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Tristan heard a bell ring in the corner of the workshop. Gertrude knows me so well; he thought as he set the hammer down. Glancing back at the open window, he saw that Felicity had returned and was watching him intently.

“How long have you been there?”

“Not long. Is it ready?”

“The food? Ye-”

“The armor, silly.”

“Oh. Yeah, armor repaired – got the dents out. And the sword is sharpened.”

Felicity flapped over to each and opened her extradimensional space. Tristan put each item in there and then took a glance around the workshop. Well, just in case. He grabbed a powerful bow that he had barely been able to string and pull and put that and some arrows into the space.

“Getting pretty full,” she said as the space shut. Then, her form shifted into that of a medium size dog. She landed on the ground as her wings folded into her body. “I did some thinking. Not even Elves or those with their heritage can see through my shapeshifting. I just don’t get the traits of the animal – so no super sniffer. But this should make blending in easier.”

Tristan nodded, “Dogs don’t talk.”

“Woof. Oh, wait. I mean-” She cleared her throat, and when she opened it again, she emitted a deep woof noise; a perfect imitation of a dog. “Better?”

“Perfect. Come on.”

“Nope. Let me in the front door. The cook will be suspicious if you suddenly appear with a dog. Versus the story we’ll tell – I’ve been following you around one your adventures.”

“You sure you want to be a mangy mutt?”

“Yes. Gah, how stupid are you? A pristine, pampered dog wouldn’t be following some random guy in armor around for weeks. It would be a mangy mutt who happened to steal some of his jerky rations.”

That brought to mind a time when Tristan was making camp, and he was missing jerky. “That was you?”

“Which time?”

Tristan groaned and just waved her off. “Fine. Go downstairs however you’re going to.”

She grinned – as much as a dog could – and her wings re-manifested before she became covered in sparkles signifying her invisibility. She jumped out of the window, and Tristan headed to the staircase.

The dining room wafted with delicious spice notes, and he remembered how hungry he was. Must be midday. Gertrude had set up two places, and Tristan went to the door after hearing some scratches. He opened it, heard Felicity’s very convincing bark, and then played his part. “Hey, girl, following me home? I guess we can feed you.” He looked at Gertrude, “This mangy, mean mutt has been following me around for weeks.”

Gertrude looked at Felicity with a sad face. “Don’t touch her. She’s got mange.”

Felicity cocked her head sideways, as if saying, “Well duh you dumb cook!”

Tristan nodded, “Right. Can we just get some soup in a bowl, and I can put it outside.”

“I’ll tend to it. You eat up, Master Tristan.” Gertrude went back to the kitchen, and as Tristan sat down to enjoy his soup, he saw to his satisfaction that the cook had brought out a goodly sized bowl for Felicity. Setting it down outside, she shut the door and returned to sit with him. “Oh, young Master. Tell me about your journey! Hunting down a fairy dragon? It must have been exciting!”

Tristan grimaced as he took a sip of the delicious, spiced sweet potato soup. “Well…” in between bites of some stale bread dipped into the soup, he shared of his mishaps and close calls with the fairy dragon. By the time he had finished his food, he had finished his retelling. “…and then I stayed at the castle.” He made sure to leave out everything regarding the family’s countryside estate. I have to keep everyone in the dark until I question Gisele and father. And he left out the full-Elf and fairy dragon stuff. Keep the story consistent. What you told in the throne room and what you’re telling here.

“Wow…such…” Gertrude sighed, “That was not a tale of adventure, Master Tristan. It sounds like you made a right fool of yourself at places.”

Tristan nodded, “I could not agree more. But being in the Fey Realm? That was a unique experience.”

“Oh, no doubt, young Master.” She stood up and cleared the plates, “It is good to have you back.”

“I will be in my room until evening.”

“Oh, shall I prepare your favorite for dinner?”

Tristan’s mouth watered at the thought of the delicious, scrumptious meal that he loved. A dough that was flattened out and filled with creamy cheese and spinach, topped with a tasty sauce of oil and herbs. “I would love it!”

Gertrude grinned and ruffled his hair – thankfully, not looking at his head as she did so and seeing the mismatched illusory versus real hair – and walked into the kitchen. “Six hours, Master Tristan.”

Tristan headed up to his room and threw open the window. He saw Felicity on the ground, barking at a cat on the fence. “Good dog!”

Felicity turned to him, shimmered as she turned invisible, shifted her form into her fairy dragon one, and flew up to his window. “That cat was an asshole.”

“You can talk to them?”

“…No. But I know the way they look.” She turned around and stuck her tongue out at the cat that had moved on to another fence. Turning back to Tristan, she looked around his room. “Dusty.”

“Marlowe doesn’t like me.” Tristan walked over to the desk and swiped his hand across, clearing the layer of dust. The room was austere, like his grandfather’s room, save for the artists easel.

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Felicity flapped over to a stack of canvas frames on the ground, “Interesting art.”

Tristan went over and picked up one of the paintings. A portrait he had done of his mother and grandfather – only the sketch work was completed, using a grease pencil to make some light marks so they wouldn’t have to sit for hours and hours. The outlines were slightly smudged. He set it down and looked at Felicity who had picked up another, finished painting. “That’s a painting of the first snowfall I was in,” he said softly.

Felicity held it up, “It’s all white! Just…different shades of it!”

Tristan grabbed it and held it up to the window, letting the light illuminate the background and reveal the hidden image of a peony bloom. “It’s just a trick of the lighting.”

“Oooh. You are skilled at art!”

“No, I’m not,” Tristan replied with a chuckle as he set the painting down. “But every noble child has to have some type of artistic pursuit for a “well-rounded education,” as father put it. I took up painting. Bertram is skilled at cooking, and Gisele does excellent cross-stitching.”

“Ah, the basic courtly bitch art.”

Tristan laughed aloud at that. After calming down, he went to the bed and patted it, “Can you open up the storage space?”

Felicity nodded and the space opened next to her. Tristan opened the case holding the primers for First Order spells and pulled out the one titled The Beginner’s Guide to Artifice. “What am I going to do while you read?”

Tristan pointed to the primer on enchantment, “Do a refresher for yourself. Maybe there are spells in there you don’t know, as well. Since you’re going to teach me illusion, flora, and that as well.”

She grumbled a little but snatched the primer, shifted to her elfanoid-esque form, and squirmed up the length of the bed so her back was propped up against the pillows. “Reading is much easier like this,” she said as she flipped the first page.

Tristan moved up the bed next to her and flipped open his primer. Skipping past the introduction of the author, he went to the table of contents. I want to understand how it works before learning any spells. Why bury that in a tiny section after the author introduction? He flipped to the page and began reading.

> Artifice is the superior, non-consumable version of imbuement. Both instances require the infusion of essence during the process of crafting the desired item.

>

> However, unlike items made with imbuement, an item of artifice does not expire upon use or consumption – unlike elixirs (infused potions) or scrolls (stored spells).

>

> Additionally, items of artifice require the user to infuse their essence into the item to activate the embedded spell. Unlike elixirs (which anyone can drink) or scrolls (which anyone can rip in half to activate).

>

> You do not have to create the object you wish to subject to artifice. Only the following criteria must be met:

>

> 1. The item is of excellent craftsmanship.

> 1. You would not, for instance, be able to apply artifice to a rusty sword, but you could apply it to castle-forged steel blade.

> 2. You have access to the spell type you wish to use to cause a specified effect.

> 1. If you do not have spell type access due to heritage restrictions, another essence-weaver may cast the spell (see step 5 in the process of the next section).

> 3. Essence capacity enough to cast two spells of the same Order in rapid succession.

> 1. Unless another essence-weaver is present, as in the case of 2.1 above.

>

> The process you will use is as follows:

>

> 1. Place the item you wish to artifice on a flat surface.

> 2. Place both hands on either side of the item and make the appropriate spell gesture (see separate Order spell instructions).

> 3. State the spell phrase (see separate Order spell instructions), while channeling your essence into your fingertips.

> 1. This ‘sets’ the item to be artificed to receive the spell you will cast in step 5 below.

> 4. Remove your hands from either side of the object.

> 1. You will notice a glowing light the color of your essence. If you do not see that, then you did something wrong. Try again!

> 5. Perform the spell you wish to place within the object and focus your willpower on the object of artifice.

> 1. The spell MUST be of the same Order as the spell used in Steps 2 and 3 above.

> 2. Failure to do this will result in the destruction of the object.

> 1. As per 2.1 in the section on criteria, another essence-weaver may step in to perform this portion of the process. But they must follow the ‘same Order’ parameter from 5.1 above.

>

> And there you have it. A step-by-step guide to artifice. Please note that you cannot apply multiple spells of artifice to a single object. You may remove the artifice spell by performing the ‘Artifice Cleansing’ spell found in the back of this primer.

>

> Oh, and I hope it goes without saying, but you cannot use artifice to make an item that can then do artifice. It just does not work. Do not try it; it is a futile effort, and more experienced essence-weavers have tried it and failed.

>

> As with all primers, this tome contains only the ‘primed for artifice’ spells of First through Third Order.

“Okay, I’ve got the basics,” Tristan said as he stood up.

Felicity just went, “Mhmm,” and kept reading; fully absorbed in what she was looking at.

“I’m going to try and artifice something for the Disguise Form spell so I can do it without being spotted making spell gestures.”

“Mhmm.”

Tristan went over to the desk and took off his family’s crest, placing it on the flat surface. That’s step 1. Flipping the book to the table of contents, he saw that there were two pages dedicated to each Order spell. The whole primer, he realized, was mostly about the basics of essence-weaving – which he already had a grasp on. There was very little regarding the spells themselves. Must be because there is one only spell per Order to ‘set’ the artifice to receive the next spell.

Going to the First Order section, he read the name of the spell. Investiture of Artifice. The first page detailed the spell gesture, along with an illustration depicting the top-down view. The second page detailed the phrase – thankfully, written in not just Standard Tongue but also Demon’s Tongue. Must have been an author here in Bhant. Step 2: spell gesture.

He put the book above his family crest and placed his fingers in the appropriate formation; palm down, index and middle fingers spread – the rest tucked into the palm – and both facing the emblem. Taking in a deep breath, he read the spell as he spun his essence crucible, directing the flow to his fingertips. “Préparer le récipient pour l'infusion de essence. Un endroit où le sort peut s'installer.” (Prepare the vessel for the infusion of essence. A place where the spell can sit).

He saw the silvery and icy-blue light – mixed with a few tiny crimson and gold sparks – flow from his fingertips and into the sigil of his family’s house. It glowed with the same light, and the glow stuck. Right. Now for the Disguise Form spell. Quickly incanting the phrase, still spinning his essence crucible, and repeating the ‘face scrub’ gesture, he focused on his half-elf appearance – and then stared at the symbol on the desk.

He felt his essence crucible spinning faster than it ever had before, and he felt a giddy exhilaration as an icy wind roared inside of him. It did not cool him, but rather felt calming and soothing. But he felt his energy being sapped as he grew tired. He saw that the normal illusory appearance he had gotten used to seeing was not covering his form; but the same-colored essence swirled from his torso and into the object before him.

It glowed with a radiant, prismatic light before all the light faded. Lifting the item, Tristan put it around his neck and turned to Felicity. “Okay, what do you see?”

She looked up, “Full-Elf you…and frost on the desk. What did you do?”

Tristan glanced back, “Oh, crap. Must have been from the spell; a side effect, maybe?”

Felicity shrugged, “So you dropped the illusion. Big whoop. I can do that, too. In a pinch.”

“Watch this.” Tristan closed his eyes, spun his essence crucible, and pushed the essence into his family’s crest. When he opened his eyes and walked over to the mirror on its stand in the corner of the room, he saw to his immense satisfaction that he was back to his illusory form. “I just made an item with artifice!”