Upon entering, this time Morpheus seemed to have heard their entry as he immediately came out of one of the side rooms. Upon seeing Amara he flinched at first before he broke into a smile.

“Ah, champion! And little sister! Welcome!” (Morpheus)

Amara turned to look at Ezme with a wry smile. “See? Nice.”

Amara smiled at Morpheus and greeted him. “Hello again, Morpheus.”

“Yes, hello! Erm…” Morpheus stopped with a troubled expression. “I think you forgot to tell me your name last time, I didn’t catch it.”

Ezme burst into a snicker beside her as Amara’s smiling lips contorted. Well, he was a scatter brain.

“It’s Amara. I did tell you, but it’s alright. Mortals have a tendency to forget peoples’ names too after only one meeting.” (Amara)

“Ah, you did? My apologies. Some things are quite difficult to remember.” Morpheus explained apologetically as he scratched his temple.

“Well, at least you’re trying. Unlike some people.” Amara smiled wryly.

“I think it’s to be expected. After all, who would bother to remember the name of a mortal?” Ezme grinned.

“You, for one.” Amara replied.

“That’s because I’m stuck with you all the time!” Ezme protested.

“Nobody’s forcing you to stick to me, are they?” Amara grinned.

“Tsk. Insufferable.” Ezme clicked her tongue and pouted.

“I see you two get along quite well.” Morpheus said with a gentle smile.

“It’s hard not to, Fluffles is like chocolate. Hard at first, but slowly melting.” Amara grinned at Morpheus.

“Fluffles…?” Morpheus said with a confused look.

“Insolent! Stop calling me that!” Ezme howled with a flushing face.

“Ah! I see! For a moment I thought that was your name.” Morpheus laughed.

This time Amara was the one who snickered and Ezme’s face grew even redder.

“Her name is Ezme. But Fluffles suits her better, doesn’t it?” Amara said with a wide smile.

“It doesn’t!” Ezme shouted.

“...I can see the appeal.” Morpheus smiled before he changed the topic. “Now then...Amara, and Ezme, was it? Why are you here? I can’t give you any items from here or tell you anything...”

Amara shrugged. “Just going to take a look around.” 

“Well...I’m not exactly sure if I can allow that…” Morpheus said in a troubled tone.

Amara smiled. “I’m not going to ask any questions, just appraise stuff. Besides, I’m not asking.” Shamelessly going around is the way to go apparently.

“I see…” Morpheus sank into contemplation.

Amara began walking around as a thought crossed her mind.

“Do you make all the weapons for the angels?” Amara asked.

“That I do!” Morpheus beamed.

“Then you must have made Ezme’s weapon too, right?” Amara suggested.

“I suppose that would be the case, unless it was made before my time.” Morpheus explained.

Amara turned her gaze to Ezme. “What kind of weapon do you use?”

 

Ezme waved her hand, grabbing the shaft of a halberd that was just as tall as her as it appeared out of thin air. It looked beautiful yet simple, made of the same kind of dull silver that Alarice’s armor had been made of. 

Is that an inventory skill? How could I forget about getting an inventory skill! 

Not that I need one right now...but would it drain divine power continuously? Or can I create a separate space, and simply use divine power only when opening it to get something in or out?

Though saying that, it’d be no different from just stashing the items in a room in heaven and using Realm Gate to get them, would it? I can think about it later.

The only other thing that made the weapon different from the ones Amara had seen in pictures and artwork, was that it seemed to be made of a single piece of metal.

Appraisal.

[Ding!]

Well, I don’t know how to feel about it. I’m sure that weapon is pretty damn good, but it pales in comparison to Sophelia’s sword.

Morpheus took the weapon as Ezme held it out to him, and brought it close to his face as he inspected it.

“Yes, this is indeed one of mine. Seems to be doing its job pretty well…no fractures nor instabilities...” Morpheus spoke to himself as he studied the shaft.

Amara decided to look around as Morpheus sank into a concentrated silence. 

There were plenty of weapons, but as Amara appraised them she saw that the majority were in league with Ezme’s halberd. Amara managed to get an idea of how the angels’ weapons were normally enchanted, which was mostly limited to changing the properties of the weapon.

A few more advanced ones had special abilities, similar to what Sophelia’s greatsword had. But they all seemed weak in comparison.

None of them can hold any divine power. Then that means it must be pretty exclusive to have a weapon that is able to store divine power.

Guess I got pretty lucky that I could appraise Sophelia’s weapon. Otherwise I might not have found out at all.

If mana works similarly to divine power when it comes to enchantments as well, maybe I can figure out how to do both.

I guess I’ll simply have to go and snatch some books on magic and a couple magic weapons from mortals.

Amara sighed. I’ll come back once I’ve figured out how to study these in greater detail. For now, I need more knowledge.

Time for another thieving spree.