Harmoni and Cooper started down the path, past magic displays. One magic user was hovering off his table, without any assistance from rugs or brooms or anything. Ice sculptures were visible further down the path. Fire sculptures were also visible further down, their flames holding shape better than fire was supposed to. A human changed something about his appearance through sheer willpower every time someone passed. At least, Harmoni was fairly certain the person was a human. And a man. Again, changing appearance. And a gnome had collected a crowd just by eating things that should be deadly or inedible. People in the crowd were calling out suggestions of what she should try next.

Fleck thought that one was pretty fun, actually. He’d drag Moon to it when she came back. Unfortunately for him, she’d gotten all excited about the dragon spraying ice on the other side of the courtyard, and left. Right now she was bothering him, probably wanted advice on her own ability. They were too far away for Fleck to see if she was making any progress.

So for now, he followed Harmoni and Cooper on his own. Moon would come back, or he’d drag her back later. In the meantime, he was perfectly occupied with the sights and smells. He could pick up the scents of all the sentient species and most of the planets. There were the smell of potions and magical items. And there was the smell of magic itself. The smell of fire burning near the middle of the courtyard was different than the smell of fire coming out of an imp’s wand.

The displays were cool, but most people did remember they were supposed to sell things. One human was bragging about the quality of his wands, while the older woman next to him offered robes and cloaks. It reminded her of what she and Rial made. An elf was talking about a magic school on Iva that was always accepting new students. Cooper actually took a pamphlet for that. Though he took it as he passed, without breaking his stride and barely reaching out his hand. Presumably, he didn’t want to be mocked.

There were species of all sort, as Fleck had already noticed. There was a lot of variety in the crowd, of course. (And despite how busy it seemed to Harmoni, someone was complaining about better turn outs on another planet.) But that went for the people at the stalls, selling their wares as well.

There was even a colbber selling potions, and a book on potion recipes. Cooper smiled with his teeth, so bright it was competing with the sun. The feeling was mutual. The colbber selling things also lit up when she saw him, shaking his hand vigorously and giving him some pointers on how to make his own potions, as he bought some black glistening ones from her.

“So Harmoni, what do you want to do now?” Cooper asked.

There was a faint clinking of glass as he walked over. He had a cloak he hadn’t worn when the weather was (slightly) warmer. He might’ve put his potions inside.

Back to the question though. “But . . . you’re the one who wanted to come here.”

“Well, yeah. But. You’re supposed to enjoy yourself as well. It’s hard to do that if I’m just dragging you around everywhere.”

Harmoni shook her head. “You’re not dragging me anywhere. I wanted to come too. And there’s so much to see, just walking down the path like this has been easy.”

Fleck rolled his eyes. “You two are both tripping over yourself way too hard here. Just pick something.”

Harmoni didn’t know much of what was here. And she didn’t have any specific magic she wanted to look at first. Or, focus on first. They'd seen a lot of magic just in passing. And they had been here a little while. So she decided on something else.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

“Maybe we could take a break and get some food?” Harmoni suggested.

“I can smell where it is,” Fleck said.

“Fleck could lead us to it,” Harmoni translated just in case, since Moon still wasn’t there.

‘I’m dragging her to us after I show you the way,’ Fleck thought.

But he was being playful about it. Like when he mocked Glow.

Cooper smiled. “Well sure. Lead on Fleck.”

They followed Fleck to an area with food. The food stalls created a small square, with open space with tables to eat at, and some trash cans around.

Some of the food also seemed to be magical. There were fries that glowed, and a zenny was advertising beans that would fill you for the whole day in only three bites. But Harmoni just wanted regular food, which was thankfully also in abundance.

There was an elf serving soup that smelled good, but seemed a bit . . . misplaced in the desert. Even on a day like today. Cooper went to a dwarf cooking meat over a fire. Harmoni settled on a simple sandwich place.

The elf in line in front of her smiled at her, then did a double take.

“Ma’am, that’s an unfortunate magical block you have. Would you like some help getting rid of it?”

“. . .What?” Harmoni managed.

The only time anyone said magic was around her, they were talking about the dark energy. That was supposed to be covered up. And it didn’t sound like that was what the elf was talking about. But Harmoni didn’t have the faintest clue what she could mean instead.

Fleck didn’t know either.

The elf frowned, ears dipping a bit, the same way Harmoni’s could. The same way Harmoni’s did when she was feeling apologetic or confused actually. “The block? The magic . . . wall around you? I’m certain it’s not coming from you. And it must be effecting you in some way, though I’d have to look to figure out more. You don’t sense it?”

Harmoni shook her head. “Sorry, I can’t. Sense it, that is.”

“What are you apologizing for? That’s a far bigger problem for you than for me.” The woman leaned back with a frown. “Actually, would you like me to take a look at that for you? I could find out what the block actually is.”

The person at the sandwich stall had slid an order to the elf, and crossed his arms, vaguely annoyed neither of them were paying attention. But Harmoni continued ignoring him.

“What would that entail?”

“I can sense the magic around us, including the barrier around you. But I would have to focus on the barrier specifically to find out more. With a probe or two, I should be able to figure out how strong it is, and what topic it’s blocking. It certainly wouldn’t break the barrier. That would take more work. And I wouldn’t be able to tell what’s on the other side. If that makes sense?”

It was a little oddly worded, but from what Harmoni could piece together, there wasn’t really an easy way to explain what she was doing. Especially if you didn’t use magic. But it didn’t sound too invasive, or painful.

“Uh . . . so you would just sense a specific area of magic?” Harmoni asked. “And you could do that here? Right now?”

“Uh. I hope you don’t mean literally right here,” the sandwich server pointed out. “Because I think you’ve held up the line long enough.”

Oh right.

Fleck was almost back now, Moon in tow. And the man at the sandwich stall had a dragon.

(Most members of the magic expo had been traveling from planet to planet, but a few residents of Xentron had seen the opportunity, and set up shop.)

Fleck could handle the order and Harmoni could take care of this right now.

And now he’d be close in case she needed him.

With that sorted out, Harmoni and the elf went to an empty table. Cooper frowned from his table as he saw her walk off, but hopefully he could wait. She’d explain when she was done.

The elf talked her through what she had to do, but it wasn’t much. Harmoni placed her hands on top of the elf’s open palms, the two lightly touching. The elf woman looked like she was staring into space, eyes moving a little further apart and gazing at an empty stretch of desert over Harmoni’s shoulder. Harmoni could’ve sworn she did feel . . . something. A wind passing between her hands and the woman’s maybe. Or the breath of a whisper.

Then the feeling ended. The woman gasped like she was coming up from water. Had she breathed at all in that time?

“So?” Harmoni asked after a moment. She tapped her fingers nervously against the table.

“It has something to do with your memory.” Harmoni stopped tapping. The elf nodded. “Yes. I can tell there are memories blocked behind that supernatural barrier. Though what memories they are, specifically, I couldn’t say. Do you have any gaps in your mind? Places you know a memory is missing?”

. . .Ah.