Arinade’s glamoured eyes widened as she caught sight of me and then she smiled as called out, “A fellow Faerie! Please, bolt the door so we can enjoy some privacy.” It was as Vesha was seeing to that request that the pink-haired woman dropped her glamour, revealing her wings and pointed ears, though her hair color and much of her features remained the same. The pink-haired Faerie’s eyes then focused on Kalara in my arms. “Oh… my, a mana-touched Elf? She is certainly no half-Faerie, her magic doesn’t feel quite right, and she is brimming with untapped power. You were wise to purchase one of Dewblossom’s enchantments to obscure her true nature, though I do wonder why you did not just glamour the both of you. Even in a city as accepting and diverse as this, being seen as Fae can be… troublesome.”

Unfortunately, Faerie can only cast glamours on themselves with our inherent ability. Sharai said that if I wished to cast glamours on others, then I would have to work on studying magecraft or, in my case, spellsinging. “Aye,” I agreed, “it surely can be. I am not far into my magic lessons yet though, so I cannot yet cast a glamour upon little Kalara. I decided that since my companions are without glamours that I would not stand out too much more than they do. The little one seems to like my wings as well.”

“Then you were wise to give her a pair of her own, illusory though they may be,” the other Faerie agreed with a smile. “She seems quite taken with you, though you seem young to be caring for a child, barely an adult, by my eyes. Are you watching her for her parents?”

I gave a silent shake of my head before replying. “Nay, we found her upon the road in a cage within the ruins of a destroyed menagerie caravan. She and an Undine were the only survivors when the caravan was destroyed by a Tainted. I have taken to caring for her since she seems to trust me the most of my troupe.”

Her smile turned downward into a frown. “Menageries, a despicable practice, trafficking in the misery of others. They got what they were owed, and I am glad that the little one has survived and found herself a caring mother. I am Arinade, owner of this fine establishment and an Ambassador of Tarin’dol.”

-In other words, she was sent to Hindra to spy on the people of Kalidar and ensure that they aren’t a danger to the Fae,- Sharai contributed seriously.

“I am Kaelyn Darkbane, Apprentice Bard and Bladebearer of Sparrowsong Troupe, and these are my fellow apprentices, Vesha Firemantle and Korine. The little one is Kalara,” I replied to Arinade with equal formality. I tried to ignore Sharai’s comment, but it did make sense, given what little I knew about Fae politics.

If she thought that a Faerie and Salamander being members of a Voyager troupe was unusual, she did not let it show upon her face. On the other hand, my thoughts about her task here must have shown on my face because Arinade laughed and explained, “Fortunately, being an ambassador here in Hindra need not be done secretly since King Vergun Sal-Kalidar wishes to establish good relations with the Fae. He knows well what I truly am, and my role here, but allows me to continue the ruse of being a mere mana-touched Human for convenience. Fae are welcome in the city, and treated as honored guests by the King’s command, but the doting of well-wishers can become… tedious.”

I could completely understand that last part. I was uncomfortable with the respect and near-adoration that Dewblossom had shown me in her shop, and it wasn’t the first time that it had happened either. It was certainly an improvement upon people being overly wary or wanting to kill me on sight, as I would have been subjected to in Evalis, but I would prefer to be treated as any other person. People generally have strong feelings about the Fae, one way or another though, so that was unlikely to happen so long as I traveled without a glamour.

“Aye, your fellow Enchanter, Dewblossom, was very eager to please,” I said with a sigh, earning a laugh from the other Faerie.

“Yes, she has a slight obsession with our kind,” Arinade agreed, “but she is a kind soul. Now, why don’t you tell me what brings you here? Dewblossom is one of the best illusion enchanters that I have ever seen, but I suspect that you have come to me with something more practical in mind.”

“Several things, actually,” Korine replied in my stead. “A former apprentice of yours in Loden recommended you to us.”

“She also said that you might be willing to cut us a deal for a look at some old and rare enchantments,” Vesha added, getting the Enchanter’s attention. “We need some of those enchantments replicated, if possible.”

The Faerie shopkeeper looked over Vesha, or more accurately, was looking at her clothes. “Interesting. The enchantments on those clothes are old, some kind of preservation spell, but it’s not the usual preservation spell that we Fae use for clothing and other items. Unusual materials too. Wherever did you get those clothes?”

“I got them in an ancient temple dedicated to the eternal flame. I was told that they’re made from materials created by the Sa’vash, before their fall, and enchanted for Salamanders like me. The clothing is very durable, fireproof, will repair itself if damaged, and changes to flame with me when I take my true elemental form,” the Salamander explained.

The Faerie wore a pensive expression upon her face as she came out from behind the counter, looked over Vesha’s tunic, and experimentally touched the material on her shoulder. “I cannot replicate the materials themselves, the Sa’vash and their wonders are long gone, but now that I know what the enchantment does, I should be able to replicate it. I will require any clothing that you wish to have enchanted, of course. Before we discuss payment though, you mentioned that there were several things. I take it that there is more than the clothing that you wish for me to look at?”

I gently placed Kalara on the ground and removed the sword belt that bore Neva’kul, placing it on the counter, then I removed Neva’kul from its sheath. “Do you recognize this?”

“By the Goddess! That’s one of the Vos’oraik!” she gasped; her eyes wide as she tentatively reached out to touch one of the glyphs on the blade. “You’re one of the Five! I know Enchanters who would give their right arm for a chance to examine something like this, these were the very pinnacle of enchanted weapons, and nobody has been able to recreate their like since Darion himself.”

“My cousin has one of the other five, if you would like to come to our camp to have a closer look at both of them,” I suggested, now that we had her undivided attention. Then I extended my left hand to Arinade, displaying the binding glyph. “I recently inherited this,” I told her as I focused on the glyph on my hand to summon the armor, “and I would like to be able to summon my blade along with the armor when needed.”

The armor earned a raised eyebrow, but her attention was still dominated by Neva’kul, and possibly my offer to examine two of the Vos’oraik more closely. She let out a thoughtful hum before finally speaking. “The armor is old and valuable, moonsilver is rare indeed, but I have seen similar enchantments before. They are not too different from what we use today for the same purposes, some enchantments are timeless and in no need of improvement or change after all. It should be a simple matter for me to place a common item retrieval enchantment on the belt and sheath and bind them to your glyph.”

“And Neva’kul herself?” I asked as I reached for the belt and put it on.

“Your sword is another matter,” she replied with another thoughtful sigh as she caressed the glyphs on the blade pensively. “Adding such an enchantment to such a powerful enchanted item would normally be tricky. The blade is as bound to you as any enchantments attached to your binding glyph though, and it has a will and wants to be at your side, so if the spirit within allows the enchantment, I might be able to do it. I will need to examine it and its sister blade more closely though to ensure there are no protections in place that would prevent it.”

“And how much will this cost us?” I asked, taking Neva’kul by the hilt to return her to her sheath.

The pink-haired Faerie looked disappointed as I put the blade away but considered the question for a moment. “Examining two of the Vos’oraik is an opportunity that I cannot allow to slip through my fingers. It is far more than enough to pay for the simple retrieval enchantments that you require. In return, will allow you five other minor enchantments, or one major enchantment, of your choice for the opportunity. I have a catalogue that you may choose from.”

She stepped back behind her counter and bent down for a moment, reappearing with a thick leatherbound book that she placed before me. Then she turned to Vesha with a smile “As for you, I do like a challenge, but your enchantment will have to be a custom job, and likely not a minor enchantment, to do everything that you will require. It will also take time since I will have to get you to wear each item of clothing that you wish to have enchanted to properly bind them to you. I will need to see your elemental form as well. However, given the interesting nature of the enchantments you wish to have replicated, I will not charge you per item but rather a flat rate of two gold and fifteen silver. Is that agreeable?”

Vesha managed to haggle her way down to an even two gold as I looked through the book on the counter and tried to puzzle out the script inside with my very limited reading ability. Fortunately, Korine was willing to help by doing the reading and giving me the basics of the various enchantments, which seemed to follow no sorting system whatsoever. While we did see some very interesting major enchantments, I decided to instead go with the minor ones.

The first was another retrieval spell for Shava since she would be allowing Arinade to look at Fal’hevar as well, so I felt that she should get something out of it too. The second enchantment was a protection and durability spell for my new fiddle. I had not had it long, but it was from my troupe and already held a special place in my heart, so I did not wish to see it damaged. For the others, I requested three fluency enchantments.

Fluency enchantments, as described in Arinade’s catalogue, allow the enchanted person to quickly learn to read, write, and speak all languages known by the caster. In Arinade’s case, that would be Common and Fae. Not only would this allow me to get over my current literacy problem and properly learn the Fae language, but it would also allow me and my troupe to communicate with both Kalara and our Undine guest.

While such an enchantment seemed like it should be a major one to me, Arinade explained that in terms of mana and physical energy spent, it was a very minor, if useful, enchantment. She would require a moment of physical contact with us to make the connection for the spell, but what she referred to as the knowledge seed would begin to sprout and grow in our minds as we slept. The Enchanter did warn me that we might need to sleep a little longer than normal that night, but we would wake up in the morning as fluent in the two languages as she was.

Since it was approaching dinnertime anyway, Arinade closed her shop and reapplied her glamour to accompany us back to our camp, located in a large field just outside the city walls. She was eager to thoroughly examine the two Vos’oraik and compare them with her magic sense, and most of the enchantments that she would be doing for us were better done there than having to bring most of Vesha’s clothes, my fiddle, and a somewhat confused Undine to her shop. She filled a large satchel with everything that she would need for my enchantments as well as several other supplies and tools that she figured she might need to recreate the enchantments on Vesha’s clothes.

As we retraced our steps through the streets of Hindra, Vesha continued to carry my shopping basket as well as her own. Kalara was tired from all the walking and the excitement of being in an unfamiliar city, so I ended up carrying her most of the way. The troupe’s children seemed to be heading back to camp as well since I could sense Fal’hevar’s presence moving in the same direction several streets over.

Our paths intersected shortly before reaching the city gates and we saw Shava holding little Cylia’s hand and looking properly serious as she tried to keep track of the other children in her group. “Kegan and Kirla, I saw that! No more sweets, it’s almost time for dinner. Save some for later, and you promised to save some for Kalara too!”

It was funny seeing my cousin trying to be a responsible adult and rein in the other kids, but I was also proud that she was taking it seriously. Aside from watching the other children, she was also keeping an eye out for danger, her free hand hovering near Fal’hevar’s hilt. From the bags of sweets that the children carried and the bulging coin purse hanging from my cousin’s belt, it appeared that they had a productive outing. We quickly caught up with them and introduced Arinade as we reached the city gates and passed through.

Shava was uncertain at first, but after a quickly whispered conversation, she agreed to allow Arinade to examine Fal’hevar. My cousin seemed interested in the retrieval enchantment that I offered in return for her cooperation. She had already accidentally discovered that her sword and its accompanying belt and sheath would shift with her if she changed to a non-humanoid shape while wearing them, but she thought that the enchantment could also be useful if she was disarmed somehow in a battle. It was a good idea, and something that I had not considered but probably should have.

Our hushed conversation came to an end as we reached our camp. There was the usual flurry of activity as dinner was being prepared, animals were cared for, and firewood was brought to cook the evening meal and ward off the chill of a spring evening. One thing stood out as unusual and made me nervous though, there were armed strangers in the camp.