Phoenix managed to convince Uriel to shift her temporary room into a large bath for him to relax in before getting some sleep himself. She might have been projecting a little bit by suggesting an activity that always made her feel better, but it would help him escape from the things he was struggling not to touch. At least in his fortress he didn’t have to worry about destroying the tub itself.

  She also was grateful that she didn’t need to worry about him drowning himself anymore.

  Phoenix had seen people get to this point before. She had feared her last best friend had somehow caused her own death after expressing the desire for it, and now her current best friend was suggesting the same thing. The hopelessness and frustration that had been on Jin’s face had haunted her for years as she wondered if there had been something more she could have done.

  She wouldn’t let things turn out the same way for Uriel. Even if Jin hadn’t actually gone through with that. She saw the very real risk in Uriel’s face and body language. That same despair.

  Cracking the door open to Uriel and Dazien’s shared room, she was slightly surprised to find her brother sleeping with his arms around Saiya. She briefly wondered if Dazien had asked for the comfort of her aura or if Saiya had simply needed to stay close to the most recent patient. She wasn’t sure if she should wake them, but she knew it had been a few hours already, and she really wanted Dazien to be aware of Uriel’s current state and that she was planning to leave for a while to look for a solution.

  Carefully shuffling over, she softly whispered and nudged his arm. “Hey, Daze?”

  He shuffled slightly and blinked his eyes a few times before focusing on her face. “Did I sleep late?”

  “No, but I just wanted to let you know I was going to go shopping. Uriel kind of… well, he’s not doing real well at the moment and—”

  “What’s wrong? Where is he?” Dazien interjected, looking much more alert all of a sudden as he sat up, much to the displeasure of the sleeping voxen, who made a grumpy moan and wrapped another tail around his chest to pull him back down into the bed.

  Phoenix snorted at Saiya’s subconscious reaction but tried to calm her brother down. “He’s fine now. Just taking a warm bath. He… Well, he tried cooking again and realized his ability was interfering with it. I’m honestly a bit afraid he might…” She hesitated, unsure if admitting her worries would just make Dazien freak out or perhaps get angry.

  Dazien seemed to read her face, though, as he quietly asked, “Did he hurt himself?”

  Her eyes went wide, and she couldn’t help but ask, “Has he done that before?”

  He ran a hand through his short hair before trying to detangle himself from the mass of fur. “He was in pretty rough shape when he first arrived at the temple,” Dazien explained as he moved. “He’d isolate himself a lot. Talk about how he was a dangerous monster that didn’t deserve to live. I tried to pull him out of that, and Priest Jacob was practically a miracle worker with the way he handled Uriel.”

  “But did he actually attempt anything?”

  Dazien paused after he stood and looked at her hesitantly before admitting, “Once. After that incident with the playground that he almost destroyed. It was the first time I had seen him go berserk, and he was so ashamed of himself for hurting me that he tried jumping from the top of Tulimeir’s walls. Even as a Crystal Caster, I’m not sure he would have survived a fall from that high.”

  He made his new magical torc and a sheer black shirt appear with black pants that were more like leather straps than fabric as he added, “Going on the other side of the walls like that would have also triggered the alarms with the type of Silencer he had at the time, and I think he was planning to fight any guards that might have shown up if he miraculously survived the fall. He ended up practically living with Priest Jacob for a month after that attempt.”

  As they moved out of the room, he asked her, “What did he say he was going to do this time?”

  “He didn’t. Not really,” she corrected, pulling him away from where Uriel was to talk with him downstairs instead. “He just has me really worried. He said I should just leave and let him die. Like he’s just… giving up on living anymore.”

  Dazien gave her a curious look as she paused by the front door, and he asked, “So why are you leaving? We should both be helping to reassure—”

  “Service,” she flatly stated, having figured out while wrapped in his arms while he cried exactly what she needed to do.

  “What?” he replied in obvious confusion.

  “You told me before that actions mean more to Uriel than words so that’s what I’m going to do. I’ve tried words, and it’s like he fights against them. How many years have you been telling him he’s not a monster?”

  “Since we met eight years ago now.”

  “Exactly, and he still believes it’s a lie,” she pointed out. “I’m going to go find something that can help him. I need to show him that he can still find things worth living for. If cooking was the last thing keeping him from falling into that despair I saw him drowning in, then I’m going to find a way to give that back to him.”

  Dazien watched her contemplatively for a moment before saying with a shrug, “Well, I’m going with you then. We can’t have the Saint wandering around the city alone.”

  “Shouldn’t you stay here to let the others know?”

  “I just told Saiya over my communication ability,” he replied with a cheeky grin as he opened the door. “I promised to keep her informed the whole time we’re gone. So, lead the way, Princess.”

  She grinned back at him, grateful to have a brother that tried to support her all the time, and took his hand as she led them through the streets.

  “So, are we wandering, or do you have a place in mind?” he asked her as they entered an upper market area, and she glanced back to see his head on a swivel taking in all the sights he hadn’t really gotten to explore yet of the beautiful city that was practically a work of art in its own right.

  “I’m going to try that tailor who made his clothes. I’m hoping she’ll be able to create something that can help this cooking problem specifically. I noticed he tried removing a glove to hold a seed, but his skin deals too much damage to let him do something like that,” she explained, focusing on the more immediate problem to solve. This little step should help at least before trying to tackle the bigger problems. While she was terrible at planning for the future compared to Dazien, she thought she was pretty good at just focusing on the next thing to do.

  “Oh, nice,” Dazien replied, a smile alighting his face. “I was hoping I’d get to see that shop after you all talked about it. I doubt there’s really anything for me there since I usually want things forged from metal, but it sounded fascinating.”

  With the help of the map in her [Guide Book], she managed to find the place again and grinned as she pulled open the thick woven door.

  Dazien paused by the sign that warned about proper attire and glanced down at his legs before asking, “Do you think these count as ‘strings’ instead of fabric?”

  Phoenix snorted a laugh and teased, “If you have to ask, you’ll probably want to change just to be on the safe side.”

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  “Fair point,” he replied, taking another step forward as his pants changed in a shower of golden glitter to those black leather ones that she wasn’t entirely sure how he could even move in them with how tight they seemed.

  The look on Dazien’s face at the interior of the shop gave Phoenix a sense of vicarious excitement for him as he grinned at the magic carpets floating above them. “Most flying magic doesn’t work well in Tulim,” he said softly. “It makes everything seem so much more magical.”

  “I agree,” she replied. “I can’t wait to see what Tulimeir and the Sacred City look like in a few years. Before we left, I overheard Pati talking with the duke about some planned skyways and airship towers to accommodate the rise in magic.”

  Dazien’s hand brushed along one of the shelves as he asked, “You said you thought all of this was made from thread?”

  She nodded. “The front of the shop and the door were. I think this tailor’s magic can weave all these objects. You should have seen how she took my measurements before to accommodate my transfiguration. I think she was still working on those, though. I need to make sure the merchant guy here has our new location, too.”

  “How does anyone weave something like this though?” Dazien asked, leaning closer to the shelves that seemed more like stone than fabric.

  “With my hair,” the soft alto of the tailor said behind them, causing both of them to jump at the sudden appearance of the Starfall voxen.

  “Hair?” Dazien finally managed to say after collecting himself.

  She nodded and Phoenix interjected, “Daze, this is Teal. Teal, this is my brother Dazien…” She paused looking closer at the voxen and realized that her hair and fur no longer looked like a portal into space but looked more like purple scales and she couldn’t help but ask, “Why do you look so different?”

  “I was working on your set. The gloves and boots will ideally enhance your Dimension abilities and also allow your claws to pass through them,” she replied matter-of-factly, as if that actually answered her question, when in reality it caused many, many more to form.

  Instead of running down that particular rabbit hole, she refocused on her reason for being there. “Ah, well, that’s good news. I did want to let you know that we changed where we’re staying, and actually make another request.”

  “More comfy clothes for your Void Mage? I told him he would need many more things.”

  “Actually, this is probably going to be much more difficult than what you made before, and I’m honestly not sure it’s even possible, considering what’s already going in to keeping the fabric from getting destroyed.”

  Teal’s ears seemed to perk up at the idea of a challenge as she asked, “You want more functionality?”

  Phoenix tugged at a lock of her curls as she tried to figure out how best to describe what exactly she was hoping for. “I basically want gloves that will help him cook.”

  The ears deflated for a moment as the tailor flatly repeated, “Cook? Just basic cooking?”

  Dazien spoke up then to explain more. “Cooking is his only hobby aside from reading, and he gets very involved with it. Basic gloves will get in the way when he’s elbow deep in flour—”

  “Or trying to grip the tinier ingredients,” Phoenix added, remembering the few remaining shards of seed Uriel had mourned.

  The tailor surprised both of them by exclaiming, “He can do so much more with that wonderful Void mana emanating from him! He is like a magical walking Void generator! So many options! He doesn’t even have to expend mana to power things! His potential is wonderful!”

  Both of them stared at her slightly stunned for a moment before breaking out into huge grins and Dazien voiced what she was thinking. “I’m glad you see him that way. He’s honestly his worst critic about being nothing but a vehicle for destruction. Do you think you can help him harness this power to allow him to keep cooking, though? I’m sure you’re much more insightful in that regard than we are.”

  Teal gave a wide grin showing off her fangs as she excitedly replied, “Yes, but you don’t need to be using those magic words to try and convince me.”

  He looked confused for a moment and glanced at Phoenix. “I didn’t accidentally use my Royal Voice again without realizing it, right?”

  She shook her head. “No. I thought you need to summon Rex back still?”

  Dazien flushed slightly as he shook his head and rubbed at his temple. “Right, I think my mind is still recovering a bit from everything. I need to get more materials for that while we’re out shopping.” He glanced back at the tailor and said, “Sorry, but I’m not sure what magic words you’re talking about.”

  Teal blinked at him for a few long seconds before she first looked appalled and then angry at him. “You are tossing around infused words without even realizing?!”

  “What are you talking about? Please calm down—”

  She pointed an irate claw at him as she growled, “That! There it was again! You are trying to make me like what you say!”

  His head tilted to the side in confusion before slowly asking, “Wait… Have you never met a Shiny gemite before? It’s just a Natural Talent I can’t control. It’s simply part of what I am.”

  Teal gave a slightly annoyed huff. “I have met Shinies before, they were just older and controlled it. Do you even try?”

  He gave an awkward look as he admitted, “Er, I’m kind of still trying to control how my powers are attempting to enhance it. Knight Thevaris did mention I could eventually learn, but it sounded like I would need to be higher Caste for that.”

  “Control of self does not require Caste,” the tailor retorted before turning to point a finger at Phoenix instead. “That is something you could learn, too, with that bludgeon you call an aura.”

  “Me?!” Phoenix replied in surprise, “What are you—”

  “Four and a half auras and you just… just… layer them!” Teal said, tossing up her hands in exasperation.

  She scrunched her nose in response. “I explained last time when you took my measurements that I’m an Aurabreaker. What else would I do with them?”

  The voxen gave a huff and pointed them both toward the back of the shop with a furred hand that was shaking with frustration. The tailor seemed unable to form proper words at the moment and resorted to pure body language.

  Phoenix and Dazien looked at each other, and he silently asked, “She’s not going to try murdering us in the back room right?”

  “I don’t think so. That’s where she fitted us, so it’s probably safe… I don’t really think we could escape an Emerald Caster if we tried making a run for it, though.”

  “Well, if things get weird, you still have your portal.”

  She nodded and then started leading the way towards the back, continually glancing back at the huffing voxen whose tails were actually twitching in agitation.

  Once they were in the back, Teal led them over to a large work table and grabbed four square pieces of fabric that were lying upon it. Placing one on top of the other, she finally spoke again, “You are layering them. One by one, but separate. This is more protection than only one, but still only the strength of one.”

  She lifted the top layer and tore it, “I can easily break one at a time.”

  Phoenix frowned but lifted the other three pieces and said, “But they are layered together—”

  Teal reached out and jabbed a single claw through each piece, moving slow enough though that Phoenix could see each one ripping one after the other from the sharp tip. “Layered takes longer to pierce, but still only the strength of one,” the tailor reiterated.

  The purple hair then began to appear to move on its own accord as Teal created four new sheets of fabric from it and then surprised Phoenix by weaving them together, tearing them into strips only to be rewoven in a much thicker fashion.

  “Aura weaving can only be done by those blessed with more auras. Do you sense mine?”

  Phoenix’s eyes went wide at the insinuation and she reached out her aura to try and sense the tailor’s. It took her a second to realize that they were already surrounded by it, recalling that she had first noticed that sensation when first entering the shop, but now that her own was extended it felt much more encompassing. However, Dazien was the one who voiced her confusion.

  “I only sense a single aura around us.”

  “Exactly,” Teal said with a grin. “I have two, yet when woven seem like one. Aside from hiding this, it strengthens both.”

  “You’re an Aurabreaker?” Dazien asked wide-eyed. Teal seemed to grumble something they couldn’t quite make out, and he asked, “What was that?”

  “I have two Familiars, too,” the tailor seemed to hedge, not quite looking at them.

  Dazien’s confusion seemed to clear and he tried and failed to suppress a smirk as he said, “Ah, you’re a One Upper.”

  She glared at him slightly, giving another indignant huff and he seemed to try to mollify her. “Still a very impressive and rare form of Limit Breaking. Sometimes I think it’s the most useful version out there.”

  Teal seemed a bit more pleased by the praise before scowling slightly and saying, “You will practice roughing your voice while she practices weaving her auras and I will work on the Void Mage’s cooking gloves. You will be paying more for a rush order, yes?”

  “Of course!” Phoenix and Dazien both answered in unison before looking at each other and laughing.

  Phoenix shook her head before clarifying. “I don’t care how angry Uriel or Dazien get at me, I’ll pay whatever it costs to make him get some joy back in his life.”

  “We would still ask for your mercy not to take advantage of that conviction,” Dazien added, giving Phoenix a flat look. “My sister still doesn’t understand how bartering with merchants actually works.”