I cut Alex off before he is able to say anything. I don't want to have the marriage conversation right now. I don't even want to get married yet. I am hoping to put it off even after the king thinks he has chosen me a husband. I don't know if it is common to get married quickly in this world, but I don't want to go along with that trend. Maybe I shall set a new trend. A trend of saving the world before settling down.

"Do you have the recipe?" I ask Alex. He seems startled for a moment, like he had been trying to find something to say but I cut off his thought process.

"Oh yes! Yes, I do!" he says, grabbing the recipe and laying it down in front of me. It seems that he realizes that I don't want to talk further about marriage or my birthday today.

"Wonderful!" I say.

I read over the recipe and mentally check off what Alex has done so far, combining the sands and crafting the orb.

"It looks like we can start by first adding in the essences that I have already combined together." I tell him, taking the bottle that the essences were combined in and pouring it into the orb. I see colors smoke and float in the air before becoming a liquid again and settling to the bottom of the orb.

"Oh! Can we go back and forth between who is adding the items?" Alex asks me in an energetic voice.

I am glad that he isn't letting the knowledge of me being the princess get him down. I am glad that he ended up putting together that I am the princess with me and not on his own. Or from other people. I think he would have killed me if he had found out from someone else that I am the princess.

"That sounds like a great idea!" I tell him, flashing him a brilliant smile. At least I think it is a brilliant smile. I can't see my own face.

Alex puts in the pearls of wisdom, and I follow up by putting in the seeds of knowledge. Alex sprinkles in the sapphire gem dust, I sprinkle in the ruby gem dust. He follows up with the emerald gem dust. For some reason he pauses me before we add any more ingredients.

"You know that I am not royalty or even a noble right?" he asks me.

"Why does that matter?" I ask him, curious as to why he is bringing that up.

"I just wanted to let you know." he says.

I pour in the liquid silver then respond to him.

"Thank you for letting me know. And it won't only be nobles or royals at my party." I tell him. "There will be knights too, as well as shop keeps and tradesmen. Why are you worried about your status? I am not worried about it." I tell him.

Alex adds in the earth crystal, and I add in the water crystal.

"I don't know how your kingdom works but ours is very classist. People won't even make friends with those of a different social class as them. Courting is unheard of. If I remember correctly people have been put to death by trying to marry too far above their station. I don't want to die Aria." he tells me.

"You won't be killed Alex. Even the king himself decided to make a common washerwoman his concubine and eventually she became his queen."

"He is the king though. He can do things that others can't."

"And I am a princess. A step-princess. Not a born princess. Also, I am not next in line for the throne. I think I might be third in line or something. Also, the king wants all eligible men to be at my party. Not just royals or nobles. If he wanted to marry me to a royal, he would just give me to Irick." I say, repulsed by the notion. I know that we are not blood, but he is still my brother.

"Oh." Alex says. We sit in silence for a moment neither of us even adding the next ingredient.

I am surprised that Alex's emotional state has changed so fast and by so much. He didn't seem like the type to let anything get him down. It always hurts a bit more when a puppy dog personality person is sad. It's nearly as sad as seeing a real puppy get sad. I don't know what to do to cheer him up.

"Well, I don't like the thought of the king doing that to you." he says, and I see a smile slowly come onto his face again. "Thus, I will do my part to not let that happen. I suppose the best way to have that not happen is to win him over myself." he says. That declaration makes it seem like he is now willing to move on from this topic. I blush a little but don't comment.

"Isn't this neat?" he asks lifting up a uniquely shaped item. Not item. A strangely shaped piece of glass. It looked like a mixture between a branch and a flower. It was really pretty.

"It is. What is it?" I ask him.

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"This is our sand struck by lightning. The sand gets super-heated and becomes glass." he says and examines the glass from all different angles. "I guess the recipe might be considering this as a special kind of fire crystal." he tell me. Oh, I had been wondering why that had been included in the recipe.

"That makes sense. I think it is beautiful. Something unexpected and beautiful coming from something that people think of as ordinary. Or people that are in an area with sand would find it ordinary." I say, amending my words.

"I like that analogy." Alex says before placing the lightning struck sand inside the orb. It feels like it takes up a large space and no space at the same time.

I pick up the orb of darkness to add it in next when something strange happens. It is as though all of the light is sucked out of the room and is pulled into the orb. I can tell that all of the light is gone, but I am still able to see perfectly. It almost feels as though I am seeing everything more clearly.

The little orb pulses in my hand and it feels like it is humming. The orb itself seems happy that I am holding it. I use a finger from the hand that is not holding the orb and stroke it. The orb hums louder and I feel a burst of energy go through me.

"Dark. Too dark. Ahh!" I hear Blizzie say. "So dark Blizzie no see. Cats supposed to see in dark. Why so dark!"

It sounds as though Blizzie is becoming concerned.

"Aria, is your element darkness by any chance."

"That is the theory, but it hasn't been tested. Why do you ask?" I ask him.

"Your potions are stronger than they should be, you are able to create new potion and charm recipes easily. You excel in creative pursuits. Are you able to see in this darkness?" he asks me.

"Yes." I tell him.

"And the darkness orb is reacting to you?" he asks.

"I would say so." I tell him.

"Burst of energy?"

"Yes."

"Ever been able to command or control any shadows?"

"No idea, I never tried." I tell him.

"Yeah, your element is darkness alright. That's pretty neat. A darkness element is pretty rare. Having an affinity as strong as your seem to have is also incredibly rare. I am assuming that your family hails from the shadow lands. Do you know if you have demon blood in you?" he asks.

I put the darkness orb into the relic orb alongside of the other added ingredients. All of the light comes back into the room.

"Demon blood?"

"Of course. Demons are a full race of people. There are good demons and bad demons just like there are good people and bad people. It's nothing to be ashamed of. I've actually heard that some of the most amazing magic users have demon blood. They have made great strides in technology and medicine." he tells me.

Thank you, Alex, for that info dump. The game doesn't talk too much about the demon races aside from the fact that there are tensions between the different peoples and races. I have to admit that it is nice to know that they aren't automatically evil. I bet they don't even call themselves demons.

"They don't even call themselves demons. I think they call themselves Dark Elves. We called them demons during one of the first wars. It was so long ago that no one even knows what the fighting was over. It was devastating. The demons were named that to set them apart from us, make them other. Easier to kill something other."

"I don't know if my family has demon blood. I don't know anyone from my family. I only knew my mom and now I have Bennett. It was never important for me to find them and get to know them. They turned my mother away because she was pregnant with me. They aren't the kind of people I want to know, and not the kind of people that I will ever call family. Also, how do you know so much about the demon people?" I ask him.

"Oh my first girlfriend was a demon. She told me all of that, but nothing else really. She told me that she wanted me to see her a person and not a demon. She told me that it didn't matter where you came from or who your family is. What matters is the person that you choose to be."

"She sounds wonderful." I tell him.

"She was. We split up because of personality differences but her kindness has stayed with me. Oops, is it okay to be talking about an ex-lover?" he asks me.

"You are okay to talk about anyone and everyone. I believe that the people that come into and out of our lives shape us. Good experiences and bad." As I say this I almost subconsciously touch my throat but manage not to. Aria wasn't the one that had been strangled to unconsciousness after all.

"That's great! Thanks Aria. You really are an amazing person." he tells me.

"Thanks. So are you Alex. You seem to have so much kindness and goodness in you. You are also smart and you have some very wise ways of seeing the world." I tell him. We spend a moment looking away from each other, both blushing.

Alex clears his throat and picks up the light orb. "Shall we?" he asks.

"Oh! Haha yes, I suppose we should, shouldn't we? Especially if I want to try to finish making all of the totems by my birthday party."

"Is there any special reason for that?" he asks me.

"I like setting goals. Also, I will be saving you a dance or two which is going to draw people's attention to you. It should be a great time to tell the people that approach you all about your shop. Draw them in with your wonderfulness and dancing and keep them drawn in with a special, unique and rare artifact." I tease him. Of course, it isn't fully teasing. There is truth to it as well.

"Well then, those are some great reasons to meet that goal. Let's make this happen!" he tells me.

Together we finish adding the wind stone, fairy dust and waters of truth.

"What do you think? It's look pretty mystical doesn't it?" Alex asks me.

I can't help but agree as I look at the orb. I don't add that I think it looks a little bit like a mystical fishbowl. Maybe some of the ingredients break down and become something else, but right now it looks a little chaotic and messy. But mystical too.

"Now that we have everything, but the totems added would you like to help me make a waterproofing potion? I have to let you know I haven't made one for this purpose before. I don't know if it will be one of those things that comes together easily of if I am going to botch this a few times first. Just warning you." I let him know and give him a smile.

New Skill Acquired!

'What new skill Alias?' I ask him a mixture of curiosity, excitement and a little worry.

'You can now see what your different alchemical ingredients and charms do. You can also choose what enchantment to put on an item. There may also be a nifty new status screen you can use to help you craft new potion and charm recipes.'

'That actually does sound helpful. Let's try not to make it feel too much like a mini game if possible?' I request.

'Boo, you're no fun Aria. I like mini games.'

'I can like them too. But sometimes they are more infuriating than fun.' I warn him.

'Fine fine. Now go! Go make a potion!'

I look around at all of my ingredients and don't see a change immediately. When I think about wanting to see what they do BAM! I suddenly have almost too much information. I think to myself that I want to see ones that are useful in potions that affect water. That narrows down my scope.

I look around at my possible ingredients. I assume I shouldn't just mix them altogether and assume that will do anything.

Lotus leaves

Lotus petals

Lotus roots

Kelp

Ground sea horses that died of natural causes

ground dried up starfish

Powdered Frugs Lungs

Water pixie dust

Arrowhead

Begonia

Aglaonemas

Coleus

Dieffenbachia

Devil's Ivy

Fiddle Leaf Fig

Jade Plant

Rubber Plant

Aloe Vera

Spider Plant

Peace Lily

Powdered Fish Scales

Wet Fish Scales

Mermaid Scales

Okay yeah let's not just grind all of those up together and call it a day.

"Are you okay? You seem to just be staring at your ingredients."

"This is a part of the process. Trust in the process." I tell him.

'Let's implement a mini game to speed things up. I won't always do this but because you are aiming for something specific and not just having fun this should help. Also, we don't want him to get suspicious of you now, would we?' Alias asks me.

'No. I don't want Alex to get suspicious of me. I had somehow been managing to keep his suspicion levels low. However, I learned today that he is not impervious.'

'Of course, he isn't. Now then. Let me tell you how to play this game. You must choose six ingredients. It will tell you what potion you have created at the end.'

'How is that helpful?'

'I'm not finished.' Alias tells me in admonishment. 'After you have finished a potion you will get a locked in ingredient if it is used to make the potion you are wanting. Sadly you will have to make enough potions until you unlock all six ingredients. Good luck!'

"Alright I have some ideas. You ready to mix some potions?"