Like the buildings around it, the shop was essentially undamaged.

It didn’t have the shelving of a modern store. Instead, there was a shelving unit, probably a bookcase, behind the long counter filled with glass vials; other than that and a small bookcase with books and scrolls, everything was on (or in a few cases under) tables. Nothing was covered in plastic; instead, things that needed to be packaged were covered in paper or contained in glass. Most items were simply out in the open instead of in a package of any sort. Even the tables themselves were well-made wooden furniture rather than fold-out plywood with a picture glued on top.

It was the sort of store that Serenity had seen many times as Vengeance. This one seemed a bit more specialized than most, since he didn’t see any materials on his first look; everything was a finished product. There was a small display of wood-and-yarn charms, but no wood or yarn; all the paper he saw was already part of something or being used as a label. There weren’t even any conventional pens, though Serenity did see some that were clearly enchanted.

Naturally, Serenity headed over to a stack of small, bound booklets sitting on one of the tables. There were at least six different groupings of booklets on different tables; they had to be either miniature catalogs - some places would do that when they offered services such as spellcasting - or a small ward, enchantment, or rune that needed to be applied to something else to work properly. They definitely weren’t full ward kits; those would require additional supplies. There were some boxes under one of the tables that might be ward kits.

They didn’t interest Serenity, but he did make a mental note that he should stop by a store that sold material supplies while he was in Takinat. Really, he should probably stop by several; it was unlikely that one would have everything he wanted in the quantities he was going to need.

He was tired of finding slightly-less-optimal substitutions on Earth; more importantly, there were some that required extensive preparation to have their full effect. He could only prepare them himself if he had time, like for the ritual he set up to allow Ita to bring down the Tower of Broken Swords on Aeon. He knew how to prepare his own ingredients, but he didn’t have the Path Skills that let a specialist stabilize them for long periods of time.

If he bought them here, he could have the best of both worlds: the right ingredients, stabilized to lose potency far slower than normal. If he then put them through his Rift into the Origin, they’d probably absorb Potential as well; he’d need to be careful with that, but if his guess about what happened with Ceney was right, that would be almost entirely helpful for whatever he did with the ritual supplies.

Come to think of it, he should pick up some more standard runecrafting paper and ink. Some of it would be for himself, but he also wanted to give some to Aki. She’d know what to do with it; she’d almost certainly appreciate it for her crafting area, especially if she was able to reproduce it.

While he was buying things, he should also pick up some live plants. Animals were probably a bad idea, but perhaps he could get some useful herbs? There were a number of plants that Earth simply didn’t have, because the mana level (and possibly essence level, now that he knew about it) were too low. They’d be useful.

Actually, he should check with Gaia as well. The mana level was rising rapidly; she might want some of the other creatures that thrived in a higher-mana environment. He should check for plants on Tzintkra, as well; they’d have some specialty plants, probably, that required a higher level of ambient Death than he’d find here on Asihanya in anything other than isolated pockets. Given Earth’s higher level of Death, some of them would probably do well on Earth as well.

Maybe he should send someone else to check on Tzintkra. Legion, perhaps? That way he’d be able to talk to her while she searched.

Serenity sorted through the stack on the table while he thought about what he should buy. The first stack was just examples of spells that could be cast; while cosmetic changes were probably useful for people who didn’t travel into dangerous areas, none of them were interesting to Serenity. He didn’t need longer hair, adjustable fingernail patterns, or an eye color that matched his clothing.

Actually, that last option might be useful if he could figure out a better way to not have horns in his human shape. He didn’t really like maintaining the shapeshift that pulled out any of his buried heritages. Oh, and he should check with Honoria while he was on Asihanya; he ought to ask her to make some more of the long-term amulets, just in case.

When he reached the spells that were clearly intended to aid in the bedroom experience, Serenity set the pile down. He didn’t think his performance in bed was lacking, and as far as he knew, Rissa was happy as well. That was all that he needed.

The next pile was more promising, even if it was still brochures for various spells. These were defensive in nature, with a few that would aid in healing. None were intended to last for a long time, but Serenity could see why they looked well-used, even though several of the brochures were repeated. A spell that would provide a few minutes’ worth of protection was very worthwhile in a war zone like Takinat was now, even if the spell had to be renewed at least once a week even if it wasn’t used.

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“Finding something you like?”

The voice came from an older gentleman with thinning hair that was not yet fully white on the other side of the table; he wore ordinary clothes covered by a well-worn cloth apron with a large pocket at the front. It looked like a painter’s apron, but the lack of paint smears told Serenity that it was probably a shopkeeper’s apron instead.

Serenity hadn’t seen anyone when he entered the shop, but this must be the owner. “Nothing for me, but it’s good to see what you sell. Your roof said you do runes, as well?”

The man grinned. “I do. I’m afraid you started with the wrong table, however; the examples are over there.” He waved at the table all the way on the other side of the room. “If there’s something specific you already know you want, however, I can help you; the examples are only the most common things I make runic charms for.”

Runic charms weren’t what Serenity was interested in. They were little more than reusable spells that even someone without training in magic could use; if they were better than that, there were other words for them. Still, if the shopkeeper was the person who made them, he might at least know something. There wasn’t a single word for “airplane” in Bridge, but Serenity was sure he’d be understood anyway. “I’m not looking for a charm, but do you know anything about the flyers that are attacking Takinat?”

The shopkeeper’s smile wilted. Serenity couldn’t tell if it was at the loss of a sale or the mention of the attacks.

Fortunately, Rissa was at the next table over, examining some enchanted glassware. She looked up and shook her head at Serenity; the shopkeeper had his back to her. “We’re new to Takinat,” she explained. “So we wanted to know more about what’s happening. I was going to ask after I finished looking, but apparently someone is impatient.”

Serenity shrugged. If Rissa had asked him to wait, he’d have waited. Perhaps she was simply using that tone of voice to give him an excuse? If that was the reason, he’d better take advantage of it. “Anything you know,” he agreed, “especially if it’s about that symbol on its undercarriage. It looked runic to me, but I couldn’t identify the root symbology.”

“Symbol?” The shopkeeper looked confused. “I don’t know anything about a symbol on the attacking flyers. Even if I did,” he sighed and shook his head. “You’ll need to show me your Guild card before I can talk runes with you about anything more than what they’ll do for you. Runes are dangerous; they’re not like enchantments where a small change just makes them weaker. It can completely change the meaning.”

That wasn’t entirely true; Serenity had seen enchantments explode if they were ill-formed and most poorly-made runes would fail to function rather than cause bad consequences. That was one of the things he’d taken into consideration when he designed his own runic language; there were no single-point mistakes that could make another rune. The simplest runes had nothing close to them at all, while the more complex runes would require two or three small mistakes before they even became a simpler rune.

Of course, a single large mistake could still turn one rune into another, but there wasn’t really any way to prevent that. Serenity had been forced to throw out large sections of his script more than once when he found something that was too close to an overlap; he didn’t think it was possible to completely prevent things like mirroring or additional lines from changing the meaning.

Some languages were worse about it than others; with how concerned the shopkeeper was, he probably knew one that had some common similar symbols. There were symbol sets that did that deliberately, since the common symbols were also the easiest to check since you used them the most often, but it wasn’t a practice Serenity liked.

Serenity started to reach for his Guild card; it wasn’t until he found the lack of a pocket in the side of his shirt that he remembered it wasn’t in the side pocket where Vengeance had always kept it. He didn’t have a Guild card; he hadn’t bothered to stop by a Runeworkers’ Guild on Tzintkra to get one and Zon didn’t have a Runeworkers’ Guild. Serenity wasn’t sure if Lyka did or not; he simply knew there hadn’t been one on any of the tours. He hadn’t thought about the lack.

It seemed likely that there was one on Lyka, but it didn’t matter now. There would definitely be one in Takinat; otherwise, the shopkeeper wouldn’t have pushed the Guild connection so hard. “Where can I find the Guild?”

The shopkeeper relaxed a bit more; in fact, he even grinned. “Lost your card, have you? Well, I got into trouble a bit at your age myself. The Guild’s not far; when you leave the store, turn left and walk two blocks, then turn right. You’ll be able to see the Guild building from there; it’s the sky-blue front with deep green trim. The roof has a mana-gathering array, so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding it.”

The shopkeeper then turned around to face Rissa. “Now, young lady, is there something I can help you find?”

Serenity gaped at the shopkeeper for a moment. Just how old did he think Serenity was? At your age?

Serenity shook himself, reminded of how often he’d glanced at himself in the mirror and seen someone who he knew was himself but who didn’t look quite right over the past few years. He did look younger than he should; that, plus the fact that he was carefully restraining his aura, meant that the shopkeeper didn’t have a good way to gauge his age. He was going to have to get used to it.

Serenity moved on to the rest of the shop; he might not really be interested in the runes or the spells, but he should probably pick up some of the other stuff. There were a few holes in the camping gear he’d brought from Earth; a new sleeping bag in particular would be useful. He didn’t see one here, but there were some enchanted blankets that might work.