Tala ended up staying in Bandfast for two more full days with Rane.

When he had begun trying to fill his day—while she bound Kit—he had gotten a much greater response than he’d expected.

When the full extent of his filled social calendar was discussed, Rane said she was fine to head back without him, but Tala found she preferred to stay and tag-along with him for once.

It was definitely an odd experience, only knowing most of the people they spent time with in a passing manner.

This was their last day planned in Bandfast, and Tala and Rane were walking between a lunch meetup that had run into mid-afternoon, and an early dinner.

They were chatting about the people they had just left, and theorizing about those they were going to meet when they passed a shop that Tala hadn’t thought of in a long time.

The shop was on a little, out of the way street that they passed just by happenstance—just as she and Lyn had passed it what seemed like a lifetime ago.

‘He buys and sells artifacts and arcane goods.’ Lyn had used that simple statement to draw Tala out of some musing or other. Now, it really hit home what Lyn had said.

Artifacts—not in a waning city—and arcane goods.

Rane had pulled to a stop beside her as she’d frozen midstep.

He looked between her and the shop, “Do you need to go in?”

She bit the side of her lip. “It’s something I’m curious about. Catch up to you in a bit?”

Rane hesitated, “Do you need me?” He could clearly tell something wasn’t right. “I can cancel the—”

Tala shook her head, cutting him off. “That won’t be necessary. I’ll be along shortly, and I don’t want to make you wait.”

He hesitated for only a moment longer, “Alright, then. Reach out if you need me, and I’ll be there.”

She smiled, “I know. Thank you.”

With a series of backward glances, Rane continued on his way.

Tala, for her part, was staring at the shop once more. Though, it wasn’t what she saw with her eyes that really held her attention.

To mundane sight, it was just an ordinary shop, but it was odd even in that sense.

While the windows were clean and well painted with the usual advertisement for a seller of goods, looking beyond the glass instantly caused a disjointment.

There were iron plates placed directly behind the glass, and that same iron seemed to be wrapping the whole of the building’s interior.

But again, her mundane vision was not what had grabbed her focus and reminded her of the business’s existence.

There was an odd distortion all around the building starward and stoneward.

She might have missed it, but it didn’t strictly match the shop’s shape, instead bulging outward quite oddly. Unfortunately, it was hard to determine the exact dimensions, as it was messing with her magesight even as she looked at it.

Iron. Iron placed along the axis of magic connected in order to completely surround whatever is inside… how big could that be?

-From what I can tell, there is iron placed for at least a hundred increments along the magical axis.-

That meant that those places could be at least a hundred times the physical dimensions associated, and that was before any sort of spatial magic was involved.

She was insanely curious as to what might be inside, but she didn’t have even the smallest clue.

After all, the shop was fully sealed against magic escaping, making it impossible for her to see within, the iron fully blocking off her three-fold sight.

This, I have to see.

-Yes, let’s walk into the arcane-related, sealed box… alone. No need for any help, here.-

Tala hesitated, glancing in the direction that Rane had departed in.

He was already out of sight.

-He’d come back if we asked.-

I know, but we’re in Bandfast. The very thought dispelled most of the concern. There is no way they’d let something or someone nefarious remain within the city.

-No, they catch every syphon instantly.-

Tala grimaced. Those aren’t truly damaging…

-And what about—-

Fine, it could be dangerous, but I am still going to investigate.

-So long as it’s with open eyes, I have no objection.-

She stepped forward and pulled the door open revealing… a small entry room.

Unfortunately, because of the iron stoneward and starward, Tala couldn’t bring her bloodstars along in their usual configuration. Instead, she pulled them back into the superficial, letting them rest on various parts of her clothing to get extra sight that way.

It was unideal, but she didn’t really have a choice. The door didn’t even exist elsewhere along the axis of magic, instead the same space seemed to be solid iron if she moved star- or stoneward.

The only means of ingress or egress was the simple seeming door, located superficially.

The small entry room was well decorated, but clearly meant as a buffer between inside and outside.

The door closed behind her, and only then was she able to push open the next door, entering the shop proper.

-Archive access still maintained. The Soulbound connection isn’t hampered by the iron at all, just as expected.-

Good. How about you—Her thoughts died in her mind as she really took in what was around her.

The iron-core door swung shut after she was through, even as she gaped at what she saw around her.

One thing grabbed her attention before anything else.

Vestiges.

There were at least sixteen vestiges that she could sense in this room. One stoneward and one starward of each corner.

There, they didn’t flood the superficial with their power, instead filling the single increment on either side, giving a hair-raising sense of power that was just out of reach.

Additionally, there was a dividing wall of iron that once again kept her three-fold sight from seeing anything in the rest of the building.

Finally, while there were no items on display, simply a long wooden counter with several books laid out atop them, Tala could see that the space was fully packed with different sized boxes, neatly stacked stoneward and starward of this front room.

Organized by which book their entry is in?

-That’s likely.-

Held up by the iron cocoon around this entire place.

-And kept in top condition by the vestiges gushing purified power.-

All in all, it was an elegant setup.

If I had Kit, I could rob this place blind in a blink.

-Yes, but you could do that to any other shop as well.-

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Yeah, but this one is magic… really, really magic.

As she was contemplating larceny, a disjointed being came into view.

The door behind the counter opened—revealing another small chamber clearly meant to seal off this room from outside as well as the rest of the house—and out stepped a tall, scholarly looking gentleman.

He looked older yet not old, strong yet not defined, healthy yet not athletic, comely yet not handsome.

All in all, he was quite forgettable.

He was also an illusion.

Beneath the illusion, she was easily able to see a Mature arcane. Though something about the advancement of his aura seemed… liquid?

-He feels like the arcanes we saw who had temporarily dropped below their actual advancement due to power expenditure.-

That was it. He was clearly lacking the power his body and mind were used to wielding, or at least capable of wielding.

As to his true looks?

He was something that immediately pulled her back to her first real fight with a magical beast.

Is he a humanoid midnight fox?

No… that wasn’t quite right.

His actual height was only about four feet, with another two feet of horns sweeping up and back to match the six feet of the illusory man he pretended to be.

Horns, not antlers. Not a midnight fox, then.

He also had the two horns projecting forward along his upper jaw like a midnight fox. He differed yet again, however, with another set of horns hooking along the line of his lower jaw when it was closed.

Rather than having easily visible skin, he had what seemed to be exceptionally fine, white fur.

As he walked forward behind the counter, he stepped up on a rise in the floor, which was likewise covered by an illusion, so the ‘man’ didn’t change height, even though the fox-man was now higher.

He was dressed—both in reality and in the illusion—in a simple set of black Mage’s robes.

His true eyes were a deep—almost indigo—blue with vertical black slits.

His voice was likewise disguised, the illusion sounding a bit nasally, but Tala could somehow hear around it, and the creature’s true voice was as deep and melodic as an ancient river, “Welcome, Refined. You are Mistress Tala, if I don’t miss my guess. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“You know me?” She was startled at the knowledge, sure that she’d never met this creature before.

Though, if he’s capable of illusions better than these…

He smiled, his real face showing it to be an almost predatory grin, “Of course. I have procured many of your memories, humiliating those to the south.”

There was a beat of silence, then he sighed.

“I can see you are meeting my eyes, not those of my projected form. Would you accept my sealing the door and dropping the pretense?”

Tala nodded slowly, feeling happy that she had a couple of sets of siege orbs at her belt opposite Flow, just in case.

“Thank you.” He took a deep breath. Then, his mouth moved, and he clearly spoke, but Tala couldn’t hear the word.

Regardless, the door behind her vanished, leaving a smooth iron wall. Before her, the illusion of the studious man fell, and Tala was faced with what she’d already known was there.

“I can see you are not surprised, but that is to be expected.” Even so, he looked a bit disappointed.

“You’re a beast man? Fox? Or…?”

He huffed a laugh, his disappointment fading. “I am something similar, yes.”

“Why are you here?”

He raised an eyebrow. “That is a rather rude question, Mistress Tala. This is my shop and my home. Why are you here?”

Tala was caught off guard by that. “I mean… I’m here to learn what was actually going on in here. I saw your…expansion, and that reminded me that I’d heard of you before. You buy magical and arcane items, correct?”

“I do. Are you here to buy or sell?” He still seemed a bit… miffed but kept a professional air.

“I apologize, but… I have not had the best relationship with arcanes. Forgive me for asking, but how can you be here? How is it allowed?”

Once again, the predatory smile returned, the man’s small, furry face, reminding her of a savage beast about to strike for a brief moment before he spoke, “Oh, I am aware of your history with the arcanes. It is why I did not throw you out for the rudeness. Your hesitancy is expected and appreciated.” He looked at her for a long moment, then huffed, “I was banished by a fool and granted leave to stay within human cities so long as I keep my advancement to Mature and hide my identity while in public.”

“What is your actual advancement level then?”

There was an incredibly minute bending of power, and something flicked the back of her ear, hard.

“Ow!” Tala clutched the side of her head and pulled her hand away wet.

Her eyes widened. He made me bleed with such a small strike? How?

“Learn manners, child. Your defenses are impressive, but nothing is impenetrable.”

-I’m looking at you from all sides, and there are no gaps in your iron, so it was a physical attack at its core.-

Air manipulation.

-That is the simplest explanation.-

Still, to do so much damage with so little power… I barely felt any movement of power.

-Maybe you shouldn’t be rude, then.-

She grimaced, “My apologies, master…?”

He bowed then, “Yes, introductions, so important. Thank you for asking. My name is Lisa.”

Tala frowned. “Master Lisa? Isn’t that a woman’s name?”

Lisa shrugged. “It can be. It is an issue with translation… yes, I can see that isn’t forbidden knowledge to you. I am glad I judged rightly.”

Translation… from another language. He’s from before the merging of languages?

-Or the name is from then, and he’s being deceptive… like his illusions. He is likely only allowed to live here because he’s able to obscure the truth, mainly who and what he is.-

That’s fair. Ironic to require that someone be good at hiding the truth before they can be trusted.

-Just a bit, yeah.-

“But we are wandering in the weeds for want of a trail. Did you only come to see what my home was?” He gestured around them. “You have seen. If that was your goal, you may go. I have much to be about.”

Tala thought furiously. She was not ready to depart. Maybe…

Given master Lisa’s request for arcane items, it made sense that he might have something of that nature… even if they weren’t originally created for that purpose. “Do you have anything that can enhance a hold?”

A slow smile pulled at his somewhat vulpine features. “I just might. It seems I might have more memories to barter for than I’d considered. I only acquired those of you killing arcanes.” He licked his teeth. “Those were well worth the price.”

Alat?

-Yeah, I’m seeing a line item in Mistress Ingrit’s records that we have credit with a ‘master Lisa.’ The note beside it says: ‘To be collected in the form of arcane knowledge, items, favors, or municipal defense. If the latter is used, the city in question would take up the debt owed to Mistress Tala.’-

There was so much implied in that that Tala couldn’t properly unpack it, but that wasn’t important in the moment.

She had just learned that she had a line of credit at a magic store that seemed to put even the Constructionists to shame.

“What do you have?”

“That depends, do you have a standard hold? Is it a construct, artifact, spontaneous generation, ether hold? Is it powered by a vestige? Magic-bound to yourself? Soulbound? Are you looking for augments to establish within as separate items or to integrate into the existing magical matrices? Does it have a means of incorporating external magics? Is it inert? Sentient? Sapient?”

Tala felt her smile grow with each question. She might have been hesitant to share, but the very fact that Mistress Ingrit had bartered with him for some of her memories meant that he was trustworthy to at least a certain extent. “Her name is Kit and let me give you a little summary to get us started, here.”

She hit the highlights, being careful to give true, broad strokes while leaving all the tantalizing details out.

…Alat structured the vast majority of her little spiel.

Thank you, Alat.

-It’s what I do.-

In the end, master Lisa was nodding in contemplative understanding.

As he opened his mouth to say something, Tala held up a finger, “One more thing, before you respond. I do apologize for my earlier rudeness, I did not mean to be untoward. As recompense, please let me offer you a memory.”

Alat?

-Already ahead of you… done.-

Lisa raised an eyebrow, then reached to one side, his arm seeming to vanish.

Tala watched as he grabbed something out of another physical layer, pulling a small round disc back to himself in the superficial.

Keeping an eye on her, he attached the disc to his temple, closing the eye on that side.

A moment later, the eye reopened, both of his eyes widening. “Your apology is accepted. Thank you for the gift of being able to witness the consumption of an ether hold. That does actually give me a much better picture of your storage’s abilities as well. My compliments for the multipurposed offering.”

He licked his teeth while looking up at the ceiling, clearly considering.

Tala waited patiently.

Finally, Lisa reached up and pulled the disc off of his temple and replaced it in the stoneward physical layer it had come from. “Well, that is interesting. I have some things that could be of use—one item in particular comes to mind because you have soulbound your storage, but I am hesitant to part with it.”

“Oh?” Tala was intrigued.

“Yes. It is a magical purification system. You stated that you wanted to ensure that no one would be forced to bond with you when entering your sanctum, is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“What of items? Those not magic-bound to you would quickly die or become so bound if you stored them within. Incidentally, this is a common issue with human-used storages.”

Tala found herself nodding. “I hadn’t really considered that, but yeah. I think that has been an issue.”

He quirked a smile. “No fear, dear Refined. Not all is lost. I have seen items unbind if they became magicbound through happenstance rather than intention. If you purified the magic within your sanctum, any item of that description found within would return to a neutral state in time, and any new item you acquired for transport or storage would be preserved.” He hesitated, glancing her way. “From what you said, the power density inside is well above standard for this region?”

“Yes.”

“Good, good. Then, purifying it should also make the power accessible to and useful for all non-magical things and creatures within as well.”

That made Tala frown. “Non-magical? Wouldn’t that mean they don’t use magic?”

“But of course. They don’t use the magic, but bathing in it—as it were—makes them more.” Once again, he hesitated. “It doesn’t make them more real, that would be ridiculous.” He chuckled. “It solidifies their existence in a way that is hard to describe.”

Tala found herself nodding, “They are already real, physical things. Because they are distinct, they are already well set with void. Thus, suffusing them in magic completes the triune of existence.”

Lisa gave her a long, long look, “Aren’t you just full of surprises?”