I grab my bag before I head out the door and pat for Blizzie to hop in. He does without hesitation.

"Blizzie like bag!" he exclaims before loudly purring to emphasize his words. I love being able to hear him talk. I wonder if anyone else can. I need to look into books in the library about familiars. I feel like I need to start writing down all of the books that I need to look into.

As I walk down the street heading to Alex's shop I see people going to the other side of the street to avoid me. It's almost as if they feel they can get secondhand evil if they accidentally touch me. It almost makes me want to spook someone to see if they would jump, but I am trying to avoid another pointless death. I want to feel as though all of my deaths are pointless, but I am learning something new about Aria and the people that kill me each time I die.

I breathe in the fresh air as I make my way to the shop. Was the air back on Earth ever this fresh? I am sure that it was, but all of the people around took away from it. And pollution. Well, and everything else that clouds the air. Okay maybe it was just the areas I lived in that didn't have this freshness. It is also possible that the air is literally different. There is magic here after all, and a magical world should have different characteristics than a non-magical one.

Eventually I find myself standing in front of An Assortment of Magical Bits and Bobs and look up at the second story window where I can see a light on. Alex must be up there. I look around the ground for a tiny pebble but think better of it. I really don't want to accidentally break his window.

I take a breath and knock on the door. I am feeling a bit nervous. I really want this relationship to go well, and I really feel that Alex might be the hidden route. What would happen if I found him that fast. Would going through his route somehow fix everything that is wrong with this world? How have I never thought of that before. Finding the hidden route can't possibly fix all of the problems here, can it?

As soon as I knock I can hear movement from within the shop. Possibly some shouting about "Hold on" and "One moment" but I could just be trying to make sense of a jumbled mess of sounds. The mind likes to try to organize things to make sense. Which makes sense.

"Hi!" I hear Alex say as he pushes the door open. I make sure that I am standing back far enough away to not be hit by the swinging door.

"Good morning!" I tell him brightly.

"Morning!" Blizzie says cheerfully. I watch Alex's face to see if there is any surprise there from Blizzie talking.

"Yes. Meow to you too Sir Blizzard." Alex says, giving him a little bow.

"Why do you bow to him like that?" I ask him.

"Back home we greeted people with a higher status than ourself with a bow. Not everyone did it, but my family did. And a sir is of a high status. Also, look at that cute little face. Doesn't he have the cutest little face!" Alex coos at him.

"I believe that if I were to tell you Blizzie's status I would have to say that he is my fuzzy little knight. I would give him a sword, but he doesn't need one. He has claws after all." I tell him, hoping that my words made as much sense out loud as they do in my head.

"Ah. I suppose it isn't normal to bow to a knight." he said. "Shame. Such a cute widdle face deserves respect!"

"Blizzie, if I let you out of the bag will you stay out of trouble?" I ask him.

"Yes! Blizzie no trouble!" he says. He makes sure to sound serious so that I will believe him.

"Are you okay if I let him down?" I ask Alex. Some people do not like to have animals loose in their shops.

"By all means! I don't think little Sir Blizzard is going to harm anything." Alex says. Once he gives me the go ahead I take Blizzie out of my bag and set him down on the ground.

"Blizzie explore!" Blizzie says. I give him a meaningful look. "Blizzie explore carefully!" he says and begins to scamper around, carefully sniffing things and staring at them.

"Sir Blizzard seems like a very smart cat. He isn't just your beloved pet, is he?" Alex asks me, looking me in the eyes. Someone has practiced having good eye contact. And that person is not me. It takes a lot of effort for me to not look away.

"No he isn't." I tell him. "He is my familiar." I say honestly.

"Neat! I still haven't found a familiar that fits me yet. It is one of the most important relationships anyone has in their life. A familiar lives as long as their partner after all." he tells me. I had no idea. What a heavy responsibility to put on such tiny shoulders. What is it like to know that he will outlive others of his species by many, many years.

"I hope that you find a good one. Although there is none as good as my Blizzie." I say affectionately.

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"I can see that." he says.

"Shall we get started?" I ask him. "The first thing to do should be to look over our ingredient list and begin to acquire everything that we need." I tell him.

"Sounds like a reasonable place to start. Follow me." he says, leading me back to the chairs that we had been sitting in yesterday. I see that he already has the recipe laid out on a table in between the chairs.

"Looks like you already got things ready for us to begin." I tell him.

"I like to be prepared." he tells me. "Would you like a cup of tea while we go over everything?" he asks me.

"I'd love one thank you." I tell him. If we are going to be working so closely together I suppose at some point I have to trust that he is not going to poison me. "Although I am not sure how much work we can do today as we will need to go about gathering items and ingredients."

"What a bummer. I was hoping to be able to spend more time with you today." he tells me. "Go ahead and look around while I make the tea." he says, indicating around his shop. "I'll be back shortly. Oh! Do you have a preference on what kind of tea?" he asks.

"I'm not picky, I'll have whatever you are having."

"Do you like sugar, honey or cream in your tea?"

"Sugar for spiced teas, cream for black tea and lemon and honey for fruit and floral teas." I tell him. That is my preference and my memories seem to agree with it.

"Perfect. I am thinking a nice black tea as it is early in the morning." he says, flashing me a grin that would make most girls, and some guys, go weak in the knees. Lucky for me I have strong knees.

As he walks away I decide to follow my familiar, looking at the things that he is finding interesting.

"Statue smells strange." Blizzie says, pointing at a statue with his right front paw. "Stick look weird." he says, pointing at something that looks like a cross between a wand the rain stick instrument. I used to love rain sticks when I was a little girl. Best part of music class. That and the xylophone.

"Find anything else interesting?" I ask him.

"Pretty sparklies!" he says and leads me over to some jewelry. I wonder why Alex is selling jewelry at his shop. Does it have special properties such as enhancing magic, or helping one tap into a specific element?

"Those are pretty, aren't they Blizzie." I tell him in response.

"Blizzie like pretty sparklies. Blizzie likes person who has who room of sparklies!" he says.

"Do you mean Jasper?" I ask him.

"Yes! Jasper nice, give you pretty things, give me treats!" he says, ears and tail happily twitching.

"Have you found anything else you like?" I ask Blizzie.

"Don't know. Look together?" he asks me.

"I'd like that." I tell him.

"Up?" he asks. I offer my arms to him, and he jumps into them. I pet him as we continue to look around together.

Alex has a lot of interesting things up for sales. Concentration rocks, the jewelry, wands, mirrors, books, even art pieces. This really is quite the assortment.

I jump when I hear Alex say, "Tea is ready!". I was looking intently at the book titles and was startled to hear his voice. It felt like he came back rather fast.

"Thank you." I say, taking my seat. Blizzie decides to curl up in a third unoccupied chair.

"Blizzie join in!" he says and stares fixedly at the paper on the table. I don't think he can read, but I am learning to not assume anything. Maybe he is a talking, reading cat. I look forward to learning all of his skills and talents.

"Are you reading along with us Blizzie?" I ask him.

"Yes! Blizzie look at squiggly lines too. Yes, yes. Very important squiggles!" he says. Ah, it doesn't seem like he can read after all.

"Alright. Let's look over the list." I say and join Blizzie in looking over the words.

Red Sand

White Sand

Telekinetic Sand

Sand of Ruins

Sands of Destiny

Essence of Fire

Essence of Earth

Essence of Wind

Essence of Water

Essence to Light

Essence of Dark

Essence of Time

Essence of Space

Essence of Spirit

Totem of Fire

Totem of Earth

Totem of Wind

Totem of Water

Totem to Light

Totem of Dark

Totem of Time

Totem of Space

Totem of Spirit

*All totems must be the same type

Pearls of Wisdom

Waters of Truth

Seeds of Knowledge

Sapphire Gem Dust

Ruby Gem Dust

Emerald Gem Dust

Liquid Silver

Earth Core

Water Crystal

Lightning Struck Sand

Orb of Darkness

Orb of Light

Wind Stone

Fairy Dust

I can't help but stare at the list in front of me. That was an impressively long list of ingredients. I don't even want to look any further at the recipe yet. I feel that it would just give me a headache trying to learn what everything is and seeing what we have to do with it.

"Are all recipes to make magical artifacts this long?" I ask him after a moment of intense staring.

"No. As I told you yesterday this is an incredibly rare artifact. If you don't think you can do it, I will understand." he tells me, looking a little saddened by even the idea of me not helping him.

"Of course, I will help you. I guess I have just never really worked off of a recipe before. I just have a feeling about the things I want to make, then I sit down and make them." I tell him.

"That is amazing! I haven't met anyone who does that. Everyone I know methodically works off of recipes." he tells me.

"If everyone works off of pre-existing recipes then who comes up with new ideas?" I ask him.

"No one wants new ideas. People only want things that they have heard of before. Things that they have seen work. No one in my hometown wants to try anything new."

"Sounds a bit old fashion." I tell him, hoping that I hadn't put him off of working with me because of my unorthodox methods. "Not that old fashion is bad, it's just different." I tell him.

"It's one of the reasons that I moved. If everyone is selling all of the same things, I didn't know how I could stand out. I didn't know how I could make a living in a place like that. I also like new things. New people, new experiences, new items. That being said, I think things could go catastrophically bad if we do not follow the recipe exactly." he tells me.

"Okay. I understand. We will follow it to the letter."

"Very good. Although, there is one thing that we can get creative with." he tells me.

"What are we able to be creative with?" I ask him.

"What creative? Creative fun!" Blizzie chimes in.

"What a good boy you are." Alex says, reaching over and petting Blizzie's head.

"Good boy I am!" Blizzie says, nuzzling against Alex's hand. Seems Blizzie approves. Or he just likes praise. Who can blame him for that. What a good boy he is!

"Well, we can be creative with the totems. They have to be something that the creator of the artifact makes themself. Something that they see representing the different elements. I thought I would let you be the one to make them." he tells me.

"Are you sure that you are okay trusting me with something this important?" I ask him.

"Yes. It is clear you like to be creative. Totems need a creative touch. I will also be busy with another important piece of this." he tells me. "Once we have the sands that we need."

"What piece is that?" I ask him.

"I am really good at glass blowing." he tells me. "Especially if it is with magical sands and dyes."

"I thought you said you weren't that good at making magical items?" I ask him.

"Not the kind that others think of." he tells me. "That is another reason that I left. I wanted to find a place that would be more open minded about the kinds of magical items and artifacts that are sold." he tells me honestly.

"I think that is a wonderful idea." I tell him. I don't know how glass blown things are helpful, but I still have everything to learn about everything.

"Thanks. Now then, what are you thinking about doing with the totems?" he asks me. I ponder for a moment then think about different things that were considered totems back in my past life. Totem poles and carved animal totems are what come to mind.

"What about if I make animal dolls or figurines?" I ask him. "How big is the artifact going to be?" I ask him. He shows me with his hands. It was much larger than I was thinking it was going to be, about twice the size of crystal balls shown in shows and movies. That gives me a lot of room to work.

"I think that is a great idea. Are you good at carving?" he asks me.

"I am good with my hands." I tell him and shrug my shoulders. "If not carvings I know that I am good at making dolls. I could make a doll or carving of animals that commonly represent each of the elements." I tell him.

"Sounds like a perfect plan to me."