"Wooo! Yeaaahh! Magic!"

"It's... not that exciting."

I ended up tagging along with Elle on her errands— which meant we were shopping, which was usually the only thing she ever let me help her with. Magic was too delicate, she’d said. I need to focus if I want to cast safely, she’d claimed. She’d basically told me I’d be in the way. I had promised her that I wouldn’t be, that I’d sit still and be very unnoticeable, invisible even— which got a laugh out of her— and then she’d immediately tried to change the subject. When I’d asked her again, she made a face akin to how my mom looked when she was trying to find a way to explain why I shouldn’t do something in a kinder tone. I had dropped the topic after that.

But my interest in magic never died— I just wanted to see it up close! You weren’t allowed to take the magic courses if you didn’t have the capacity for it, which annoyed me, so I ended up asking Elle to show me a couple of times. The spells she showed me were so pretty.

And while she no longer showed me each and every spell she cast, she still made time to show me stuff about magic. Today, the place we’d chosen to go was the Diyaflos Markets, a large series of storefronts and stalls that were set into the caverns that’d been found in the mountains. It was far, out of the way, very, very cool and most importantly: magic-based.

Just about everything having to do with magic could be found here, according to Elle. And she was usually right.

Elle rapped her knuckle against the roof of the carriage, and it juddered to a stop. Outside, a view of snowy mountain-road overlooking the city. We hadn’t yet reached the Markets.

“We’re walking the rest of the way,” she stated.

“Why?” I asked, tightening the cloak around my shoulders.

She stepped out of the carriage, and gave Stephen a look and a wave, before responding. “Have you tried riding a carriage through the Markets? It’s awful.”

“The lady’s right,” Stephen piped up, “the people scare Jasper.”

Jasper was one of the horses Stephen had for the carriage, along with Lily. They were nice, and he’d sometimes let me help feed and brush them while Elle slept. Stephen cracked the reins, and carefully turned the carriage.

“’ave fun with yer date, you two!” He called, laughing and slowly vanishing into the distance.

“I— we’re— it isn’t a date,” I shouted back. Elle just sighed, before starting to walk, tightening the blue half-cloak she wore.

I didn’t feel that way about Elle, I’d known her since we were children— so it’d be weird for me to like her that way. Also, she’d always been there for me when I needed it, even if at times it was really clear she didn’t really want to help me. In my opinion, we were more like siblings, even if our hair and eye colors were as different as can be. Elle having black hair, and I brown. My eyes being dark brown, and hers a light blue.

I’d ask her once if her magic had anything to do with her eye color, which she had responded to with a really blank stare and blank tone that said I’d asked a very dumb question. Though I was younger then, and she hadn’t taught me anything about magic yet, so it was very excusable for kid me.

“No,” she’d dryly intoned. “My eyes have been this color since I was born— I’m sure the aspect of my ether has nothing to do with it.”

And then I had bothered her more about that until she relented and taught me the important concepts in magic. Even now, in a way, this trip was one to teach me more— she brought me to the Diyaflos District before when I’d asked her if she had any of the funny looking plant in her book she showed me. Elle had gotten a funny look on her face before asking me if I wanted to shop with her. Of course I agreed, half out of wanting to repay her for always being with me, and half because I wanted to see more magic.

Of course, I probably could’ve visited the Markets on my own, but something told me it wouldn’t really be the same.

I jogged to catch up next to Elle, and she gave me a sidelong glance. I smiled back as we made our way towards the entrance to the Markets, which was an encrusted arch of gleaming brass that stretched above us, with the iconic Diyaflos Ivy around it. It was a tunnel-staircase thing that went down, before leading into the market proper.

As we descended down the steps, I couldn’t help but look around, stopping on a platform— The unpaved, rough gravel road becoming to paved, neat stone steps, that led deeper into the cavern, and the cold being replaced by a bone-warming heat. I loosened my cloak slightly. Then the Market’s iconic vine fell into view, flowering Diyaflos cozily illuminating the many stalls and storefronts lined against the walls, along with the shouts of merchants and the crowding of people filled my ear.

Elle turned, halfway down the stairs, expression peaceful. “Arthur? Stop standing on the platform. We’ve got orders to place.”

Every time I’d been here, it had amazed me, like something straight out of a storybook. Even now, it still reminded me so much of the fairy tales I’d read as a kid.

“Yeah— yeah,” I replied, descending down the last few stairs, following after my best friend.

[][][]

The Diyaflos District was an amazing place, filled with all of Tisali’s wonders. Alchemists, mages, jewelers, and nearly every profession could make their living alongside one another here. “Such is the won’t of mages,” Elle had once told me, doing her best impression of one of our professors, “always requiring one thing or another for their delicate works.” As a result, you could find nearly anything here, from the cool little artifact, to some of the highest-quality jewelery.

Though, I wouldn’t know about that last bit, most of my information about the Diyaflos District came from our old history professor, or from Elle directly, and she always seemed pretty happy to visit.

I walked beside Elle as she led us through the marketplace. Keeping mostly to ourselves, we walked near the center of the road, marveling at each storefront or another. One that particularly caught my eye was a shop with latticed windows, set deeply into cavern face, which swarmed with people. Past the window, I could see that the shoppers seemed to be enjoying themselves, and mostly be messing with little trinkets as a person showed them off. More than once, the shopkeep would wildly exclaim and0 pull or push another lever or button on their little item, which would cause anything from a puff of sparkles to floating, morphing bubbles, like something out of a fairy tale.

“Arthur,” Elle’s voice was gentle among the market clamor, “that’s a joke shop.”

“Ah,” I said, much too caught with the performance the shopkeep continued inside. They had brought out a thin stick this time, and had it shooting out sparks over an awe-inspired group of children and their parents.

Then Elle’s hand was on my sleeve, gently dragging me along. “We can check it out later. I promise there’s better stores then that one.”

“Ah— okay.” We moved farther down the street, before I’d realized I wasn’t actually sure what we were here to buy. I said as much.

She hummed. “I need to place an order for more silver, and some tin… then we’ll visit the alchemical workshops to procure some acid…”

“Why do you need acid?”

“For etchings,” Elle intoned, like it was very obvious, “I can shove more runes onto the silver I’ve been working with.”

“What’s wrong with your current method?”

“More effort— etching should be easier— and less strenuous.”

I didn’t ask if it was really worth the effort, or if it was really that stressful. I’d seen the silver arcs she’d been working on, and they were crammed with runes so numerous they had kinda hurt my eyes to look at. They probably also took hours to complete, too.

Elle continued rattling off her list, citing things like needing mugwort and rosemary, which she explained as needing for both her dream work and her other projects. She mentioned the possibility of hunting around for books, which she brightened up for. Brightened up for Elle though, meant her eyes shift ever so slightly, and she’d have the barest sliver of a smile.

Over the years, I’d learned to stop trying to read her facial expression, instead, settling on picking out the little rises and falls of her voice whenever she talked, whenever whatever she was feeling was strong enough to leak through. Some people might think that might get annoying, if the person they were listening to had an annoying voice, but I didn’t mind. Elle had a nice voice, even and quiet, but firm when she bothered. Silvery and soft-spoken, maybe, which made sense, since I knew Elle used to sing, even if I never got to hear her. Otherwise, I wasn’t sure what I’d do if one day, Elle looked clearly frightened or sad or scared, or sounded really hurt. She never looked or sounded like that anymore.

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Eventually, we visited shop after shop, picking up or ordering much of what she’d mentioned. While we were at the alchemical workshops, she lodged an order that didn’t seem very normal. She’d been discussing something with the shopkeeper while I perused the catalog they handed out. It had a lot of stuff I didn’t really get, like stones and herbs and gems that only had a mind-boggling price next to them. But after a little more talking, she seemed to reach some sort of consensus with the shopkeeper, and signed something. After, I had asked her about it.

“What? That? I was just checking if they had mercury on hand.”

“Mercury? What’s mercury for?”

“Though they didn’t know it by that name—“ Elle sounded exasperated— “which they insisted they didn’t have— which wouldn’t make sense, mind you, since alchemists always carry mercury. So I had explain what I wanted, in far too much detail for my liking. Then, he made a sound of realization and said, ‘Ah! Quicksilver— you want quicksilver!’ and I could’ve kicked myself—“ and she looked over, smiling— “since, like, why didn’t I think of calling it quicksilver, you know?”

I liked when Elle got more lively, so I didn’t ask again.

After, we walked around some more, hunting down bookstores, which she refused to tell me what she was trying to buy. All I knew was that we’d walked through at least seven bookstores, from large, popular ones to smaller stores tucked farther away, which took several hours. We’d found a small, little bookshop farther from the main road than the rest of the stores— but not too far that it was utterly devoid of people. This one had what she wanted, which she waited until she thought I wasn’t looking to pick up. For some reason, she’d picked up a small book on embroidery.

Which was confusing. Why would she be so secretive over embroidery? When we walked out of the bookstore, I couldn’t help myself.

“Why’d you buy an embroidery book?”

Elle ever-so-slightly flinched, before looking sheepish. “I was going to… to try it. You know? So I can weave runes and ritual arrays into clothing.”

“Really?” I still didn’t understand why she felt the need to be so evasive over something like that.

She made a strained expression, before softly sighing, glancing away. “That’s part of the reason, the other part was that I wanted to give your cloak extra enchantments.”

“Oh! Elle, wait— that’s great, I’d really love that!”

She seemed to shrink a little further the more I talked, and I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. I didn’t mind the fact that she acted kinda weird from time to time, being caught up on weird stuff. I just got used to it growing up with her.

Just then, a shout rang through the cavern.

“Excuse me! Sir! My lady!” A young boy behind a well-loved counter called, face bright with energy. “Won’t you come check out my wares? Trinkets and baubles of every kind!”

We had both stilled, Elle staring at the boy, and I, remembering the early joke shop she’d pulled me away from, only felt my smile get larger.

“Elle, Elle,” I gently coaxed, tugging on her sleeve, “I wanna check what he has!”

She looked at me, then the merchant, who had begun waving at us, then sighed. “Do you really want to?”

I nodded.

“Okay, okay.”

The young merchant’s face lit up as we approached his stand, which seemed to look like a run down wooden counter top, complete with a scuffed sign that seemed to be barely hanging on. Clearly, it was a good store though, since it occupied a spot in the cavern wall, which was usually only reserved for merchants who could afford it. Usually the rich or well-off, who had been trading for years.

He’s young, I realized. He must be really good.

The boy looked quite young, gaunt, short, and wiry, with tanned skin and curling, cropped hair, and dark eyes that held excitement. He was leaned forward on the counter top, like friends who leaned towards you when they were listening.

The young boy gestured excitedly around himself. “You’ve made an excellent choice, dear customers! I only have the best magical artifacts here at Griwindle’s Little Shop of Miracles!”

Elle looked unamused, but I liked it. I always thought the little performances merchants and shopkeeps alike put on were fun.

"Pretentious, I know, trust me! I told him the exact same thing when I first heard it.”

“Are you not Griwindle?” I asked, still curious.

“No, no—“ the boy laughed— “I’d cry if my parents named me something old like Griwindle— he’s the merchant I’m apprenticed to, you see—“ He leaned forward, sticking out a tanned hand— “the name’s Iwerj Metgi.”

I shook it. “Arthur Bell, Seeker-in-training at Belfaust University. I wanna see every part of the world when I graduate.” Iwerj grinned, before turning to Elle.

“And you?”

Elle didn’t take his hand, staring at him for a cold moment. “Estelle Laurent… also a seeker-in-training,” she curtly answered, and I could’ve sworn I caught the briefest tightening of her expression. After another moment, Iwerj drew his hand back with a smaller smile.

“Yeesh.” He gave me a pitying look. “You’ve got a chilly one, huh?”

What?

“Er— no, she’s actually quite warm,” I replied automatically, frowning.

The merchant laughed, “I’d bet!”

“Hurry up and make your sales pitch, Iwerj.” Elle had a withering look, and he held his hands up in surrender.

“Well, well, in order to do that I’m afraid I’ll need to bother you for some of your interests.” Iwerj turned to Arthur. “You said you were one of those Seeker-in-trainings, yes? Wanted to see the world?”

I nodded, to his growing enthusiasm. “Well then, have I got just the thing for you!” He turned, quickly shuffling deeper in the store and out of view.

“Elle,” I carefully began, turning to her, “are you okay? We can leave if you’d like, before he comes back.”

“I…“ She briefly looked conflicted— before taking a breath that sounded more like a sigh than anything. “I’m fine. Sorry.” She smiled reassuringly. “I’ll be alright— really.”

“Okay…” I made a note to try not to buy too much.

Sometimes, Elle felt like she was worlds away, or like she was hiding stuff from me. Which made me sad, and put a damper on my excitement. Especially in cases like these, where she was clearly uncomfortable but dealing with it for my sake. I wasn’t sure what to do, most people would choose to walk away, but I knew if I did that she’d get even more annoyed.

Iwerj came back around the corner, carrying a box filled with mountains of what looked like little trinkets. He set it down with a slight huff, before shuffling through it. “Oh my,” he said, glancing up, “did something happen while I was away?”

“Uh— no,” I said, “just probably ate something bad.”

“I’ve got something for that, if you’d like.”

“Oh, it’s not a problem. Thank you, though.”

“If you say so.” Iwerj finished picking through the box, setting down a dull, brass-colored glass ball about the size of his palm. Inside, was a suspended, golden needle that hovered ever so slightly. “I present, the Wanderer’s Compass! One of the most wonderful artifacts devised by the prestigious Gemspinner Alma!”

“Oh!” I recognized the name, but… “Oh…” I didn’t recognize the artifact, and after a glance at Elle, it didn’t seem like she knew either. Iwerj seemed to pick up on this, his smile growing a bit sheepish.

“Well— I’d understand if you didn’t recognize it… it’s— the Wanderer’s Compass is one of her earlier devices— you see,” he explained. I still didn’t recognize the device.

“Okay,” I tried, “but what does it do?”

“I—“ the merchant’s grin came back— “You see, it’s actually quite amazing. You can slot a drawing or similar object within the sphere itself through this slot.” He held up two torn strips of ribbon, before feeding one into the sphere. “And then the needle swings to guide you towards its counterpart, whether material, location, or person.” The golden point swung to point downwards, towards the other ribbon on the counter.

Iwerj tilted the little sphere around the other ribbon, showing off how the needle would always point towards its target. He set the box between the ribbon and the compass, and it still worked. “It even works through a large majority of structures,” he said smugly. “What do you say? Quite spectacular, yeah?”

It was. A compass that could point to whatever you targeted? The number of things that you could find were endless! You could find stolen objects— you could track criminals!— this little shop truly did sell miracles.

“You mentioned slotting a drawing in. How does it differentiate between…” Elle gestured. “Say, divining for the depicted object rather than the material of the paper the image is resting on?”

Iwerj’s smile grew a little strained, waving her off. “It’s something relating to sympathetic correspondence principles, with a mixture of divination to read the attuned’s intent. Magic isn’t my area of expertise, apologies.”

“I’ll take it,” I said, unable to keep the smile off my face.

“Huh?” Elle gave me an assessing look, before turning away.

“Very good, dear customer! You have very good sense!” He stuck out his hand. “That’ll be fifteen gold, please.”

Fifteen gold, or the equivalent of a month of hard labor.

Before I could say anything or protest, Elle had fished out two platinum coins and slid it across to him. “Will this be enough?”

Iwerj grinned, scooping up the coins, and sliding across the compass. Elle wordlessly picked it up and handed it to me. “Thank you for shopping at Griwindle’s Little Shop of Miracles! Please come again!”

We wordlessly walked away while he waved, and I set the compass into my bag, alongside the books I’d bought.

Elle looked like she was about to say something, but she glanced over and remained silent.

“Where are we off to next?”

She picked at her watch, before closing it with a sigh. “It’s late. We’re going to go home.”

Despite myself, the late hour, and the strained purchases we’d made today, a smile made its way onto my face.