Tristan ducked into an alley and reestablished his Human appearance with another use of Disguise Form. But something was ‘off’ when he spun his essence crucible. The icy-blue was mingling more with the sliver, and there were fewer flecks of crimson and gold. When he explained what he was visualizing within his essence crucible, Felicity shook her head; her antlers whacking his jawline lightly each time.

“No clue why that is. Maybe it’s representative of you using enough spells to increase your essence capacity? Some type of visual indicator?”

“Don’t you have one? Can’t you visualize it.”

“Yes, but mine doesn’tr change colors. It’s just rainbow!”

“…That’s a bunch of colors,” Tristan replied with a slight frown.

“Well, at least its stable. Yours doesn’t sound like it. You got the blue clashing with the silver, and now the gold and crimson sparks. Seems like a lot going on in there.” She tapped his chest with her hind paw-claws.

Tristan left the safety of the alley and returned to the street. The afternoon had come and gone, and evening was fast approaching as the sun began to set behind him, casting long shadows along the ground. To Tristan’s confusion, his shadow was not that of the illusory version of him, but rather his new, full-Elf appearance. “Umm…Felicity? Is that a problem?”

“Possibly. Just stick to the shadows to hide it.”

Tristan made sure to hug the walls as best he could as he entered The Towers district. The shops were relatively busy, and richly appointed nobles were coming and going from the various businesses. Tristan made a course for the shop he had been pointed to the prior night. An enormous tower that pierced the skies above, with a near-crystalline appearance for the exterior that was opaque. It looked more like a single piece of some ancient gemstone rather than a building, but he found the door easily enough – a metal one with an intricate big of word-work on the front. The Crystal Spire.

Fitting name, Tristan thought as he entered the building. The front room was the entire first floor of the building, and a spiral staircase ascended up the back wall. He saw several couches and chairs, and a square podium. A few people were discussing various essence-weaving principles and did not seem to notice him walk in.

“Umm. Excuse me? If I’m looking to get a divination done, who do I talk to?” he asked at a moderate volume.

A handful of people looked at him, then returned to their conversation, but a young woman he had not noticed before because of her height walked over, holding a small pad of paper. “Archon Farsight currently has no appointments. Would you like to be penciled in for this evening?”

“Yes,” Tristan replied.

The young woman adjusted her spectacles, and Tristan saw the tell-tale sign of waves in the air that essence was at play. “Ah, you are a special case, I see. Do not fret, Archon Farsight is quite understanding of all clientele. In his words, “this city is not very enlightened, but very profitable.” She bowed and gestured to a couch, “Please, sit. I’ll be back shortly.”

Tristan sat down and tried to listen in to the various conversations. Most of it was in Standard Tongue, but he picked up a little bit of Demon’s Tongue and even the almost barking language of Dragon’s Tongue. That caught his attention, and glancing over, he saw a half-breed whose Human side was just barely edging out the Drakonid side. I guess they are a bit more accepting among mages, he thought. That did bring some slight relief.

The woman returned from the spiral stairs after a few moments, “He is willing to see you now, if you would like. But, he insists that once you enter the divination chamber, you dismiss your spell.”

Tristan stood up and nodded. Felicity whispered up to him, “You really think you can trust these guys?”

“No, but those glasses are artifice items, I bet. I would wager that it let her pierce my illusion,” he whispered back. He followed the woman up the spiral stairs, and they passed several floors. The second floor was some type of book shop that was locked up with a slatted gate of metal. The third floor had another podium, but whereas the first floor seemed like a casual lecture hall, this floor was like a classroom of sorts. The fourth floor is where the woman stopped on the landing and gestured inside.

“Please, remove your spell.”

Tristan nodded and stopped the slight spin of his essence crucible, seeing the illusion around his body fade away.

The woman sucked in a tiny inhalation of shock but nodded. “Well…just go on in.”

He opened the door and inside was a very familiar sight – just like the other diviner he had visited before, this room had a large chair, a couch, and a huge orb. But this one was not glass. This one was some type of giant crystal. A Human stood up from the chair. He straightened his robes, and adjusted his collar slightly, tucking his short, brown beard inside the cloth. He walked forward and extended a hand, “I’m Master Matteo Farsight. Archon.”

“Mr. Smith,” Tristan replied.

The man laughed and let the hand go. “No, you’re not. But I appreciate you trying to lie.”

“Is that some spe-”

“No, I can just read people well.” The man took his seat, “I do not mind you keeping your identity veiled, seeing your heritage. A full-blooded Elf-”

“Half-elf,” Tristan replied as he sat on the couch and pulled his mother’s choker out of the extradimensional storage space that Felicity opened in his pocket. He also pulled out the bag of gold coins. “But yes, I’m effectively a full-blooded one.”

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“And a rare one at that. Winterbloom, eh? I have not met one of your lineage, but I’ve heard of it. The oldest and most powerful, from what a past student told me.”

“How do you know that?”

“The hair, the eyes, the skin. You are wise to hide your appearance, but First Order illusion spells are easily seen through by a divination expert of my caliber.”

“I need to find information,” Tristan said as he stared at the man.

“Most do,” Matteo replied as he kicked his legs up on the crystal. “Well, what do you need to know?”

Tristan let out a breath before inhaling and explaining the process he went through with the other diviner, including detailing the spell and what he saw. Matteo just nodded silently throughout the entire encounter, but did pause him to ask a few questions. When Tristan had finished, the man was stroking his short beard. His soft, green eyes were seemingly boring holes into Tristan’s own.

“I can provide a divination to help you identify this symbol and the dagger. But first, it will be five gold pieces to determine how powerful of a spell I will need to manifest. Then, once I know the appropriate Order required, we will discuss the price. I must inquire with the very fabric of reality and communal knowledge to determine how hidden that information is.”

“How does that work, exactly?” Tristan asked. “I know a little bit about divination – you have to have the object or part of a person; like hair or blood.”

“That is for lower Order divination spells,” Matteo replied. “All of our consciousnesses are connected through the Thought Realm; a place where physical entities cannot go to. All knowledge that has ever been in someone’s mind is there, and the older it is, the more powerful spell is required to reach into that collective pool of knowledge. Some of it is forbidden by Logos, the Realm Protector of that place.” He looked up at the ceiling and smiled, “That is the gist of it.”

Tristan was riveted, and Felicity was too, her face intently staring across the crystal at the Archon. “That’s incredible!” she said. “I didn’t know that!”

Tristan nodded, “You said ‘how hidden’ the information is. That implies that simple thoughts or information can be gathered with a lower Order spell, but if it is complex, or well-hidden, or kept secret, or even unknown, the Order required goes up.”

The Archon chuckled, “You are a smart one. An essence-weaver?”

“Starting out,” Tristan replied. “I just recently…acquired? Formed? I got an essence crucible.”

“Formed. When you consume essence in a large enough quantity, it forms. Well, if you are ever looking for a teacher in the realms of divination…” he let the offer linger in the air.

“I can’t,” Tristan replied. “Heritage restriction.”

“Ah, shame, that. Well! Let’s get started, shall we? Five gold pieces, on the tray next to you.”

Tristan put the gold on the tray, and it clattered before forming a neat stack.

The man nodded, “Right. I will first use a First Order spell to determine how well veiled this information is, and what Order will be required for the information we seek. This is called Divine Difficulty.”

He shifted his speech to that of Demon’s Tongue. “Dites-moi, royaume de la connaissance et de la pensée, s'il est difficile de vous sonder pour obtenir les informations que je cherche?” (Oh tell me, realm of knowledge and thought, how difficult will it be to probe you for the information I seek?). As he incanted the spell, he put his index fingers into the shape of a triangle with his thumbs tucked in, leaving the bottom of the triangle open, and held it in front of his face.

Tristan saw a flare of green energy the same hue as the man’s eyes, that sparked into existence from his temples and through the small aperture his fingers made. “Interesting,” Archon Matteo said as he released the spell. “It will be a Sixth Order spell for the symbol’s identification, but that dagger is going to be much, much harder. Twelfth Order.”

Twelfth?! I’ve never heard of someone using a spell that powerful! That means he’s got a bloodline that enables divination. Definitely mostly Human…but he was passed a potent bloodline, especially given how useful divination is.

“It will cost one-hundred and twenty gold pieces for the dagger, sixty for the symbol.”

180 total, Tristan thought with dismay. I can’t afford to get information on both in this go-around. Unless I negotiate. “Could I offer trade, instead?”

“It depends on what you have to trade.”

“Well, back at my…home base, I have clearcool elixirs. Do you know what they do?” The Archon shook his head, and Tristan quickly explained, ending with, “-wouldn’t it be handy to only have to drink a small vial every day for your food and drink needs? More time to study? To teach?”

The Archon smiled, “You have an excellent point. Well, what is the going market rate for these?”

“Three gold,” Tristan replied. “If you give me two hours, I’ll get you a whole bunch. Enough for the divination.”

The Archon shook his head, “What’s your current stock?”

“Around a hundred-fifty,” Tristan replied.

“How about this,” the man leaned forward. “You mentioned you were a fledging essence-weaver, yes? How about I put together a bundle of primers for you? For any spell types you have access to. First Order primers. Normally, those run you twenty gold apiece.”

“It’s a good offer,” Felicity said. “We should take it.”

Tristan nodded, stood up, and cast his Disguise Form spell. “I agree to your terms. Let me go get the elixirs, and I’ll be back in no more than two hours.”

The Archon stood up as well and went to the door, “I will prepare the spell primer bundle. Tell me, what are the spell types you are not restricted from?”

“Illusion, flora, imbuement, artifice, enchantment, fortune, and ice elementalism.”

The Archon smiled, “Easy enough…except for fortune. I’ve heard of that spell type, but never met someone who could use it. Two hours is plenty of time. I’ll send my assistant out shopping. I look forward to this divination, unveiling secrets, and this clearcool elixir of yours.”

Tristan left the building, thanking the female attendant as he left, and made haste for the market quarter. Keeping to the sides of the road and the relative safety of the building’s shadows, he arrived at the inn only to find it packed.

Making his way through the crowd, he was stopped by the man who had given him his room key. “Mr. Smith, you have had a lot of callers from the Pathfinder Company.” He handed a pile of slips of paper to Tristan, and the disguised man accepted them.

As soon as the papers were handed over, Tristan was swarmed by people with Pathfinder emblems. Well, crap. I guess the name and me being handed the papers was enough correlation…despite my appearance being drastically different.

“I want your whole stock!”

“My group is going to save a whole territory! Be charitable!”

“Triple, no, quadruple the price you’re selling!”

Tristan was able to escape upstairs, enter his room, and shut the door behind him. Felicity extricated herself from his armor and flapped a bit as she stretched. “How’s it feel to be p-o-p-u-l-a-r?”

Tristan ignored the clamoring noises from downstairs, instead focusing on spinning his essence crucible and forcing essence into the ring. To his pleasant surprise, when he visualized the sphere rotating in his chest, the silver and icy blue seemed to be merged, with the occasional crimson and gold sparks. HE took in deep, calming breaths, and jumped when someone slammed on his window.

Wrenching his gaze up, he saw a Human dressed in dark, black leathers who gave him a little wave. “Give me your stash, or I’m going to break in, and I’ll take it.”

Tristan shook his head and went back to concentrating as best he could. Just go away, he thought.

Felicity flew over to the window, and her face shapeshifted into that of a fierce, gold dragon from the Elemental Realm of Fire. She dropped the invisibility spell, and to the man outside the window’s perspective, an enormous, gaping maw with razor-sharp teeth appeared. He screamed in fright and tumbled backward onto the street. Felicity un-shifted, giggled, and then flew to sit on the bed behind Tristan. “Okay, that was funny.”