The rest of the shopping felt as though it passed by more quickly – though perhaps it was simply that the rest of the gifts required less explanation.

They did visit beastkin-owned boutiques – Ebener picking out a dress for Aya at the first, one that would match the jewelry set Eweylona had bought previously. The second boutique had several items made of lace, though Kloy needed to commission something for his frame. Eweylona found a feathered cloak she thought would suit Meir’ril well, with cloth boots to match.

Jurao’s gift for Ayelma would be a saddle for her hornhound – one made with animal leather and fine designs. He was glad Eweylona and Ebener greatly approved of his choice – he often felt he was not very good at giving gifts. His gift for Malson would be a sword Feyl had already been working on for the man – an ice rapier to complement the fire one. But he was still uncertain what to get the rest of his partner’s family – including his partner.

Well, no, that was not strictly true – he had one of the Royal Guards accompanying them go back to the Gnarled Shoe and purchase the pendulum timekeeper for Ebener when he had a moment to sneak away. But that still left more without gifts than with them.

“Do not trouble yourself overly much about gifts, Jurao,” Eweylona said as Ebener shopped the wares of a perfumery.

“No,” Jurao asked, still considering his options.

“Was that a question?” the former queen smiled.

“Yes,” Jurao answered.

Eweylona chuckled, “You’ve already given our family so much – including paying for this trip. No one would be upset even if you did not get us gifts. I can see you want to, and I would not try to dissuade you – but I know we will all be very happy with whatever you choose.”

Jurao considered this and nodded, “Thank you. But I do wish to give gifts which are suitable to everyone’s interests.”

“It would be a simple matter for Meir’ril if there was an artefact shop,” Eweylona sighed.

“Ah,” Jurao nodded, “I had forgotten, but there is.”

“Really?” Eweylona purred, “Have you been there before?”

“No,” the King replied, “But when I bought a cloak as a courtship gift for Braelin, I recalled passing such a store nearby.”

“An artefact shop,” Kloy mused, making his own purchase, “I admit I am equally intrigued. I do wonder if the lad has found it himself by now.”

“I imagine the proprietor will remember if he has,” Eweylona chuckled.

Ebener did make a purchase – though for his wife, as most demon perfumes had aphrodisiac properties. Their little party then made their way to the inspired portion of the market – tucked in the back of the Market District near the gate to the Mercury District, where many inspired demons and non-demons lived.

Unlike the other quarters, sorted by type of goods available, the inspired quarter was a mix of different stores – not all owned by inspired demons, but most. Their group drew many stares, but Jurao had always felt he’d done so – between his height and station, he was often subject to attention.

Jurao located the artefact shop easily – it was one of the bigger buildings in the district, likely a repurposed warehouse. It was marked by a metal sign featuring a muno – a Mutual Understanding Nullification Obelisk, such as the one Carvve utilized to teach Meir’ril and Malson Demonae. Jurao learned the name later from his partner’s younger brother, and the image made him realize the shop’s purpose.

“Good afternoon, welcome to Sazel’s Artefacts Emporium; how can I…” the young dragon tending the front counter trailed off as they looked up from their reading.

Jurao had never seen them in their small form before, though he had caught a glimpse of their large form once or twice – they were one of three dragons living in Caslavven, and the trio often left the city to go on hunts together. As Jurao understood, they had arrived together and operated as an unrelated family group – common for dragons.

This one was Maukul – he knew by their gray-blue scales with cloudy bands of darker gray and white. As they stood, they came up to only nine feet at the head on top of their leathery anthropoid torso, but from the shoulder of their reptilian quadrupedal lower body to haunch, they were an additional ten feet, with two feet of tail. The wings attached to the reptilian chest made them seem bigger as well, even folded close to their sides.

“Um,” they said, shifting their weight, one of their bovid ears flicking, “You’re… the King, aren’t you?”

“I am,” Jurao replied, then introduced, “And these are my partner’s parents, Ebener and Eweylona, and the Royal Physician, Kloy.”

Kloy snorted, “I believe, my lord, they were more wondering why the King is in their shop.”

“It’s not,” they cleared their throat, running a clawed hand through the top of the black mane of hair that traveled the length of their back and ended in a large tuft at the tip of their tail. The slit pupils of their solid blue eyes darted to the side before they went on, “It’s Sazel’s shop, I just run the front counter. Sorry, I don’t know how to… talk to a King? Or nobles? We don’t really have them, and most of you don’t come over here.”

“It’s fine,” Jurao replied, “I will not be offended.”

Kloy chuckled, “Nor will I – for the King, simply adding a ‘your highness’ to the end of most addresses will suffice. I will be content with ‘my lord’, but feel free to do without.”

“Got it,” Maukul nodded, “Uh, my lord?”

Kloy nodded to confirm the address.

“Sazel is a fae?” Eweylona asked.

“Yeah,” Maukul nodded, “She was pretty happy when we got here – hired all three of us and lets us live here in the shop. Her wife is a demon she met in Asalban, so she moved here, but she’s definitely missed a heavier source of magicka around.”

Eweylona laughed, “I can well imagine! It’s certainly refreshing to step into a store with so much of it.”

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Jurao could feel it as well – like the impression of a scent, more than anything else. A bit like a gentle haze of smoke without the detrimental effects to the eyes or lungs.

“Our family has been recently reunited,” Eweylona went on, “We’re having a joint celebration and are out to find gifts for each other. My son is very likely to be a professional mage.”

“Ah,” Maukul perked up, “Yeah, that makes sense – well, feel free to look around. Sazel mostly makes convenience items, but she does big projects from time to time. I’m sure you’ll find something – ah, sorry, it’s kind of a mess, or I would be more… direct.”

Eweylona chuckled, “Most fae-run stores are, I do understand. And you are?”

“Oh, right,” they flinched, “I’m Maukul.”

“Thank you, Maukul,” Eweylona chuckled.

As Maukul had said, the store was in a state of disarray – while the front had common artefacts grouped together, the areas further back were less clear. Jurao had little experience with artefacts, but fortunately, each item had a small tag attached with twine – explaining its name and purpose, with accompanying pictures.

There was a small collection of books in one corner. When asked, Maukul said they were instructions on how to create artefacts and enchantments, as well as translated copies of tomes Sazel had brought with her. Jurao thought that would be an excellent gift, with Meir’ril’s love of learning. Eweylona agreed – and helped him choose the best volumes for beginners.

For her own gift, she found a lightening bag – the weight of its contents was halved. Considering how often Jurao had seen Meir’ril carrying multiple books about with him, he easily saw the use of such a gift. Eweylona also found a bowl of short-range communication bracelets and decided to buy all of them – which would be enough for the entire family. Like Malson’s bracer, it would allow them all to send text-based messages over a distance – though much shorter messages and only within roughly the area of the Field Walls.

Ebener added a mug that would keep drinks hot for longer – as he and his youngest son both enjoyed tea.

“Does Sazel take commissions, Maukul?” Eweylona asked as the dragon packed away their purchases.

“She’s never done one that I’m aware of,” Maukul shrugged, “But no one else has ever asked, so I’ll ask her next time she’s in.”

“Ask who what?”

Maukul snorted, “Ask you if you take commissions, boss.”

“Commissions?” the fae woman sniffed, moth wings settling against her back as she half skipped across the way on her cloven hooves, “Oh, an elf. I’d take a commission from an elf,” she picked up one of the books, “Have an aspiring enchanter?”

“My son is fond of magic and learning,” Eweylona chuckled, “Though presently, has no specific goals for how he wishes to use either.”

Sazel sniffed again, setting the book back down. She stood around six and a half feet tall, with pink skin covered in dark purple markings that covered her solid yellow eyes like an amorphous mask and traveled down the sides of her neck. Her fuzzy purple antennae curled up from her yellow hair as she used her short-furred yellow tail to set her bag behind the counter, asking, “Ah – were you looking for an arcanum, then? I don’t get in enough supplies for something that big – but if you get me the materials, I can make one. What level were you looking for?”

“I was looking to commission an arcanum,” Eweylona agreed, “But for my daughter – my son has one. I think a low-level arcanum would be fine for now – she’s more interested in combat than magic as a possible life path.”

“What supplies would you need,” Jurao asked.

“A stone to hold the enchantment, firstly,” Sazel replied, wings fluttering and long ears twitching as she hopped up to sit on the counter, “Demon stones work well enough, but for a young adult’s arcanum, you’ll want one that’s at least yea big,” she made a circle with her hands about three inches in diameter, “And then a magical material to place it in – has to be magic, or the ambient magicka of the arcanum will deteriorate the mundane material.”

“I have a wylox hide,” Eweylona supplied, “Would that be enough for a belt?”

“A belt, yes, that would work,” Sazel nodded, sniffing, “Fairly standard for combat arcanums, outside of armor. But you know that.”

“I do,” Eweylona chuckled.

“By the way, boss,” Maukul said, “That’s the Demon King.”

“A more appropriate introduction would be ‘his highness, the King,’” Kloy chuckled from browsing nearby.

“Good afternoon,” Jurao said.

Sazel stared up at him, nictating membranes flicking over her eyes – then she jumped into the air, wings fluttering to be eye-level as she asked, “Your aunt is the blacksmith, Nevve, yes?”

“Fae also do not have kings,” Eweylona chuckled.

“She is,” Jurao replied, unaffected by the behavior.

Sazel flew up to the second level of the store, which Maukul had said was a storeroom, workshop, and living quarters for them and their fellows. She threw open one of the three doors, and the sounds of clanging and shuffling carried down for a few minutes before she reappeared, flying before Jurao again and holding out two identical objects and accompanying schematics. She asked, “Would you give this to her?”

“What is it,” Jurao asked, accepting the lot and examining one of the objects.

It fit within his smaller hand easily and was a thick tube with a crystal rod through the center. There were several inner rings with the sheen of fae metal, rounded triangular pieces rotating around the central rod, but the outer casement was heavier siren metal.

“It’s an engine,” Sazel replied, “Nevve studied under my father, and she had some ideas about how to combine magic and engineering, but no way to implement them. When we came of age, my sibling went to the Siren Realm to study engineering while I learned enchanting – we met up in Asalban and put our heads together to make that. She probably doesn’t remember us, but my sibling is Yuovehn.”

“Ah, the smith that made Malson and Beneford’s prosthetics,” Jurao recalled.

“Our eldest son and a family friend,” Ebener supplied.

“Well, if she’s already seen my sibling’s engineering, that’ll make things easier,” Sazel snorted.

“We haven’t had much luck making engines work in the Demon Realm,” the King continued, tucking the device away, “Simple steam engines for our lifts, yes, but the more advanced ones require too much magnetism.”

Sazel nodded, sitting on the front counter again, “Even humans can’t replicate advanced siren engines, at least not yet. That model replaces siren lodestones with a crystal core enchanted with lightning magic – the fae metal is for the same reason an arcanum needs to be made of magic material; but it’s too light to withstand more powerful torque, which is why the outer casement is siren metal. The two work the same, so she can take one apart if she wants.”

“I am sure she will,” Jurao replied, “Thank you.”

“Thank me?” Sazel grinned, showing off sharp teeth like demons had, “Thank you. I’d have to wait another six months to be seen by the City Council to get approval to take it to her myself – and this was the third interview already.”

“So many,” Jurao frowned.

“My lord,” Kloy said, joining them, “Anyone bringing an unknown magical device into the castle poses a security risk.”

“Ah,” Jurao nodded.

Sazel nodded in agreement, “I understand it – the first interview, they asked for my schematics to have a local engineer examine, but the engineer didn’t know anything about magic, so they couldn’t confirm the device was only an engine even if the general design was right for one.

“So I found a demon smith from Mesescima who suggested I send it to the Engineering Guild there and provided a letter of recommendation. The local engineers didn’t want to extend the courtesy,” Sazel snorted derisively, “since, you know, magic and engineering aren’t meant to mix and all that. The Engineering Guild sent back confirmation that it was an engine, but the Council was still concerned with the magical aspect of it.

“Which led me to write back to the Guild, which got me a letter from the Nouklesse family to vouch for my intentions,” Sazel huffed a sigh, “They also offered to fund further research – if Nevve thought it was worthwhile. Then it was just a matter of availability – the Assembly pushed a lot of meetings back.”

Jurao nodded along – the order of events made sense. The Engineering Guild in Mesescima was largely siren-run, but more open to innovation due to being located in the Demon Realm. The Nouklesse family were one of the city’s two most powerful smithing families and worked closely with the guild, as their primary focus was on public works and infrastructure.

While his aunt did not have a working relationship with the Nouklesse, she did have one with the Losculi – one of the less powerful families that worked closely with the Nouklesse. They sent prospective civil smiths to her for training, as smaller everyday items were their focus. The Nouklesse had sent one or two students as well – so had reason to trust his aunt’s judgment.

Kloy hummed as he gave the engines a cursory glance before asking, “Do you think your aunt will ask the smithing spirit to help her?”