"That's great. I'll get started to work on those tonight or tomorrow. For now, let's look over the ingredient list and see what we already have." I tell him.

"Okay." he replies.

"I have a lot of essences at my shop. I am not sure if I have all of these, but I can at least bring over what I have." I tell him.

"How about you go over to your shop and bring what you have, and I will go through my stock and see what I have. We can then meet back here and see what we are still missing." he tells me. "But first let me give you this." he says.

Alex runs over to a side table and then back over to me. He is holding a sheet of paper in his hand. "I made you a copy of the ingredients list to take with you."

"Thanks! You really have thought ahead haven't you. This will be a great help!" I tell him, gently placing it into my bag.

"Haha yeah, I tried to." Alex says then smiles sheepishly at me. "You should get going now. The sooner you leave the sooner you will be back."

"Okay. Come on Blizzie, to our shop!" I tell him and pat my bag.

"Coming!" Blizzie says and climbs into my bag.

Once he is secure, I make my way out of the shop. I glance over my shoulder as I open the door. "Be back soon!"

The door closes behind me before he has a chance to respond. Which is good. I don't like being one of those people that stands in the doorway having a long conversation while there are still things to do.

"To shop!" Blizzie says, excitedly sticking his head out of the bag and watching people as we walk by. "Scared. People scared to be close to you."

"Seems that way." I say flippantly, trying to play it off like it doesn't bother me in the slightest.

"Don't feel sad. People not smart. Lots of people bad, you good." Blizzie says then nods his head, wanting to make sure that he is getting his point across.

"Thanks, Blizzie. Your words help." And they do help. It is nice to know that I have two beings on my side, Alias and Blizzie. I would like to have others on my side, but it is too early to know who to trust fully. I may never be able to fully trust anyone. I accept this.

It doesn't take us long before we are standing outside the doors to my shop. I open it and we go in. I make sure that the door closes fully behind me. I don't want anyone to think that my shop is open.

I turn on the lights and walk over to the potions area to see if I sell any essence. I look through each of them carefully and it doesn't look like I do. I sell things to strengthen and boost most elements, but no essence. I suppose that makes sense as I want to keep those to make potions with.

I flip on the light and head into the workshop area of my shop. The essence bottles are all lined up together. I let my eyes zip across them and smile. It looks like I grouped the element essences together. Before I grab them, I look around my workshop for something safe to transport them in. While looking around knowledge of where and everything is kept flashes through my mind.

I open the cabinet and look to the side of the dried flowers. There, stacked neatly, are some soft velvet pouches. There is also a small box. I open it up and see that there are slots to put vials into. I smile. Of course, I would have something like this. I am sure that there are times I need to go out and buy vials and would need a safe way to transport them.

"Alright Blizzie lets grab some vials!" I tell him cheerfully. "Essence of fire." I say and put it away. It sometimes helps me to keep track. "Essence of earth, essence of wind, essence of water, essence of light, essence of dark." I say. These all make sense. I don't know how you distill essence of something but these are the common elements so I suppose it would make sense in a fantasy land. The next three, however? I am amazed I even have them. Somehow. "Essense of time, essence of space, essence of spirit. Okay Blizzie. Those are all the essences. What else might I have in this magical shop of mine?"

I look down at the sheet and read through it again before looking back at all of my vials. "No vials of sand. I am not sure why I would have sand though." I don't think I can really use that in potions and charms.

What about dust though? I scan over everything, and my eyes catch something green. "Okay Blizzie, seems that I have emerald gem dust, but none of the other gems." I say and pull the vial down and put it in the case with the others. I also grab a dropper for each vial and an empty vial. I didn't want to leave my essences at Alex's shop. I may want to make a potion tonight.

I look through the rest of the vials. Nothing. I look around the shop and go to the other sections. Looking through them all only nets me fairy dust. Time to meet back up with Alex and see what he was able to get.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Feeling satisfied with my ability to contribute I make my way over to Alex's shop. I tap on the door, and he is quickly there to open it.

"Any luck?" he asks me.

"Yes." I tell him. Blizzie hops out of my bag and lands with a tiny thud onto the floor. He goes over and sits on the chair he was in earlier and waits for us.

We make our way over to the table and chairs and I set down the items I had brought from my shop. I open up the container to show him the vials.

"Is there any way that we can get what we need from these today so that I can bring them back to my shop with me?" I ask him.

"Probably!" he tells me brightly. "Tell me what you brought, and I will let you know if I can take what I need from them now or if we should just have you bring them back when we have the glass orb to put them in."

"I brought an empty vial with me. I didn't mix the ingredients in my shop in case we cannot mix them early." I tell him.

"Well, let's take a look at the recipe."

Beneath the ingredient list it says:

In A Large Pestle Combine:

3 Handfuls of Red Sand

3 Handfuls of White Sand

2 Handfuls of Kinetic Sand

1 Small Handful of Sands of Ruin

1 Small Handful of Sands of Destiny

Once Combined Pulverize into Fine Granules

Add Sodium Carbonate and Magnesium Oxide and Lead Oxide

Place in a Heat Resistant Crucible

Melt Into Liquid

Homogenize and Remove Bubbles From the Molten Glass

Shape Into A Round Orb

Cool

Cut a Hole in the Top to Add the Ingredients

In Separate Vial Combine:

9 Drops of Essence of Fire

9 Drops of Essence of Earth

9 Drops of Essence of Wind

9 Drops of Essence of Water

9 Drops of Essence of Light

9 Drops of Essence of Darkness

9 Drops of Essence of Time

9 Drops of Essence of Space

9 Drops of Essence of Spirit

The Crafter Must Create a Totem For:

Fire

Earth

Wind

Water

Light

Darkness

Time

Space

Spirit

These Must Be of the Same Style of Representation

Add to The Inside of the Glass Orb:

The Totems in a Circle Around the Orb

9 Pearls of Wisdom

9 Seeds of Knowledge

9 Pinches of Sapphire Gem Dust

9 Pinches of Ruby Gem Dust

9 Pinches of Emerald Gem Dust

1 Mug of Liquid Silver

1 Earth Core

1 Water Crystal

1 Lightning Struck Sand Item

1 Orb of Darkness

1 Orb of Light

1 Wind Stone

9 Pinches of Fairy Dust

The Mixed Essences

9 Splashes of the Waters of Truth

Meld Top Back On

Let Rest 5 Days Before Using

I stare at the recipe, my head beginning to hurt. At least most of the items don't need special treatment. And what is with these measurements? The additives to the glass didn't even have measurements. Is that because the glass maker should already know what the mixture should be?

"Are you doing, okay?" Alex asks me.

"Yes. I just got a momentary headache from the recipe." I tell him.

"Lot of squiggles!" Blizzie says, wanting to be helpful. I want to reach over and pat his sweet little head, but he is too far away.

"Are you sure you are okay doing this?" Alex asks me, sounding a little concerned.

"I am perfectly alright! It even looks fun, it's just also a little overwhelming. Although, your part seems the hardest. And actually, now that I look at it a second time." I say, eyes running over the sheet. "It mostly seems like a lot of adding things. I think the most difficult thing with be collecting the items." I tell him.

"Oh right! Collecting! I have some of those items!" he says, smiling helpfully.

"Oh?" I ask, feeling excited. I want to craft more. The headache faded quickly as I realized that it is mostly putting items in glass bowl. Like decorating a fishtank.

I wasn't able to do neat things like this back in my world. I instead had to study until my nose bled, lose sleep, and worry about becoming anemic by being too broke to afford a lot of good food.

"I happen to have an earth core, red sand, white sand, and sands of ruin. Oh! Also, I have sand struck by lightning! We are still missing some, but I think this is a great start. Do you know where you can go to get the rest?" he asks me. This would be a good way to introduce him to the other shops.

"That's wonderful. Let me add my essences together and we can go to the other shops and see what we can find." I tell him. "Although, I would like to drop by my shop first so I can put everything back. I guess I am a little obsessive about keeping my items where they belong." I say, and laugh a little nervously, afraid he would judge me.

"I can't blame you for that. I am rather similar." he says, laughing good naturedly. His smile and laughter calmed my heart down a bit.

While I take out my vial and droppers, I hear Alex playing with Blizzie.

"Well, aren't you a good boy. May I have permission to pet you Sir Blizzard? I may also have a random stick some place if you want to pounce on something." he says.

"Pets allowed." Blizzie says and rubs his head against Alex's hand and purring loudly. Seems Blizzie doesn't want to play and instead just wants to be pet.

I block out what is happening around me and concentrate on getting the amount of drops correct. It seems to be very specific. Nine drops for each. Is that to symbolize the nine elements? That would make sense to me.

I finish my task, stoppering the mixed essences and putting all of my vials and droppers away. Once I am finished packing up, I say, "Are you two ready to go shopping?"

"Shopping!" Blizzie shouts, sounding very excited. I wonder if he is thinking about getting treats from Jasper again. Which isn't completely out of the picture as we are stopping by his shop.

"Alright Blizzie, into the bag. We are heading to my shop first!"

We make idle chatter about nothing in particular as we head to my shop. We are just getting to know each other so it really is idle. The weather is nice, cats are cute, magic is fun. Just obvious and passive things. Which is good as people are staring at us as we walk by. I don't want to give anyone any more ammunition against me by talking about things that matter.

When we get to my shop, I use my voice to open the door. Once it is open, I gesture my arm out and say "Welcome to my shop! Feel free to look around while I go and put these away."

"Why thank you. Don't mind if I do!" he says, cheerfully coming into my shop and beginning to look around.

I leave him to it and step into the backroom to put everything away. My mind couldn't help but race while I was putting everything away. Things had been going smoothly for a little while now and I haven't gotten a checkpoint. I am cautiously optimistic that I was beginning to do things a little better. However, this optimism is putting me ill at ease. What if I get comfortable only for him to murder me when my guard is down. Do I sell anything in my shop that can be used for murder?

Once I am done putting everything back in its place, I join Alex and Blizzie. Blizzie is sitting on the counter, looking as though he is ready to ring up any item that might catch Alex's eye. Which I think is possibly the most adorable thing ever.

"Find anything you like?" I ask him, walking over to where he was standing, holding the stuffed bunny.

"Yes. I love this. This is so cute! Are you planning on making something like this for the totems?" he asks me.

"With all the liquid in the orb I am wondering if that would be appropriate. I might end up doing carvings." I tell him. I wonder for a moment if I am capable of it and feel the knowledge of carving come into my mind.

"What a shame." he says and puts the stuffed bunny back onto the table.

"Did you not want the bunny?" I ask him.

"How much does it cost?" he asks me.

"You can have that for free. Think of it as a way to prove my skills." I tell him.

"Is it just to look cute or does it do something special?" he asks. I really need to make informational cards to set out in front of all of these items, so I don't have to explain them each time.

"It keeps your secrets and helps to calm anxiety." I tell him, waiting to see if he is disappointed..

"That's amazing!" he says, picking the stuffed bunny back up. "This will help calm my nerves about being in a new place and meeting so many new people. While I am excited, I get too excited sometimes and it causes me to be excitedly anxious."

"I am glad that you will find it useful then." I tell him smiling. I thought it was really cute so I am glad that it is going to someone who will like and value it.

Alex holds the stuffed bunny so that he is looking it face to face. "I shall name you Bella. Bella the Bunny."