Once we had agreed to shelf the land issue till I could go and check out the situation myself, we then turned to other stately matters. It was long winded and dull, and I wished I could flee. But I knew that it was important, so I sat through it without any complaint. No outward complaint at least.

  There were discussions on trade and commerce. But that all seemed so far off in the future and mostly between the other Queens as my land wasn't even decided yet. I did chime back in when talks turned to labor and such. I wanted information on who to contact about getting my preparations on the roll for getting back to Hearth. I was hopping to have everything worked out within the next two weeks in time to get the portal back to the other world. With any luck I could even get the ball rolling on the corruption issue. Taming a ton of worms shouldn't be too hard, at the very least.

  I managed to get a couple of the queens to get in touch with some craftsmen for me too. Not just because I wanted to turn some of the gifts, I had received into new gear but also because I was hoping to find someone to help me set up the portal stone I had received. If taking the waste lands for my own worked out then I could set up a permanent connection between there and my home at the Red Raven's base. I probably should ask Rift before making a portal from the base to Demonia, but- nah.

  Luckily the meeting ended fairly amicably, and I was referred to a few craftsmen. We even managed to close the whole deal before lunch. I still had a million things to do but this had been the thing I was dreading most, so I was relived that it was finally done and over with. Kieran laughed as he escorted me back to my rooms.

  "I don't see what is so funny." I huffed good naturedly.

  "You are, my lady. But I am unsurprised that you don't think the same." He said, shutting my door behind us. I threw myself dramatically onto the bed, earning an angry squawk from Rougier who had been sleeping on one of my pillows.

  "Oops." I laughed. "Sorry Rougier. I didn't realise you were here. Got bored of the stables?"

  "Horses- weather they are named after the great dragons or not- are only so entertaining." He grumbled, hauling himself back onto the pillow and curling up again. "I see you managed to survive the Demon's den then."

  "Yes. Thankfully. If I had to sit through anymore political or economical talk my head may have exploded. I so did not sign up for all this noise." I sighed and rolled onto my back, looking up at the canopy of my bed. "I just wanted to be a normal demon lady with a pet dragon or two. Was that so much to ask for?"

  "I am not a pet." Rumbled Rougier but not sounding overly offended.

  "I need to head out to the stables myself here in a moment to name my new ponies. I take it you will be staying here then?"

  "I will be, yes. Especially seeing as how you seem to have forgotten to bring me a snack."

  "Ho ho! Shows what you know. Shinra?" At my call the large tiger manifested out of the shadows under the bed, her large size making the king-sized bed look small. In her jaws she held a small sack and dropped it on my sheets. It opened to reveal a selection of pastries. "They were only serving sweets, so if you want some meat you will have to go out and get your own or wait a couple hours for lunch."

  "I will wait. I hunted not long ago. If I keep eating this well, I well be too fat to fly." He sighed as I laughed. "Being here is making me lazy. What I need is a good fight to keep me in shape."

  "I am sure I will get you into plenty of those, don't you worry." I said, patting his lumpy head. "But till then you will have to settle for just regular exorcizes."

  Rougier made a dismissive noise and curled himself into a ball for what appeared to be another nap. Maybe he would get fat. Sure, he wasn't very active in those chains but he also ate only enough to live as far as I knew. I hoped that when we got to Hearth he could fly about more freely. There was too much stigma around him here on Demonia for that to be feasible. Not that I knew for sure that the People of Hearth were going to be very welcoming to a massive dragon flying around their flocks of sheep. But at least the people there didn't know how aggressive Rougier truly was.

  I wished I could nap with the miniaturized dragon, but I still had work to do. I took Kieran and Shinra out to the stables with me where we found my new steads happily munching on hay and an oat like grain that was green in color. The stable master had been taking good care of them and I found that, though they looked quite fearsome, they were pretty docile. Even Shinra didn't send them skittering when she approached, though they did eye her warily.

  I wasted no time taming the pair, naming the male Breagol, and the female I called Glendra. They were relatively low ranked and I barely felt the mana drain. I was getting a little worried about what my reserve was going to look like by the time I got back to Heath though. Rougier put a massive chunk of mana in limbo; a whopping three thousand or so. Shinra cost me about the same as Vendaval had. Luckily the Andra horses were minimal in comparison. The biggest plus was the fifty thousand increase I obtained since being here. With the eighty percent loss due to the de-buff that still left me with a new total of thirty thousand. So, in reality, even with my new tames, I would still have more mana when I returned.

  The rest of the day was spent training and discussing different merchants amongst Felicity's people and the surrounding lands, trying to figure out what I should do in the coming week. By the end of the week, I hopped to be back in the waste lands at the lake that was supposedly the source of the corruption. When I asked Rougier about it he was vague.

  "I do remember a lake." He said between bites of some roasted bird like creature that did not taste like chicken. I didn't know what it tasted like, but I didn't find it nearly as delicious as the dragon apparently did. "I think. There was a great deal of flying around and there were fire and spells being cast every which way." The way he spoke you would think it was a fond memory.

  I glared at him, wondering if snatching the nasty bird away would be a good punishment for reminiscing over the corruption of an entire mountain range and its accompanying valleys. "Would it kill you to at least try and be of help here. We will all be going there soon, after my trips into town. I would like to at least get a small idea as to what I will be walking into."

  "I may have at least a little information for you." Said Garris as he poured a cup of cider for Felicity.

  "Oh?" I asked, accepting the cup that Kieran offered me, this one with something a little stronger than what Felicity was drinking.

  "It happened before even I was born, but I heard my mother, the pervious ruler of our line, speak of the time of the battle once."

  "She was not part of it was she?" Asked Kieran, looking like he was trying to remember.

  Garris shook his head. "No, she was with child at the time from what I was told. I can not recall which of our brothers or sisters she was carrying at the time. But she told me that she had to flee to a friend's lands during that time, for fear that the dragon would come to our lands and she would loose the child."

  My eyes landed, once again, on my evil little dragon. "What?" He snapped. "I will not lie and say I never killed a pregnant woman, but I never did it intentionally. Collateral damage."

  I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Look, I get that we are all little bugs or some such in your eyes, but you could at least feign contrition when speaking of those deaths with others... I admit I never once thought of weather or not the animal I was eating had a family, but I also never went out and just killed a whole heard merely because I was bored either you know."

  Rougier shrugged, causing his shoulders and his wings to rise and fall. "Would it make you feel better if I promise to never do it again so long as I am your dragon?"

  I narrowed my eyes. "No. Because, as my dragon, you are forbidden from doing it in the first place. If you tried to go against my wishes, you would be punished by the magic that binds you."

  He shrugged again, swallowing a mouthful of white meat. "All the same."

  I sighed and turned back to the older butler. "Please continue Garris."

  "Yes, I am curious as well." Said Felicity brightly. "It is not a tale Mother ever had the chance to share with me."

  "Well, one of the Queens that were lost was a good friend of hers." Said Garris, looking thoughtful. "I believe it was Queen Aura."

  "Oh, I have heard of her in my lessons!" Exclaimed Felicity. "She was the guardian of the Eternal Lake, right?"

  "Indeed." Agreed Garris.

  "And what is the Eternal Lake?" I asked.

  "I am afraid that I do not know much about it." Said Garris sadly. "It was the very lake that you intend to visit, However, Most lore about it and other places like it were lost in the battle. It was Queen Aura who was the keeper of such knowledge. It was said that there was once a large and stunning palace built next to the lake and within It was the greatest library in all of Demonia. It was lost in the battle and subsequent corruption. Aura was the only Queen to die in that fight while not actively participating in it."

  "That is sadder than I'd like to think. You are such a jerk Rougier." I snapped at the dragon.

  "Tch!" He snapped back, baring his little fangs. "I fought Queens and their men. I even remember a lake. But I do not recall destroying any palaces. It was once a fun pass time of mine so I am sure I would remember that at the very least."

  "I know not the direct cause of the palaces destruction." Admitted Garris. "Not of the actual cause of Lady Aura's demise. All I do know, is that it occurred at the same time as that battle. She died attempting to protect the Eternal Lake when the corruption took root."

  "What exactly is this corruption any way?" I asked. "I just assumed that Rougier had breathed poison or something in the fight and it was that, that killed everything. But it sounds like that is not the case."

  "I have no such skill." Agreed the dragon.

  Kieran nodded. "From what I understand it was caused by the clashing of so much powerful magic. It is the very reason why all demon kind does their best so that no Queens ever must fight. With that much mana and ill intended magic flying about any number of unexpected and devastating things could occur."

  "That is correct." Garris agreed as he sat himself next to Felicity, placing the tea pot down on a cozy. "It is believing that one or more of the Queens cast spells that collided with the Death-Bringer's great flame magic and the mix created the corruption. From what I was told, the combined polluted mana fell and entered the very lake itself."

  "And how did that make the corruption spread?" I asked. "I can understand if it spread to the surrounding land but how would it reach over mountains and such?"

  "That I do not know." Sighed the older man with a shake of his head. "But I do know that that Lake was considered a sacred place. A place loved by the gods themselves. Its loss was as devastating as the loss of the Queens, perhaps even more so."

  "So." I said, thinking. "It sounds like I need to see what is in or around that lake then. The Feeder Worms should work, but not if I can't get rid of what is causing the corruption at its source first."

  "I wish you all the best in your endeavor, Lady Sin." Said Garris, but he did not sound confident. I had to admit I was less than convinced that I would be able to pull this off either. But I knew I needed to try. There was a pull in my heart telling me that this was a task that I needed to accomplish. It felt heavy and that worried me.

  Three days later I found myself in the city of Froth. It was one of the very few Demon cities out there. Normally demons lived in small towns or villages comprised of a single-family line. People came to visit and to find partners, but mostly each family kept to themselves. But there were half a dozen cities out there too. They were run buy a coalition over several Queens who over see them but mostly they are run buy Reihee elders and Do'Reiks- males who have earned high status for their service to queens. Many of the citizens of these cities were either very well-off demons who have great talent in their fields, like black smithing or even merchants. But also, there were the Reihan- the Lost Ones. Reihan were the demons like Kieran who had lost their Queens, or even some who were cast out as traitors or criminals and are governed by a Reihee.

  As such it was like any other city in that it had its well off people and its poor people, and then the people in between. Though the Queens supposedly over saw these cities, really it was mostly down to the council of Reihee and Do'Reik to keep law and order in the cities.

  I made sure not to announce my arrival in Froth seeing as how it would likely mean a ton of fan fare and hoopla that I just did not want to deal with. But in true demon fashion, my arrival not as secret as I would have liked. When Kieran and I stabled Breagol and Glendra at the inn he had booked for us, we were greeted by three people dressed in rather nice cloths and whom got a lot of bowing and hand ringing from the large horned inn keeper.

  "Queen Sin Andra." Said an older woman. I was surprised to see someone so old but then my lessons came back to me and I realised that this woman with the white, thin hair, curved black horns and tanned and wrinkled face must be one of the Reihan. When a line loses their queen the demons in that line tend to age faster and get sick easier. Also, the birthrate, which is already low in demons, drops even farther till eventually- usually two hundred to five hundred years depending on how large the line was at the time of the queen's passing- the line dies off. "I am Reihee Quentis, one of the elders on the Froth council. We were told that you would be arriving here today and thought that we would come and greet you appropriately. So welcome to Froth Lady Sin."

  "Er, thanks." I said awkwardly, shooting Kieran a glare where he was stroking Breagol's neck and smirking at my unease. "I am not about to walk out of here to a parade or something am I?"

  The older woman chuckled, followed by the two men who accompanied her. "No Lady Sin. It was proposed but I had heard that you were not fond of such things. I am glad I was correct as many on the council were pushing rather hard for the parade."

  "It was a very close call." Agreed a middle-aged man with a dark goatee and a patch over one eye. Or lack of an eye more likely given the massive scar that I could see, and the patch was hard pressed to cover. "I am Do'Reik Leve, and this is Do'Reik Hausten." He said indicating the younger male with dark brown hair, red skin and a single, massive horn on his forehead that curved back almost all the way over his head.

  "Well, um, hello." I said nervously. I hadn't been expecting a reception though I really should have at this point. "I am Sin, and this is my butler, Kieran." I said indicating the man trying to keep a straight face next to me. He looked perfectly calm when he bowed to the councilmen, however. "And this is Rougier. I did call ahead and confirm that it was fine for him to be here so long as he is staying in his smaller form..." I added swiftly, laying a hand on the back of the dragon that was currently wrapped around my shoulders and glaring at the two men and elderly woman.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  "Yes, we were made aware." Rumbled Hausten, his voice deeper than I would have thought. "Do'andra Rougier." He said formally to the small dragon, giving him a small bow. Other than curt nods, neither had paid much attention to Kieran. But I had learned that that was to be expected. It was considered rude to pay too much attention to a butler in a formal setting where all eyes were meant to be on the Queen. And though a barn was hardly a formal setting this was a meeting between a queen and members of the government of this city.

  "We have only come to be sure you are well Lady Sin." Said Quentis with a kind smile. "We ask only that you have Leve escort you. We have all the faith in your chosen Butler Lady sin," She added when it looked like I was about to protest. "But you must understand that usually when a Queen visits she has numerous guards and a reported itinerary. We do not wish to impose or step on your privacy but we really must insist on a member of the council being with you while you are here. It would be a catastrophe if something- even something you may think trivial- were to happen while you were here, and we did not make at least a small amount of effort to keep you safe and comfortable here in our good city."

  I wanted to argue but I had to admit that she had a point. I may not like it, but I was considered royalty and there fore a high priority guest here. It would look bad for these people if I was even seen falling face first into a puddle much less actually getting hurt while I was here. They would appear neglectful, or even disrespectful. And if there was one thing demons seemed to pride themselves on it was their care and respect, they had for their queens.

  I sighed, giving in. "Yes, alright. But I am afraid that you may be bored Do'Reik Leve... All I am doing is visiting crafts men and being fitted for cloths and such." Men on Earth hated shopping with women, right? I could only imagine that demon men were even more impatient over the event.

  The man laughed. "I am sure that I will manage just fine Lady Sin. And please, call me Leve. Much easier to say."

  I nodded and smiled. "I would say you can just call me Sin, but I am sure that you would ignore me unless I ordered it, so I won't bother."

  "You are indeed wise beyond your years good Queen." Chuckled the man.

  Leve aided Kieran in finishing getting my horses settled and the other two councilmen excused themselves with offers for me to come and dine with them at their estates if I so wished. I highly doubted I would, but I would at the very least try and remember their names and their kindness. I am sure if I forgot, then Kieran would remember for me.

  We were on the better side of town this visit, but I was sure that the bad end of town would probably look much like any other lower income area that I had lived in most of my life. Here everything was clean and orderly. And it was busy. The cobbled streets were filled with towns people and merchants alike. Between the shops people had set up stalls selling everything from cloths to live animals. It was noisy and at times a little smelly but it was also full of energy and life. I felt more at home here than in the small village where Felicity had her home. Cities let you hide among the crowd and just be another person. Weather you are a Queen hoping to avoid all the bowing, or a thief hoping to avoid the eyes of the law. I have now lived both viewpoints and I was not really sure how one differed from the other in this respect. I kind of would rather get hauled over by a cop then deal with throngs of demons wanting to bow to me to be honest.

  Today was pleasant enough but the aqua colored sky was covered in pink hued clouds today and there was a dampness to the air that foretold rain in the near future. It was probably this that made the throngs of people seem a little more hurried than what they normally would have been. No one wanted to be caught out in the rain. It suddenly occurred to me that rain here was probably red. Creepy. I kind of wanted to see it.

  Our first stop was to a clothier. The shop was small and neat and had come recommended to me by Cristine. I was told that this dress maker specialized in rare fabrics. She did not come cheep but soon I was fitted for a few new outfits made of the dragon silks that I had been gifted, including a gown that I had been a little reluctant to have made given my distaste for balls, not so much distaste for pretty dresses. But Kieran convinced my that it was necessary that I have at least a few formal gowns, weather her or on Hearth, and wearing dragon silk would make a real statement. The dress maker, a short and cheery demon with a forked tail, seemed ecstatic to be working with the fabric, and even more giddy to be making cloths for a queen.

  Leve lead us to several locations that probably would have taken us a while to find, despite Kieran having visited Froth before. So, in the end it was good that we had him with us. For instance, neither one of us would have been able to find Guther the weapons smith with out the man's aid. The smithy was in the better part of town, away from most other shops, squeezed between two large manor houses of three storeys plus. Apparently Guther was caring for his ailing sister, and it was better for his shop to be next to his home. He was such a well-known smith that no one complained about their homes being in close proximity to the smells and the noise.

  "Guther is a renowned smith of immense talent." Explained Leve as we approached the small building between the two mansions. "But he does bear a gevda mark." He warned causing Kieran to scowl.

  "A what?" I asked with a raised brow.

  "It's a mark of shame given by a queen. It is given to demons who have greatly displeased a queen." Grumbled Kieran looking displeased himself. "Usually reserved for those who have caused harm to another, mainly females, or the well being of a line in general. For instance, there was one in my line whose neglect caused the death of a child. My mother raked the man across the face so that all would know that he was a male not worthy of trust or breeding."

  Ouch. Though I could totally see myself clawing a man's eyes out if he tried to hurt a kid in front of me as well. I wondered what this Guther had done to earn his mark.

  As if reading my mind, Leve answered my unasked question. "It is well known around these parts that Guther did not earn his mark. He was about twenty, I'd say, when his Queen flew into a madness induced rage and attacked several males of her line, Guther included. The illness took the life of his Queen a short five years later. He and his sister a two of a mere handful left of that line. They are now among the reihan."

  "You are certain?" Kieran asked as we stood outside the shop. He held the items I needed, balanced on one arm, while his other hand rested on the door handle. "I would not have my Queen seek the aid of one marked as gevda. It may bring shame."

  "I would also dissuade you if I was truly believing that Guther was deserving of his mark. I would never, knowingly, lay such shame at Lady Sin Andra's feet." Assured Leve, his eyes serious and honest.

  Kieran sighed. "Very well." And with that he opened the door, and I was hit by a wave of heat.

  I was confused as to the source of the high temperature at first, seeing as how what we walked into looked like an average shop. There were tables and shelves stacked with various weapons and armour throughout the small room, and along the back of the shop was a long counter. Behind the counter were what must have been the smith's greatest works. Or at least the ones he did not think he had to keep hidden from thieves at least. There were massive and intricate swords and staves, huge maces and shining shield of varying sizes, all adorned in filigree and various gems. They were beautiful. Had this not of been a magical world I would also have said that most of them were impractical as well, but I was sure these were all enchanted and protected in some form or another.

  It was the sounds I heard coming from behind a door that I had just noticed, behind the counter, that told me where the heat was coming from. I could hear the pounding of metal on heated metal echoing from behind the simple wooden door. Clearly Guther had his workshop there.

  "Guther!" Shouted Leve, advancing toward the door but not stepping behind the counter. "Oi! Guther! You have customers out here boy!"

  I chuckled lowly as the Do'Reik continued to attempt to get the hidden smith's attention. From what I understood, Guther was at least 100 years old. No where near the average life span of a demon, true, but hardly an age that I would call him 'boy'.

  After another moment the banging stopped and there was a loud hissing noise. It looked like Leve was about to shout again when the door swung open. The man who walked out was an intimidating sight. He was nearly seven feet tall and so wide that he could barely fit through the doorway. He had thick dark hair atop beet red skin and a thick bushy beard. Bove his brow curved a single, large red horn, the other one was broken off at the root. And across his unnatural aged face were four, jagged rents of pale skin, the gevda mark I would assume.

  "Calm yourselves would you!" He snapped, slamming the door behind him, and wiping his hands off with a dirty grey rag. "No amount of hollering can make my work go any faster."

  I laughed silently, but Leve cursed. "Mind your words boy!" he snapped and waved a hand in my direction. "You have a queen here to see you, you fool."

  "Eh?" Growled the man, looking my way with a shrewd eye. "A queen you say. Not some messenger?"

  "No, you meat head." Sighed Leve, shaking his head and glaring at the smith. "An honest to goodness Queen. This is her majesty Queen Sin Andra herself, come to have you complete some work for her."

  "Ah." Guther made a shallow and awkward bow, still wiping his hands, then eyed me critically. "I can't say I have ever hear of a Dragon Queen, Lady Sin..."

  "Well, you have now." Huffed an impatient Rougier, glaring red eyes from beneath my long dark red-black hair. He had actually behaved rather well till now, so I resisted the urge to tell him off for being unnecessarily sarcastic.

  "Queen of the miniature dragons then?" Guther asked with a mischievous smile at the small purple stoney dragon around my neck.

  "Boy, if you took your misshapen head out of that room for longer than it takes to keep an eye on your sister then you would know exactly who this is, and why it is a bad idea to poke fun at this dragon!" Snapped Leve. "I apologise, Lady Sin, Rougier Do'andra, for Guther's bad manners. So much of his skill has been funnelled into his art that the gods ran out when fashioning him a decent personality."

  I laughed harder. "It is alright. I think the same can be said of me in many ways. It is nice to meet you Guther."

  "And you." Said the smith, still seeming a little unsure if I was indeed the queen and not a messenger sent to request work from him. Felicity had told me that it was more customary to have a servant go out and handle all this for me, but I had wanted to do this myself. "What is it that I can do for you then?"

  I nodded at Kieran, and he stepped up to the counter, depositing the two wooden boxes he had been carrying there. One was a large but simple looking wooden crate of sorts, while the other was the beautifully decorated box that Queen Bri of the Herdeara Desert had gifted me mere days ago. This box Kieran set down delicately as the box itself was worth a great deal, much less the stunning magical gems with in it.

  Guther stepped up behind the counter and threw his cloth down, reaching for the simple box first. He lifted the lid and looked inside. "What are these?" He asked after a few seconds of silent examination. He reached in and lifted out a large, two foot long, black, serrated scale from within the wooden container.

  "It is a scale." I said plainly. There were five of them in there to be exact, pulled from my wings- to Kieran's horror- the night before. Two were about two feet in length while the other three were a little less than a foot. I did my best to keep the sizes even and picked out the ones I thought looked nicest. Kieran had been pale and confused through the whole process, and it had made me laugh. It had hurt a little to pull out the scales, kind of like removing a hang nail, but the wounds were small and the pain brief. I hoped that it would be well worth it once they were fashioned into the weapons that I hoped this smith could make of them.

  "A scale? From what?" Asked the smith with a laugh. "A flightless bird? They look like feathers as much as they do scales." But he was examining them curiously, flipping them over and testing the edge on a finger, drawing blood quite easily.

  "They are my scales. From my wings to be exact. And you are close to correct, I do find flight tedious. The scales are strong and deadly sharp, but they are heavy and not very aerodynamic."

  Guther looked like he was about to ask to see them but a glare from Leve had him snapping his bearded mouth shut.

  "Is it possible to fashion weapons of these?" Asked Kieran. I knew that he was worried that I had plucked myself for no reason at all. I wonder how he would feel if I told him that I had done it for him. I wanted these blades for Kieran to wield, not for me. I may have been practicing, but I just had minimal talent with a sword. Daggers were a little easier but my claws worked just as well, if not better than any dagger, so what would be the point in having one?

  "Hmm." Hummed the smith, putting the larger scale on the counter and pulling one of the smaller ones out of the box. "I believe so. They appear to be made of the same material as a dragon's scales, though there must be some other element added to them, for they are quite a bit more flexible. If I can craft them into blades, they should make excellent ones... I must admit that I am eager to try."

  I nodded. "Excellent. I do have to say that I am in a bit of a hurry, however. I am willing to pay well to have the job put to the top of your list." Guther did not look to pleased about this, no doubt not wanting to upset his other customers. "Normally I would wait, but I plan on not even being on Demonia in less than two weeks and I would be unable to retrieve them for an unknown length of time."

  "Leaving Demonia? Are you going to Fausta?" He asked, wondering if I had business on the larger of Demonia's two moons.

  "No, Hearth."

  "Hear-? You mean that other Realm? Where the demons who get summoned are whisked off to?"

  "Yes, that's the one. I have business there and plan to be gone for quite some time. I may make visits back here, but they would have to coincide with the moons movements."

  "Ah, hence the less than two weeks time limit." He said, understanding the rush.

  "Yes."

  "I believe that my customers would not put up too much of a stink if I told them it was for the request of a queen, assuming you are alright with me informing them that a queen is asking of work from me."

  I nodded. "That's fine, so long as you have no need to name drop. I am sure that the other queens are aware of my intentions by now but id like it if at least some people in this world did not know every single little move I make..."

  Leve and Guther both laughed loudly. "Good luck with that Lady Sin. Demons love to gossip," said Leve with a shameless smirk. "And they love to gossip about our Queens most of all."

  "Yes." Agreed Guther, still chuckling. "But at the very least, I can promise that it will not be from me that they will here it from."

  "I suppose that is the best I can ask for."

  Guther smiled then turned his eyes to the last box. "I take it that these would be the magical cores that you wish to attach to these weapons that I am to make. I am no enchanter, "he warned. "So, if you want magic, you have to bring it yourself. I assume that's what this is?"

  "That's right." I said and stepped forward past Kieran and gently opened the lid of the ornate box. The five round and colorful gems glimmered up at me, each imbued with a magic of its own. Each worth a small fortune. "I wish for each of these to adorn a single weapon a piece."

  The same day I plucked myself, I had Kieran examine the stones so that I would know exactly what enchantments were on them. Each had what Kieran called the 'usual' assortment of spells for protection and cleansing that such gems are given. But I had wanted to know about the powers given to them. Kieran explained that these were special stones that were mined in select regions around this world and around others. They were called Mana Stones, as each was imbued with magic by the very flow of the worlds mana itself. Most magical stones were just regular precious gems like rubies or emeralds. An enchanter adds magical properties to them. But Mana Stones were created by compressed natural mana. They were rare and powerful, each holding spells said to be gifted by the will of the gods. I was pretty sure it was just a natural process of these magical realms and not anything that the gods did intentionally, however.

  "Well, well..." Beathed Guther looking excited. "I admit that I see these more often than the average smith, but it makes it no less a wonder every time I lay my eyes on mana stones."

  "Their clarity is astonishing." Agreed Leve, leaning past Kieran to see the gems better. "These must be from the Herdeara desert mines owned by Lady Bri."

  "You are quite knowledgeable." I said to the man with an eye patch.

  "I didn't loose this eye to a shaving accident My Lady." Chuckled the Do'Reik, pointing to the patch. "I spent a lot of time around battle and saw my fair share of mana stones, and regular stones too."

  "Besides, most who have these stones tend to brag and show them off." Laughed Guther. "Nearly anyone can point them out after having them shoved under their noses enough times."

  "These were gifted to Queen Sin at her presentation by Queen Bri herself." Said Kieran proudly, as if he were the one to have received them. I resisted the urge to laugh, because in the end, he was the one who was going to have them after all. But I kept silent. If he knows that I intended these weapons for him, Kieran would likely try to convince me other wise.

  Leve looked impressed. "She would have picked out the best of the best then. No way would a Queen give another queen a sub par product, especially at a presentation."

  "Do you know the attributes of these? And do you prefer which stone goes to which blade?" Asked the smith.

  I replied in the affinitive and began describing the stones and where I wanted them. Kieran had given me their attributes already and I just repeated what he had told me. The deep blue, mellow green, and topaz yellow stones I wanted made into daggers. They each contained, respectively, stealth magic, tracking magic, and acceleration magic. I thought those would be best served in the smaller weapons. As for the two short swords, I thought the last two stones- the ruby red and the midnight black- would be best suited. The ruby colored one had the ability to cut through magic and the obsidian stone the ability to cut through just about any solid object that wasn't spelled. They complemented one another and would be put to great use by my talented butler.

  After the details were worked out and I had paid the smith a very large sum in gold coins, we left the stuffy building and headed back out onto the streets. I stretched, eyeing the darkening clouds warily. I did not want to get rained on, as much as I was curious about there being red rain. It would be two days for most of my items to be finished. The dress would take longer but I simply asked the seamstress to have it delivered to Felicity's castle. But I was not leaving without most of my items. After all, there was now a massive amount of my wealth in and around this city. It was welded too much into my very being to not let my stuff out of my sight. I would be too wound up if I just left it all here to be sent back for me. So, I had arranged for Kieran and I to stay in the inn for a few days.

  "Is there anything else you needed done today, Lady Sin?" Asked Leve, seeing that I was examining the weather. "If so, we should get to it. I'd say we are due for an early summer storm at any moment. They can be fierce this time of year."

  I sighed, looking away from the pink clouds that had been darkening to a light shade of purple. It reminded me of the wastelands, and the horrible week I had spent wandering them. "There are a few people I still need to speak with. Mostly masons and the like. But it will have to wait. It was the least important of my tasks anyway and I am exhausted and hungry."

  "I think it best that we return to the inn then, my lady." Said Kieran, also eyeing the sky. "No reason to risk getting soaked when there is no need."

  "Yes, alright."