Seth worked hard in Professor Laur's class on Friday. There were plenty of ink jar mishaps again, and Seth noticed the spell Professor Laur used to clean up the ink. He wondered if there was a way to look up spells that you've seen cast. No one had talked about that yet. He didn't feel comfortable enough with the class or Professor Laur to ask the question yet. He wrote it down to ask later though.

The afternoon combat class was nearly all physical training and instruction on the wussticks. Mau insisted on having her own wusstick. The other students thought that was cute and let her have it.

Seth didn't know why she was so mad at the stick though.

That night Seth finished his letter to Saben. There was a lot to tell his brother, and he didn't hold back. He also wrote a much shorter letter to Benjamin. Seth wasn't sure if Benjamin would be in Rosia much, or even at all, but it felt like the thing to do.

Isaac never came back to the room that night. Seth figured he'd gone home to his family for the weekend.

The next morning Duvessa was already waiting with Owen by the Fire Tower when Seth got there. Blaise was crossing the courtyard at the same time.

"Yooo!" Duvessa called when she spotted them, her dagger straight hair swaying as she waved at him. "We are going to have the best day!"

"Hey Seth," Blaise said when she spotted him. She still looked like she'd gotten straight out of the shower. Or more accurately, like someone who'd just climbed out of the sea. "Were you able to tell Isaac we're heading into the city?"

"No, he never came back to the room last night. Is it just us?"

"Nope. Booth mentioned wanting to go and Pendra was a maybe," Blaise said.

"Pendra is a no," Booth said, coming up from behind Owen. "He went home last night." Booth looked like he probably should have shaved, but could go another day or so.

"Oh, hey! I didn't see you!" Duvessa said. "Does that mean we're all here now?"

Blaise looked around. "Yup, that's everyone."

"We are starting with getting your commission, right?" Duvessa asked Blaise.

"I'd like to post a couple letters on the way," Seth said.

"Of course! We are going to have the best day." Duvessa nodded to everyone.

Reginald swooped by, cawing "Fish day! Fish day!"

"Why 'fish day'?" Seth asked Duvessa.

"I don't understand him sometimes, but to Reginald, a fish day is a good day to do things. He's a shadow of the original, so there is probably context he simply doesn't have."

"What else are we doing?" Booth asked. "Walking around doing nothing sounds boring."

"I wouldn't mind that," Owen said. He pushed his floofy hair out of his face. It was just long enough to cover his eyes. "I've not really seen the city. It'll be nice just exploring it and seeing what's there and where everything is."

"I know a cool place that overlooks the Palace," Seth offered.

"That would be beautiful! I hear the gardens there are amazing," Duvessa said. "Okay! The plan for today is to go to the magic district and the markets there, then we'll find somewhere for lunch, and see the Palace afterwards and do some exploring, and be back for dinner." She hooked arms with both Seth and Owen and headed for the gate. "The carvings all over the place are really pretty. Do they tell a specific story?"

Seth was surprised everyone looked at him for an answer. "Am I the only one who's lived in this city before?" Seth asked.

"I'm from Lilandrium," Duvessa said, referring to a city only somewhat smaller than Rosia. "Not a place I can go home for weekends."

"Mariglade for me," Blaise said.

"I'm from near Blue Ridge. I think I mentioned that before," Owen said.

"Yeah, a farm boy," Blaise said and smiled. "Booth?" she asked, turning to the last boy.

"I'm from here and there," Booth said.

Duvessa frowned at him a moment then nodded her head firmly. "Right. You can be our tour guide then, Seth. Tell us what this one is about!"

Seth looked at the carvings on walls of the gatehouse. He'd never really paid any attention to them before, and didn't really know the story. "Um, that one is a carving of a demon. And that one is a person fighting the demon. And that one has a tower..."

"You're bad at this," Blaise said and laughed. "If you didn't know any of the stories, why didn't you say so?"

"I didn't realize I didn't know anything about it until now. It's not something I ever thought about."

"Ugh, do we need to fire you as tour guide already? You've only had the job for two minutes." Duvessa said.

"They tell the story of the Demon War," Booth said. "Before the Floran Empire. The school used to be a fortress and was used in the war. Rosia is an old city and stories like these are all over the place."

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Seth should have known that. He knew those stories but never really connected them with the wall carvings before. Mau was really interested in them.

"You're hired, Booth. You can be our tour guide now," Duvessa announced.

"Does the job come with pay?" Booth asked.

They posted Seth's letters and headed to the magic district. The place Blaise had her commission was the same carving shop Saben had used to have their pendants made.

"This is the best carver in the city. Maybe in the whole region," Blaise explained. "We searched for months to find someone who could make what we needed and get the materials we needed it to be made of. It has to be really robust to handle all the mana I'm going to put in it. This shop was the only one who could do it. The things he can put into objects are amazing. The only way to get something better is to find an artifact."

"My grandmother prefers to use crafted magic rather than artifacts," Duvessa said. "Sometimes artifacts can have weird aspects that can make them dangerous to use."

"What's the difference?" Owen asked. "They're both just magic things, right?"

"Something that is crafted means someone made it. They either forged or carved it, and put runes and enchantments on it during the crafting process. They know exactly what it is and what it can do," Seth explained. "An artifact is something that either originated in the Below, or was down there for a long time. The mana down there changes things. It can make normal items magical."

"That's right," Duvessa said. "I know of a comb from Below. It was just an ordinary comb, there's no carvings on it at all. And whenever you use it, it makes your hair longer. But if you use it too much, all your hair falls out. It's so weird."

"How long does it take for something to get magical like that?" Booth asked, his attention piqued.

"Centuries, as far as I know," Duvessa said. Booth lost interest.

Blaise talked to the shopkeeper while the others looked around the small shop. There was a small seating area, walls with displays, and the service counter was a glass case with lots of expensive looking ornaments. Blaise retrieved her commissioned item. It was a dark blue stone the shape of a teardrop and wrapped in silver. The symbols carved into it were tiny. She put it on and held it as they walked out of the shop. Booth lingered a little, gazing around the shop.

"I've already started putting all the mana I can into it," Blaise said. "I really hope this works. It's supposed to be a really deep mana vault that I can siphon off all the extra water mana into."

Owen frowned. "Won't that use up all your mana?"

"That's what's great about this. I can just use the mana from the vault. Can you hand me another towel, please?"

Owen handed her a fresh towel from the duffel bag he was carrying for her.

They decided to take a look around the market before moving on to another area. Seth was glad Mau was content to lay on his shoulder and gave her a little head scratch. She was very interested in everything around them, though sometimes she seemed to be staring very intently at nothing. Seth wasn't concerned about that though, cats did that all the time.

Booth was unexpectedly clumsy though. He kept bumping into people or letting people bump into him.

Or, that was what Seth thought until Blaise called him out.

"Did you really just do that?" Blaise said to him.

"Do what?" Booth asked.

"I saw that. You just took a knife from that guy. It had a red handle," Blaise said angrily.

"I did not." Booth showed his empty hands. "I'm not a thief."

"You got pockets," Blaise said. "Show them."

"I don't have to show you anything. But you know what? Just to prove it, did you mean this?" Booth took out a smooth red stone. "This is mine, and it's just a fiddle stone. Something to play with."

Blaise frowned suspiciously.

"I really don't like what you're accusing me of. I thought we were friends," Booth said.

They glared at each other. There was a long, uncomfortable moment. Seth didn't know if he should be defending Booth because Seth hadn't seen him steal anything, or if he should support Blaise because she had seen something.

"Blaise!" Duvessa exclaimed.

Blaise turned her glare to Duvessa. "What?"

"You're not dripping!" Duvessa said. "You're almost dry!"

Blaise looked down at herself and ran a hand through her still damp hair. No water dripped from her hair. And when she shook her hand, she didn't fling water everywhere.

"It's working. It's working!" Blaise grabbed her new pendant and closed her eyes.

Duvessa grabbed her in a hug, then let her go. "Oh no!"

"Now what?" Blaise asked.

"Your clothes," Duvessa said.

"What's wrong with my clothes?"

"They're wet. We need to go buy new ones! Right now. Let's go shopping."

Duvessa glanced at Booth as she and Blaise headed to another market. Owen picked up the duffel bag of towels and followed.

Seth waited a minute with Booth. He wondered what he should do. He didn't know anything about Booth's situation. He didn't know if Booth had actually stolen anything. He didn't know if there was another reason Blaise would accuse Booth of theft. He wasn't good enough friends with either of them yet to really make a call on who he would want to side with. Duvessa had provided an out for both of them.

Maybe he didn't need to make a decision just yet. He'd let the situation develop a bit more. He could always decide later.

"You coming?" he asked Booth.

"Should I?" Booth sounded skeptical.

Seth watched the others get further away and shrugged. "Come if you want," he said before following the others.

Booth hesitated another moment and then followed.

The girls had found a clothier on the main street and left Owen standing outside. Seth took a look inside. There were some premade clothes on racks, and pinned to the walls were other styles that could be made to order. There was a dressing room across from a service counter and an exit into what was probably a back alley.

"Animals outside," the clerk said firmly. She waved at Reginald who was flying in circles inside the store. "This thing and the cat. Outside, please."

Reginald dutifully swept out on his next circuit. Mau jumped down and wandered out too.

"This one has fur! It's so fluffy! You have to try this on," Duvessa sounded more excited about the clothes than Blaise.

Blaise took Duvessa's offerings and dutifully entered the dressing room. Seth had no interest in watching the girls shop, so he went outside where Owen and Booth were having a low conversation. They quieted when he approached, so Seth decided to keep walking. He hated the awkwardness.

Seth looked around at the other storefronts on the street. There was a narrow alley that divided the clothier from a cobbler next door. Seth was looking down that alley when he saw the back end of an unusually fancy carriage for a back alley.

Reginald suddenly started squawking in alarm, intermixed with cries of "Blaise! Taken!"

Duvessa ran out the front of the store. "Somebody grabbed Blaise! They took her out the back!"

The carriage Seth had spotted took off at high speed.