A warm orange glow illuminated the scarred face of the old woman, who grinned teasingly at the young man. The soft patter of raindrops lent to the cozy atmosphere on the second floor of Red Maiden’s Trinkets and Baubles. Ben regarded the long, heavy box on the floor in front of the low, crackling fireplace and lifted his head to face the Berserker.

“This is from you?” he asked.

Ainsle winked. “Hottie over here, mostly,” she said, gesturing with her mug toward Ann. “The girl spent her entire share of her money from the goblin camp… I pitched in a little bit.” She dipped her head, and her eye seemed to lock onto her drink with intense scrutiny.

Huh. Since when had Ainsle become so modest?

The Keeper blushed furiously at the Berserker’s remark, and her soft blue eyes wandered up to the plain wooden ceiling, decidedly deserving of inspection. Ben chuckled at both women’s attempts at bashfulness. He leaned down and lifted the unlocked lid of the chest and felt his heart skip a beat.

He beheld a long, smooth shaft of dark, charred wood inlaid with several rings of an unknown dark metal. The butt of the haft had a multifaceted polyhedron of the same material. His eyes followed the length of the pole to a smooth, black, crescent blade that swept into an angular hook, and a long, sharp spearhead protruded from the tip.

He reached out to touch the smooth surface of the halberd’s haft before stopping and lifting his head to face his companions.

“I… I don’t know what to say,” he said softly.

Ainsle grunted, and Ann smiled, eyes gazing down at her lap.

He lifted the surprisingly light weapon, which had rested upon swathes of pure-white linen, and felt his hands fit the haft perfectly. He placed the masterfully crafted halberd back into the box before exhaling a long, slow breath.

“It's not enchanted or anything. Not that there’s anyone left in the city who could enchant it anyways, with the bastards running away and all,” the old woman said, her brow furrowed.

“The smith suggested an exotic alloy that repels mana, seeing as we were unable to find an Enchanter. He said pure sky steel would be able to cut through barriers and disrupt wards and that this alloy should have a similar, if lesser, effect,” the Keeper said in a surprisingly even tone. A contrast to her pink-flushed cheeks that suggested she should be at least a bit tipsy, Ben thought.

“It’s perfect. Thank you,” he said as he dipped his head.

“Let’s see how perfect it is in the morning, hey Benny-boy?” Ainsle grinned. “You owe me a dance, if I remember right.”

Ben returned his mentor’s grin. “I’d be happy to,” he said before returning his gaze to regard the chest with suspicion. “By the way, this box seemed quite heavy…” He leaned down once more to lift the fabric and found several dull ingots of an unknown metal. “What are these?” he asked the women.

“Ah. Little Kieran set that up for us. Something about the bloody thing discharging all over the place.”

Ben heard footsteps creak up the wooden stairs from the shop floor, and as if summoned, the not-little Kieran had arrived to join the party for dinner.

“Aunty, Miss Blackwood. Ben.” he nodded a greeting in a deep tired voice at each of the table’s occupants before sitting in a vacant chair and letting out a sigh.

“That Priest still giving you shit?” the old woman asked with a frown.

The handsome man closed his black eyes and ran a hand through his messy red hair. “No. It's Master Durrene.” He opened his eyes and turned to Ben. “I had to physically restrain the old man from wanting to come and meet you.”

“Ah,” the young man said as he glanced at Ann, who smiled ever so slightly.

“Don’t worry. He should be fine to wait another day. If you could make the time, of course,” Kieran said, as he appeared to have noticed the exchange between the pair.

“Kieran, tell Benny about those chunks of steel in the chest,” Ainsle said in what Ben thought to be an attempt to lighten the sobering mood.

The tall, handsome man looked at the chest before facing the young man once more. His dark eyes seemed to alight as he spoke.

“Aunt Ain was complaining about her light stone not charging as quickly as it should, so naturally, I came to investigate. Something was displacing the ambient mana, and I found that weapon to be the cause. Even as an alloy, sky steel is very rare and is made valuable by its mana-disrupting and dispersing properties. Thank you, Miss Blackwood.” Kieran paused to dip his head in thanks as the Keeper handed him a dinner plate. “As I was saying, having exposed sky steel in this store would be disastrous for the goods that rely on holding a charge for extended periods of time.” Kieran smiled with sharp teeth. “So, I put some lead ingots in a chest to solve the problem.”

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Ben’s head began to ache. “Lead? What does that have to do with protecting the trinkets in the shop?”

If Kieran’s expression could alight any further, Ben thought the tall man might’ve blinded him.

“Ah, yes! I forget things were different in the Old World! By the way, how did you survive without mana? Did your people manage to create a portal to the divine realm? I understand that the Tear in the weave only hap-”

“Ahem,” Ben cleared his throat. “Kieran, I don’t know whether or not An- Miss Blackwood told you, but I have a few gaps in my memories. Big gaps.”

“I do recall something like that,” the bronze-skinned man’s gaze grew distant before snapping back to Ben. “Right. So, the lead ingots. They’re usually unsuited to enchanting as they tend to absorb ambient mana rather slowly compared to other more refined or exotic materials. By encasing the weapon in lead, you essentially have a barrier of insulation that reduces the mana-dispersing effects of the alloy.”

Ben nodded in surprise. Primarily toward himself as he found that he understood, more or less, what Kieran had explained.

“He’s a smart boy!” Ainsle lifted her mug, and Ben mirrored the action, much to the handsome man’s dismay.

Ben spent the rest of the evening sharing a comfortable dinner with his two close companions and an interesting apprentice scholar. The young man recounted the events of two months prior to Kieran at Ainsle’s request. Any further questions regarding the Old World by the red-haired man were discouraged by a stern-faced Keeper. Ann had said there would be time the following day to interrogate Ben and that he was recovering; therefore, he needed an early night’s rest.

Fortunately for Ben, he didn’t drink as much as on his previous visit to the eclectic store, as the fatigue from the day’s activities, emotions, and revelations saw him yawning and swaying at the table with heavy eyelids. Kieran left shortly after dinner with a ‘be seeing you’ directed at Ben. Ainsle offered the pair to spend the night after hearing of the destroyed bedroom in Kieran’s townhouse. She had brought two soft leather bedrolls and clean sheets for Ann and Ben to sleep on in front of the warm fireplace, which Ben accepted gratefully. After bidding the Berserker goodnight, the Candidate and his Keeper settled in for the evening.

Ben practiced his forms with the halberd in his domain, the entity, a silent companion for two days and two nights. The incident with Jor occupied his mind. Specifically, the strange aura of what he suspected was her new Avatar and her apparent broken mind. He felt his stomach roil at the thought of her on top of him. The disdain for the woman was amplified by the fact that she had exerted control over him, even if only for a few moments, and Ben felt confusion born of hatred, pity, and shared camaraderie, cloud his mind. He stopped training and looked toward his Avatar, who sat on the forest floor in front of the cave in the clearing.

“Was it you who felt that? When she kissed me.”

The beast stared at the young man, and the images of its thoughts brushed over his mind. He saw the same incident with Jor; however, their positions were reversed, and he had his hands around her neck. The vivid imagery of him slowly strangling the woman as she struggled, kicked, and clawed bloody lines into his hands, made Ben shiver. He decided that he would immerse himself in training if only to cleanse the disturbing image of her lifeless corpse from his mind.

A ray of pale light shone through an opaque window, and the young man awoke to an eerily quiet room. Ann’s usual snores were absent, as was her body next to his. He stood, stretched, and attended to his natural needs, and upon his return to the fireplace, he heard light footsteps come from the stairs that led to the ground-level store area. A pale blond head appeared at the apex of the stairway, and the Keeper smiled as she met his eyes.

“Good morning, my heart. It’s a pleasant surprise to see you awake so early,” she said in a sing-song voice as she walked over to the fireplace beside Ben.

“Morning,” Ben yawned, and his eyes fell to the clay pot she carried. “What do you mean? I’m always up before you.”

Ann’s brows furrowed for a heartbeat before her expression relaxed with a smile and a subtle nod of her head. She poured water from the clay vessel into a big black pot. “That’s true,” she said as she tilted her head to meet his gaze. “It feels like it's been an eternity since the days of camping in the woods of a mountain pass.”

Yeah. It must’ve been a stressful two months for her while time sort of stopped having meaning for me.

“Well, I’m glad that you’re okay. I know I told you already, but I feared the worst, so just being here with you and Ainsle again is more than I could’ve hoped to ask for,” he said with a smile that spoke of relief and contentment.

“Please sit,” Ann said as she gestured with an open palm to the chair nearest to the hearth. “I have something special for you to try.” She retrieved a burlap pouch from the shelf where Ainsle had kept his coin bag. “This is from the Yeltic continent. Now, before you protest, I’d like you to approach this with an open mind.”

The Keeper opened the pouch, and Ben’s eyes narrowed. A terrifying, heavenly aroma assaulted him. He found himself staring, drawn closer to the mysteriously enthralling contents of the bag. Ann’s words became muffled, and he couldn’t concentrate on anything other than the divine smell. When he finally wrestled his attention away from the treasure, he made out a few coherent words from the short, blonde woman.

“…ferment, and then they roast them. I’m not quite sure of the exact process-”

“What’s it called?” he said, mouth agape.

Ann’s brows were raised as Ben’s uncharacteristic interruption took her aback. “The locals call it black brew, but the Hauluvians call it coffee.”

Ben nodded silently.

“We could try it another time if you’d like, my darling?”

“Now. I mean, let’s try some now. What do you think?” Ben said without missing a beat.

The Keeper stood motionless for a heartbeat before smiling and nodding. She retrieved a cylindrical container made of copper and twisted it to reveal that it was comprised of two parts with a fine mesh in between. Ann brought a mortar and pestle and emptied a handful of the delectable dark brown beans in the bowl before crushing them to a fine powder. She transferred the grounds to the copper container and sat next to Ben.

“We have to wait for the water to heat,” she said while brushing non-existent wrinkles from the robe on her lap. “Before Ainsle and Kieran steal you away from me, would you like to continue our conversation from yesterday?”

Ben thought hard at what particular conversation she had been referring to.

“Uh, we spoke about quite a few things. Could you be more specific?” he asked, his hand caressing his bearded jaw.

“About the Gods.”