Cough.

"Mmm..." I drowsily sit up in bed. It's still a while before first bell, but Myra was going to wake me up soon. I rub my eyes, wondering what woke me up early. I sit for a bit, but I have no idea.

Then it comes again. A muffled cough that feels much louder in our tiny, quiet room. I get up and walk over to Mary's bed, where she eventually coughs in her sleep again. I was worried about her a while ago, but I thought she was feeling better. Is she sick again? What do you do to help sick people? Last time it was Eve who took care of her, so I quietly shake Eve a little.

"Hrm?" she grumbles at me as she rouses. "Aria?"

"Sorry, Eve," I apologize quietly. "I think Mary is sick." That gets her out of bed very fast. She quietly comes over to Mary's bed with me, and wakes her up gently. She's confused at first as she sits up, but then she looks up at Eve.

"Hey, Mary, how are you feeling?"

"Not great," Mary admits with another small cough.

With a hand to her forehead, Eve tells her, "You have a bit of a fever. You should stay in bed today, alright?"

"Yeah, I know."

"It doesn't feel too bad, you should be over it quick."

"Thanks Eve," Mary says quietly.

"It's no problem," she smiles gently and rubs Mary's head. "Now, back to sleep. Sorry for waking you up."

"Alright." Mary closes her eyes, quiet except for a few coughs here and there. Eve keeps rubbing her head, waiting for her breathing to deepen with sleep, before turning back to me.

"Thanks, Aria. I'll keep an eye on her today."

"Is there anything you need help with?" I ask. I don't know, what do you even do for people when they're sick? Marrianne just let me sleep a lot, fed me, and helped me get around when I was too weak to do anything myself.

"No, I'll be fine. Just going to watch her, see if I can get something for her to eat. Thanks." She gets up, rubbing my head a little too, before returning to her own bed. Since it's still early, she lies down to get some more sleep before breakfast.

For me, it's my usual time that I get up, so I wake up Emily to go downstairs for our usual morning routine. Emily's up to the letter 'O' already, so that's good...

----------------------------------------

A little while later, I get to the refinery with John. I'm glad he isn't coughing anymore, but after seeing Mary get sick, I tried to check his temperature on the way over, like Eve did. I... thought he felt normal at least, it was kind of hard for me to tell though, but he didn't feel really hot or anything. He said he feels fine, so I guess I'll just have to go with that.

I sit for a bit and eat breakfast. Still a pretty normal appetite. I really wonder if I'll ever figure out why I was eating so much for a while there...

When Claire arrives, we share our usual curtsy greeting, then she looks down at me and purses her lips slightly, noting that I'm a bit more dirty than usual. "A-ah!" I realize aloud. "Sorry, I went to the blacksmith yesterday, so I got some soot on me. I'll wash myself again today," I promise.

"Good, let's go," she urges me on, and we go to begin my lessons.

Today, she starts off with more economics, talking about how businesses establish trade between cities and countries, how those agreements are drawn up, and contracts are formed... It's a ton of information, even if like everything she's taught me so far, it's just the most basic overview.

For the first time, she actually takes out some things for me to read about the topic. Just a couple sheets of paper with some information written on them. Judging by the handwriting, she wrote them out herself. They're just barely within what I'm able to read, with lots of large words I have to ask about, but I manage to get through it.

After we've just skimmed over the basics of that, I'm already swimming in my own head, trying to cram it all in so I remember everything.

Then Claire puts away the papers, and changes topics.

"We'll talk about civics next. You should remember, civics concerns how governments are run. Of course, there is a lot to get into, all the way from the management of the smallest farming villages, to the policies of entire countries, but we'll be starting with the basics," she begins. I gulp a little, readying myself for another overwhelming torrent of information.

"To start, I'll begin with the people who are actually in charge. Those would be?"

"The nobles," I answer.

"Correct. Now, do you know about the noble structure?" I immediately shake my head, no one ever taught me anything about that. "Alright, listen closely. There are some small differences, but for the most part, all four countries, Melphira, Shonamakase, Bromunst, and Eschalle, have the same basic structure of government."

I blink. "Umm, what about Liantra?" I ask. As far as I'm aware, those five are the only major countries on Loqaterna, is that one different?

"Well, Liantra is... strange. It is ruled by a monarch, but the nobility there doesn't work like the rest of the world. They are a mysterious people though, so I'm sorry, but I do not know much beyond that."

"O-oh, ok..." I respond stiffly. After teaching me so much, I kind of had the impression like Claire just knew everything, but obviously she can't know everything, just what she's been taught. Which is still a lot.

"As for the other countries, they all have monarchs." Monarch, a single ruler with absolute power, I remind myself of that word. Though, I'm still a little unclear on how they can have 'absolute power' if they're just a human... "Bromunst, Melphira, and Shonamakase all have kings, while Eschalle calls their ruler an 'emperor.' The titles are different, but for all intents and purposes, they are functionally identical."

She pauses briefly, waiting for more questions, and after some thought, I ask, "Why? Why do they have a different word for their monarch?"

"Ah, it has to do with how their country was founded. The full meaning of 'emperor' can be thought of as 'king of kings,' which is essentially how Eschalle rose to power and established his country. According to historical records, he used his vast wealth and connections to indebt numerous small nation states throughout the land that eventually made up Eschalle, making him the 'king' of the numerous kings living there."

"Oh, ok, that makes sense." Still, I remember what Eryk told me about Eschalle, how he invented the entire metal refining industry himself. He made enough money from that to create one of the four main countries ruling the world?! That's incredible!

"Now, back to the topic." I take a moment to refocus. We tend to get off-topic a lot because of all my questions. "The four main powers all have single monarchs that wield absolute governmental power. What that means," she pauses for emphasis, "is that if they make a decision, no one can challenge it. If the king says to go to war, you go to war. Or he says you're in charge, you are in charge. No questions." I nod slowly while listening. So that's what absolute power means for kings...

"Now, that is the very top of the government, the royalty. I know it's hard to remember a lot of names without context, but these ones are important. The king of Melphira is named Estal Melphira." Estal Melphira, I repeat silently. "His wife, the queen, is named Hisafatania Melphira." Hisa... huh?

"Sorry, could you repeat that?" I ask.

"Hisafatania," she says, slower this time. "As you can probably guess, she's from Shonamakase. A political marriage to solidify the alliance between the two countries," she notes. Oh, yeah, that explains the name. I nod a few times, repeating the names and trying to drill them in so I remember them. Wait, what was that about a 'political marriage?'

"Now, moving past the royalty-"

"Ah, umm, wait, uhh..." I interrupt, waving my hands a little, before remembering that's not proper and immediately drawing them back in. "I'm sorry, what was that about 'political marriage?'" I ask.

While she looks slightly displeased with the way I interrupted her, Claire still explains. "By having royalty from either country marry, it creates an alliance. Neither country wants to fight the other, because they have been joined like a family."

"Oh, I get it..." I mumble. Then I nod and say thanks.

"Now, as I was saying. When we move past royalty, the noble hierarchy of the four main powers is very similar. There are five ranks of nobility. Each has specific responsibilities and powers that we will get into in more detail later. For now, the basic idea to remember is that first rank nobles wield more authority than second rank nobles, who wield more than third rank, and so on."

This time when she pauses, I don't have any more questions, and lower my head, somewhat bashful after my last interruption. She goes on. "The names of noble ranks are somewhat different from one country to the next, but in Melphira, they go like this, from first rank down to fifth rank." She clearly lists them off one by one. "Archduke. Duke. Count. Baron. Elector." I slowly repeat the names, trying to memorize them.

It helps a little when I remember the one I know of already, Roger Brennen, the ruler of our city. I remember hearing he's a duke, so that makes him second rank nobility. That's pretty high up, right?

I nod slowly, and say, "Ok, I think I understand."

"Good." She smiles faintly, and goes on, skimming over more basic information, like how third rank and above own land, while fourth rank is responsible for managing land but doesn't own any, and fifth rank don't get to manage land at all. The lesson goes on a while longer, and she just begins to touch on some sort of difference between titled and blooded nobles, before the fifth bell rings, and we break for lunch.

----------------------------------------

When we start back up after lunch, rather than continuing on with civics, Claire moves to Ternian, continuing to teach me a whole slew of new words. How many words could there possibly be? Before I know it, it's the eighth bell, and my classes end for the day.

"You did well today," Claire says as she gets up. "Today, your homework is to review what we covered this morning, especially civics. Things such as government and nobility are so far above your station, you may have a lot of trouble remembering them compared to other topics that you actually interact with in your own life."

Claire gives me a strangely knowing look, saying, "However, you should do your best with them, even if they seem unimportant or unrelated to you. Understanding civics will give you a better idea of why the country around you operates the way it does. Uneducated peasants may see the actions of those above them as complete mysteries, but with a solid understanding of civics, you may be able to better understand things, and inform your own actions better based on your own improved knowledge."

I have to sit and think about that for a while, trying to understand. I... think I get it, sort of, so I nod slowly. "Ok, I'll remember that," I answer. I would have done my best anyway, because I promised to do that with everything she taught me, but it's good to know the importance of remembering civics in particular.

Without saying much more, Claire leaves for the day. I still have my Saraday's work with Eryk. After I sit and just let all of the day's lessons settle in my mind, I look over at him, but he just says that until the blacksmith finishes with the coil, there isn't much to do.

"Huh?" What does he mean there isn't anything to do? "What about the sword? I never found out what it was made of."

"That's fine, what you found was much more important. We don't actually need the exact composition of the sword, we may be able to make something even better," Eryk explains.

"Oh." I didn't think of that. You could say that the sword was just the starting point, what he needed to mimic to figure out the method of making better metals. Now that he knows the method, he doesn't need the sword itself, that's why he already got rid of it. Since it was apparently dangerous to keep around.

"Besides," Eryk suddenly continues, "you said you have something coming up. Whatever it is that might be dangerous. Now that I have a little more insight into the... gravity of your circumstances, I want to ensure you have some more time to prepare. You said that it's going to be Shanaday?"

I look to the side a little. I know he thinks it relates to Reena and I feel bad, even for just leaving it as a misunderstanding, but it's better this way. "Yeah, I asked her and that's what she said." That is true. But then I bite my lip, staring at the floor. "Hey Eryk. If I..." I gulp and make myself say it. "If I don't come back this time, you won't be able to get any magnets. Won't that be a serious problem for you?"

He pauses for a long time. "Yes, it would," he finally admits. "I've been going into this with the expectation that you will be around for it, but..." he sighs deeply, pausing for a while longer. I glance up, and the look on his face makes me think he's searching for the right words. "I care about my business, but I would be a fool not to realize that I can't stand up to forces of nature and the- the plans of the gods."

He looks squarely at me, but I still can't bring myself to meet his gaze. "I know that what you are tied up in is beyond me, so I know I can only rely on the good fortune of your continued presence to push forward my plans to the degree I am now. If as you say, you do not return, then I would not abandon my plans, but I would need to source magnetite magnets from significantly more expensive and uncertain suppliers, which would undoubtedly set me back significantly. Both financially, and in terms of time to production."

He stops, and I take time to digest his words. So even without me, he would still try to produce star metals. But it would be hard, and expensive, and take a lot of time...

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"D-do you want a backup plan?" I ask, shoulders tensing up even considering this.

Eryk raises an eyebrow, but I can feel his eyes scanning me, he can tell how nervous I am. "What sort of plan?"

"I could..." I squeeze my eyes shut and push the words out in a rush. "Teach you how to make magnets."

He doesn't say anything. When I peek an eye open, he's staring at me with his mouth wide open. Then, "You can do that? But I thought-"

"I figured out how."

He hesitates, then asks, "Just to be sure, you aren't just talking about the magnets, are you?"

I slowly shake my head and answer, "I mean all of it. Well, probably not everything, but you would definitely be able to make magnets."

...

There's a lengthy pause, before Eryk heaves a deep, tired sigh. "Aria... I'm sorry but, you aren't that stupid, are you?" It sounds like an insult, but he looks so sad when he says it... "If you teach me how to use your abilities, I don't need you anymore. You can't just... make yourself unnecessary to people, or they'll betray you."

I stare at the ground. "I know that. But... But you have these big things you're working toward. Helping you is more important to me than, well... being important to you..."

Eryk lowers his face into his hands. He's silent for a long time before saying, "Fine." I gulp, shuddering a little as I take a half step forward, then he speaks again. "I care too much about my business to say no. But this is just a backup," he adds pointedly, "in case something happens to you." He looks back up, meeting my eyes. "As long as you're still here, I'll keep relying on you. You're a brilliant kid, and I do care about you, Aria. Far too much to just throw you away for no reason."

"Th-thanks... Thank you." I squeeze the words out. I swallow a lump in my throat, and step forward again.

"So, how does this work?" Eryk asks, slowly recovering his composure.

"I... well, I just have to show you how to do it. But uhh, there's some more to it than that. I have to do some stuff to your soul, but I won't be changing anything important. N-not that your soul isn't important!" I start to ramble as I grip the edge of my shirt and my nerves end up just twisting all of my words around as they come out.

"Aria, slow down," Eryk puts up a hand to stop me. "It's fine, just calm down, alright?"

"C-calm, right, I..." I have to turn away and take a few deep breaths. Eryk already said that he'll keep me around even after I teach him. He really does care about me. I don't need to be so nervous anymore. It's hardly even registered yet, that he said he really cares about me. I'm not just something he needs to help his business. I mean, of course he cares about me, just look at everything he's done for me already, things that never had to do with work, like how he feeds me all the time and lets me play with his niece, and gives me days off to play...

After just breathing for a bit, I manage to bring my tangled thoughts and feelings back in order. "Ok, right, calm..." I mumble. Then I slowly blow out a long breath, let my tensed up shoulders relax, and release the hem of my shirt.

Turning back to Eryk, my heart has finally calmed down. "Ok, I think I'm better now. What I was trying to say was that I learned some stuff about how souls work, and I used it to figure out how to teach other people to use mana. So I can teach you, but I need to mess with your soul to do it. But like I said, I don't need to change anything important. There's more involved in how a soul works than I realized before, part of it covers how you uhh, think and feel and do things, so I can teach you how to control mana by kind of... guiding you through it, through your soul, if that makes any sense?"

Eryk takes a few long moments to consider my very brief description of how it all works. Finally, he just asks, "Are there any risks?"

"I don't think so. I know that there is some way to make other, uhh, bigger changes to souls, but I haven't figured out any of that, and I don't think I could do it unintentionally. For the most part, it's kind of just a better method for telepathy."

"Telepathy..." Eryk repeats the word, thinking about it for a moment, before apparently remembering. "Ah, yes, that is an ability some magical creatures have, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's that mind-speaking thing I was trying to learn, Reena told me it's actually called telepathy."

"Right, right. So this... soul magic, it should be fine?"

"Soul magic?" I ask, narrowing my eyes as something catches in my memory.

"You just said it's an ability used by magical creatures, that makes it magic, no?"

I stop, blinking. Then I think aloud. "It does, doesn't it? I've actually been wondering about the difference between using mana and magic for a while, and I'm starting to think they might be the same..."

Eryk shrugs. "I don't know anything about how magic works, that's a completely unknown world to me."

"Yeah, I'll have to ask Reena about it later, see if she she can clear this up for me..." I swear the term 'soul magic' sounds familiar, where did I hear it before...? Wouldn't it be Reena herself? She's the only one I know who knows anything about this...

I shake my head, I'm getting off track. "Sorry, I got distracted. I just want to make sure you're fine with me using, uhh, soul magic on you."

"As long as you believe it's safe, I'm fine with it." He smirks a little. "I know how paranoid you are of trying things you're uncertain about after working with you."

"Heh," his comment makes me smile a little. "Yeah, I guess you're right about that. Alright, I'll start now. It might take a little while though. It's a bit, uhh, complicated. For me, anyway." Eryk just nods slightly, so I touch his hand, take a deep breath and close my eyes.

I reach inside Eryk, and... woah. "Uhh, wow. I didn't realize how much mana you could hold before," I gape. When I was trying telepathy, all I did was touch his outer barrier. I wasn't paying attention to the ridiculous amount of room inside of Eryk. Why does he have so much?

After a few tests pushing varying amounts of mana inside, he can hold... three... almost four times as much mana as I can!

I know I thought it before, but adults really do hold a lot more mana than children! Or at least... some. I'm reminded of John, who could only hold about as much as Emily. I touch Eryk's barrier again. Yeah, like last time, it's definitely somewhat soft. It must have to do with mana control. And maybe that affects how much a person can hold?

"Hey Eryk, how old are you?"

"Twenty seven," he answers easily.

"Twenty seven... that's... three point eight, three point nine times my age..." I do a few, somewhat more thorough tests, pushing specific amounts of mana into Eryk to get a better idea of his exact mana. It's just about sixteen point eight units. That's three point five times mine.

That's... pretty close actually. Our ages, compared to our mana... Could it just be based on age? That would be... zero point six seven units of mana per year for me, and zero point six two per year for Eryk. It's not exact, but if I go by the feel of his barrier, he should have less than me, so it basically matches up. So, age and... affinity? I think that's the word Reena used, how suited I was to something. So I guess I'd call it affinity for mana?

I'm not totally sure, but I'll go with that for now.

Looking back up from my thoughts, I address Eryk again. "Sorry, I'm, uhh, always getting sidetracked when I figure out new things..."

He chuckles, then says, "It's fine. The more you learn, the more you impress me."

That makes me smile a little. "Alright, I'll start now." He nods, and I get to it. Reaching inside, to his mana well, I find that it's really big. Much larger than most people or animals. Actually closer to a proper well than the tiny puddles inside most things. Reaching down, I stop. Since it takes a while, I should use absolute mana for this. I start to turn, then remember... Right, I dropped my nickel off at the blacksmith yesterday...

I could ask Eryk for some, but I don't want to use up any of this, especially when it's not for something work related... I guess I'll just do it normally then. Putting that out of mind, I reach down into Eryk's mana well, and connect to the barrier inside it. I do the same with my own.

Once that's done, I think at him. "Here, this is what uhh, soul telepathy is like. It works with words while, uhh, normal telepathy doesn't."

"Ah, I see," Eryk thinks back, and nods. He does think me calling the other 'normal' telepathy is amusing though.

"Ok, I'll start now." I close my eyes and take a breath. I feel Eryk's thoughts settle as he prepares. Then I start to think the instructions to him, like I did with Riko and Emily. Again, I start with the the way it worked for Riko, since I'm guessing Eryk's affinity is closer to hers than Emily's.

As I expected, it takes a while to alter the way it feels, getting it to work bit by bit. But my guess was right, because it's a lot easier than it was for Emily. Certain things come into focus, ways of getting the mana to move with his will all sliding into place one after another. Maybe I'm getting better at this, or maybe he's just that much more suited for controlling mana, but as soon as I've nailed down the basics, it's really simple to shift things here and there and refine the method until everything starts to flow correctly.

Surprisingly, I don't even need to pull away too much of the extra information that goes into all of it. I still don't think he'll be able to feel the mana, but his ability to control it should be much more natural and well controlled than Emily's.

Then, I'm finished. I pull away, letting out a shallow breath. "There, that should do it."

Eryk blinks a little. "Wow, that was... oddly straightforward. I see what you meant now, by 'showing me how to do it.' That's a very good way of explaining that feeling, actually."

"I'm not completely sure, I don't think I was able to get you to feel mana, right?"

"No, I still can't feel it, at least..." He squints a little. "Not directly, I don't think. But I can kind of... tell where it's concentrated, when I'm moving it around."

"Hmm, that's good." I take a big breath, then turn to look at the ingots up on the shelf near his desk. "I want to show you how to make a magnet with it, alright?"

"Yeah, sure." He grabs a couple ingots and circles his desk, setting them down on the table. I go over and instruct him. "So, you want to take the mollite, and push your mana through it so that it passes through the metal, and then back into you again. Be careful though, mollite will burn up almost all the mana you push through it," I warn him.

"You can hold a lot inside you, and your mana well is a decent size, I think... at least compared to other people. I'm... not entirely sure if it's safe for you to draw more mana from your well without hurting yourself though. I'm pretty sure when your well is full, it overflows into you over time, so that might be a safer way to do it."

I awkwardly scratch my head. "I'm... also not completely sure how you're supposed to tell when you've used up too much mana if you can't feel it... Just, uhh, try to be careful not to use too much at once. The number of magnets you can make in a short period of time might be kind of limited now that I think about it..."

As I talk and talk, Eryk just listens intently. "So, umm, when you touch the mollite, you can't actually feel the connection through it, can you?" I ask, and he shakes his head. "Hmm, well, you should still be able to push your mana through it. Let me just..." I touch his wrist and reach over, so I can watch him do it. "Alright, give it a try."

Eryk nods, and with a small visible effort, his jaw tightens, as he pushes. I see his mana move, somewhat clumsily, but it's definitely better than Emily's first attempt. He pushes some mana through the mollite, out of his palm, through the metal, then back into his fingers on the other end of the ingot.

"Yes, just like that," I say.

"Mm, I can sort of tell that there was a change," he comments. "Probably because there's less, like you said."

"The longer you keep pushing mana through, the more you'll use up. When you make magnets, you'll want to do it quickly, so you don't waste too much." He nods, and I take some time to direct him through how he should hold the two ingots near each other, and how he should move them from one end to another to get a magnet.

"Ah, that's right," I say when I notice the tiny bits of lightning mana he's getting back from the durite. "You have to be a little careful, making durite magnets will get you some lightning mana, and iron magnets will make earth. I don't know if you can really tell them apart from your own colorless though..."

Eryk thinks for a bit, before shaking his head. "No, I can't tell. I'm assuming they would accumulate over time?"

"Yeah, it would eventually become an issue, but I'm not sure how you would solve it if you can't tell them apart. The easiest way to change it back is the push it into your mana well, but if you don't know what to push in, that's not much help."

I think a bit more, before offering the only solution I can come up with, even if it's not great. "The way I used to convert mana might work, but it'll take a lot more time and effort, especially if you can't tell the mana apart. What you need to do is mix the mana together. If you mix the lightning or earth into colorless, it'll lose its color. You'll probably just have to keep mixing all of your mana together to get it to work though, so it's not a great solution..."

Eryk just shrugs. "Sounds doable. Remember what I said, this is all just in case you're not around any more. If everything goes well, I'll never even need to do it."

That makes me smile. "Thanks Eryk. Really, thank you for everything."

He ruffles my hair. "Oh come on, you just taught me how to use magical powers," he laughs, "I should be thanking you!"

I smile, cheeks warming a little at his sincere praise. "You're welcome." Then I remember to warn him, since he doesn't know everything like Emily does. "Oh, just remember, you definitely can't tell anyone about it. It will be really, really dangerous if anyone knows what you can do. And you still can't mention mana to anyone, alright?" I mean, even the fact that I'm able to teach normal people how to do something that only rail units should be capable of is kind of terrifying in its own way.

That brings up a thought that's been floating around the back of my head that I haven't really addressed. That's what our manastones are really for, isn't it? Not just changes to aging and emotions, their main purpose must be changing our souls so we can control mana. That's why they're called manastones, and that's what makes us rail units. It matches up with how I saw the stones embedded inside the rail units' souls, and why I'm still like this without one...

"Oh, absolutely," Eryk agrees immediately, breaking me out of that train of thought. "Mystical powers given to me by an angel of The Goddess of Knowledge?" he chuckles, with hints of both humor and worry. "I'm never telling a soul about this, as long as I live."

When he puts it that way...

I smile nervously and nod. "Good, thank you."

Still chuckling to himself, Eryk goes and puts his ingots back on his shelf, before turning back to me. "Now, is that everything for today?"

"Hmm..." I stop to think. Is there anything else? I let my thoughts trace over my general plans, and I actually do catch on one more thing. "Oh, right. Where can I get a blacksmith to forge something out of chromium?"

"Chromium? What do you need made out of that?" he asks, clearly confused.

"Nothing much, I'm mostly just trying to make all my metal easier to carry around. I asked a blacksmith to do a bunch of different metals, but he recommended I take the chromium to someone else."

"Ahh, that's understandable, lower class smiths probably don't have the forges necessary to work with it easily enough. Hmm, normally I'd send you to Ebbin, but he's probably still hammering his arms off for our other order. Besides, chromium sounds more like Norman's territory..." It sounds like he's thinking aloud for a moment, before he says, "I have a meeting planned for later, so I'll send you with one of the shopkeepers, is that alright?"

"Umm, ok?" I squeak back nervously. He's going to send me somewhere alone? I mean, I'll have someone from his shop with me, but not Eryk...

"Don't worry, it'll be fine as long as you're with someone from the shop. Do you have money with you?"

That one stops me. I don't normally bring money to work with me. No wait, I still have the money I put in my bag yesterday, don't I? I forgot to unpack it after my mini panic attack realizing I gave Gremory most of my metal... Mentioning none of this to Eryk, I just answer, "Yeah, I have some money."

"Good," he says, and rings the bell on his desk. When the door to the front shop opens, it's Isabelle who walks in. I immediately shrink away. Why is it always her? "Isa, bring Aria over to Montley Smithing," he instructs.

For just a moment, it looks like she's going to argue, eyebrows drawing together, and Eryk gives her a look that screams 'say something.' Then she deflates slightly. "Yes, sir."

As she begins to move toward the door to the hall, Eryk addresses me again. "I'll see you tomorrow, Aria. Have a nice day."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow," I reply.