“Are you going to have something to eat?” Calavia asked as she reached to fill a second bowl with some of the soup from the night before.

“Yes, thank you.” I smiled and took the second bowl and began warming it up with my pyromancy as Calavia took a seat at the table. When my soup was ready I followed.

For a handful of minutes we enjoyed the quiet of the early morning and the well made soup.

“Your cooking has gotten even better.” Calavia began while almost done with her own bowl. “This soup tastes almost as good as when we ate it last night.”

“I certainly hope so.” I chuckled. “I have been cooking for as long as I can remember.

Within just another minute I was done with my own bowl and I took both to the kitchen area to clean up. With little effort I conjured up some water and cleaned up any leftover soup sticking to the sides of the bowls and tossed it outside, it quickly dispersed into the cold and was no longer an issue. WIth that I returned the bowls to their place in the cupboards and turned back to Calavia.

“So, did you have anything in mind you wanted to do today?” Calavia gave a mischievous smile and pulled out a small pouch of coins from her pocket. At first I wasn’t all that worried, but when she opened it I saw the glistling of gold coins.

“I was thinking of doing some shopping today, and I was thinking it would be nice you came along with me to help decide on what looks nice.”

Though my expression was normal internally I was worried. For the most part shopping with Calavia has been a boring yet not very long task, however instead of the mix of copper and silver pieces she instead had a pouch full of gold. At first I considered just saying no, but Calavia likely wouldn’t be very happy with that answer.

“What were you thinking of buying today?” I internally congratulated myself for the question as it would give me more information to decide on my answer.

“I was thinking about a new robe or two, something that befits a proper pyromancer or healer. Then I was thinking about getting it enchanted at the mages guild.”

‘Fuck!’ I internally screamed. ‘Shopping for those robes will be long enough on its own assuming she doesn’t get something custom made, and that isn’t even considering how long it will take to decide upon enchantments.’

“Really? Do you already have a place in mind you want to look for robes or are you looking for suggestions?”

“I already have a few places in mind, but if we don’t find what I am looking for then I will be open to ideas.”

‘Ok not the worst outcome.’ I relaxed as the possibility of walking around the cold streets was quickly crushed. ‘I just hope we aren't going to that store with all the bright colored clothes again, that place smelled weird.’

“Alright, when did you want to leave?”

Calavia smiled at my answer and quickly stood up. “In just a few minutes. I need to do up my hair quickly before we go out into public.” Calavia didn’t wait any longer and left for the small bathroom and closed the door behind her.

‘But you are likely to have your hood up for most of the trip.’ I thought to myself as I looked between the closed door and the window, the sound of the wind still clear.

While I waited for Calavia to clean and dress herself I did the same by wiping myself off with some conjured water and finding a decent outfit to wear that would also keep me warm. When Calavia had eventually exited the bathroom I was wearing a simple grey robe that matched the winter guild cloak and some thick brown pants.

Calavia while in the bathroom had changed into a pretty light blue cloak and a matching simple white robe and pants.

“I don’t really see why you like shopping so much. You have so many different outfits already, I honestly don’t see how you can keep them all.”

“But shopping for the clothes is half the fun, and doing it with someone you care about makes the clothes just that much more important.” Calavia said as she walked right up to me and gave me a big hug.

*********

“What about this one Arthur?” Calavia asked as she stepped outside the small dressing room. She had a pretty light blue robe on that was designed more like a dress than a typical mage robe. It looked nice on her, but I wasn't certain it would fit with her style.

“It looks nice.” I quickly answered and Calavia smiled. “However this doesn’t really fit your style. How often do you think you would wear something like this?”

Calavia’s face sifted from surprise to understanding as she thought about what I said.

“Good point.” She muttered as she looked down on the dress-like robe. “Good thing I have a few more picked out.” Without any hesitation she quickly darted back into the dressing room, from the outside I could hear the shuffling of clothes as she tried another on.

Another half hour passed as Calavia tried on a variety of different robes and other pieces of apparel that she found interesting, and I at her request gave her my opinion on the clothes. When we eventually left the store she had bought two robes that she really liked. The first was a simple light grey robe, the second was a far more exquisite and expensive grey robe that was more than befitting of a proper guild mage. From there we walked through the cold late winter streets towards the mages guild.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

The first thing the both of us noticed as we approached was the lack of a long line up like there usually was during the day, and when we entered the building we saw it was mostly empty aside from a few of the common folk seeking magical help and the occasion mage walking to and from the underground and upstairs.

Within a handful of minutes we found our way to the magic item hall, while Calavia spoke with the mage working I looked around the room at some of the magic items on display.

The first that caught my eye was a handful of small orbs roughly the size of an eye. The small orb glowed with a soft light orange light as it sat in its case. Taking a look at the label it read ‘Lesser Fire Orb’.

Unaware what that meant I looked to the mage working and saw he was still very busy with helping Calaiva, so instead I continued looking around.

The second item that caught my eye was a wand that looked to be made from a light brownish stone-like material. The wand was about a foot in length and on the very end was a green orb or gem of some kind. The label on the case read ‘ Lesser Geomancy Wand’.

Next to the wand was a variety of other wands for each of the other evocations, one for pyromancers, one for hydromancers, and another for aeromancers. Interestingly enough the pyromancer wands had something that resembled the lesser fire orbs on the end.

‘Must be some sort of focus or amplifier specific to pyromancy. It is likely the same for each of the other three wands and the little orb on the end.’ I thought to myself as I looked between the pyromancer wands and geomancer wands. ‘One of these might make a good gift for Calavia, and the other might be nice to have for myself.’

Taking a look at the prices I felt my soul gasp in surprise at the price of each wand. ‘25 gold pieces per wand! Dear gods! No wonder mages charge so much money for their services. I could easily buy two and a half houses in the southern district for this amount of money. I guess I should consider myself lucky that I have the money to afford something like this.’

When I looked back to the mage and Calavia she was handing over her two new robes to be enchanted. I walked right next to her as she was smiling. “So what types of enchantments did you order?” I asked after a second of standing next to her.

“Just some mana storage for each. Fifteen units to be exact. That way I have more mana to cast more spells.”

I nodded and listened as Calavia talked about how much she paid to have her new robes enchanted. Eventually the mage returned with a receipt and a date in which the robes would be ready to be picked up.

With that Calavia started walking towards the door more than ready to get back home. I however had a few questions to ask about the two wands.

“Excuse me, I have a few questions about those wands on the other side of the room. Specifically the pyromancy and geomancy wands.” Calavia stopped in her tracks and turned to watch as I and the mage spoke.

“Of course sir.” The mage said in a half exhausted tone. “What do you want to know?”

“What exactly do the wands do?” I asked. “I understand they are designed for specific magic types, but what exactly do they do for those types of spells?”

“Well they do reduce the mana consumption of all spells below the third tier by one unit of mana, and manipulation is usually reduced by around ten percent as long as the wand has mana stored within them. They also boost the power of those types of spells by around ten percent, though that mostly depends on how much experience the user has with wands and other magic foci.”

“I was also wondering about the price of the wands. Why exactly are they being sold for 25 gold coins? Are they particularly hard to make?”

“With sufficient experience, no.” The mage quickly replied. “The biggest cost of creating these types of wands is the material cost, specifically the petite mana stones which usually sell for anywhere from eight to ten gold coins each.”

“In that case I will be buying two wands. One lesser geomancy wand, and one lesser pyromancy wand.”

“Very well. Do you have the money with you or do you wish to pay through a bank account?”

“I have the money with me.” I answered as I reached into my dimensional bag and started counting out the coins. When I counted out the fifty coins I placed them on the counter and the mage quickly took them before writing me a receipt and stepping out and collecting the wands from their case. In a minute he returned back behind the counter and handed me both of the wands.

“Will that be all for today?”

“Yes it will be.” I answered and followed a confused Calavia out the door.

********

“So why did you buy those wands?” Calavia asked the moment we were outside of the guild and anyone who might be listening.

“One of them is for me.” I said as I raised the geomancy wand in my right hand. “And the other one is for you.” I said as I handed the pyromancy wand to her.

Calavia took the wand and for a few seconds her mind went blank. Eventually she was able to process the gift I had given her and a smile slowly formed on her lips.

“You remembered I specialized in pyromancy.” She managed to say as she tried to hide her feelings regarding the wand, but I could tell she liked it by the way she held the wand the same way she would hold a patient in the clinic when they needed help. She ran her hands up and down the wooden shaft that looked like it had been charred by fire like it was the most valuable thing in the world.

“Don’t lose it.” I half joked. “I might have been able to spend 25 gold pieces on that once, but I doubt I would be able to afford replacing one several times.”

We returned home with little else said between us, we mostly just enjoyed each other's company as we kept ourselves warm with pyromancy.

The remainder of the day was spent with each other, we did some studying and then practiced our magic. For the time being we were focusing on restoration magic, our practicing mostly consisted of casting as many of the healing and diagnostic spells that we knew of on each other and slowly improving.

When lunch eventually rolled around we each had another bowl of soup, when we were done we went back to studying and practicing. The same was done for dinner and when the night was late we climbed into bed to sleep.

But before I could manage to sleep Calavia spoke up.

“Arthur?” She asked, her voice soft and tired.

“What is it?” I asked half tempted to turn over to see her.

“How long do you think you will be leaving the city for, once winter is over?”

“To be honest I don’t think I will be coming back for a while.” I answered, yet I had the feeling that it wasn’t really the answer she was hoping for.

“Would you be willing to take me with you?” I paused for a moment as I understood the question and what Calavia was asking me. Quickly I sat up and turned to face her.

“Are you alright?” I asked half worried Calavia was going through something. But as she came into my view I could see she was just snuggled up next to me with a small amount of exhaustion on her face.

“Yes, I am fine. I was just thinking about how lonely it would be to make that journey on your own, and I don’t think you deserve to be alone.”

“But what about your life here?” I looked at Calavia with a face of shock and worry. “Don’t you have family or friends here in the city? Why would you want to give that all up?”

“No family, and not many friends anymore. But I have you with me, and I don’t think I want to lose you.”