Craft Time

 

Sloane looked down at her workbench and saw all her notes, scrap, and parts scattered below her. Finally about to try to engrave runes, she had a scrap piece of metal set aside just for the experiment. She also had a couple of small ingots of silver which she would try to use for the engraving. Sloane still needed to commission an engraving pen so she would try her previous thought of just using silver for the runes. She could alter the metal into position after she engraved the runes.

She grabbed one of the small pieces of metal and grabbed the engraving tools. Concentrating on what she wanted, she engraved the runic chain that would enable her to store a spell into the runework. At least in theory. She needed to see how long it would hold the spell in just metal, rather than a gem. That was the key to making her grenades work. 

She looked at the various runic chains she wanted to try that she had written in her journal. Sloane found the one she wanted and engraved it into the metal. Using the tool as a focus to channel her mana and altered the metal as she worked. When she finished the runic chain, she looked down at her work to make sure all of it was written correctly. [Store]- (Spell: <Flashbang>)] With a nod, she figured it was good enough and grabbed one of the silver ingots. Holding the small block over the engraved runes, she focused on altering the material just enough to fill the runes. 

It took her about ten minutes, but she managed to finish it even though the extended use of her magic tired her out more than normal. She looked over it all and smiled. It looked good. “Here goes nothing…” She touched the runes and dug into her Artifice Domain and channeled Flashbang into it. The cast immediately exhausted her, and she had to take a couple of heaving breaths as she regained her composure. The silver glowed a slight blue color, and as she watched, it seemed to get dimmer. Sloane continued to watch it then after only five minutes, the silver was back to its natural color. 

Well, shit. That didn’t work at all.

She tried again, this time trying to channel as slowly as possible. Again, the silver glowed blue and after another five minutes, it had completely dissipated. Why is it doing this? She wondered. Grabbing her notebook, Sloane wrote down her observations. She decided to try one more time, but this time she wanted to add another runic chain to the runework. Considering what she wanted, she wrote out the chain for waiting until the user triggers the runes, then cast the stored spell. The runework came out to [Use: (Spell: Store)] ‣ [User: Trigger] and she felt it would work the way she wanted. I hope. I just need to take this to the area set aside for my testing.

 

* * *

 

An hour later, Sloane was on the training grounds with the test materials. She looked around and ensuring no one else was around, channeled Flashbang into the runes one more time. Again, the material glowed blue, but this time, instead of letting it dissipate, she placed it down on the ground and then focused on triggering the spell. She barely needed to do anything before the runework activated and the Flashbang that she had stored fired off in a burst of… disappointment. It looked and sounded more like a firework than a flashbang. Sloane looked down at the metal and saw a small, blackened spot where the storage rune should have been. I’m glad I wasn’t holding that. Holy crap. 

She was once again thankful that she seemed unaffected by her own magic. That was something else she would need to experiment with at another time. With a sigh, she sat down and leaned against a bench. Now, what can I– 

Sloane fell backward as the bench tipped over, and she crashed against the ground. She hit her head against the ground and cried out. “Fuck! Ow, damn it! Shit!” 

She sat up and groaned as she rubbed her head. “Ugh, can this day get any worse?”

“From the looks of it? Not really.”

Sloane jerked in surprise and looked at the source, and saw Gisele only a few meters away with an irritatingly amused expression on her face and Maud right next to her. The knight-medic stepped forward and crouched down next to her. “Here. Allow me.” The red-headed healer felt the back of Sloane’s head and cast her Heal spell. The pain, but not the embarrassment, instantly diminished. 

Gisele reached out and grabbed Sloane’s hand and pulled her to her feet. Sloane instinctively rubbed at her head, even though the sting was gone. 

The orkun woman patted Sloane on her arm. “You okay?”

“Yeah. I’m good now. Thank you, Maud.”

The woman beamed. “Of course! I’m glad I was here to see that. I mean, help you!”

Sloane narrowed her eyes at the woman. Someone who is supposed to heal shouldn’t take such pleasure in embarrassing accidents.

“So, what were you working on?” Gisele asked, redirecting Sloane’s attention.

“I’m trying to work with runes, but they aren’t working. The spell dissipates way too quickly and then it doesn’t seem to hold at the right strength.” Sloane explained.

“Interesting. Do you have any thoughts on why?” Gisele asked and crossed her arms as she started contemplating the issue.

“Not really. At least, not yet. I need to go back over my observations and figure it out.”

Sloane glanced at Maud, who was deep in thought. The woman tilted her head and pointed at the piece of test metal. “That’s the stuff you worked with?”

“Yeah, I wanted something I didn’t mind ruining for a first test.” As soon as her explanation left her mouth, she had a thought. “What if the quality of material determines how well it can hold the spell?”

Maud nodded and reached down to pick up the scrap metal. “Also, your silver here looks different from when you showed me the inside of your watch.”

Sloane quirked a brow. “Of course, it’s not glowing.” 

The telv shook her head. “No, that’s not it. The silver in your watch isn’t just silver. It’s not even a solid metal.”

Gisele tilted her head in thought. “I haven’t seen the innards of the watch, but what are you saying?”

“Well, back home, some of the finer artisan work would use metallic filaments within their works. The material within your watch looks more like that than just plain silver.” Maud handed the metal slab back to Sloane as she finished her thought.

Sloane tapped on the scrap and thought about it. “So, I had originally thought to use silver-based ink. Maybe I should look into that. I’ll probably need to use it to finish the Guild Runecard as well.”

Gisele perked up. “I know where you can get some. There was a stationery store dedicated to such things in the noble market. They sell various paper, waxes, and inks for high-end scribes or nobles to use. I believe they will even make stamps for House crests. Perhaps we can try there?”

Sloane shrugged. “Worth a shot. Let’s go!”

 

* * *

 

She followed the two women as they walked down the streets of the central district. Sloane had been through here a few times since her first incident, and she had made sure to always have one of the others with her. She had also started keeping her hood up, however, that hadn’t done her curly hair any favors. 

As if she were reading her mind, Maud leaned in close. “Remind me to bring you to this shop another time,” She said while pointing at a small storefront that was painted white with gold-colored accents. “They have what you need to upkeep your hair.”

Sloane looked closer and was shocked. There was an actual hair salon. She looked at Maud’s hair and back at the store. “Are these common?”

Maud nodded. “Of course, a woman needs to take care of her hair, after all. I purchase their solutions in every city we go to. It’s why my hair looks so fabulous.”

“It does. It really does,” Sloane said.

Gisele snorted. “Why does that surprise you, Sloane?”

Sloane lowered her voice a bit. “In my world, during our equivalent development period, we didn’t have anything like this. It’s so strange to me. In some areas, you are centuries ahead of where we were and in others, you’re right on track. I don’t have the background to guess at the reasoning, or have studied your history enough… but it’s quite interesting to me.”

Maud chuckled. “Something Ernald would love to discuss, I believe. It’s beyond me as well.”

Gisele shrugged. “I do not think it’s quite that complicated. We have many types of people. Your world only had terrans. We have a single pantheon of gods. Yours had many. Our two worlds are different. They had to be. What we place value on is different. How we live is different.” 

The orkun waved her hand around. “All of this? It is pretty new. My people had it rough, Maud’s as well. The Loreni migrated and invaded Ikios hundreds of years ago. They never left, but we adapted. We carved new societies out of it. We improved and learned that if we all work together, then we could be better than before.”

Maud nodded. “Well said, Gisele. I don’t think about it much personally. It’s all I have ever known. It’s all my parents have ever known. Some places are worse than others. Westaren is one of them, however, it’s at least mainly restricted to the nobility in the kingdom...” She trailed off and went silent.

“You okay?” 

Maud nodded. “I am fine. Just thinking. I miss home.”

Gisele stared at the woman before stepping close and putting her arm around the medic and spoke quietly, “I do too, Maud. I do too. You know why we are here, though.” 

The redhead wiped at her eyes. “I do. Come on. The store’s right there. I’m fine.”

Sloane and Gisele locked eyes, a sad expression on the knight’s face. Sloane nodded, and Gisele returned it before giving Maud one last squeeze. 

“Oh, that store looks fancy,” Sloane said as she looked at the paneled wood facade and large windows showing the inside. She could see bookshelves and tables with different supplies on them. 

The group walked inside and a little bell rang, summoning an old raithe man who held a stack of notebooks. “Welcome, welcome. How may I assist you?”

Gisele looked at Sloane and stepped to the side. Getting the hint, Sloane rolled her eyes and stepped forward. “I am looking for a type of ink that has silver inside of it? Maybe powdered? I am not entirely sure. If you have multiple types, I’d like to try them.”

The old man paused and rubbed his chin. “I have some silvered-ink right over here.” He waved them in. They walked amongst the bookshelves and displays filled with various notebooks and document folios. Others had envelopes and cards or even elaborate writing paper. Sloane almost stopped and looked at a fancy display containing pens and intricate quills. Next to it was another display with various ink wells. One leather-bound journal with an intricate flowery design on the front caught her eye.

Sloane was in office supply heaven. “Maud, look, this journal is beautiful. Oh, and look at these pens. Oh, my gosh. I need to buy some supplies.”

“Gisele, I think we found what Sloane likes to shop for,” Maud chortled from behind.

“Sloane, I never realized you had such an… exciting… hobby,” Gisele said with an amused look as she glanced around the shop.

Sloane crossed her arms. “What? Gisele enjoys large swords. I like office supplies. We all have our thing. Maud likes… being fancy.”

Maud made a gesture that Sloane would classify simply as touché. “You’re not wrong.”

The man stopped in front of a cabinet that had different bottles filled with inks of all sorts of colors. He opened the doors and started sorting through the glass containers. With a shake of the head, he closed the cabinet and went to the one next to it. 

“Ah ha. Here we go.” He pulled out three different containers with a distinct silvery metallic liquid inside. He turned and walked the group to a nearby counter, where he grabbed some paper and a quill. “I have three different types. The first is a new product and contains some new materials. It’s quite expensive due to the rarity of the ingredients.” He moved to the next. “This one is simply silver powder, some oil binders, and a solvent. This one is silver colored, but doesn’t have silver in it.” He described as he pointed at each.

Sloane cut in. “That won’t work. Containing silver is a requirement.”

The man nodded. “The first one is probably the one you want, then. It is a new product that arrived only in the last couple of weeks. It has a higher silver power content and similar oil binders, but the organic solvent is from a newly discovered plant called the silden fern. I don’t know the specifics, only that it is similar to a type of fern that is prevalent in these parts, but seems to grow at night under the moons rather than the day.” 

Sloane nodded. “The plant was only discovered recently?”

“Yes, about a month ago. The alchemists that discovered it were documenting the effect of the flash on local plant life.”

Sloane slowly turned her head and looked at the two women with her. Is this a magic plant? It was just discovered?

“How popular is this ink?” Sloane asked.

“Oh, fairly popular, but its cost prohibits anyone from purchasing too much.” 

“First, I will buy two bottles. Second, do you have contact information for the alchemists?”

“Wonderful! I’d like to mention that they only sell their products through our shop here, though.” The man cautioned, likely not wanting her to bypass him for the material.

“That’s perfectly fine. I’m more interested in other finds and alchemical creations they have made. I guess you could say I am something of an alchemist myself.” Sloane explained.

Gisele snorted softly to her side, and Sloane gave her a quieting glare.

“Ah, I understand. Come, let me bag up your ink.”

“Oh! As you do that, I think there are some other things I’d like to buy…”

The man chuckled as he helped her select more office supplies to purchase. 

When they had gathered all the items she wanted to buy, Sloane met the shopkeeper at the counter. He was bagging up all of her items and was telling her the cost of each as he placed them in a fabric bag for her. “And here are your two bottles of ink. They are fifteen silver each.”

Maud started choking next to her. Gisele quirked a brow. “How much silver is in them?”

The raithe chuckled. “While it is more than any other silver-based ink that we have, it is still very little, but the process and the rarity of the new plant are what is driving up the price.”

Sloane mentally calculated the cost, plus the amount her Guild account had available. I may want to stockpile this. Especially, if it works like I think it will. If not, well, then I have a pretty ink. 

“How many bottles of this ink do you have on hand?” She asked.

The man looked up as he thought about it. “I have… eleven more bottles after these two.”

“Are you able to charge my Banking Guild account?” She inquired.

“Of course, My Lady. I am part of the Scribe and Merchant’s Guilds, and of course, have my own accounts. I will just need to see your badge and have you stamp your seal on a bill of sale,” He explained.

Sloane reached into her satchel and pulled out the badge with the ruby. She placed it on the counter in front of the man. “Here’s my badge, if you give me a moment–”

The raithe’s eyes widened as he looked at her badge. “My Lady, my apologies. I didn’t realize… Please, simply have one of your attendants take the bill of sale to the Guild at your earliest convenience, and the Guild will handle it.”

Sloane raised a brow and looked at Gisele. “You know, that’s a perfect job for Elodie.”

Gisele smirked. “She did say that it would be beneficial to have her on hand for purchases.”

Sloane shrugged. “I’ll remember that for next time.” Probably a good idea. Especially if I will get this kind of reaction in the future.

The shopkeeper looked between the women as they spoke, speaking up when they finished. “Also, for your patronage, I offer a twenty percent discount on your purchases. Would you like me to have your goods delivered?”

Sloane tilted her head in thought. “I think we can take it all now. I appreciate the offer though, Mr…”

“Keenley. Mr. Keenley,” He quickly offered.

“Well, thank you for all of your assistance today, Mr. Keenley,” Sloane said with a smile.

“Thank you kindly, My Lady. Please allow me to package the rest of your supplies.” Mr. Keenley purposefully started gathering all of her items and walked away to grab the remaining bottles of ink. 

Sloane looked over all of her new office supplies and smiled.

You can never have enough.