Tristan left The Towers and headed back towards the middle levels of the city. The whole time he was walking, he was spinning his essence crucible, feeling the cool, refreshing breeze inside his chest that comforted him despite the disquiet at learning details surrounding his mother’s murder.

Every rotation of the essence crucible, every time he spun it, he could almost see small sparkles of icy-blue energy cascading with silver in the edges of his vision. Interspersed within were tiny pops of crimson and gold. Must be from the dragon blood, he thought. An indicator that I’ve consumed it. I wonder if I use the Drain Dragon spell on a fire dragon…will the color shift be more prominent?

The essence wasn’t just flowing through his body – the whole time he was pushing it into the ring, readying to get his plan underway. As soon as he reached a safe location away from any possible discovery, he could transport back to the Fey Realm. As long as he was focusing most of his attention on it, he could keep the ring ‘on standby’ once it was primed. But if he was doing something like fighting? He’d have to gather it all over again.

Felicity was on watch from around his neck. Sometimes she popped behind his head when someone she spotted with Elf heritage – even a tiny, tiny trace – came within view.

He found a place that suited his needs after thirty minutes. The Raven’s Rook, an inn and tavern that was just on the outskirts of a major marketplace; one of several marketplaces throughout the capital. The building was packed, and Tristan pushed his way through the crowd, past the bar, the tables, the bards singing their merry tunes and playing a rendition of, “The Demon went down to Bhant” which was a fast-paced, violin-focused ditty. At the far end of the common room was a set of stairs, and a small desk with a young man seated behind it.

Tristan walked up, “Got any rooms for rent?”

The young man nodded, pulled a ledger from a nook on the wall where several recesses holding keys was, and flipped the ledger open. “You wanna bunk up with strangers or your own room?”

“My own, please.”

“One electrum piece per night, paid in advance.”

Tristan reached into his pocket for his coin pouch, pulled it out, and grimaced. Right, I didn’t get it from Felicity’s extradimensional space.

Almost as if she was reading his mind, her tail swished down, there was a slight warping inside the bag, and the pouch of coins he had taken off the mercenary guard was sitting inside his pouch. Pulling out three electrum pieces, he set them down onto the counter.

The man took the pieces and looked up expectantly at Tristan, “Name for the ledger?”

Tristan slipped another two electrum pieces onto the counter, “How about you just put down Mr. Smith.”

The man scribbled the name down, reached into the alcoves and pulled a key out before handing it to him, “Upstairs, fifth door on the left.” He pocketed the extra electrum.

Tristan made his way up to the room and entered the clean, dimly lit space. A window faced out to a backyard where one could see the outhouses and the small stables. There was a single person bed, a small basin for water sitting on a wooden stand, and a trunk with a lock and a key already inserted in the lock, waiting for use.

Felicity unwound herself from around his neck and flew up to his head, “Well, back to the Fey Realm we go!”

“Yeah, here we go,” Tristan replied as he made sure to lock the door, sat on the bed, and activated the ring. The whole world went white, and almost instantaneously he was in the area before the Queen’s Wood.

Unlike their last time departing, there were dozens of fairy dragons flying to and fro, from place to place. Once they noticed Tristan, they paused, bowed or saluted, and then went about their business. Felicity flew out from his neck and clapped her hands, “Alright people! Get over here!”

“Up yours!” one of the passing fairy dragons shouted.

Felicity stuck her tongue out the passing denizen, pivoted in the air, and faced Tristan with a pouty face, “I should get a little respect since I’m accompanying our ‘mighty leader’, but nooooo.”

Tristan smirked at her over the top expression before clearing his throat and speaking up. “Hey, everyone? I could use some help.”

Dozens of fairy dragons dropped what they were doing, flew over to Tristan, and landed on the ground in front of him. Their voices were saying various versions of, “I’m here” or “What do you need?” that overlapped and formed a discordant choir.

Tristan raised his hands for them to quiet down. “Please listen to Felicity for a moment.”

Felicity beamed and looked at the arrayed fairy dragons, “Thank you. Now, Trist- erm, Lord Tristan, requires clearcool, starberries, and any alchemy equipment we have. Bring it all up to the top boughs!”

The various fairy dragons dashed off in different directions. Some into the forest and trees surrounding the enormous main trunk, some to go and pick up earthenware pots that they carried in groups of two to four over towards the river.

“Let’s go inside,” Felicity said as she beckoned Tristan to follow. “We are going up the tree!”

“How far up?” Tristan asked as he entered the large, hollow center of the massive edifice.

Felicity pointed at the ramp, “To the top!”

That is a good distance to go up, Tristan thought as he knew his legs would be throbbing by the time he got up there. Easily three hundred feet.

The climb up was not that bad, surprisingly. Felicity just flapped in lazy circles around the central spire, and Tristan followed the winding protrusion of the central trunk up into the higher interior space. There were plenty of holes that led out to wide branches, and all through the inside walls were small nests. Those nests were similar to weaver nests; a whole bunch of strands, vines, leaves, and other ‘fluffy’ looking plant offal that were bundled into cozy, single-occupant spaces.

To his surprise, Tristan wasn’t tired at all from the short climb. He was full of energy, and the normal soreness that would build up in his legs was not present. Must be because of the ambient essence, he thought. Somehow keeping me refreshed or something like that? The tree center kept spiraling up, but he came to what Felicity called the top bough.

The tree had, through some magics of ancient times past, a large, flat expanse that was shrouded from below by the branches and leaves, veiling sight of this upper level. Above was a larger canopy that spread out with shimmering, white leaves. There were four platforms splitting off the central, circular space, and one platform was already occupied by a large spyglass that extended up, pointing to the stars. Tristan felt himself drawn to it, and Felicity flew past him, circling around the weird item.

“This thing has been here for f-o-r-e-v-e-r. Kind of pretty.”

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“What is it?”

“Oh, it’s an astrologer’s glass! Really old, when the Elves used to study the stars for signs of the future.”

Tristan walked over and followed where Felicity pointed; a tiny aperture with a glass covering. Wiping it free of some dust, he peered through and felt his breath catch in his lungs. He saw swirling colors unlike anything he had ever imagined before. Blues, greens, purples, pinks; all hues of the rainbow and more were dancing in an intertwining display of the cosmos overhead.

Felicity grabbed his hand and guided it to an odd wheel, “Give this a turn for left to right.” She grabbed his other hand and brought it to a lever, “This one goes up and down.”

Tristan messed with the controls, spending an unknown amount of time just taking in the beauty and gorgeousness of the endless expanse. It was mesmerizing, and for however long he spent, he was completely sucked into the sight of the stars above. Endless possibilities seemed to swirl in the infinite expanse, and for that time he had no thoughts, no emotions save for wonder.

He only pulled away when he noticed his stomach rumbling. “How long have I been standing here?” he asked.

Felicity was curled up on top of the astrologer’s glass and seemed to be fast asleep, her little body moving up and down with her breathing. Glancing around, Tristan walked to the edge of the platform and looked over, feeling that tumbling feeling of his stomach flipping from looking down from on high. From this height, he could see what felt like the whole Fey Realm.

Endless forests expanded to the horizon, with rivers of the clearcool coursing through the landscape. A handful of large trees, similar to the Queen’s Wood, dotted the environment. And the more he looked, the more Tristan realized that each quadrant was a different variety of trees; similar insofar that there were non-natural colors of yellows, oranges, blues, and purples mixed in with the green. Maybe different sections of the Fey Realm for each of the four Elf bloodlines, he reasoned. Different types of trees for the different groups.

As far as he could tell, the endless forest expanded onward. Save for a hilly region to the west, which was where he came from the first time he came to the Fey Realm; those hills led up into a large mountain range, and on the top was another enormous tree. What’s that?

He heard flapping behind him and waved as The Matriarch landed on the platform, “Lord Tristan. I trust your investigation goes well?”

He nodded, “Yes. We have some clues. But I need coins.”

She smiled slightly, “That explains the supplies on the east platform.” She gestured with her head, and Tristan followed the movement to see a bunch of fairy dragons on the opposite platform from him that was being set up as an alchemy lab. The same type his grandfather had taught him basic potion-crafting at. Or, rather, the equipment looked similar enough. Tristan walked over and The Matriarch followed him.

“Familiar with alchemy?” The Matriarch asked.

“Yeah, but nothing using imbuement. Just the concepts and principles behind potion crafting.” Tristan thanked the fairy dragons with a polite bow, and they returned the gesture. There was a stovetop, but no wood, and as he looked at the front of the device, he saw words in Elvish that slowly shifted until he could read them. Ah, its an item of artifice. He placed his hands on the panel on the front, spun up his essence crucible, and pushed the soothing, cool energy through his arms and into the device.

The Matriarch lifted an earthenware pot full of clearcool and set it onto the stove top that began to heat up, glowing a soft, cherry-red. “Well, for the Fey Realm, clearcool is the equivalent of water in the Mortal Realm. When heated, it will become a liquid instead of a loose jelly. It still maintains its refreshing quality, but in that state, it can be subjected to alchemical solutions.”

“Felicity said something about clearcool elixirs. We were going to sell them to get the coin needed to divine more information about my mother’s killer.”

“Easy enough. Starberry, into the mortar and pestle. Grind it up to a fine paste, adding bits of heated clearcool until you eventually have a smooth solution. Then, you need to use an imbuement spell. Without the spell, it would just be a refreshing and filling beverage. But with the addition of essence? It becomes a fluid that can replace all of a creature’s food and water needs.”

Tristan nodded and followed the instructions, grabbing the largest of the mortars and grinding up the starberries until they were smooth. Taking a large ladle, he slowly added the warmed clearcool, constantly using the pestle to combine the two ingredients. “Okay, the spell?”

“It is called Infuse Elixir.”

She had him repeat after her, and as he did so, he made the gesture of dipping his finger down and swirled the solution. “Lisää tämän ratkaisun luontaisia ominaisuuksia. Antakaa tälle aineelle minun voimani. Tuo esiin näiden ainesosien todellinen luonne.” (Increase the inherent qualities of this solution. Imbue this substance with my power. Bring out the true nature of these ingredients).

The slurry thickened and glowed with a cerulean light as his silver and icy-blue essence poured from his finger. With each swirl, the spiral expanded throughout the solution. Tristan began to tire, and he started panting as the essence permeated the whole mixture. “Stop,” The Matriarch instructed.

Tristan did so, and the slurry kept the same glow. The Matriarch whistled – quite loudly, as Tristan winced – and several fairy dragons swooped in. She instructed them to bottle the solution, and their claw-paws turned into little hands as they set to bottling the clearcool elixir into hollowed-out, wooden jars that they capped off with broad leaves, tying off some vine to keep it sealed shut.

“Excellent job, Lord Tristan,” she said with pride. “That is high quality.”

“What Order spell was that?” Tristan asked.

“First Order. You are aware of potions, yes?”

Tristan nodded, “Those are herbal remedies – normally liquid. They are good for all sorts of ailments.”

“Elixirs are a tier above potions, because they use essence. The Infuse Elixir spell enables you to take a potion – like that clearcool potion you started with – and empower its effects.”

That’s really useful. I already know the recipe for a lot of basic remedies, but being able to amplify the effect is going to mean I can do some potent healing in a pinch…provided I have the ingredients. A twang of guilt raced through him, as if he had known this or experimented earlier, he could have maybe saved that girl Steffany’s mother from losing a foot. I need to be more diligent with studying essence-weaving now that I have access to it. “Thank you for the lesson,” he said as he dipped his head to The Matriarch.

“My privilege to foster your growth, Lord Tristan.”

“Are there higher Order imbuement spells?”

“Oh, there are, but I do not believe your essence channels could handle it; when you are ready, I will teach. Tell me, how does your current essence capacity feel?”

Tristan smiled as the short break had almost fully replenished his reserves, and when he closed his eyes and visualized his essence crucible, he saw it full up to the brim, a sphere completely full. “I think I’m full up.”

“Excellent.” The Matriarch looked at the various earthenware bottles, “How much did you want to sell?”

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A few hours passed and Tristan had almost set up an assembly line of sorts. Fairy dragons flew in more starberries and clearcool, he made the potion, imbued it with his essence using the Infuse Elixir spell, and then other fairy dragons bottled them. He made sure to swap out his Fey Realm Ring so that he could avoid the twenty-four-hour return timer. I have a feeling that I might need to come back for the rest of the stock.

But despite his body not tiring, and his essence quickly refilling thanks to the amount of the latent energy in the Realm that only he was sucking in, his mind was tiring. He began making sloppy mistakes, and after finishing their two-hundredth bottle, he thanked the helpers. “Can you please get a chest or some type of box with padding so I can carry all of these?”

“Affirmative!”

“You got it!”

“Oooh, free samples, right?”

Tristan chuckled and nodded, “Sure. I’ll only take fifty to sell this time around.” He picked up two, drinking one himself. It had a sweet, minty flavor that soothed its way down his throat. When it hit his stomach, he felt full as if he had eaten a huge meal. That’ll be handy on the road, he thought. I wonder if I could change the flavor by adding different ingredients...

The idea that he could do more than just basic potions with alchemy excited him greatly. He got to Felicity, who was still snoozing on the Astrologer’s Glass. She had flipped onto her back, and she was draped over the eyeglass. Tristan poked her belly, and she slowly opened her eyes before yawning. “Mmm. A goooood nap.”

“Six hours,” Tristan said as he handed her the jar. “Go on, try my first batch.”

Felicity immediately roused to full attention, flipped over, and chugged the small container. “Ahhh! I haven’t had that in sooo long!”

“Why not?” Tristan asked. “You’ve got the gear and ingredients.”

“Fairy dragons can’t use imbuement or artifice,” she replied. “Illusion, enchanting, shapeshifting – we get all of those. But anything else? Just up to whimsy and luck! I got lucky with transmutation…but since few other fairy dragons have that spell type…well, I don’t know many spells using it.” At that she deflated slightly. “If we make enough money off of this first batch sale for divination, and have some left over…can you buy me something to teach me some?”

Tristan nodded as he began walking to the center of the tree spire. “Yeah. Of course. We’ll get a few spell primers. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to take a nap. Mind getting the goods down to the exit point?”

“Leave it to me!”